Sam DeBord

The latest stats on the Seattle area's real estate market show some big shifts in home sellers' confidence.  As the market continues to recede in terms of the number of homes available for sale, sellers are raising prices in anticipation of more buyer competition. Asking prices for homes in the S...

Recent articles from a number of news outlets suggest that mortgage lenders are beginning to loosen up their standards for mortgage qualifications.  While some might be concerned that loose credit standards were part of the cause of our last real estate meltdown, we're in a very different league ...

This article was originally published on Realtor.com Given the recent scarcity of homes available for sale to the buying public, there has been a sharp increase across the country in home buyer competition.  Low real estate inventory has been driving more multiple-offer situations and bidding war...

Seattle's employment market keeps getting kudos from national sources, as the tech industry continues to bolster the region's job market.  It's not just Microsoft anymore.  Google, Facebook, eBay, Amazon, and many other tech companies are broadening their footprints in the greater Seattle market ...

The most recent Case-Shiller Home Price Index is once again showing that Seattle's housing market has a strong base.  While seasonal changes didn't allow for gains in December, the overall trend continues to be positive for the region. Seasonally-adjusted home prices in King, Snohomish, and Pierc...

I'm noticing an interesting trend in the amount of time it takes for a home to sell in the current market.  We've been talking a lot lately about how few homes are available for sale.  The inventory is strikingly low, and it's creating a strange divide right in the middle of the market. It's begi...

The Eastside saw a strong month of waterfront home sales in January, as the luxury real estate market showed signs that it will continue climbing upward in 2013.  16 waterfront homes were sold across the Eastside in a wide range of locations. Mercer Island and Sammamish took the top 6 slots for t...

Waterfront home sales in the Seattle region bumped up by significant margins in January.  Year-over-year sales of waterfront houses, condos, houseboats, and floating homes were up 11.1 percent, continuing the strengthening trend we saw throughout 2012.  In the city of Seattle, the gains were even...

Picture of home sellers--as in a black hole. The number of homes for sale in the Seattle area has been dwindling for the past year.  We've reported month after month that there were more homes being sold than those coming on the market.  It seemed that sellers would soon come out of the woodwork...

At the Washington Realtors' legislative hill day this year we had an opportunity to hear from the National Association of Realtors' chief economist, Dr. Lawrence Yun.  Dr. Yun spoke about the improving real estate market in Washington state and his optimistic outlook for our state's housing price...