Slow to the crunch

For the past week, I’ve noticed on several local RE websites and blogs that people seem to be saying not much has changed around the Puget Sound area, that the economic crunch hasn’t really been felt yet. But I’ve seen evidence elsewhere that points directly to the opposite.

My husband works for a stone wholesaler (granite, marble, etc) and February and so far, March, have been very slow for them. This is a company who sells slabs and tile to builders and contractors and the fact that their business has slowed down, tells me that we are indeed seeing some of the crunch in Snohomish County.

I’m just not convinced everything is rosy here. I find it odd in some ways, because trends in many areas of the country are showing it’s actually cheaper to build your own home right now than it has been for at least a decade, if not longer. Yet building has slowed tremendously here and as I mentioned already, slabs and tile are not selling.

Additionally, there are a couple of homes in our neighborhood that have been for sale for going on 4 months or so now. In the past few years, homes like these would have sold within 45 days, tops. One of them is a spacious home on a corner lot, about a block from a prime elementary school and whose price has been reduced at least twice since it came on the market. It’s even vacant! Someone could move right in! But there it sits . . . And a block away from us, is a duplex that was built last summer. It is still sitting there with a for sale sign as well.

You might remember my post last week “Real Estate Local: Tanked” and this is why I’m still trying to justify all this information in my own mind. Statistics from various sources and the news from those same sources are in conflict with one another. It’s baffling.

Historically, the Pacific Northwest has been slow to feel an economic crunch and while we haven’t noticed the same effects as the rest of the country even now, I think we are catching up to the recession everyone else has been feeling for quite some time.

What have you noticed? How is real estate being affected in your neighborhood?

Until later,
Annie