"Median price for house in Seattle tops $500,000"

[Chief]

http://soundpolitics.com/archives/009229.html


...and people wonder why Snohomish County is one of the fastest growing in the state:

    A worker would have to earn $57 an hour -- about $119,000 a year -- to afford that Seattle home, according to the Seattle chapter of the Urban Land Institute.

    And on the Eastside, a worker needs to earn nearly $152,000 a year to afford a house with the $643,750 median price there in August.

Land of the working man (and woman!) that is not.

**SCHNIPP**

And that is how they think they can afford to pay for Loot Rail.  Keep in mind that 70% of the money raised in the State of Washington comes from Residential Property Taxes.

And shall we ponder how many of those $500,000 homes have Ardjstable rate Mortgages??  Are close to default??  Behind on their property taxes??  Already doomed to foreclosure??

It won't be long before nobody can afford to buy a house in Washington...

Since so much money goes toward "Transit" in this state, we need a new paint scheme for busses and Loot Rail trains...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/SeniorChieftain/sharkbus.jpg

[Waterbuffalo]

If that is true, let the blackhole begin.

[Chief]

It's true all right. there has been a group up there called "Lesser Seattle" for years, whose sole purpose was to highlight the fact that a working man can no longer afford a house anywhere near Seattle.

[Waterbuffalo]

Never heard of "lesser seattle" before?

But a lot of what you posted is so true of the seattle area. Lucky, if one move north into Longview/Kelso, they don't get much of the Oregon drumbeat and actually see other things like the Seattle areas growth plans.

[Chief]

The 'burbs in Seattle grew up around the Blue-Collar jobs at the Boeing plant during WWII, and the prices of some pretty small sized houses are just astronomical up there. $500,000 is the median price; there are plenty of $1 Million Dollar houses up there now too.

It is a shame, but a family of four being supported by Dad alone on a $50,000 salary could not survive in Seattle. You would not even qualify for a mortgage with that level of income.

[Waterbuffalo]

Only reason I can see that the seattle market would go bust would be a couple of things..

1) Stock Market or Housing market takes a nosedive.

2) Boeing, Microsoft, one of Paul Allens companies, some other Seattle Metro area big deal company goes bankrupt.

3) Import/Export of goods out of Seattle/Portland or Vancouver goes tits up for some reason..

Aka a serious situation.

[Chief]

I worry about a serious devaluation of property in the entire State at some point. There is no economy in the nation that can keep this up indefinitiely.

<a href="http://www.grassfire.net/88/truths.html">
3. No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity.</a>

[Waterbuffalo]

[quote]3. No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity."

Agree with your comments and above statement.

If the valuation of the homes and this racket I explain earlier falls upon itself, we might be in for a serious amount of reality check bounces to clear up some problem areas in the US economy.. Lets hope that it will recover quick enough, so that we don't suffer too long.