Ray Allen’s Washington Home For Sale

Photo From Matrix Real Estate

Ray Allen must have strong ties to Seattle because even though he left Seattle in 2007 he still has a house here, well at least for now. The former Sonics guard has listed his Carnation home for sale for a cool 3.7 million.

The home sits on 4.5 acres and of course has a full size basketball court, putting green, pool, 6 car garage and a 8 seat private screening room, all squeezed into 10,000 square feet.

In my opinion Ray Allen’s home looks like a normal nice home, not an over the top celebrity home that just goes too far. The photo of the kitchen and rock fireplace is beautiful, just my style!

For photos click here!

Seattle: "Least Miserable" Economy in America

Seattle has the nation’s “least miserable” economy, according to one measure of economic performance. Dubbed the “misery index,” it is computed by adding the inflation rate to the unemployment rate.

Year-over-year inflation in Seattle is a negative 0.5 percent, according to figures from Financial Trend Forecaster®. Added to Seattle’s unemployment rate of 6 percent (based on U.S. Department of Labor data), the misery index equals 5.5 percent.

In second place with a 9.35 rate was Washington D.C. Dallas and Houston both have relatively low misery indexes, at 9.5 and 9.55 percent respectively.

Big cities with the highest misery indexes are Los Angeles, at 12.28 percent, and Detroit, at 13.87 percent.

For the U.S. overall, the index for June was 10.55 percent (unemployment = 9.5; inflation rate = 1.05). The index has ranged from a low of 2.97 in July 1953 to a high of 21.98 in June 1980, according to the website miseryindex.us.

Home Sales are better than last year – Yippee!

Home sales are better than a year-ago – yippee! And prices continued to show signs of stabilizing, mainly due to the activity of move-up buyers.

Compared to last November, home sales jumped more than 31 percent. The strength of the first-time buyer market is no surprise.  What the big guys didn’t expect though was the surge of the” move-up market.

Sales of single family homes and condominiums for November were better than last year this time by 76 percent – wow!  Median prices were down about 7 percent from a year ago, but after getting pounded for months, it was the lowest percentage decline all year.

Prices had been falling like old NASA satellites every month this year by double digits until June.  Hold on though – for the last three months the decline has been under 7.5 percent. WooHoo!

Overall, the market is showing signs of strength, mainly due to stable prices during most of the year and the “briskness” in activity.  The market is shifting and that’s good.  Ideally, you want about as many buyers of homes as sellers of homes – everybody’s happy.

Last month, our buddies in Congress (they really are not our buddies – we just threatened them with their jobs) obliged us by extending the first-time home buyer tax credit of up to $8,000 to buyers who purchase by April 30, 2010.  How nice.  However, they did one better – The Merry Men (and women) also authorized a tax credit of up to $6,500 for repeat (can you say move up) home buyers.

Let’s face it gang.  The holidays are tough.  So much to do and so little time (or money) to do it.  But, and this is a big but – now can be a great time to buy or sell real estate.  Although holiday slowdowns are the “the norm” for housing activity, industry experts (who are those guys anyway?) say now can be a good time for both sellers and buyers.

Buyers get less flak from the competition for the best homes. Although they should get it all year long, buyers can expect above-normal attention from service providers who are experiencing a slowdown in their business, including lenders, home inspectors, appraisers and title companies. Lenders may even be willing to extend very favorable mortgage terms or forgo some fees as they vie for business.

Sellers can also benefit from showcasing their homes with “tasteful” holiday decorations.  Just don’t overdo the décor.  You’re tying to sell a house. . people need to see the house!

How about faster closings by lenders who are motivated to add transactions to their 2009 books, and tax deductions.  I’ve seen some amazing things happen! If you’re even thinking of doing something with real estate, call me.  I’ll fill up my Colman Thermos with warm eggnog and we’ll go shopping for a house!