Doron's Vlog

Hi, I’m Doron Weisbarth with Weisbarth & Associates. Welcome to my May 2023 Market Update report. The spring real estate rush is on! And so far it’s looking great – especially for sellers, but also for buyers. Despite the crazy weather, it is much closer to a normal spring sale than, perhaps, you have been led to believe. It’s easy these days to get caught up in the media’s narrative about real estate. But they tend to overlook the basic data in search of an attention-grabbing headline. As I had stated in past newsletters and vlogs , a year-over-year analysis, which is, pretty much, the only type of analysis you’ll find in the media, is inherently flawed, if one of the years considered in the analysis is abnormal – that makes sense, right? Well, guess what, the first quarter of last year, 2022, when the market was red-hot and out of control, was super abnormal. So any comparison to that time is going to give you the wrong picture of the real market right now. What makes more sense? Let’s look at the numbers since the beginning of this year, 2023. Here are the numbers for single family homes (SFH) in King County, comparing January 2023 to April 2023: Median sales prices are up 9.3% since January 2023, from $799,900 to $875,000 – nothing gloomy about that for sellers. New listings are up 6.7%. This is a smaller increase than you might expect, as sellers still seem a bit hesitant, and listings are still lower than pre-pandemic. But buyers are out there looking, and homes are selling fast. How fast? I’m glad you asked! The median number of days a home sits on the market for sale until it gets in offer has plummeted over 80%, from 34 days in January down to just 6 days in April. That’s fast! If you want to sell right now, you will likely sell very quickly, and get a good price on top of that! Closed sales nearly doubled from 793 homes in January to 1,443 homes in April, an 82% spike. And pending sales, meaning homes that receive an offer but the sale had not yet closed, are up 48.5% from January 2023 to April 2023. By the way, if you want to look at all this information and read my report at your pace and leisure, you’ll find all this information in my May newsletter . So the spring sale is definitely starting off on the right foot. Median prices, new listings, and closed sales are all decidedly up, and the time it takes to sell is dramatically down. These are classic seller’s market attributes. Next month we’ll have another data set that will be able to tell us if these trends are continuing, and if so, how strongly. In the meantime, make sure you take all the media reports with a HUGE grain of salt. Now, if you or someone you know is looking to sell a home, or buy a home – big decisions, no doubt, please refer them to us so that we can properly educate and guide them, so that they can get the most from their transaction. My team and I offer a free, no-obligation consultation. Which means that we’ll be happy to sit down with anyone who needs help, then combine our wealth of knowledge, experience and knowhow, to put together a plan and strategy for maximizing your results. Please call me directly at 206-779-9808, or send me a message through this site or send me a safe, secure, and confidential message through my website, at Weisbarth.com/refer. Thanks for watching this video. If you find this information useful and helpful, please share it with others. Please remember to like, subscribe and follow for more great insights, charts and tips on my monthly vlog, and read our monthly newsletter . I’m Doron Weisbarth with Weisbarth & Associates. See you next month!

Hi, I’m Doron Weisbarth with Weisbarth & Associates. Welcome to my April 2023 Market Update report. You’ve probably seen some recent headlines warning of the pending doom from the sharp drop in the real estate prices in our area, and how fewer homes are selling, and other signs of worry with Seattle’s real estate market that are supposed to keep you up at night. Well, if you’ve been reading my newsletters and watching my vlogs for a while, hopefully you understand that some of these dire predictions are based on narrow analysis and are out of context. For instance, a couple of months back I showed you some data revealing that while it’s true that prices have come down from their historic highs last year, prices are still higher than before that surge began. And remember that that surge happened when the market was red-hot and out of control, while interest rates were still at rock bottom, and before many of the market uncertainties, such as high inflation, high fuel prices, the war in Ukraine, and more, affected our collective psyches. I also showed you that the days-on-market, meaning the time between when a home is listed and when it sells, has dropped significantly since the beginning of the year, as have the inventory levels. By the way, if you want to look at these charts and read my report at your pace and leisure, you’ll find all this information in my April newsletter, available online and for download, for free, at Weisbarth.com/Newsletter, that’s Weisbarth.com/Newsletter. The point of all of this is that if you’re going to compare the recent data with that of last year’s, when the market was in a super surge, then of course things are going to look dire and depressing. For some odd reason, news outlets seem to only be able to do this simple, year-over-year analysis and won’t even consider doing a bit more of a deeper review. Maybe it sells more papers or something, I don’t know. Here’s what you need to know: the market is actually doing quite well, thank you very much! The buyers are out there, eagerly looking for a good home, and we’re seeing more inventory come on the market as we move deeper into the spring sale season. With recent drops in interest rates, and potentially better news on inflation and maybe employment and the economy in general, the market seems to be poised for continued growth. Here are two more interesting facts to consider. First, because of a shift in zoning laws that are pushing for higher density, builders have been getting creative with their lots. In Seattle, Kirkland, and other cities in our area, we’re seeing smaller homes, multiple homes, attached ADUs, and detached ADUs, become the norm. Lots that used to have only one large home built on it, are now hosting two or three smaller ones instead. What does this mean? It means that there are more new construction homes on the market, but these homes tend to be smaller. Of course, that means that they sell for less money than one larger home would have, which helps with the affordability issue. And it also means that the average and median sales prices are coming down, or at least not increasing quite as fast. But it does not indicate a depressed market. Take a loot at this graph. What I’m comparing in this graph are the median sale price for single family homes in King County, that’s the blue line, and the median price per square foot for those same homes, that’s the orange line. By the way, I use this data for King County, but the same things would emerge in other counties in our area. What you can see is that the average price per square foot has gone up decisively faster! In fact, you can see that it started rising even before the median sale price did. Why? Because the combined sales price of two homes that are 1,500 square feet each, will generally be more than the sale price of a single home that is 3,000 square feet. In other words, half the size doesn’t NOT mean half the price. Which means that the price per square foot is increasing faster right now. The second fact to remember is that interest rates are about double what they were a year ago. People who bought or refinanced when rates were historically low are now looking at these higher rates they’d have to pay, if they sold and bought a new home. That makes some people hesitant to sell, even when it might still be in their best interests to do so, for example to accommodate for a growing family, or, on the flip side, to downsize. This hesitancy is understandable and is contributing to our lower inventory levels. It’s not unlikely that, at some point, the family needs are going to prevail, which will make more homes available. When will that happen? That’s anyone’s guess. In the meantime, this is one of the factors that are contributing to our price increases. So if you, or someone you know, needs to make some big decisions like this, and is feeling stuck because of the lack of clarity, then the first thing to do is to get real information and get properly educated about the market and about one’s options, in order to create clarity. My team and I offer a free, no-obligation consultation. Which means that we’ll be happy to sit down with anyone who needs such help, look at all the available information, bring in our wealth of knowledge and experience, and then analyze and rate all the different options, including the options of staying put. The idea is to try and help create the clarity needed for one to make a good, solid, confident decision that is rooted in knowledge and real information. If this is something that you’re interested in, then please call me directly at 206-779-9808, or send me a message through this site or send me a safe, secure, and confidential message through my website, at Weisbarth.com, that’s Weisbarth.com. If you’d like to refer someone, then send me a message through this website, or go to weisbarth.com/refer, that’s weisbarth.com/refer/ Thanks for watching this video. If you find this information useful and helpful, please share it with others. Please remember to like, subscribe and follow for more great insights, charts and tips on my monthly vlog, and read our monthly newsletter at Weisbarth.com/Newsletter, that’s Weisbarth.com/Newsletter. I’m Doron Weisbarth with Weisbarth & Associates. See you next month!

I always start my annual predictions report by quoting the great Yogi Berra, who said: “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” And then, I proceed to step out on the ledge and make a sincere, if feeble attempt to do just that. So, what can we expect in the coming year in the real estate market in our area? Stick around and I’ll share with you my iron clad predictions for 2023! Let’s start with what we know: We know home prices have, for the most part, leveled off (or are heading in that direction). Keep in mind that median prices naturally drop every fourth quarter, so for the fourth quarter of 2022 it was hard to tease out the seasonal affects from the other affects. More importantly, sellers seem to be accepting this new price reality, as we see sellers listing their homes at prices are more reasonable, compared to earlier in 2022. We know that the mortgage interest rates that pushed many buyers to the sidelines, have been trending downward recently. We know that much of what contributed to the market uncertainty, causing both buyers and sellers to take a wait-and-see position, thins such as inflation, gas prices, even the elections, are now slowly improving and are no longer weighing heavily on buyers’ minds. And, the bottom line, we know that many of those buyers who pulled out of the market about six or nine months ago, have been returning to the market in the last month or two, lured back by the declining mortgage interest rate and the more realistic home prices. Based on what we know, what do I expect to see in the coming year? Inflation seems to continues to drop, which will cause mortgage interest rates to continue their downward trend. And the lower the mortgage interest rates, the more buyers will participate in the real estate market. Now, some of these buyers will be brand new to the market, while other will be buyers those who dropped out a few months ago, and are now returning to the market. The net result will be an increase in overall consumer demand. I also expect more sellers to enter the market, increasing both the quantity and quality of the housing inventory. The net result here will be an increase in overall market supply. Now, while it’s hard to predict which of these two forces – supply and demand – will be more dominant, I do NOT expect that we’ll see the kind of market craziness that we’d seen during 2020 through the first quarter of 2022. I also expect that we will not see price drops! Rather I expect that we’ll see price stability, and even some modest home price appreciation. So there you have it – my predictions for the 2023! And what should you do with all these “iron-clad” predictions? I’m glad you asked… If you’re a seller, then 2023 will be a good year for you! The buyers will be there waiting for you with open arms and reasonably open wallets. While you shouldn’t expect too many bidding wars, you also shouldn’t need to worry about your home sitting on the market for months, forcing you to continue dropping your price. Of course, this assumes, that you take all the necessary steps to get your home ready for the market, that you price correctly and market it correctly. If you need some specific advice on that, with absolute no obligation, just call me at the number below If you’re a buyer, expect to see better inventory this year, but also some competition. To that end, make sure that you are ready, as if you are going into a tough sellers’ market, by educating yourself about the market in general, and about the home buying process in particular. This education piece is a critical step that we offer to all of our clients at no cost and with no obligation. Again, please call me at the number below. And… make sure your loan financing is ready, including your lender’s underwriter approval, so you can compete effectively, even against cash buyers. And if you’re looking to both buy and sell… well, 2023 is likely to be a good year for you too. But make sure to understand how to reduce your risk and minimize your exposure, by timing the buying and selling transaction correctly. Doing it wrong can cost you dearly and put you in some financial risk. I’ll be happy to explain your different options on that. Please feel free to call me at the number below, for a no-obligation consultation. And finally, if you know anyone who is ready to sell and/or buy a home, please send them our way. Our 5-step selling system lays out the plan for selling fast and for the most amount of money. And our 3-step buying system for buyers helps you find the right home and secure it for the best deal possible. And remember that a good portion of our income then goes to support the kids at Childhaven. Happy 2023!