Snohomish County Real Estate News and Housing Market Report for December 2016
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Real estate market data for Snohomish County, WA provided by the North West MLS. To get your instant home valuation Click Here! You may be surprised what your home is worth in today’s market!
We can feel that winter is just around the corner in Snohomish County! The air is crisp and the market has calmed down a bit in most areas. We have been seeing homes sitting on the market a little longer. Also, we have been seeing more price reductions. Good news for buyers, there are not as many multiple offers as in the summer months. However, it is still a great time to sell because Inventory is still low. Buyers have been extra motivated with the rising interest rates. There was a total of 1,100 active residential homes in Snohomish County last month. Homes are selling anywhere from 98% – 102% of list price.
The average days a house is on the market is 36 days for all of Snohomish County. Depending on what city you live in your market time may be more or fewer days. Bothell has the least market time in Snohomish County, around 20 days. North Snohomish County is about 10 to 15 days longer average market time. What really determines how fast your home will sell is what specific area you are in and if you price competitively.
Snohomish County Home Prices
Home prices have gone up 10.2% year to date. Each city in Snohomish County is different, some home prices are steady and others are still rising. Bothell and Snohomish have the highest appreciation in their value this month. As you can see from the graph below, listings are mostly selling around full price and over.
To make sure you don’t overpay for your home, you’ll want to have an agent that does a thorough market analysis of the home on which you are making an offer. The average sales price in Snohomish County last month was $425,619. Bothell WA had the highest average price point in the county.
- Bothell, WA has 146 active homes for sale. The average price is $559,381 and the average time on market is 20 days.
- Everett, WA has 252 active homes for sale, the average price is $415,751 and the average time on market is 30 days.
- Snohomish, WA has 168 active homes for sale, the average price is $387,66 and the average time on market is 43 days.
- Lake Stevens, WA has 206 active homes for sale, the average price is $387,664 and the average time on market is 35 days.
- Marysville, WA has 380 homes for sale, the average price is $331,601 and the average time on market is 36 days.
Snohomish County Low Inventory
We are still experiencing extreme housing inventory lows in all of Snohomish County. As of November 30th, 2016 the current housing inventory for Snohomish County is only 1.5 months. We have less inventory than the previous two months. As a result of low inventory, if no other homes went on the market after today, we would sell out within one and a half months.
Usually, around the winter season, we experience higher inventory than what we have. Our low inventory is happening for a handful of reasons. One reason being the election, many sellers want to wait until they see how everything goes with our election we just had. Also, sellers are worried that if they sell their home they won’t find a home to move into because of low inventory. On the other hand, if sellers wait for more inventory that means more competition when selling.
Buying A House In Snohomish County
In December, we are noticing more motivated buyers than any other month so far. Specifically, we are seeing lots of first-time home buyers. Everyone is anxious to buy a house before the interest rates rise. They have been slowly rising for a couple weeks now. This seems to be the big drive for buyers looking right now.
Another factor is that rental houses are still extremely expensive right now. In fact, you can buy a house and have a mortgage payment that most likely will be less than renting a house. Besides the fact it is expensive to rent right now, the rental inventory is also extremely low. Buyers are looking at on market and off market properties, because they just want in a house. An experienced agent can help you look into for sale by owners and off-market properties to help increase your options.
Featured Properties:
Selling A Home In Snohomish County
Sellers should be taking advantage of the market and selling their homes while the competition is low. Many people who have a second home other than their primary residence are selling to get the highest price possible in this seller’s market. The best time to sell is when buyers are motivated and inventory is low. The best time is now! Lots of investors are selling their single-family and doing a 1031 exchange to buy multi-family properties. We can help you invest your money into multi-family that can give you the highest return on investment.
Multi-Family in Snohomish County:
Appraisals In Snohomish County
As an agent, we have been writing closing dates on offers cautiously because of the turn around time for appraisals. Appraisers in Snohomish County are extremely busy right now and are taking longer than usual to turn in reports. As a result, lots of buyers are paying rush fee’s and putting a longer close date on purchase and sale agreements. In some markets, you can’t ask for a longer close date because the market is too competitive. That would mean that the buyer has to pay extra for the appraisal to be rushed. We have seen many real estate contracts having to get extended due to appraisals taking a long time to get turned into the lender.
The other issue with appraisals is the lack of inventory in Snohomish County. It is hard for an appraiser to find comparable homes when in many areas there isn’t much that sold recently to compare to. There have been more appraisal reports coming in with low values due to the lack of comparable homes. When this happens buyers can either come up with the difference in price and pay it in cash at closing or negotiate the seller to come down in price.
Find Homes for Sale in Snohomish County
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