Seattle Condo Blog and Community Information

Spring is approaching for Seattle condo buyers and its seems as though more first time buyers are starting to search for Seattle condos.  Tracking how many buyers are requesting showing appointments is a good metric to see which way the Seattle market is heading.  In my opinion buyers who were waiting for long term interest rates to come down drastically don’t see this happening and realize we have some of the lowest rates since 1983.  With the dollar declining versus other currencies you have to ask yourself Continue Reading »

A bill that is proceeding through the Washington State Senate and house that will protect current renters in apartment buildings that will be converted to rentals by the owners is in its final stages.

The bill would require building owners to give tenants a longer notice of the actual conversion.  Currently the notice is 90 days and that would increase to 120 days.   Relocation assistance would be increased from Continue Reading »

 

During a Cosmopolitan condo yearly board meeting the topic of setting a limit on the amount of owners who may rent out there unit at any giving time surfaced.  This was suggested so the building could stay within conforming loan guidelines and make the property more marketable.   Many times developers indicate they limit the amount of buyers who can purchase an unit for investment purposes.  This might only prevent the buyer from renting their unit for one year because of loan guidelines.  One thing to consider Continue Reading »

The Department of Housing and Urban Development released loan limits for the Seattle and surrounding areas today.  That makes the new FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limit $567,500 (125% of the median home price). This is part of the economic stimulus package signed by President Bush earlier at the end of Feb this year. The bill currently increases the home loan limits and ends December of 2008.

 The loan limit for other dwellings in the areea are as follows: Continue Reading »

The owners on the West and South side of the Cosmopolitan condominium in the South Lake Union Area between Virginia and Eight St. are very upset about modified height limits for buildings built to the west and south of the building.  This issue is being highlighted tonight Monday, March 3 on a special report on Kiro 7 News at 6:00 pm .

Read more on this topic in the SeattlePI online