If you have elected to not have your property taxes included in your monthly mortgage payment (no reserve account), second half taxes are due for King County by October 31, 2008.   For more information, or to pay on line, click here.

If you have property taxes included in your mortgage payment, you shouldn’t need to do anything at all.  Just sit back and take it easy.

CNN just published an excellent report forecasting depreciation in top housing markets in the nation.

"According to an analysis conducted by Moody’s Economy.com, declines will exceed 10 percent in 86 of the 379 largest housing markets. And 290 of the cities will experience price drops of 1 percent or more The survey attempted to identify the high and low points of housing prices in each of the markets, some of which started declining from their peak in the third quarter of 2005. All are median prices for single-family houses.

Nationally, Moody’s is projecting an average price decline of 7.7 percent. That’s a jump from the 6.6 percent total price drop that the company was forecasting in June and more than twice that of last October’s forecast of a 3.6 percent price decrease."

The major areas below are reported to be peaking the 3rd quarter of 2007 and to be "hitting bottom" (doesn’t that mean rebounding back?) by the 3rd quarter of 2008.   The amount of the changes in home values being predicted varies:

• Seattle-Bellevue-Everett -2.9%
• Tacoma -5.5%
• Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton -7.2%.
• Spokane -2.6%

Compared to Stockton and other parts of the country, we’re doing pretty darn good.

"The Stockton, Calif., metro area, where Moody’s predicts a 25 percent price drop, will be the hardest hit among the 100 most populated cities surveyed.

Prices in Stockton – in California’s Central Valley – rose quickly through 2005 as many would-be Bay Area buyers, frozen out of the expensive San Francisco area housing market, moved in. That influx drove up the median, single-family home price to about $375,000. Stockton prices peaked during the first quarter of 2006 and have gone downhill since. Prices likely won’t turn around until the end of next year."

Even though a 2.9% decrease in home value is not hugely significant, it can be if you’re looking at refinancing out of a high loan to value mortgage.   Especially when you factor in the tightened guidelines with loan to value and credit.   Please don’t delay contacting your Mortgage Professional if you have an adjustable rate mortgage that will be adjusting in the next two years or sooner.   

On a home valued at $500,000, this would be a reduction of approx. $14,500 based on the predicted Seattle depreciation rate.

If you read the entire report that features the top 100 cities…you’ll actually feel pretty good about how our local real estate seems to be fairing. 

I found this article by the Seattle PI very interesting.   Before moving to West Seattle (10-14% obesity zip code), I lived on North Lake in the West Hill neigh- borhood of Auburn (a more than 25% obesity zip code).   

Living at North Lake meant that I planned my groceries because it was a bit of a trek to make it to QFC (which is now gone).  The produce and meats were pretty good quality.   The neighborhood also had other low cost grocery stores.  I felt that QFC, at the time, offered the highest quality.   There was (is?) a Trader Joes, for some reason, I didn’t shop there.

Living in West Seattle, we currently have several grocery stores, including Metropolitan Market and PCC.   Whole Foods is coming soon (it’s rumored that Trader Joes will follow).    With so many stores, I find myself shopping for groceries every day for that nights meal.   The grocery store is an almost retreat like a pleasant break in my day.   Metropolitan Market has great samples of cheeses and the kiosk is always cooking up something great.   The produce and meats are very fresh.   (When I lived in Des Moines, I loved going to the local butcher, B&E Meats over the grocery store). 

Where my home was located in West Hill Auburn, we had a lot of Weyerhauser walkers (North Lake is next to Weyerhauser’s corporate headquarters)…admittedly, I was not one of them.   I do get out and walk more living in West Seattle.  In fact, this is a much more "active" neighborhood than my former.   You have to be mindful opening your car door or you just might nail a bicyclist.   Joggers, walkers and people with strollers cover the sidewalk.   

The study, which followed 9000 King County residents boils down to:

• Access to fresh healthy foods.
• Cost of fresh healthy foods and organics compared to canned and other processed foods.
• Education about different types of food and reading labels.   One example in the article which surprised me, is that raisin bran was less healthy than frosted mini-wheats.
• Walkable neighborhoods (sidewalks, safety, etc.)

To read the entire article, click here.

UPDATE:  Hat tip to Lisa Wallace-Baker who just told me about Walk Score which "grades" how walkable your neighborhood is.   My West Seattle neighorhood scored 32 out of 100 and my former Auburn scored a 15.