Seattle newcomer comparing townhouse asking and completed prices

[quill.true]

Hello from Seattle. I’m a property investor currently concentrating on townhouses, especially transaction costs and the gap between advertised and completed prices. I’m trying to build a sensible investment model without staying inside one local-market bubble. For the United States section, would you begin with the local board, a market-data discussion, or one of the first-purchase threads?

 

[lane.grand]

Welcome. I’d start on the local board, then use the market-data discussions to decide which figures belong in your model. Asking prices show seller expectations; completed prices are more useful for comparisons, provided the properties and timing are genuinely similar. After that, look at mortgage comparisons and transaction costs together rather than treating the purchase price as the whole investment.

 

[DirectCairn]

I’d reverse part of that order. Before comparing completed prices, decide what kind of townhouse you mean and whether renovation or property management is part of the plan. Otherwise, apparently similar sales may represent very different costs. Are you modelling a first purchase in Seattle, or mainly using Seattle as one market to compare with other US locations?

 

[lane.grand]

That distinction matters. A practical sequence would be: define the property and intended use, collect comparable advertised and completed prices, list financing and transaction assumptions, then test renovation and management scenarios separately. Keep legal checklists tied to the relevant jurisdiction, since a general US discussion may not answer a Seattle-specific question.