Geoff Wood at Windermere Seattle: Couldn’t be more wrong.
Geoff Wood’s letter in December’s Seattle Times newspaper attempted to give vague reassurance to Seattle real estate buyers on behalf of Windermere Real Estate that:
1.) The real estate market all over the U.S. is declining – but Seattle’s probably won’t.
2.) You need a full service agent (ie 6%+ on average) when you sell your home.
Geoff couldn’t be more wrong. Let’s look through his letter (actually a paid advertisement) – and assess the various points:
Paragraph 1: Geoff notes there is increasing concern (he calls it “discussion”) on the future of the real estate market. Perhaps he is referring to the countless friends you may have that have lost significant amounts of their savings from other parts of the United States. In our own personal case (Western U.S.) – we lost over 50% of equity on an upscale investment single family home, and had a decline in the value of our personal home of over $100,000.
“…it can be challenging to stay focused on what’s best for you and your family…” “…make decisions that reflect your needs and enhance your life…” Not sure what this vagueness means – but seems to be getting us primed to some propaganda to come.
Now Geoff begins to quote the former chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (the widely dis-credited David Lereah) – who has now written a book. Mr. Lereah has come to the astounding conclusion that each local market has different economic dynamics. Ignored in this analysis are the general boom and then bust of the sub-prime mortgage market and no-documentation “liar” loans that made the real estate industry billions of dollars. The dry-up of this entry level and investment funding have significantly reduced demand for real estate across the country.
Geoff now begins to work the “Seattle is immune” argument extremely popular in this area. …”a national average…may not reflect what’s happening on your block…” On my block: The realtor who sold us our home was laid off – from a Windermere agency – less than 3 months after we bought our home. She was specifically laid off due to slowing market sales volume for real estate around Seattle.
It’s easy to “just keep believing”, but real facts don’t lie. We’ll continue to analyze this self-serving letter in future posts. What do you think — is Geoff’s finger in the dike of decline, or is all well on Queen Anne Hill and Snoqualmie Ridge?
In the meantime – numbers speak louder than words. Check out some simple stats on the Seattle real estate market.