Sometimes, coming in last can actually be good. The Puget Sound long withstood the national housing market crisis by continuing to show strong numbers in all areas. In the past few months though we have really begun to see the effects of the national market here locally. However, being one of the last metropolitan areas to feel these effects should actually benefit us when compared to other areas.

Our government has been working over the past several months to correct the mortgage industry and housing crisis we seem to be experiencing. Numerous new bills and policies have begun to take affect recently. Credit standards continue to change. For some markets, this help is coming so late that they have already had double digits losses…with many homeowners facing devastating losses.

Thankfully, we are beginning to see signs in the national market of things just beginning to turn around. Numbers may stop their continued sinking very soon…especially with the help from increased credit standards. Fannie Mae just this week announced lower down-payment requirements this week. With these and the new conforming loan rates…we are beginning to see signs of life in all markets.

My thinking…right or wrong…is that this will keep our market from sinking near as low as many of the other national markets. We are likely to turn around as quickly as many other markets…without ever having seen the devastating losses that many others saw! Of course, this is all speculation as no one knows what our economy and housing market will actually do. The Puget Sound still is fairing fairly well…but thinks aren’t always peachy.

I just closed a deal last Friday that received three offers…however, it took 50 days to get those offers in! People are looking…they are just taking their time. Anyways…I’m getting over a terrible cold still…it’s been over a week and it stills knocks me off my feet at times each day. Hopefully that will go away soon. Have a great Wednesday!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Market Conditions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.