Charlene Lewis/RE

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Charlene Lewis/RE WA Real Estate Agent with Lotside serving the South King, Pierce and Thurston County areas.

10/15/2026

*Not my music*

10/15/2026

🏡 WASHINGTON HOUSING BRIEF | OCTOBER 15, 2026

Nearly 75% of listings qualify for down payment assistance. So what's missing?

According to September's NWMLS report, 74.7% of listings in its database qualified for at least one down payment assistance program.

That's up from 72.9% a year earlier.

But here's what I want buyers to understand:

A property qualifying for assistance does NOT automatically mean every buyer qualifies.

Programs can have different requirements involving income, financing, property location, purchase price and homebuyer education.

📊 SEPTEMBER MARKET SNAPSHOT

Median price: $625,000 | Down 0.9%
Active listings: 24,965 | Up 24.5%
Closed sales: 5,623 | Down 8.9%
Inventory: 4.44 months

🏦 MORTGAGE RATES

Freddie Mac: 7.40% (unchanged)
Mortgage News Daily: 7.33% (October 15 reading)

Last week, we discussed how financing can prevent affordable housing from being built.

This week, we're looking at financial resources that could help eligible buyers access existing homes.

Before assuming homeownership is out of reach, have a conversation with a knowledgeable lender about the programs available to you.

You may have more options than you realize.

💬 Did you know that this many listings potentially qualify for down payment assistance?

CLRE | Real estate that respects your journey.

10/09/2026

Homes Are Where Our Stories Live

A home holds more than belongings. It holds our lives.

The everyday routines. The hard lessons. The beautiful moments we wish we could live twice.

It holds memories of our children growing up, our parents growing old, and versions of ourselves we can never return to.

A home is more than an asset. It’s where our stories live.

I’m Charlene, something you may not know about me is my home began on the island where my grandparents lived and a piece of my heart is stored forever. I did not choose this profession, it chose me to be able to see the next places that will store your memories

🏡 WASHINGTON HOUSING BRIEF | OCTOBER 8, 202668 affordable homes in Seattle have been canceled before construction even b...
10/09/2026

🏡 WASHINGTON HOUSING BRIEF | OCTOBER 8, 2026

68 affordable homes in Seattle have been canceled before construction even began.

The U-Lex at Othello Square project was designed to create an affordable path to homeownership for moderate-income households.

But rising interest rates, fewer committed buyers and uncertainty around long-term financing made the project too financially risky to continue.

Here's what's happening in Washington's housing market:

📊 September NWMLS Snapshot:
🏠 Active listings: 24,965 | Up 24.5%
🔑 Closed sales: 5,623 | Down 8.9%
💰 Median sale price: $625,000 | Down 0.9%
📈 Freddie Mac mortgage rate: 7.40%

We're seeing more homes available, fewer sales and rising borrowing costs.

Last week, I talked about how financing contributes to housing affordability.

This week, we're seeing a real example.

Developers need financing to build housing.

Buyers need financing to purchase housing.

And when borrowing costs make either side financially unsustainable, affordability becomes harder to achieve.

Building more homes is important.

But we also need to address what it costs to finance those homes.

💬 Are we focusing enough on the cost of financing when we talk about solving Washington's housing shortage?

CLRE | Real estate that respects your journey.

10/08/2026

How awesome the product of a project turns out when the people involved are passionate in what they do 😍

10/07/2026

I feel like all I do is talk about real estate with anyone and everyone. What can I say, It makes me happy ☺️

10/06/2026

In case you were wondering why I haven't posted in a while

Ben’s running the numbers. Gwen’s finally sleeping through the night. 😂A house is a sanctuary before it’s an investment....
10/03/2026

Ben’s running the numbers. Gwen’s finally sleeping through the night. 😂
A house is a sanctuary before it’s an investment. What makes yours feel like home?

🏡 Washington Housing Brief | September 24, 2026We've been talking for months about Washington having more homes for sale...
09/24/2026

🏡 Washington Housing Brief | September 24, 2026
We've been talking for months about Washington having more homes for sale.
But this week's data adds an important piece:
Where is that inventory—and at what price?
Across 47 Puget Sound cities, markets with median single-family prices below $750K are averaging about 33 days on market.
Markets at $1.5M+ are averaging around 44 days.
And look at two of our local markets:
**Bremerton: $435K 17 days**
So yes, inventory is up.
But that doesn't necessarily mean the buyer looking for an attainable house suddenly has endless choices.
It may mean we have more inventory sitting in price ranges where fewer financed buyers can comfortably purchase.

🏡 Washington Housing Brief | September 17, 2026Tacoma just opened 98 new affordable apartments near the Tacoma Mall.But ...
09/17/2026

🏡 Washington Housing Brief | September 17, 2026

Tacoma just opened 98 new affordable apartments near the Tacoma Mall.

But the number isn't actually what caught my attention.

The bedrooms did.

Viridian Grove includes 2-, 3- and 4-bedroom homes intended for larger and multigenerational families.

And that made me think about the way we talk about our housing shortage.

We constantly hear:

“We need 1,000 more units.”

“We approved 500 units.”

“We built 200 units.”

But a unit isn't a household.

A studio doesn't solve the same housing problem as a three-bedroom home.

Meanwhile, today's new Freddie Mac number is another reminder of the affordability problem buyers are facing: the average 30-year fixed rate jumped from 6.76% to 6.95% in one week.

So yes, Washington needs more housing.

But we also need to think about what we're building, who it's for, and whether those households can actually afford it.

What kind of home do you think your community is missing most?

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22717 Briarwood Court SE
Yelm, WA
98597

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