"Not A Thing In The Burbs" Sultan Grows 45% As Katie Wilson's Seattle Loses
Population growth in the Puget Sound region is abandoning Seattle — and the numbers don't lie. Sultan, a Snohomish County town of just 7,500 people, grew 45.4 percent between 2020 and 2026, making it the third-fastest-growing city in Washington State. Seattle managed less than 12 percent over the same period — and its pace is now collapsing, from nearly 19,000 new residents in one year to just 6,800 the next.
Sean breaks down what Snohomish County leaders are saying out loud: people are leaving King County for cheaper housing, quieter streets, and local governments that don't treat taxpayers as a revenue source. Under Seattle's progressive leadership — including Katie Wilson's push for a new income tax — the city's affordability and public safety have deteriorated to the point that even the outer suburbs look like the obvious choice.
The migration data tells a story Seattle's political class refuses to acknowledge. Tech employers continue to shrink their local footprint, the city faces a growing budget deficit, and net in-migration across King County is stalling. Meanwhile, Sultan and Stanwood are absorbing the population Seattle is hemorrhaging — not because they're glamorous, but because they're functional.
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30 Sept 2026
'So Much Cheaper to Rent' — Seattle's $3,511 Homebuyer Trap Exposed
New Zillow data ranks Seattle among the five most expensive metros in the country to buy a home — and the $3,511-per-month penalty over renting tells you everything about where this market stands. Sean walks through the numbers, the fine print behind the Fox 13 headline, and why the comparison isn't as apples-to-apples as it looks.
Renting frees up capital you can invest elsewhere; buying builds equity and locks in your cost basis. The break-even math still works for Seattle buyers — but only if you're willing to hold long enough in a state that keeps finding new ways to push high earners toward the door. Interest rate buydowns, relocation to lower-tax markets like Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and Florida, and the invest-the-difference argument all factor in.
Subscribe to @summitpropertiesnwllc for Seattle real estate insight from Sean Reynolds, and visit SummitPropertiesNW.com if you're ready to make a move anyway.
29 Sept 2026
"Market Is Saying You're High" — Bothell Seller Forced To Cut Listing
One of Sean's brokers at Summit Properties Northwest sent a message: low activity, need help with a price improvement. That's the setup for this walkthrough — a Bothell listing in Snohomish County that the market has quietly been saying is priced too high. The ask was clear: where does this thing actually need to land?
While NAR data shows national median single-family home prices at record highs, local WA markets are telling a more complicated story in certain pockets. This is a live comp analysis from scratch — MLS pull, active listings, pending sales, closed comps, marketing days, price history — showing exactly what the number should be and why the seller can't afford to wait.
From tightening the map radius to identifying the best comp, this is the full methodology. No guesswork. The data shows the number, and then comes the honest conversation: wait through the weekend, then bite that bullet and rip off the band-aid.
Subscribe to @summitpropertiesnwllc for Seattle-area real estate market updates, and learn more at SummitPropertiesNW.com.
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