This Issue August 2026 edition
101 vs 199
Distinct operators recording a flip resale this edition, versus the same two months a year ago
The flipper roster halved: 101 operators recorded a resale, against 199 a year ago
One hundred one operators recorded a flip resale this edition, against 199 a year ago, and the deal count fell with them: 125 resales versus 243. The buy side is contracting faster than the sell side, with flippers taking title to 191 homes against 376 a year ago, so the pipeline refilling behind these exits is thin. What remains is more concentrated: the top ten operators by resale revenue took 37.7% of the dollars, up from 32.6%. Counts are recorded instruments lagging four to eight weeks, and the most recent month can still grow.
Investor Playbook
What this issue's numbers suggest checking, by investor type. Observations from recorded data — not investment, legal, or tax advice.
Fewer end buyers means shorter buyer lists and tighter spreads
Flipper acquisitions ran 191 this edition against 376 a year ago, and only 101 operators recorded a resale, so assignment demand is thinner than the 2 surfaced assignments alone suggest (wholesale counts are a floor). The data suggests concentrating on where the 4-8 lifetime-flip band actually works: Lakewood West 98498, Spanaway South 98387, Parkland 98444, East Tacoma 98404 and Bonney Lake 98391. Bring contracts priced against a $409/sqft exit, not last year's $446.
Buy to a 226-day hold, not a 204-day one
Median gross margin came in at 52.8% versus 59.0% a year ago on a 226-day median hold, so carry assumptions built last summer are stale. The typical resale this edition was 1,691 sqft, 3 bed, built 1968, about 34 km from the Seattle CBD, and 25.6% were pre-1950 against 23.0% a year ago. Pierce took 36.8% of flip resales versus 33.3% a year ago while King slipped to 41.6% from 45.7%; worth checking whether your acquisition footprint has drifted with it.
The per-foot gap favours 2-4 units and manufactured product
Investors paid a median $314/sqft across 84 two-to-four unit purchases and $220/sqft across 59 mobile or manufactured deals, against $451/sqft on 1,679 single-family buys. With overall investor purchase medians at $715,000 versus $750,000 a year ago, entry pricing is modestly softer market-wide. Lower-basis buy zips worth screening include Lake Stevens 98258 at a $620,000 median buy and Everett South 98203 at $480,000.
Fill the extension and payoff gap the slower exits create
Only 78 private loans were recorded this edition against 101 a year ago, while trailing-twelve-month bank and fund lending shows a median loan of $475,075 at a 0.99 loan-to-price and 47.0% of 953 loans carrying rehab funds. Eastside Funding recorded 60 loans and Kiavi 59 over that window. With holds at 226 days and resales at 125 versus 243, the data suggests demand for extension and takeout paper on aged projects rather than new-purchase originations. Interest rates and terms are not recorded and are not published here.
Small-scale residential trades are where the volume is
Apartment 5+ recorded 16 purchases at a $2,299,000 median and unspecified multi-family 8 at $2,117,400, against 84 two-to-four unit deals at $727,500 and $314/sqft. Small multifamily made up 0.8% of flip resales this edition, down from 1.6% a year ago, so competition from renovate-and-sell operators on that product is limited. With 180 seller notes recorded versus 154 a year ago, seller paper is worth raising in negotiations on 2-4 unit stock.
Factoids
Numbers from this period a practitioner would repeat to a colleague. Each computed directly from recorded instruments.
2,363 investor purchases — Recorded investor purchases this edition, median $715,000
Overall investor buying is off 10% year over year, a far shallower decline than the flip channel. The median ticket slipped $35,000 over the same span.
$409/sqft flip resale basis — Median price per square foot on flips sold this edition
Exit pricing per foot has compressed even though the median resale property is slightly larger, 1,691 sqft versus 1,658. Underwrite new acquisitions to the current per-foot exit, not last year's.
226-day median hold — Median days from purchase to resale on flips sold this edition
Three additional weeks of carry on the median deal, with gross margin at 52.8% against 59.0% a year ago. Margins here are gross; rehab and carry costs are not in public record.
$314/sqft on 2-4 units — Median price per square foot investors paid for 2-4 unit residential, 84 deals
Small multifamily continues to trade at a materially lower basis per foot than detached houses, at a $727,500 median. Condos, 474 deals at $482,500, price near single family per foot at $445.
78 recorded private loans — Private loans recorded this edition, median $375,000
Recorded private lending remains below last year despite the rebound from a thin prior period. Over the trailing twelve months 77.4% of 1,231 observed purchases carried financing, with 47.0% of 953 loans including rehab funds.
180 seller-financed notes — New notes held by sellers this edition, median $400,500
Seller paper is up 17% year over year while note size fell about $50,000. It is the one financing channel expanding as recorded private loans stay scarce.
Market Activity — Investor Purchases
Monthly count of investor purchases of MSA properties (left axis) and the median purchase price (right axis), trailing 13 months. The most recent month can grow up to ~15% as late recordings arrive.
Investor purchases per month (bars) and median purchase price (line), trailing 13 months.
Which vintage of housing investors bought this edition, by decade built.
Where the Money Went
The geography of the period's investor activity: which zip codes saw the most recorded deals, and the largest individual transactions at street level.
The 8 busiest zip codes for investor deals
Pins rank the busiest zips by recorded investor deals (purchases + flips of existing homes) this period — #1 busiest; orange = top 3; pin size scales with deal volume. Median buy is the typical investor purchase; median sale the typical flip resale. Click a pin for details; full table below.
| # | Zip | Area | Purchases | Flips | Median buy | Median sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 98033 | Kirkland | 54 | 2 | $1.6M | n/a |
| #2 | 98012 | Bothell East | 40 | 1 | $815,000 | n/a |
| #3 | 98006 | Bellevue South | 33 | 5 | $1.5M | $2.4M |
| #4 | 98034 | Kirkland North | 34 | 4 | $989,000 | n/a |
| #5 | 98103 | Fremont / Wallingford | 36 | 1 | $1.0M | n/a |
| #6 | 98052 | Redmond | 34 | 2 | $1.1M | n/a |
| #7 | 98115 | Ravenna | 34 | 2 | $922,500 | n/a |
| #8 | 98258 | Lake Stevens | 31 | 2 | $620,000 | n/a |
A representative deal in each of the busiest zips
One deal per zip: the largest matching this market's typical house (typical for this market: 1643 sqft, 3 bed, built around 1969; priced within 4x the county assessment and under 5x its own zip's median).
$2.8M · Purchase
225 2ND ST S APT D3, Kirkland WA 98033
Street View Jul 2024 — before the purchase
$2.0M · Purchase
12920 72ND AVE NE, Kirkland WA 98034
Street View Jun 2024 — before the purchase
$2.0M · Purchase
5001 NE PARK PL, Seattle WA 98115
Street View May 2019 — before the purchase
$1.8M · Purchase
5600 140TH PL SE, Bellevue WA 98006
Street View Jul 2008 — before the purchase
$1.7M · Purchase
3328 165TH ST SE, Bothell WA 98012
Street View Apr 2025 — before the purchase
$1.6M · Purchase
14715 NE 61ST CT, Redmond WA 98052
Street View Jul 2024 — before the purchase
$1.4M · Purchase
7515 BAGLEY AVE N, Seattle WA 98103
Street View May 2019 — before the purchase
$755,000 · Purchase
11715 7TH PL SE, Lake Stevens WA 98258
Street View Jul 2025 — before the purchase
Deal sheet — private lending, in date order
Private loans recorded against residential property this period, oldest first.
| Date | Lender | Amount | Property | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1 | Ferguson David | $822,500 | 15883 Ne 95TH Way # 30, Redmond WA 98052 | Condo |
| May 1 | Tillotson David | $750,000 | 31620 56TH Ave S, Auburn WA 98001 | Single family |
| May 1 | Mccormick Monica | $715,463 | 26510 Se 172ND ST, Issaquah WA 98027 | Single family |
| May 1 | Mccormick Monica | $715,463 | 26510 Se 172ND ST, Issaquah WA 98027 | Single family |
| May 1 | Huppert Paul | $600,000 | 31510 Cumberland Kanaskat RD Se, Ravensdale WA 98051 | Single family |
| May 1 | Fulwider Gerald | $180,000 | 7009 A ST, Tacoma WA 98408 | Single family |
| May 1 | Mei Qingtian | $167,500 | 16301 Wallingford Ave N, Shoreline WA 98133 | Single family |
| May 1 | Mei Qingtian | $167,500 | 16301 Wallingford Ave N, Shoreline WA 98133 | Single family |
Largest flip margin deals of the period, at street level
Gross margin = recorded sale price minus the flipper's recorded purchase price. Purchase deeds are recoverable for roughly 4 in 10 flips; rehab and carry costs are not public record.
$2.0M gross · bought $925,000 (Sep 2024) → sold $2.9M
6008 34TH AVE NW, Seattle WA 98107
Street View Oct 2024 — during the flip
$1.8M gross · bought $1.4M (Jul 2025) → sold $3.2M
4241 145TH AVE SE, Bellevue WA 98006
Street View Aug 2024 — before the flip (pre-renovation)
$1.8M gross · bought $1.4M (Jul 2025) → sold $3.2M
5635 117TH AVE SE, Bellevue WA 98006
Street View Jun 2018 — before the flip (pre-renovation)
$1.7M gross · bought $1.1M (May 2025) → sold $2.8M
12211 NE 134TH ST, Kirkland WA 98034
Street View Jun 2024 — before the flip (pre-renovation)
$1.6M gross · bought $1.2M (Jul 2025) → sold $2.9M
1212 169TH PL NE, Bellevue WA 98008
Street View May 2019 — before the flip (pre-renovation)
$1.1M gross · bought $1.2M (Jun 2024) → sold $2.4M
8716 128TH AVE NE, Kirkland WA 98033
Street View Jul 2024 — during the flip
Flip Structure — Year over Year
How the flip market itself is changing: margins, who is doing the flipping, what they flip, and where. Same two calendar months, this year vs last, from the current data extract.
| Flip market structure | Same months last year | This edition |
|---|---|---|
| Flips sold | 243 | 125 |
| Median sale | $699,000 | $657,000 |
| Median $/sqft | $446 | $409 |
| Sale vs county-assessed | 1.16× | 1.24× |
| Median gross margin (matched buys) | $238,500 | $219,000 |
| Median margin % | 59% | 53% |
| Median hold | 6.7 mo | 7.4 mo |
| Homes bought by flippers | 376 | 191 |
| Net to inventory (bought − sold) | +133 | +66 |
| Active flippers | 199 | 101 |
| Top-10 flippers' revenue share | 33% | 38% |
| Median house: sqft / beds / built | 1658 / 3 / 1969 | 1691 / 3 / 1968 |
| Pre-1950 stock share | 23% | 26% |
| 2–4 unit share | 2% | 1% |
| Median distance from downtown | 33.4 km | 34.2 km |
Homes bought counts every deed recorded to a known flipper in the window, resold or not. Net to inventory is that minus flips sold. The standing stock is in the Flip Pipeline section.
Attributed profit per flip (per-investor aggregates, by drop period): Feb 26→Jun 26: 664 flips, $63,168/flip · Jun 26→Aug 26: 264 flips, n/a (revisions).
County mix (share of flips, last year → this edition): King 46%→42% · Pierce 33%→37% · Snohomish 21%→22%.
Biggest zip share moves: Lynnwood East 0.0%→4.8% · Everett Central 2.9%→0.0% · Puyallup 0.4%→3.2% · Kirkland North 0.4%→3.2% · Bellevue South 1.2%→4.0% · East Tacoma 2.1%→4.8%.
Flip Pipeline — Buying, Selling and Inventory
Homes bought by known flippers and homes they resold, per month, alongside the stock sitting in flipper hands. A house enters inventory when a flipper buys it and leaves on the next recorded sale, at any price. Purchases still unsold after five years are treated as holds and drop out.
Solid = recorded, dashed = projected. Green bars are inventory on the right axis: homes bought and not yet resold. Aged out is purchases passing five years unsold. Inventory moves by bought minus resold minus aged out.
| Flip pipeline | Bought / mo | Resold / mo | Aged out / mo | Inventory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latest recorded month (2026-05) | 119 | 109 | 87 | 3,703 |
| Projected (2026-11) | 111 | 86 | 59 | 3,506 |
Method: a straight-line trend through the last 24 months, adjusted for the month of the year, shown dashed as a projection. The series stops before the newest month or two, where deeds are still recording.
Who's Funding the Deals
First mortgages open on flipper purchases from Jul 2025 – Jun 2026 that have not yet resold. 77% carried recorded debt; the rest closed cash or off-record. Ranked by deal count.
77%
953 of 1,231 flipper purchases carried a recorded first mortgage
$475,075
median 0.99× the purchase price
47%
448 of 953 loans exceed the purchase price, so the lender is covering work as well as the buy
| Lender | Loans | Borrowers | Median loan | Loan vs price | Funds rehab | Median purchase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastside Funding LLC | 60 | 35 | $331,806 | 0.95× | 35% | $395,280 |
| Kiavi Funding INC | 59 | 28 | $505,900 | 1.14× | 85% | $460,000 |
| Rain City Cap LLC | 38 | 24 | $454,228 | 1.11× | 76% | $436,250 |
| Intrust Funding LLC | 25 | 12 | $768,886 | 1.18× | 88% | $670,000 |
| Vontive INC | 25 | 15 | $666,147 | 1.14× | 84% | $540,000 |
| Blueprint Cap Income Reit INC | 20 | 11 | $1.3M | 1.24× | 90% | $944,500 |
| Merchants Mortgage NW LLC | 19 | 12 | $459,900 | 1.13× | 74% | $402,000 |
| Conventus LLC | 17 | 10 | $513,000 | 0.99× | 47% | $535,000 |
| Genesis Capital | 17 | 2 | $1.8M | 0.83× | 35% | $1.4M |
| Rocket Mortgage LLC | 17 | 14 | $500,000 | 0.90× | 24% | $690,000 |
Rates and terms are not published: the county feed models both. Borrowers counts the distinct flippers on each lender's book. Loan vs price is the recorded first mortgage divided by what the buyer paid. Above 1.00x the lender is funding purchase plus rehab; below it the buyer brought cash to the table. Blanket mortgages covering several parcels are excluded, as are loans outside 0.1x-3x the price. Rates and points are not public record.
Flipper Profile — The Working Flipper
The 70th–90th percentile of local flippers by lifetime flip count — the established operators below the whales: 4–8 lifetime flips each. Bath counts are not in the assessor extract.
217
each with 4–8 lifetime flips (avg 5.1)
$-108,629
2,612 flips matched to their purchase price
8.9 mo
purchase to resale, matched deals
1643 sqft · 3 bd
median year built 1969
Where they work: Lakewood West (98498) 3% · Spanaway South (98387) 3% · Parkland (98444) 3% · East Tacoma (98404) 3% · Bonney Lake (98391) 2%.
Market Pulse
| per month, Feb–Jun 2026 | per month, Jun–Aug 2026 | change | avg/mo 2yr | avg/mo 4yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ▼ Homes bought by flippers | 188 | 96 | -49% | 153 | 157 |
| ▼ Flips sold (deeds) | 122 | 63 | -49% | 132 | 157 |
| ▲ Lending deals funded | 125 | 520 | +317% | — | — |
| ▲ Seller/notes held (net) | 22 | 358 | +337/mo | — | — |
| ▼ Investors (net) | -249 | -2,995 | −2,745/mo | — | — |
Flips and flipper purchases = recorded deeds, same two months each year; their 2- and 4-year columns are per-month averages of the deed series. The remaining rows come from the investor file, which spans 13 months, so they have no multi-year average (2026: Jun 2026 → Aug 2026; 2025: Feb 2026 → Jun 2026).
Past Issues
Methodology
Source Data
Every figure is computed from recorded instruments (deeds, mortgages, assignments) and assessor property records for the five counties of the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue-Elyria MSA. No surveys, no estimates, no listings data.
This edition analyzes transactions dated May 1 – June 30, 2026, as recorded through the 2026-08 data extract.
Who Counts as an Investor
Investors are entities whose recorded transaction history looks like investing: rental holding (landlords), short-hold resales (flippers), private mortgage lending, note holding, or contract assignment (wholesalers). Banks, homebuilders, iBuyers, SFR funds, and government entities are identified by name and reported separately from small investors.
How Comparisons Work
The Market Pulse reports activity attributed between successive data drops, from the per-investor lifetime totals maintained upstream — periods differ in length, so per-month rates are shown. Elsewhere, "vs. year ago" compares the same calendar months one year earlier, counted from the same data extract. Transfers under $5,000 (quitclaims, partial interests) are excluded everywhere. Counts lag recording by 4–8 weeks, and the newest month can grow up to ~15% as late records arrive — direction is reliable before magnitude.
Known Limits
Wholesale assignments only appear when they touch a recorded deed, so those counts are a floor. Flip hold times are measured from the prior recorded sale. Names are the owner of record, which may be an LLC or trust.
About
Purpose
A working tool for small real estate investors in Greater Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue: what actually closed, where, at what prices, and what it suggests checking next — one theme per issue.
Cadence
Published with each bi-monthly data drop, covering the two most recent complete months of recorded activity.
Disclaimer
Observations from public records, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Past activity does not guarantee future results. Verify any property or counterparty independently before transacting.