Realtor Thursday

A conversation with Sam DeBord, Seattle Real Estate Broker, Realtor with www.SeattleHome.com

When you think of Seattle, what’s the first image that comes to mind—maybe a grunge rocker drinking coffee in the rain? Tom Hanks on a houseboat? Since its start as a logging town and later as an aircraft giant, the city has transformed itself from gritty frontier outpost to a dynamic, world-class city.

Some of the world’s most successful companies got their start in Seattle, including Microsoft, UPS, Starbucks, Amazon, Costco, Boeing, Expedia, Zillow, Red Robin, and REI. The burgeoning software, biotech, and medical industries have in turn spawned one of the best employment markets in the nation and created a vibrant international community.

Seattle itself has around 600,000 residents, while the greater metro area encompasses about 3 million. As a city surrounded by waterways, land for building real estate is at a premium, and homes near the water garner an expected premium. Density of housing near downtown is always a goal of local developers, whether it be high-rise condominiums or houseboats and floating homes on Lake Union.

Our town

Seattle is really a city built upon another city. The original town was built near the water level on Elliott Bay, and over years of flooding issues, fires, and plumbing problems, there was finally a decision made to bump the entire downtown up one story and build it on top of the current infrastructure. The underground city spent some time as a haven for criminal activity, and is still preserved as a labyrinth that can be toured from Pioneer Square downtown.

The Seattle metro is generally divided into two areas, which are separated by Lake Washington: Seattle and “the Eastside”. Seattle and its smaller neighboring towns sit on the West between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington. The Eastside encompasses everything East of Lake Washington including Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond. Most of the historic districts and real estate reside in Seattle, while newer construction homes and developments are a larger part of the makeup of the Eastside.

Seattle’s famous personalities hail from widely divergent paths: musicians Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain, software gurus Paul Allen and Bill Gates, actors Adam West and Bruce Lee, and a strangely-high number of famous serial killers. Artists, independent thinkers, and entrepreneurs seem to flock to Seattle as a place to express their hopes and dreams in an atmosphere that encourages free spirits.

The rain? It’s really not that bad. New York averages 10+ inches more rain than Seattle per year. We have an intermittent, gray drizzle that lasts through late fall, winter, and early spring. It doesn’t really rain every day, it just doesn’t clear up very often. Winters are mild, with snow for a maximum of one or two weeks per year. Summers are warm and dry, but rarely very hot. If you spend August and September in Seattle, you’ll never want to leave.

Schools and taxes

The Seattle area enjoys some of the best public schools in the country, and one of the world’s finest research institutions. The University of Washington is widely known as an international university with top academic credentials. Add Seattle University, Seattle Pacific University, and a host of other junior colleges and trade schools, and the opportunities for higher education are top-notch.

Elementary and high school districts around the Eastside are annually ranked in the top 10 to 15 public schools in the country, with Bellevue’s school district garnering most of the top spots. There are also a plethora of private schools catering to numerous religious and secular focuses, many with national recognition—after all, Bill Gates’ children go to school here. Seattle’s population regularly ranks as some of the most-read citizens in the U.S., and the focus on continued learning is apparent in the city’s grand, modern architectural design of its downtown library.

We have no income tax. Let me repeat that for you: No state income tax! Sales tax rates are just under 10 percent in most of the state, and Washington residents are known for driving across the border to Oregon to make large purchases (Oregon has no sales tax but does have an income tax). Property taxes in Seattle are approximately 1 percent of a home’s value per year—expect to pay $3,000/yr for a $300k home.

Economy and prices

The technology companies that support a large part of Seattle’s economy have allowed the city to weather the current economy better than most cities. The number of high salaried positions in the region continues to grow, as many of these companies are hiring and expanding while some traditional industries cut back.

My favorite example of the tech industry’s buoyancy is Microsoft. While the news headline a few months back read “Microsoft Lays Off 5000”, the real story is that the company was hiring more than 5000 new employees in other areas at the same time. Seattle was recently named the #1 metropolitan economy out of 266 metros by Policom Corp, and Kiplinger named it the #2 Best City for the next decade. The future is bright.

Going Green

How green is the town? Look out when you come to Seattle. The people here wear their green on their sleeves–and it’s a badge. From recycling to green building, nature preservation, and pollution control, the environment is a major focus in nearly every facet of Seattle life.

When new residents move to Seattle, they might be confused by their new utilities. Tiny garbage cans, yard waste bins, recycling, and food scrap containers? Yes, there’s a lot of sorting to do, and you’re highly encouraged to get it right. After all of that work, though, you can easily see what we’re trying to protect. Just take a kayak out on Lake Union, go hiking in the Arboretum, or take a bike ride on the Burke-Gilman trail, and you’ll understand why people here value the environment so much. We enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, and we spend a lot of time outdoors, even in the rain.

Seattle’s Future

Seattle’s future will be affected greatly by our future transportation plans. Our geography is unique in that multiple waterways divide our most traveled traffic routes.

Our downtown waterfront highway, the Alaskan Way Viaduct, is a double-decker elevated structure with beautiful views of Puget Sound and Downtown. It’s slated to be replaced by a tunnel in the near future, which will have a large impact on commuting and transport, as well as creating a more attractive waterfront for businesses.

Seattle also has two of the longest floating bridges in the world, both crossing Lake Washington to the Eastside, on the I-90 and SR-520 highways. While these bridges provide another beautiful commute, they age more quickly than a standard highway. The 520/Evergreen Point Floating Bridge is the main arterial between North Seattle and Medina, and plans are under way to replace this existing structure with another floating bridge.

In 2010 Seattle opened its first run of its new Light Rail system, from SeaTac International Airport to downtown Seattle. There are future plans for an expansion to the University District in North Seattle, and across the I-90 bridge to Bellevue and the Eastside. The face of commuting in Seattle will be dramatically transformed over the next decade.

Bottom out

The Seattle real estate market has felt the effects of the real estate downturn like the rest of the nation, but we continue our historical trend of lagging the national market. Typically our market’s peaks and valleys occur up to 18 months after the rest of the country, and they tend to be moderated more than some of the more “aggressive” metros. When San Diego and Miami prices are down 18%, Seattle is down 9%. There’s still speculation in the market, it’s just not extreme.

Home sales are sharply on the rise in Seattle and King County, with 2010 sales up 30%-50% vs 2009, depending on the neighborhood. Home prices seem to have finally bottomed out, as we’ve seen price fluctuations of just a few tenths of a percent through the first half of 2010.

Realtors and Technology

Home buyers and sellers in Seattle are much like those around the country. More and more, they’re spending the majority of their time searching on the internet, doing research on their own, and then calling their Realtor when they’ve found a list of homes. Nine out of 10 home buyers now search online to find their next home.

As a company, we spend the majority of our time developing fast, interactive, detailed searches for our clients. They have a high demand for accessible information, and it’s our job to make every real estate listing, community resource, and set of statistical data available to them in a timely fashion. A good Realtor’s job today is half selling homes, and half web development.

About Sam DeBord

I’m a Puget Sound native, and I’ve spent the majority of my life in real estate, from construction to mortgage banking, and as a real estate broker. I dabbled in Web development and e-commerce consulting after receiving a marketing degree from USC’s Business School, and then returned to Seattle to put my experience to work in the real estate market. Along with my business partner and fellow Realtor Brian Wiegand, we’ve created Seattle’s most-visited real estate sites in SeattleHome.com and SeattleCondo.com. Our company was one of the first brokerages in the U.S. to do business online, and our success in delivering the best real estate searches has created great success for our business and our clients, including over $10 million in sales and a top-10 King County sale for 2009. We sell real estate all over the greater Seattle market, from studio condos to luxury and waterfront homes—even houseboats. Sam can be contacted at (206) 658-3225 or sam(at)SeattleHome.com

Seattle Homes – Condos – Waterfront Homes – Houseboats

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This guest post is part of our Realtor Thursday Series. We invite realtors from towns and cities all over the country, big or small, to participate. Our goal is to “travel” to as many towns as we can in every state. Every town is unique and wonderful to our readers. If you would like to showcase your town, your neighbors and your talents as a realtor, please contact us at liz@dalesiegel.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it