*604 went pending in the month of April

The $8,000 tax credit is over (except for active military). Did it help? In my opinion, no. Looking at the number of pending sales compared to March, we only increased by small number (which is typical for this season). Let's see how the market responds to the tax credit going away and the even bigger news of the our government selling some of the mortgage backed securities. This can and will trigger an increase in interest rates.

As in months past, I have been tracking the percentage of "distressed homes" in the Snohomish County market. These percentages have not changed drasticly in the last six months. A couple trends I have noticed is the percentage of sold distressed homes has been going down each month as non-distressed homes come on the market. One other trend is the percentage of short sales that actually sell compared to the amount of short sales available; this percentage is on the rise.

I will keep watching the real estate market and informing you of the activity as we continue on into 2010, but once again, my opinion is that the  most important stat to watch is the umemployement. Without good paying jobs, people will not be buying homes no matter how big a tax credit they get!

Current interest rates are hovering  around 5.05% with all indications leading to a rate increase in the near future.