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County home market offers low rates, lower prices, wide variety of properties, say experts

By Christina Harper
Special to SCBJ

When potential home buyers in Snohomish County look at what’s happening in other parts of the country with regard to the housing market, they wonder: Is this a good time to buy?

This is the case even when first time buyers qualify for a mortgage and families who want to upgrade have the financing.

People are suffering from an inability to act, said Sam Anderson, executive officer of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.

“I believe that it’s based on stories and information people are getting on the national state of the housing market,” Anderson said.

The Seattle area has been touted as a great place to buy homes in some media. Money guru Suze Orman told an Oprah Winfrey guest recently to sell her family home in California and move to Seattle.

Part of the reason for the positive talk about the Puget Sound area is our economy. Boeing, Microsoft and others are holding strong whereas in other parts of the country businesses are struggling.

Anderson tells people to take a look at empty office towers being built for companies like Microsoft or Boeing hoping to fill them with staff.

“Those people don’t live here yet,” Anderson said. “To me it’s an absolute no-brainer. You can find the house you want if you have the means and ability to pay for.”

Some programs outlined on the Federal Housing Administration website (www.hud.gov) are allowing people to borrow more money for a home with less interest by certain dates.

Certainly, getting screened and qualifying for a mortgage may be tougher than it was a couple of years ago.

“But we’ve been doing that for 20 years,” Anderson said.

With loans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and residents pondering the price of gas and hoping to stay closer to work, potential buyers need to add up all factors, including interest rates being at historical lows, Anderson said.

“Houses haven’t lost their value like in California or Arizona and places like that,” Anderson said.

GMA Research, a Bellevue company that conducts market research for a number of industries, recently conducted focus groups for the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties and found that those attending recognized that this is a good time to buy. They felt good about the local economy and their own financial situation.

The purpose of the focus groups was to talk to potential first-time home buyers and move-up buyers, those who want to sell and either build or buy a larger home, said Don Morgan, a senior partner at GMA Research.

“One of the big take-aways from these focus groups is that there is this huge pent up demand, like a log jam waiting to break,” Morgan said. “A lot of people are sitting on the fence.”

With great inventory and good interest rates, today’s market factors suggest that the climate is a good one. But, Morgan says, people are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Part of the problem is that people are still concerned about the sub-prime interest impact.

“They are hesitant because they are looking for that turn in the market, that silver lining around the clouds, or for the clouds to lift,” Morgan said. “They are waiting for something to happen to say, “OK. The gates are open. Let’s make a move.”

Roger van Oosten of Seattle recently bought a vacation home on Camano Island. His savings weren’t making the interest he was hoping for

“It didn’t make sense to transfer it to the stock market,” van Oosten said.

He and his wife felt good about their interest rate of 5.6 percent when they looked to purchase their Camano home.

“In 1988 we were delighted to get 10.25 percent,” van Oosten said.

The waterfront property is a mid-20th century cabin, on a high bluff and has two bedrooms. The couple paid approximately $465,000 for the property and van Oosten says that if he didn’t get into the market at this time then he might not have been able to at all.

“There are opportunities. If you can (afford to) get out there, there are marvelous opportunities,” van Oosten said.

If people are sitting on the fence about buying a home, Anderson suggests visiting the Master Builders’ web site, www.mba-ks.com. The site presents a variety of real estate market information, including topics like understanding the basics of mortgage and interest rates, as well as helpful subjects such as “six steps for house-hunting success” and “why now is the right time to buy a home.”

He also suggests that people drive around neighborhoods they are interested in, then find a realtor that they are comfortable with to explore all options.

“The one thing that people need to think about is that this market is not going to stay like this forever,” Anderson said. “It won’t be the same at the end of this year and certainly not at the end of next year.”