OMG...I've received several e mails this morning from lenders indicating an impressive drop in mortgage rates today. The Fed made a announcement this morning that is directly HELPING BUYERS!

Interest Rates in the LOW 5's!!

I'm sure you all are thinking about Thanksgiving Dinner...but if you are a home buyer or home seller this is the best news we've heard in weeks!

I certainly will digest my T Day dinner much easier knowing rates are in the low 5% range. What exactly does this mean? Well, if you were to purchase a $200,000 home your principal and interest on a 30 year fixed loan at 6% would be $1,199.10 - at 5.25% your principal and interest on a 30 year fixed loan would be $1,104.41... a difference of $94.69 per month! This is assuming no downpayment. CLICK HERE and scroll down to calculate your payment by inputting your downpayment.

Ummm, I guess I'll say it again...the timing could not be better. Go Buy A Home.

Fun Windermere Real Estate Commercials

These are great Windermere Spots that I thought you would enjoy. Make sure your sound is turned on.

Spokane ~ Does Your Home Tell A Story?

Does Your Home Tell A Story?

Most of us have lots of memories of our home, whether we currently live in it or we remember the home(s) we've lived in. I have some amazing memories of my childhood home back in Hamilton, MT. I remember holidays, birthday parties, summer vacations, running down to the river to catch fiesty rainbow trout, crashing my bike, always getting along with my younger sister ( snicker ). Every time we go back to Hamilton, I just have to drive by my old home to see if the new owners have done anything with it. I also like to check out the neighbors and see what they have been up to! READ MORE

Welcome to my Blog

So...I've been blogging now for over a year..but in a different place. Please visit http://www.windermerespokanevalley.com/blog to see my previous posts.

I'm hoping to create more traffic to my blogs so I'm branching out into this format. I would love to hear any suggestions you may have or comments on Spokane Real Estate. I've also just started a new blog for New Construction in Spokane, WA. You can see it HERE.

Thank you for visiting and I hope to hear from you soon!

Carl

Spokane Real Estate Market Update

I'd like to start today's blog with a quote. Post a note if you would like to comment.

Here is quote from Glenn Crellin at Washington Center for Real Estate Research. You can view his entire October 30, 2008 presentation by clicking the link at the end of this posting. The quote below is about Housing Affordability in Spokane.

"In Spokane the typical home is affordable, with the current measure indicating a 22.1% cushion on the ability to afford a home. Now, the industry needs to convince consumers the time is ripe to buy without appearing self-serving. With the kinds of affordability numbers we saw in the first half of this decade it comes as no surprise that the market took off and prices surged. It wasnt irrational exuberance or unjustified lending driving the local market it was common sense!"

We are still selling homes in Spokane!

Here is the latest market data from the Spokane Association of Realtors. Please note that the average sales price compared to last year is only down 2.3%. Also, please note that inventory is coming down as well. I've noticed in our offices that we are not taking as many listings.

This is a good thing for you current sellers in the marketplace. Less competition for the buyers who are out there. For buyers who may be "waiting" to see if prices will continue to fall you may have missed the boat. I think we have stabilized as far as average sales price goes. Take a look at this: August 2008 average sales price $203,493, September 2008 average sales price $201,372 and October 2008 average sales price $201,797. Each of these months are pretty similar. You can look at previous posts to see the other months of the year.

As a side note, there have been 703 new construction homes sold through October 2008. This may be a surprise to some of you. The average sales price for new construction is $292,718. CLICK HERE for more new construction data.

October residential closed sales for site built/condo on less than one acre totaled 439 closed sales. This total is down 26 closed sales from September. The average sales price for October was $201,797 and the median sales price was $177,000.

Year to date sales total 4,364 closed sales through October compared to 6,006 through the same period last year.

The average sales price through October is $207,003 down 2.3% from one year ago. The median sales price through October is $184,700 compared to $186,000 over the same period last year.

Inventory for the second month in a row is down from the previous month 3,173 compared to 3,387.

New home sales reported to the SAR MLS totaled 79 for October up one over the total for September.

Here is a link to some interesting facts and figures regarding homeownership. CLICK HERE

And for those of you who like graphs and charts...take a look at this from the Washington Center for Real Estate Research. You will notice that Spokane and Washington in general our quite healthy and are not seeing the level of foreclosures that other parts of the county are. CLICK HERE