January 2021 Newsletter

the

Home Connection

Volume 12 | Issue 1

JANUARY 2021

eye on the market This winter, the housing market has continued to defy the normal cooling seen at this time of year. Unsold inventory is extremely low and year-over-year has shown increases in closed sales. According to MLS data, listings are down 42.8% compared to last year and most counties have reported having less than a month’s supply of houses at the end of each month. In turn, homebuyers are feeling the tough competition as they look to purchase a home and brokers have reported that clients are experiencing multiple offer situations, cash offers, waived pre-approved inspections, and offer price escalations in the “rush for housing.”

experience this! homebuyers. The Northwest MLS shows year-over-year median closed-sale prices for single-family homes have increased compared with the same month a year ago. In King County prices are up by 10.43 percent, in Snohomish County up by 14.34 percent, in Pierce County up by almost 17.12 percent and in Thurston County up by nearly 11.17 percent.

While these price increases, low mortgage rates, and low inventory have created a hot seller’s market, buyers have not been deterred. This is shown by the increase in buyer activity over these past few months as compared to a year ago when looking at the ratio of pending sales to new listings.

In the coming months we will see if the Low inventory of houses and low mortgage buyer/seller market trend continues or if rates have continued to drive up home there will be a gradual slow down before prices, which has also contributed to the spring starts. market being extremely competitive for

New Year, Less Clutter A new year means new resolutions, and a great goal to work on is cleaning, organizing and decluttering your home. This process can be challenging, so here are a few helpful tips for deciding what to keep, donate, or sell, to help you achieve your home goals this year.

• Deciding what to keep: When looking at • Deciding what to donate or throw items around your home and deciding away: When deciding what to donate, what to keep, ask yourself if the item it’s a good idea to maintain high is something currently in use or if you standards and to make sure items are have used the item in the past year. Also in good shape. For example, clothing, think about how much you love an item appliances, toys, etc., should all be or if you are holding on to without rips, tears, missing it for sentimental reasons. parts, or non-functioning If you have multiples of an features. A good rule of item that are going unused, thumb is that it should be consider getting rid of something you would be unnecessary duplicates. It is okay with giving to a friend. also a good idea to examine Items that do not meet these your current space for criteria should be disposed storing items and determine of. You can also check with if something is worth occupying that your local charities to find out what they space or if you would rather use the need for donations. storage for more essential items. continued on next page

Virtual Skiing

Get a close up of Antarctic Penguins

Tour the biggest snow fort ever built

Take a winter train ride through Switzerland

Visit the Guggenheim Museum of Art

Take a crosscountry skiing tour in Wisconsin

Visit the snowy Himalayas from your home

Live Ski cams from Northwest ski resorts

Take a virtual tour of the Heritage Museum in Russia

Virtual tours in Washington State parks

Januaryimportant dates Friday, January 1 New Year’s Day Wednesday, January 13 Clean Off Your Desk Day Monday, January 18 Martin Luther king Jr. Day CW/Counties Closed

Thursday, January 21 Get to Know Your Customers Day Saturday, January 23 National Pie Day

Sunday, January 24 National Compliment Day Thursday, January 28 National Data Privacy Day

A truly meaningful holiday season is found in helping those around us. If you are looking to spread some thankfulness, the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving will be the start of GivingTuesday. GivingTuesday is a global movement in generosity that works to improve communities around the world. Each year nonprofits plan their campaigns and give to their efforts with the generous donations from those who get involved. There are also ways to get your organization involved or to help on an individual level by volunteering in your community, being a local activist, donating goods or money, or simply helping with acts of kindness in your neighborhood. For participating nonprofits, causes, and more information on how to contribute, visit the website www.givingtuesday.org.

Post-holiday Recycling Tips and Tricks After the holidays are over, there is often a surplus of wrapping paper, presents, and various holiday decorations that need to be taken care of. Here are seven ecofriendly tips for reducing post-holiday waste while helping the environment.

• Recycle your Christmas tree. Check

your local area’s rules on how to recycle or compost your tree as many areas offer tree collection and wood chipping services.

• Recycle old electronics. If you traditional wrapping paper is recyclable except for anything with plastic, metal, or foil on the paper.

• Save the accessories. Keep bows,

ribbons, or other decorations that are in good shape to be used for upcoming holidays or celebrations.

• Keep packing materials. Store tissue

paper, shipping peanuts, and bubble wrap, as these can be to used when you need to ship something or for storing fragile items.

received a new TV, computer or other electronics for the holidays, now you’ll need to properly dispose of your old equipment. Preventing E-waste is very beneficial for the environment which can be done with proper recycling of your old electronics. Many product manufacturers offer an e-cycle program to take old products back. Or you can research places in your area that offer similar services. A great resource to check is the EPA website; https://www. epa.gov/ for a complete list of places where you can drop off or mail in old electronics.

• Recycle old Christmas lights. Instead of • Compost left over food scraps. While throwing out Christmas lights that no longer work or are no longer wanted, look for stores that will accept them.

Call ahead to ask your local Home improvement stores such as Home Depot and or Lowe’s if they allow customers to recycle non-functioning lights.

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• A few places in our region accepting donations; visit their website for donation drop-off procedures:

GivingTuesday

• Recycle wrapping paper. Most

Make cleaning out clutter a New Year’s Resolution

you are cooking or after your holiday meals, throw leftover food scraps into a compost pile or bin. This helps to reduce waste and compost can be used to improve your yard.

Volume 12 | Issue 1

· Goodwill · – goodwill.org · Salvation Army Family Store · – satruck.org · The Healing Center · – healingcenterseattle.org · Big Brothers Big Sisters Puget Sound · – bbbsps.org · NW Furniture Bank · – nwfurniturebank.org · • Deciding what to sell: Assess your items from a consumer’s point of view, looking critically at the condition and value of your items. It is also a good idea to look at the platform upon which you’d like to sell your belongings and determine the typical item selling parameters. This will help you decide what to sell and what to throw away or donate instead. You may also want to make sure you are motivated to sell and that you feel your time and energy spent will equal the financial return on items. Here are a few great marketplaces to sell your items: Amazon, offerUp, Facebook Marketplace, local consignment stores, Craigslist, eBay, and so on.

Done in manageable steps, the process of getting your home organized in the new year will go a long way toward helping you perform daily living tasks more efficiently and creating a calming stress-free home environment for the coming year.