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Home Projects That Boost Value

Whether you’re planning to move soon or not, it’s smart to be strategic about which home projects you take on. Your time, energy, and money matter – and not all upgrades offer the payoff you might expect. As U.S. News Real Estate explains: “. . . not every home renovation project will increase the resale […]
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A Tale of Two Housing Markets

For a long time, the housing market was all sunshine for sellers. Homes were flying off the shelves, and buyers had to compete like crazy. But lately, things are starting to shift. Some areas are still super competitive for buyers, while others are seeing more homes sit on the market, giving buyers a bit more […]
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Pre-Approval Isn’t Commitment – It’s Clarity

If buying a home is on your radar – even if it’s more of a someday plan than a right now plan – getting pre-approved early is still one of the smartest moves you can make. Why? Because, like anything in life, the right prep work makes things clearer. The best time to get serious […]
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April 2025 Market Update

After three months of stabilization around $1.7M, it’s clear the 10% median price increase is real. That said, the 2% appreciation is misleading: prices surged 18% early in 2024 before leveling off to a more sustainable 6% annual growth rate, which better reflects the true market appreciation. Looking ahead, a modest pricing correction seems likely, […]

Uncategorized Home Projects That Boost Value Whether you’re planning to move soon or not, it’s smart to be strategic about which home projects you take on. Your time, energy, and money matter – and not all upgrades offer the payoff you might expect. As U.S. News Real Estate explains: “. . . not every home renovation project will increase the resale […]

Uncategorized A Tale of Two Housing Markets For a long time, the housing market was all sunshine for sellers. Homes were flying off the shelves, and buyers had to compete like crazy. But lately, things are starting to shift. Some areas are still super competitive for buyers, while others are seeing more homes sit on the market, giving buyers a bit more […]

Uncategorized Pre-Approval Isn’t Commitment – It’s Clarity If buying a home is on your radar – even if it’s more of a someday plan than a right now plan – getting pre-approved early is still one of the smartest moves you can make. Why? Because, like anything in life, the right prep work makes things clearer. The best time to get serious […]

Uncategorized April 2025 Market Update After three months of stabilization around $1.7M, it’s clear the 10% median price increase is real. That said, the 2% appreciation is misleading: prices surged 18% early in 2024 before leveling off to a more sustainable 6% annual growth rate, which better reflects the true market appreciation. Looking ahead, a modest pricing correction seems likely, […]

Uncategorized A Recession Doesn’t Mean a Housing Crisis There’s a lot of talk about a recession lately and how the odds of one are rising. If you’re wondering what that means for the housing market, here’s what the data tells us. While you may remember the price crash in 2008, that’s not the norm. Looking back all the way to 1980, home prices […]

Uncategorized Paused Your Moving Plans? Here’s Why It Might Be Time To Hit Play Again Last year, 70% of buyers abandoned their home search – and maybe you were one of them. It makes sense. Inventory was low, prices were high, and mortgage rates were up and down like a rollercoaster. All of that made it really hard to find a home you loved – and could afford. But guess […]

Uncategorized Weekly Update- March 6th

Uncategorized Are Investors Actually Buying Up All the Homes? Are you trying to buy a home but you feel like you’re up against deep-pocketed Wall Street investors snatching up everything in sight? Many people believe mega investors are driving up prices and buying up all the homes for sale, and that’s making it hard for regular buyers like you to compete. But here’s […]

Uncategorized The Return to Urban Living — Why More People Are Moving Back to Cities After years of suburban and rural migration during the pandemic, cities have been making a comeback in the past couple of years. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the percentage of people moving to cities has risen to 16%. While that may not sound like a big number to you, it is the highest level in a decade […]

Uncategorized Weekly Update – February 20th

Uncategorized A Record Percent of Buyers Are Planning To Move in 2025 – Are You? This could be the year to sell your house – and here’s why. According to a recent NerdWallet survey, 15% of people are planning to buy a home this year. That’s actually a record high for this survey (see graph below): Here’s why this is such a big deal. The percentage has been hovering between 9-11% since 2020. This recent […]

Uncategorized Eastside February Stats I hesitated to share this month’s stats, as that median price of $1.7M, an 11% increase, isn’t likely the true story. While it IS the real median number, I’m just not sure it’s telling the true story, as price trends have so many variables and are a tricky, almost impossible, metric to measure. My suspicion […]

Uncategorized Weekly Update – February 13th

Uncategorized The Perks of Buying a Fixer-Upper There’s no denying affordability is tough right now. But that doesn’t mean you have to put your plans to buy a home on the back burner. If you’re willing to roll up your sleeves (or hire someone who will), buying a house that needs some work could open the door to homeownership. Here’s everything […]

Uncategorized Weekly Update – February 6th

Uncategorized When Is the Perfect Time To Move? It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of waiting for the perfect moment to make your move – especially in today’s market. Maybe you’re holding out and hoping mortgage rates will drop, or that home prices will fall. But here’s what you need to realize: trying to time the market rarely works. And here’s why. There […]

Uncategorized If Your House’s Price Is Not Compelling, It’s Not Selling There’s one big mistake you need to avoid when you sell your house this year: setting your price too high. It might seem like overpricing gives you room to negotiate or could really boost your profit, but the reality is, it usually backfires. In fact, Realtor.com says almost 20% of sellers — that’s one in five — have to reduce their price […]

Uncategorized One Homebuying Step You Don’t Want To Skip: Pre-Approval There’s one essential step in the homebuying process you may not know a whole lot about and that’s pre-approval. Here’s a rundown of what it is and why it’s so important right now. What Is Pre-Approval? Pre-approval is like getting a green light from a lender. It lets you know how much they’re willing to let […]

Uncategorized December Eastside Stats 2024 Initially, I wasn’t interested in December’s stats, as it really doesn’t tell much of a story (fourth quarter, in general, tends to be wonky), but I was intrigued by the data. First, we saw a month-over-month appreciation in December, and even though I felt it in the market (meaning buyers were gobbling up anything worth […]

Uncategorized Home Staging FAQ: What You Need To Know You may have heard that staging your home properly can make a big difference when you sell your house, but what exactly is home staging, and is it really worth your time and effort? Here are a few quick FAQs that can help you decide how much you should prioritize staging as you prep for […]