Coldwell Banker, Coldwell Banker Bain and NWHome sellers are tickling Washington and Oregon real estate buyers with an added incentive to buy this summer.  Sellers who opt into the program will be giving qualified buyers a credit on closing costs.  For more details about the program view the attached CBB Buyer Bonus FAQ.

PMI Mortgage Insurance Co has published their second quarter report and the Risk Index indicates that 93% of the nation’s 384 MSA’s (metropolitan statistical areas) are showing “Improved Risk”.  Real estate in Seattle is ranked in the Moderate catagory which is an improvement over the 2009 risk rating.  Assuming that this isn’t the type of calculating that took place in the Mortgage Backed Securities Market, it looks like a very positive sign that we have found the bottom to the housing market.

We might take some comfort in the understanding that PMI has included data from a number of sources, identified in The Report, to calculate a risk factor for each of the markets.  “The Risk Index uses economic, housing, and mortgage market factors (including home price appreciation, employment, affordability, excess housing supply, interest rates, and foreclosure activity) to determine these probabilities”.