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A favorite customer of the Troll resides in Bellevue. The Troll helped him purchase a property last year for approximately $560,000. A neighbor of his just listed and sold their similar house to a Chinese couple for a whopping $702,000 all cash offer. Apparently there were 15 full price offers after the open house concluded. Additionally, the Troll had a conversation with his excellent home inspector Jim Breckenridge of Trillion Inspections the other day regarding cash offers from wealthy Chinese buyers. It appears that Chinese buyers have found a new market that speaks to their desire for clean air and water and less population density. According to Sanjay Bhatt a business reporter for the Seattle Times, “it’s part of a cash-buying phenomenon sweeping the home market.” The positive result of course is more competition and increasing home prices. The negative is the inability of a buyer with financing to “win” a property against an all cash offer with no appraisal requirement. The article also mentions other west coast cities with a history of wealthy Chinese investment such as San Fransciso, Los Angeles and Vancuover BC. Is Seattle next? The tea leaves say YES!

The Troll