Northwest Weekly News in Review
Here’s a few of the article’s I read this week that I’m adding here for my viewers. Each and every week when I’m posting to the blog, I read and review a lot of news articles and blogs. It’s imperative that one studies this market constantly to be a well informed source when on the subjects I write about. So here is my list of articles for the week of Oct. 01 to Oct. 07, 2007.
This week has been a pretty windy and rainy week here in the Northwest. Typically our Octobers are calm and our big storms start in Novemeber and can last into early March.
Here’s this weeks news that caught my attention and I thought would be worthy of passing on to my viewers.
Five Ways to Boost Your Homes Value - via Newsweek Oct 3, 2007. With an increasing number of properties hitting the market, you want to make sure that you’re doing all the right things to get top dollar for your property. The advice and list was put together by a top Appraiser. And while you cannot change your house’s location or size, there are a number of ways you can easily affect the value of your house.
Will Home Prices Rise? Look at Trends For Answer - via HeraldNet, Oct 7, 2007. Steve Tyler thinks they’re going to stay flat for the next few years. I would have to agree with him. Hot markets usually only last 2-3 years and are mostly followed by a buyer’s market, then a normal market lasting a total of 5-10 years. We have been in a buyer’s market since Sept. 2005, and should ease into a more normal market in the next few years. Tyler calls this the stair-step pattern of the Puget Sound housing market. I agree very much with the author on this…I’ve been using that same stair-step pattern to help describe the local market to others for the last 20 years in the same way.
How Can You Tell Whats Really Green? - via Seattle Times, Oct 2, 2007. Builders, real-estate agents and cities across the country want you to buy a green house, and with good reason: They’re much better for the environment. The article says there are many, many shades of green and everyone has a different way of identifying it. It also explains those zing words we all see like Energy Star and LEED.