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King & Snohomish County Market Stats – May 2017
What’s Happening in the Market
Eastside (based on Residential and Condominium report):
- Closed median price at an all-time high of $748,944, up 20% from a year ago
- Price appreciation is being driven by low supply and high demand. Eastside months’ supply of inventory is less than three weeks, the lowest ever!
- 748 active listings as of 4/30/17. Down 33% from the year before and 48% from two years before.
- Scarcity has buyers paying above list price on 65% of the sales that closed in April.
- What was the cost of waiting on year (April 2016 vs April 2017) to buy? $123,944 in median price. $9,026 per year in payment.
Don’t Get Caught in the Rental Trap!
There are many benefits to homeownership. One of the top benefits is being able to protect yourself from rising rents by locking in your housing cost for the life of your mortgage.
Don’t Become Trapped
Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist at realtor.com, reported on what he calls a “Rental Affordability Crisis.” He warns that,
“Low rental vacancies and a lack of new rental construction are pushing up rents, and we expect that they’ll outpace home price appreciation in the year ahead.”
In the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University’s 2016 State of the Nation’s Housing Report, they revealed that “The number of cost-burdened households rose to 21.3 million. Even more troubling, the number with severe burdens (paying more than 50% of income for housing) jumped to a record 11.4 million.” These households struggle to save for a rainy day and pay other bills, such as food and healthcare.
It’s Cheaper to Buy Than Rent
In Smoke’s article, he went on to say,
“Housing is central to the health and well-being of our country and our local communities. In addition, this (rental affordability) crisis threatens the future value of owned housing, as the burdensome level of rents will trap more aspiring owners into a vicious financial cycle in which they cannot save and build a solid credit record to eventually buy a home.” “While more than 85% of markets have burdensome rents today, it’s perplexing that in more than 75% of the counties across the country, it is actually cheaper to buy than rent a home. So why aren’t those unhappy renters choosing to buy?”
Know Your Options
Perhaps you have already saved enough to buy your first home. HousingWire reported that analysts at Nomura believe:
“It’s not that Millennials and other potential homebuyers aren’t qualified in terms of their credit scores or in how much they have saved for their down payment. It’s that they think they’re not qualified or they think that they don’t have a big enough down payment.” (emphasis added)
Many first-time homebuyers who believe that they need a large down payment may be holding themselves back from their dream home. As we have reported before, in many areas of the country, a first-time home buyer can save for a 3% down payment in less than two years. You may have already saved enough!
King & Snohomish County Market Stats – March 2017
What’s Happening in the Market
- Closed median price at an all-time high of $736,500, up 20% from a year ago.
- Price appreciation is being driven by low supply and high demand. Eastside month’s supply of inventory is less than three weeks (0.7 months), the lowest ever.
- 737 active listings as of 3/31/17. Down 21% from last year and 42% from the year before.
- Scarcity has buyers paying above list price on 61% of the sales that closed in March.
- What was the cost of waiting on year (March 2016 vs March 2017) to buy? $120,400 more in median price. Interest rates up .51%. $769 a month more for the same home.
How to get your real estate license in Washington State
The real estate profession has expanded and offers one of the widest career selections in the business world today. A career in real estate provides flexibility and freedom to set your own pace. Income directly reflects your efforts, with no limits on what astute, hard-working men and women can earn. Successful people in real estate are goal-oriented, persevering, self-motivated, ambitious and people-oriented. The rewards of a real estate career are a potential for high earnings, status in the community, autonomy, time freedom, helping people, the intellectual challenge and the satisfaction from those accomplishments.
If you think real estate is right for you, here is the requirements and steps you need to take to get your real estate license in Washington State.
Requirements
To qualify for a broker’s license, you must:
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Have a high school diploma or equivalent.
- Successfully complete 90 hours of approved real estate education within 2 years before applying for the exam. This education must include:
- A 60-hour course in Real Estate Fundamentals.
- A 30-hour course in Real Estate Practices.
- Pass the broker’s exam.
Study for broker’s exam
You need to complete 90 hours of real estate education before taking your broker’s exam. Included in this 90 hours is a 60-hour course in Real Estate Fundamentals which provides an overview of the theoretical and practical aspects of real estate. Another included course is Real Estate Practices which is 30 hours and provides an overview of the practical, day-to-day aspects of the real estate business. It teaches the essential skills that Washington real estate agents must master, including: working with clients, pricing property, complying with fair housing laws, filling out necessary agreements, handling offers and counteroffers, prequalifying buyers, and guiding transactions through the closing process.
To complete your education, you can choose from a variety of online and class based schools. Here is our recommendations in the state of Washington.
| 1- Windermere Professional Development | Cost: $399 | windermereu.com |
| 2- Rockwell Institute | Cost: $489 | rockwellinstitute.com |
Schedule your broker’s exam 
Before you complete your course, you must register as a student with DOL testing vendor, Applied Measurements Professionals, Inc. (AMP), so your school can submit your course completion information electronically. To register as a student with AMP click here and follow the instructions.
- Your school must submit your course completions to AMP electronically to complete the examination registration process.
- After your school submits your education information to AMP, schedule your exam online, by phone, or by mail. To schedule online: Go to www.goAMP.com.
For more information visit dol.wa.gov.
Apply for your Washington Real Estate Broker License
- Complete the Real Estate License Application form.
- Submit your completed application with a check or money order for the fee ($138.25 as of Nov. 2016), payable to the Department of Licensing, to:
Real Estate Licensing
Department of Licensing
PO Box 3917
Seattle, WA 98124-3917 - Submit fingerprints for state and national background checks.
- Inside Washington:
- Go to www.identogo.com to schedule an appointment through MorphoTrust, DOL’s electronic fingerprinting vendor. You will pay IdentoGO for taking your fingerprints and for the background checks required for your license type.
- Outside Washington:
- Call Real Estate Regulatory at 360.664.6484 for fingerprint card submission instructions.
- For more details, see Fingerprinting and background checks.
- Inside Washington:
We wish you good luck in the process. Please don’t hesitate to contact us, should you have any questions or need any further information.
Sources: dol.wa.gov, realtor.org, rockwellinstitute.com, amazon.com
