Traffic, Traffic Everywhere!

One of our favorite topics, traffic!


With the good, there is the bad. The previous posting talks about the "Gold of Seattle Real Estate". The good: our great job market and great real estate appreciation. Our bad: the traffic!




Everywhere you go on the Eastside right now roads are being torn up. It’s all for a good cause and will improve our commuting over the long run.


Quite a bit is being done to mitigate our woeful traffic issues.


Here is some of what is going to be new, exciting, and different. Some of this is ongoing and some is planned for the future.



For all you plateau home owners relief is in sight!


Highway 520 from 202, Redmond-Fall City Road, flyover is being built by Fred Meyer to take traffic from 202 over to 520. Traffic will no longer have to stop at the lights and wait to get onto 520.


Highway 202 will be widened from East Lake Sammamish Parkway to Sahalee Way with a new lane in each direction.


Both changes should help cut commute time by 15-20 minutes from the plateau.





For the downtown Bellevue crunch:


Trying to get from 405 North in Bellevue to 520?


The off ramp from 405 to 520 is going to be widened to make the transition faster and smoother.


There will be new overpass on NE 10th over 405. Group Health will have a new facility on one side of the street and Overlake Hospital will be on the other side.


Beginning now: New lanes will be added to 405 between SE 8th and 112th Ave.

SEhttp://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=glance17e&date=20070517.


Ground breaking ceremonies happened last week and the 405 expansion north will be open in 2008.




Light Rail:
For all you Microsofties, the train should be by to pick you up around 2026.

Seattle Gold

Less new construction + job growth=higher real estate appreciation.





Seattle is still one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. This is no big surprise to me as I see this on a daily basis. In my monthly market update postings, you can see which areas on the Eastside are hotter than hot. Of course, we still have months or areas that perform better or worse. But the overall message of the article from Inman News attached below is we are still on a real estate rise in values. When we end 2007, homes will be worth more than now. This article mirrors what I have seen and predict for this year in Seattle/Eastside real estate. Furthermore, when you look at other parts of the country as described in this article, you can see the strength of our real estate market.





The attached article mentions the all important reasons for our booming market: the economy and the growth management policies in the area. Thanks to Microsoft (the gift that keeps on giving) and all the other companies that are growing and hiring in the area, our job market is one of the best in the country.





The growth management act, which has some very good points, has placed lots of controls on development. It is harder and harder for developers to build in this area. The Eastside runs into water and mountains, so our supply of good land is very limited. Wetlands, native growth protection, salmon streams, traffic flow, etc all contribute to the cost of development and translate to higher mitigation fees for builders. Ever wonder why building lots have become smaller and smaller? The cost of construction has much to do with the diminishing lot sizes.





The good news for current home owners: we do not have the runaway development found in places like Las Vegas or Phoenix.Read the attached article to find out more about the gold and the cold areas in real estate. It will be no surprise that some of the areas with the greatest declines are those that recently had huge spikes in appreciation, such as Sarasota, Florida.





http://www.inman.com/hstory.aspx?ID=63271

What were the chances of selling a home in West Redmond in April, 2007?

Sellers had a 45% chance of selling their home.


West Redmond is still performing at the top of the market. However, the area is coming back a bit to reality. In March, 58% of the listings received offers and sold. In April, 45% of the listings sold. More homes are on the market, so in some neighborhoods there is more competition. Overall, the area still has the lowest inventory of all the Eastside markets, with only 137 single family homes on the market. Compare this to the plateau/Fall City/North Bend area which has over 600 listings! In West Redmond and East Bellevue, 63 sales happened in April, slightly less than the March total of 70 sales, but a 9% drop. So bottom line, there were 14% more homes, 137 for sale in April as compared to March with 119 homes. Hence the odds of selling a home in April was 13% lower than in March.

Remember 45% of the homes did sell in April. Some homes are easy to sell for a variety of reasons: lack of competition for a particular style of home, the condition of the home, the specific neighborhood, a unique quality, etc. A home should be showcased with staging and professional photographs. With the help of a Realtor who knows the competition, a home will be positioned to get a seller the best price and, possibly, multiple offers. To get the best price, sellers should make their homes available to all the buyers by listing their home. The exposure to many buyers creates a buzz for a home. With multiple buyers there are often multiple offers and a higher sales price.

I will do a posting about a few real life experiences sellers have had recently when trying to sell on their own. I will talk about how the sellers missed making the most money and had a tougher experience with the sale. However, that is for another posting!

Garage sale!

3605 150th Ave. N.E.

Redmond
Spiritbrook

Come on by for this great moving sale
on Friday and Saturday from

9 AM to 4 PM.
May 11th and 12th!

Multigenerational Living, a New Way for the Future?

I have some clients right now that have a need that is hard to fill on the Eastside. I'm looking for a home for them which would accommodate 2 adults with 3 young children, plus grandma. Their hope is to find a home with 4 bedrooms for themselves with a separate 2 bedroom mother -in- law suite.

This is very difficult to find on the Eastside. But it should not be. With our aging population and a desire for many to maintain independence with some family ties, it's a style of living that will become more and more important in the future. So many boomers are taking care of aging parents or having to change their living arrangements to include parents. Our homes need to offer options to accommodate these different generational and family needs.

If you check on this link below, you will find that many architects see the multigenerational style of living as an important change for the future. The demand will be for housing with multiple master suites and more flexible floor plans.

I have been involved with these issues myself over the last couple of years, both personally and professionally. There is a whole host of information which speaks to some of the above issues. As time goes on, I will comment on some of these issues in this blog. My goal is to keep you informed with some of the changes and trends we may see in housing in the future.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2003684239_generations29.html

Overlake Rocks

Overlake, which is part of West Redmond, is the neighborhood of the week in The Seattle Times!



http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2003684247_realneighborhood29.html
This is a great article about the Overlake area, what it offers today, and how much it has changed. The Overlake area encompasses a good part of West Redmond. I've been in this area for 21 years, and I agree, there have been a lot of changes. Twenty-one years ago, Microsoft had already been built on the main campus. There were ten original buildings which you could not see from 156th. There were a few other building that dotted the main campus, but all of those have come down and new structures built.

Microsoft clearly has had a huge affect on the Overlake. The economy is booming because of Microsoft. In fact, Microsoft is "the gift that keeps on giving" to the Overlake area. So much development is planned for the future that, according to this article, this area will be double the size of the office space in the Columbia Tower.

Overlake/West Redmond is a healthy mix of single family homes, condominiums, retail and office space. It is all here and only gets better. This is a great place to call home.

The Hottest Trends in Outdoor Spaces

Gorgeous stuff! Dream a little with these choices:

Outdoor TV's to watch all your favorite things

Outdoor kitchens

Meditation spaces

Privacy benches

Perennial borders

Outdoor showers (this one could be interesting in the Northwest!)

http://www.realtor.org/rmo/landscape_slideshow/landscape_slideshow_may07.html