It’s time for our monthly check-in of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (HPI). The Case-Shiller data is generally considered to be the most reliable measure of overall home price changes for a region, since they only consider repeat sales of homes when calculating their index, instead of looking at all the homes that sold in [...]

Seattle planners have approved a long-planned 35-story apartment tower for Second Avenue and Pike Street. City officials actually started reviewing the plan in 2004. Developer Urban Visions revised the proposal in 2006, in response to major changes to downtown zoning rules, in 2007, when it added a Candela Hotel to the plan, and in 2009, [...]

Many times when someone rents a storage unit they may not visit their unit very often as with the caller I spoke with a few days ago. I’ll never forget how frustrated they where to begin with and how the call ended.  They arrive to the storage facility and could get their gate code to [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported that applications for a mortgage refinance rose by 26.4 percent during the week ending January 13, 2012 compared to the previous week. The MBA’s Refinance Index reached the highest level since August 8, 2011 and the refinance share of mortgage applications rose to 82.2 percent. “Interest rates dropped last [...]

A California real estate investment firm has acquired a 244-unit apartment complex in east Vancouver for $21 million. The Matteson Companies bought the property, Prairie Park Apartments at 11510 N.E. 112th Drive, in October from a local developer. The seller was represented by Norris & Stevens. HFF L.P., a mortgage banker, originated a $15.3 million [...]