Seattle area hit by foreclosure epidemic

terpmom said on November 4, 2010 at 1:14 PM

We're planning to foreclose, but only because our neighborhood has too many foreclosures and is making our house seem overpriced, when in all actuality, it's about $40K less than we WOULD'VE sold it for... all that with unemployed self-employed spouse (no unemployment $$), my health plan at work is deducting $200 MORE a month, considering putting my kids on DSHS (but probably not any more since those programs will most likely get cut).... hmmm life is interesting. Just keep swimming... ~Dory

zaxxon7469 said on November 3, 2010 at 12:11 PM

It is not just housing it was the easy credit. My problem was having the credit card for emergencies, but with this econmy that came every month, I needed to fix a car, the furnace, etc, etc, it added up, and now, Im reduced hours, may or maynot be working come the new year. My employer like the rest tossed out the nice health Plan, in favor for the dirt cheap don't get sick plan unless you can afford it. My wife is an insulan depandent diabetic, and her medical bills are stagering, along with all the other health issues. Raising 5 year old Girl, isn't cheap. I wish I can go, yep its all my fault, but I can't the blame is equaly spraed by the greed that has griped and altimatly crippled this country.

sailsman said on November 2, 2010 at 1:41 AM

House payment $1022.00 Property tax @ 19% Sales tax @ 9.8% Most major arterials down to one lane Rest of roadway, and infrastructure so poorly maintained it's unusable Parking rates higher than New York City I think I'm finally getting the message. Take the train (that only goes to the airport), get on a plane and leave Seattle...........

cmeeverett said on October 29, 2010 at 1:04 AM

This is why we need real estate reform. One only needs to look at real estate businesses who set a "so-called" price based upon demand. Unfortunately, investors eventually come in & speculate on the market, buying up properties, driving the demand up, then prices go up, based upon speculation, not "real" demand. This needs to STOP! ------Speculation in the Real Estate market for single family homes is what lead to this last recession, & forced honest people to lose their homes.

dukarl said on October 28, 2010 at 7:35 PM

BLANKING OUT MUST WROTE MS'S VISTA PROGRAM YA THINK

dukarl said on October 28, 2010 at 7:32 PM

I recall the 70's. I have lived in Moses Lake most of my life and would'nt change for the world.and we have a few so called recessions here too. the boing boing recession you had in the 70's did not affect us so much, though I had a lot of friends that moved west to work in the areospace industry and after 5-7 years over there lost every thing they had. the one we had that was felt thoughout the Col. Basin as a whole was in the late 70's when the nuke plants that were under contruction.Three were closed at Hanford and one at Satsop. There was cost overruns in the billions in each of the plants. When they whet down it ruined the economy for 8 to 10 years with 15-20 thousand contruction workers out of work. most trades were taking a 15-20 percent cut in wages and benefits just to get what work was left. there were couple of specialty plants that survived. now that the clean up is going strong the economy has picked up quite a bit. how long it will stay is any buddy's guess. LIGHTS OUT

bazwest said on October 28, 2010 at 5:25 PM

saynotolibs your comment is right on the mark. Property tax reductions are not tracking the decline in assessed value. And assessed home values are not tracking market values either. Assessed values are kept artificially high and property taxes are being kept high as well. All this adds to the foreclosure mess as homeowners find it tougher to pay taxes and high mortgages.

epicure43 said on October 28, 2010 at 3:45 PM

oh, but weren't we just told over the summer everything is great in Seattle regarding the housing market? Now is the time to buy... really

kalaloch said on October 28, 2010 at 3:07 PM

Those of us old enough will remember the recession of the 70's, when vast neighborhoods in Seattle were basically abandoned, both because of joblessness and because of red-lining. Fortunately, government regulations no longer allow banks to discriminate purely based on zip codes. This market has been tough, but it's a cake walk compared to then.

alki50 said on October 28, 2010 at 2:58 PM

This shouldn't come as a surprise. After paying all of our city/county/state taxes there isn't enough left to make a house payment.

conseula said on October 28, 2010 at 1:56 PM

Seattle has seen the decline in housing prices in other bad economies and recovered. Recognizing this time, it is big time recession and of course unemployment would be the cause! Economy always comes back sooner or later and the real estate values that were hindered by a foreclosure will spike back up again? Lived there, seen it happen..

missbeverlyann said on October 28, 2010 at 12:08 PM

Yeah, like King County is gonna lessen our property tax burden. My condo dropped 2 years in a row.. and I didn't see my property taxes go down. Hmmm... what is wrong with this picture? Bet when market turns around and my condo starts to creep pack up I'll be slammed with a new property tax increase!!!!!

saynotolibs said on October 28, 2010 at 11:36 AM

@slappywag: Don't count on your taxes going down because the "market value" on your house has gone down. My assessed value took a 20% hit but my taxes went down about $100/year. I know somebody whose assessed value went down but their taxes went UP.

blankingout said on October 28, 2010 at 11:11 AM

Thanks.. no I know a couple of MS employees who think they can take the money earned for being at the right place at the right time and start their own software or say food business approaching things like if they are programming: Take a building, add one hot receptionist, sell.. burgers, be open 11 to 9pm, add one smarter than anyone else owner (me of course) and it will equal money... funny thing is that business model will fail, yet banks will score them the highest for credit...

clear2copy said on October 28, 2010 at 10:39 AM

I hope the programs you write are better than your grammar O_o

blankingout said on October 28, 2010 at 9:35 AM

I am not worried cause I work at Microsoft and they would not fire me.. Besides I got money save up and earning more is as easy as the programs I write. Money plus new venture will equal more money!.. right? Good thing they give people like me good credit scores!

chevelle70ss said on October 28, 2010 at 9:07 AM

Well there is a duhhh statement, gee if the unemployment rate goes up so does the foreclosure rate who would have thunk

slappywag said on October 28, 2010 at 9:03 AM

The day we moved into our house, the people two doors down were moving out due to foreclosure. What can I say, stupidity with an ARM, the reset.. you get the picture. It finally came back on the market recently after sitting vacant for nearly two years. I haven't seen anyone come around to look at it. Out latest valuation by the county came in at about $50K less than we paid. Good for our taxes, bad for our home value.

vffrwm said on October 28, 2010 at 8:13 AM

And this is a surprise? Tell ya what until the banks can clear these bad loans off their books it's not going to get any better. The interest rate could be 0% but if a bank won't lend the money whats the point. Couple with that the idea being floated by the Bama boys in DC that the next tax deduction to hit the floor is going to be the home loan interest write off and the party is over. Oh and by the way King County....how about tax values?