Ursula: ‘I hate the idea’ that King County is only for the wealthy as single-family homes reach record high

Prices for single-family homes reached a new record in King County last month, hitting a median average of $1.03 million, according to data from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Single-family homes currently make up more than 70% of zoning in Seattle.

“There are a lot of people that are sitting back, waiting for the interest rate to drop, something that President Trump has been calling for and asking for,” Gee Scott, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, said. “Then there are those who don’t have that much money, and they are waiting for the interest rates (to drop) so they can be able to buy. Here’s the bad news. The bad news is, yes, that house is at this (record-breaking) price, but if you wait for when the interest rates drop, then all of the people that really have a lot of money will be there, will bid it up, the house will go up, and now you’re paying more of a price.

“If your plan is to get into a house, get into a house,” Gee added. “Don’t wait. Get into the house.”

“The other thing is this idea that a million dollars gets you a mansion, a million dollars gets you a home, it’s the norm,” Ursula Reutin, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, said. “But when you look at these homes anywhere else, they wouldn’t even be $250,000 anywhere else, other than California. I hate the idea that you can only live in Seattle if you have a lot of money. I hate that idea.”

Legislation to cap these escalating home prices, affordability

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed a bill last week that set limits on rent increases—one of the first in the country.

Rent stabilization bill, House Bill 1217, caps rent increases at 7% plus inflation, or 10%—whichever is lower. Washington now joins Oregon and California in drafting legislation that curbs climbing rent prices.

“Critics say this bill is going to lead to fewer developers and will also reduce the number of mom and pop landlords,” Ursula said.

“This is something that I was against, but now that we are here, I’m looking forward to being wrong,” Gee responded. “I want to be wrong. In one year, two years down the road, I want to come on the show and say, ‘Hey, you know what? That whole deal that they did with rent cap, I was wrong.’ We have seen a decrease in homelessness, we’re doing better with housing affordability, all of those things.”

With the rent control bill passed, there are fears that starting rent prices will simply start at a higher level.

“It is true that there are people who are getting priced out when it comes to rent, and that there are big landlords using the software that allows them to kind of see what the market can go for, and then they’re jacking up their prices,” Ursula said.

Last month, Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown filed a lawsuit against software company RealPage and nine local landlords, alleging they led a conspiracy of unfair competition that resulted in rapidly rising rent prices for their tenants.

RealPage is a major player in the rental market and serves more than 24 million units worldwide from offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. According to their website, RealPage’s technology platform allows real estate owners and managers to “gain transparency into asset performance,” as well as “leverage data insights and monetize space to create incremental yields.”

Brown’s lawsuit claimed RealPage’s pricing software facilitated shared pricing strategies that reduce competition among landlords. The lawsuit also claimed the software uses algorithms to recommend rental prices based on nonpublic data shared by landlords, favoring price hikes that maximize profits.

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.