Dec. 25, 2008 - Year End Musings about the Housing Market

I looked back to December of 2007 and found this post I wrote with advices to Seattle home sellers.

" you may be better off selling in 2008.  Maybe that will be a fraction less than you could have gotten had you sold 12 months ago.  But it very well could be 20% more than you will eventually sell for, if you can't wait until a very long time from now. "

I'd say that was pretty "spot on" given King County is almost exactly 20% down from peak pricing, with much of that, more than half, happening in the 4th quarter of 2008.  Just wanted to check what I was thinking last year at this time, before doing my year end stats and advices.

For me, blogging is part of my work and not a sideline.  Every professional needs to take stock of where the market is during the last week of December, in order to be able to spot and analyze changes in the marketplace as the new year unfolds.  So it may be Christmas Day, but for me it's a day of accounting for where the Seattle and Eastside Real Estate markets are today.

I'll be comparing to the charts below that I did last year on January 6th of 2008.

Jan. 12, 2009 - RE: Year End Musings about the Housing Market

Wow, writing a blog post on Christmas day - now that is dedication!

It's hard to say for sure which way the market will go - I think once the inauguration takes place and we adjust to a new president we might be better prepared to say how things will be by March or April hopefully!