If you watch the news or read anylists reports on the economy and the real estate climate as a whole you will get a varying degree of how the country is doing.  Throughout the United States, there are few metropolitan area’s that are doing well.  As a matter of fact most are hanging on & in some cases there are cities that keep trending downward.  Seattle/Tacoma is but one of those area’s.   Foreclosures have steadily increased since 2008, and the realtors dont see a slowing down.  However East of the Mountains in Wenatchee, Yakima, and Spokane, the trend is holding steady.  Those markets have held there ground, yet thats not to say that they havent been hit hard.

One could conclude that were not out of the woods yet.  We very well could see a dip in the economy, as the state of the country is very fragile to say the least.  If the results from the upcoming elections dont put some confidence in the consumers, we could see an even more stagnant real estate market.  More qualified buyers may choose to rent instead of purchasing.  Not to mention the (major) banks are overwhelmed and under qualified.  This holiday season will be heavily scrutinized by analysts to see how were trending as a nation.  The elections will have passed and maybe the bank accounts will open up a bit, and spending will take place.  Dont Count on it though……. we still have some tough, but manageable times ahead of us.

Kevin J. Lawson