The Binary Circumstance

According to National City, a financial services group, many areas of the country still have housing that is overvalued by historical standards. According to their model, Western Washington is one of the most overvalued areas of the country.

An unflattering list says Western Washington is now home to some of the most overvalued real estate in the nation.

The financial services group – National City – found that home prices are falling sharply in most of the country, but the bubble hasn’t burst in the Northwest.

From Olympia to Bellingham, National City says home prices are overvalued from 29 percent on the low end to 44 percent at the high end in Bellingham, which is the 5th most overvalued market in the nation.

National City rates Mount Vernon the 13th most overvalued out of the 330 it tracks across the country.

The most overvalued city in the nation, according to that survey, is Bend, Oregon.

There is also a map that visually shows relative home valuations around the country and also the historical data upon which the ratings are based.

According to National City, Seattle homes are 30.7% overvalued which they call “moderately overvalued.”

Prosecutors had wanted a much longer sentence but Kimberly Forder got off with just 27 months under a plea deal. With credit for time served she will soon be released from jail.

She had been charged in the death by abuse of one of her foster children, Christopher. (Abuse allegations were detailed here.)

She was given a short sentence largely because another adult son in jail for the rape of a family member recanted previous sworn testimony against her.

A 24-year-old Seabeck man who’d agreed to testify in the homicide by abuse trial of his mother in exchange for a shorter sentence in his own criminal case has recanted on previous statements, according to Kitsap County prosecutors.

As a result, Michael V. Forder, 24, was given an 8 1/2-year sentence for second-degree rape of a family member Feb. 26 in Judge M. Karlynn Haberly’s court — instead of the 36-month reduced sentence prosecutors had recommended in exchange for his testimony at his mother’s trial.

His mother, Kimberly Ann Forder, 44, is charged with the homicide by abuse of her 8-year-old adopted son Christopher Forder in 2002 — in incidents Sheriff Steve Boyer called “torture” — and is slated to go on trial in April.

The Forders worked as Christian missionaries in Africa and had several adopted children.

It had to happen. Just how bad will it get?

From the Seattle Times:

The housing market in King County ended 2007 on a sour note as the median single-family house price last month fell 1.1 percent from December 2006. It was the first time in recent history that prices declined year-over-year.

And the number of homes for sale rose 61 percent in King County, continuing a trend that started in April, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported Monday. The MLS is an association of Realtors that compiles home-sales statistics for King, Snohomish, Pierce, Kitsap and 15 other counties.

This past week was quite a week in the Northwest, including the part of Washington State where I live. Storms that began last weekend dumped massive amounts of water on some parts of the state causing widespread flooding of historic proportions.

Kitsap County was one of the hardest hit counties. There were many stories of flooded basements on Bainbridge. Bremerton got 10″ of rain in one day. I personally heard stories of flooding in Poulsbo and Silverdale.

Further south near Olympia, I-5 which connects Seattle with Portland, was under water for four days and only recently reopened. That forced truckers and other travelers to take a long, expensive detour.

Today President Bush declared the flooding a disaster but Governor Gregoire and other state leaders want more.

Since we do not usually get flooding in this area, there are very few people who carry any kind of flood insurance and normal homeowners policies don’t cover that type of damage. Many people have lost everything including their homes and all their possessions. Entire businesses have been wiped out and because of that many people have lost their jobs on top of the damage to their property.