The truth about foreclosed homes and homes that will be fore sale in: Kirkland | Bellevue | Redmond | Issaquah | Bothell...and the greater Seattle area by Ron Sparks of Coldwell Banker Bain:
RealtyTrac released a report today (10/28/2010) stating that the Seattle-Bellevue-Tacoma MSA (Metro Statistical Area) leads the nation with a 71% increase in foreclosure ‘activity’.
Of course, local media outlets immediately latched onto this highly sensational headline, so you can anticipate buyers and sellers will have questions.
The report states that 1 of every 129 homes in Washington has received a foreclosure notice. In one newspaper release, a Zip Realty agent (who just happens to specialize in foreclosures) is quoted. Omitted is any disclosure of the bias both RealtyTrac and Zip Realty share in favoring the most negative characterization of the foreclosure market possible. RealtyTrac touts “40+% ‘savings’ on foreclosed properties!”, and Zip Realty publishes the “Top 10 Largest Reductions” in list prices, both hoping to attract customers looking to buy homes at a fraction of their market value.
That said, further investigation reveals the following information on our “local” market;
Local area statistics (sourced directly from the RealtyTrac website) are as follows;
Area Foreclosures # per households
Bellevue 91 1/486
Mercer Is. 7 1/1414
Issaquah 50 1/440
Redmond 54 1/676
Seattle 572 1/710
Kirkland 113 1/312
In contrast;
Las Vegas 32,288 1/25
Miami 58,624 1/41
Los Angeles 48,849 1/91
Chicago 44,849 1/84
Certainly, everyone is aware that foreclosures are present and impacting our marketplace. Their total number remains a month to month, moving target…but this sensational headline fails to convey the relative condition of our local market. It’s akin to having a stick of gum rise in price from 10 cents to 17 cents and screaming “70% Increase!”. While true, if the same stick of gum cost $3.30 in another city, 17 cents is not so bad, right? That’s the same numerical relationship between Bellevue’s foreclosure numbers (1/486), and Las Vegas (1/25). Stated another way, Vegas foreclosures per household are nearly 2,000% higher than Seattle!
The fact is, despite the increase in activity, our area still falls well below most other markets. In fact, the Seattle MSA is not even in the top 20.
