Sam DeBord

More good news came from a National Association of Realtors report this week.  Prices of existing homes rose 9.5 percent year-over-year this past month.  Included in those gains are six straight months of price increases, which we haven't seen happen since the peak in 2005/2006 (the nationwide pe...

As the greater Seattle market has found its real estate footing in the past year, we're also checking in on some cities in the North and South Sound to see if the good real estate news is trickling out to the rest of the Puget Sound region. The Capitol City seems to be experiencing a resurgence i...

According to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales rose in July and are sitting at a much higher level than they were at the same time one year ago. The latest stats give us fifteen straight months of increases in homes being signed under contract, in com...

More good news is on its way in a recent report from the Associated Press this week.  After seven years of the real estate market nationwide being a drag on the overall economy, we seem to have turned the corner.  New numbers are creating the expectation that economic growth in the U.S. will actu...

CNN Money made its yearly list of the top cities to live in the U.S, comparing the employment market, schools, crime statistics, and health care.  Larger cities usually don't make this list because of the relative crime and school stats when compared to smaller, more homogenous cities with greate...

Shrinking Inventory of Homes For Sale - Source: National Association of REALTORS® via Calculated Risk blog. Home prices across the U.S. rose for the fifth straight month in July, to a median price of $187,300.  That was a 9.4 percent increase compared to one year ago, according to a new report fr...

The sweeping regulatory changes from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act have kept the mortgage lending industry on its heels for the past few years.  While there are plenty of good intentions and a handful of potentially positive reforms, it seems that the Act is becomi...

Sales of luxury homes in the greater Seattle market have been rising for the past couple of years, and the most recent statistics confirm that the increases haven't let up.  Total luxury real estate sales in King County for 2012 thusfar have been up 9.8 percent as compared to the same point last ...

Canadian real estate investors have long been one of the largest groups purchasing homes in the U.S.  During the recent economic downturn, Canadians found themselves in a unique position as their currency value inflated and U.S. home prices deflated.  Canadian buyers increased their influence on ...

Realtor Magazine has been covering the staggering drops in real estate inventory for many of the nation's largest metropolitan areas this year.  We're seeing no end in sight to the tight inventories of many U.S. cities, especially those on the West Coast with strong employment pictures. Seattle r...