Seattle Condo Blog and Community Information

You could hear the sigh of relief among us realtors, as well as from those buyers who hadn’t yet found the right property before the original November deadline expired. As President Obama signed the extension into effect, and added current home-buyers (in their home for at least five years) to the list with a credit of $6,500, everyone from banks to buyers are certain to step up the pace. The new deadline is April 30 for purchase agreements, with closings wrapped up by June 30, 2010.

 

The Seattle condo, as well as single-family home, market has shown great signs of improvement over the last three months and a leveling out of the inventory. Now, both new homebuyers and current homeowners can step up the search for just the right home in the neighborhood of their liking. With mortgage rates in the low 5s at some institutions, these next few months are likely to make that serious prospective home-owner’s dream come true.

 

Nationwide, the original tax credit was claimed by nearly 1.4 million homebuyers, about 360,000 of whom would not otherwise have made the purchase, says the National Association of Realtors. Here in the Seattle area, a combination of home and condo sales were up 64 percent over a years ago, and most of those by first-time homebuyers using the credit. With the likely influx of current owners, we should be seeing a rise at all levels of property, from the lower end all the way through the luxury range. With the stabilization of prices over the last few months, we’ll also start seeing an upward swing in pricing. Clearly this is THE time to begin the hunt.