Now Is A Great Time To Be A Buyer In Seattle (2018)

Written by Erica Olavarria | July 23, 2018
Image “Seattle view from Queen Anne hill” by brewbrooks, licensed under Creative Commons
 
For years, people have been talking about the “hot seller’s market” when they describe Seattle’s real estate scene. Sellers often received multiple offers within days of their home hitting the market. Cash financing, waived contingencies, and escalation clauses (soaring hundreds of thousands of dollars over list price) were common occurrences. But if you’ve been keeping an eye on the Seattle market, you may have noticed a shift in the past few months… and that’s great news for disheartened buyers.
  
Seattle is coming into a more balanced market. Let’s examine what that means:

• Houses stay on the market longer.
  Houses selling in a week or less has been common in Seattle, but that’s not usually common in real estate!
• Offer review dates are passing with no offers.

  The “offer review date” was a consequence of our hot market. Houses now might be on the market for a couple weeks before they sell.
• Price reductions are more common.

  Once a house hasn’t sold for some period of time, the sellers may drop the price to attract more buyers. This didn’t happen very often at the peak of the market, but it is happening all over the place now.
• There are fewer multiple offer situations.

  Most houses that are selling right now have only a couple offers. Buyers no longer have to fight 20 other people for the same house.
• Buyers don’t have to waive contingencies.

  In the peak of the market, buyers often made their offers more competitive by waiving contingencies, which are put in place to protect the buyer. This means that their offers were not dependent on other factors, like inspecting the house or obtaining financing. Now with fewer offers coming in, buyers no longer feel pressure to give up these protections.
• Buyers can ask for more in their offer.
  Apart from maintaining the protections mentioned above, buyers can start asking for more in their offers. This could include requesting a credit towards closing costs, or asking to keep appliances the seller was planning on taking.
• Contingent offers are being accepted again.
  
A contingent offer is when the sale is dependent on the buyer selling his own home first. In the midst of the seller’s market, contingent offers didn’t have much weight. In this balanced market, buyers with equity tied up in their current home can feel confident writing contingent offers again.


 
Some additional reasons why now is a good time to be a buyer in Seattle:

• There is more inventory!
  
This is an artifact of houses taking longer to sell, and it gives buyers more houses to choose from. According to The Seattle Times, the total inventory of homes listed for sale has now grown for three straight months on a year-over-year basis.
• There is less competition!

  Many buyers are worn out from the peak of Seattle’s market, when they submitted countless offers only to face rejection after rejection. It takes some time for people to notice the shift and act on it.
• Interest rates are still low!

  At the time of writing this article, a quick internet search shows that the interest rate for a 30-year fixed loan is 4.625%. While interest rates have inched up ever so slightly in the past few years, they are still staggeringly low compared with historic rates going back decades.

 
The real estate market always dips a little bit in the summer, as people start enjoying graduation parties and summer vacations. However, the shift we are seeing in Seattle this summer is more than usual. Frustrated buyers who have taken a break from their home searching should start paying attention again.
 
Sellers should be paying attention, too. A shifting market doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad time to sell. In fact, many Seattle homeowners will find this balanced market more favorable. In a hot seller’s market, a homeowner will easily sell her existing home but may struggle to find a new house to buy. Now, everyone who was hesitant to enter the market as a buyer might finally pull the trigger on the sale of their own home.
 
If you are considering taking advantage of this new market, a good first step is to talk to a realtor. The home you’ve been dreaming about might be closer than you think!