Wednesday's SR had a quick hit on the general softening of the "flipper" home sale market, in Spokane and nationwide. But not in Seattle, where the high-rollers keep buying and selling, above the national average. (See the graphic below.)

The story relied entirely on data derived and digested by RealtyTrac. Here's their story,  and a quote from that story:

"High-end homes represented an increasing share of homes flipped in the second quarter. Homes with a flipped sale price of $750,000 or higher represented 4.10 percent of all homes flipped during the quarter, up 21 percent from a year ago, while homes with a flipped price of $400,000 to $750,000 represented 12.66 percent of all flips, up 10 percent from a year ago. Flips on homes priced below $400,000 declined as a share of all flips from a year ago."

Today's story also had the additional detail that "flipping" in Washington state is regulated, requiring contractors to license and obtain insurance before undertaking that activity. We have to wonder if anyone really regulates the activity. How would you track someone who sells two homes  a year?

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/sep/03/spokane-county-sees-decline-in-flipped-home-sales/

---

---