The Anton Stetner Podcast

Microsoft is offering approximately 60,000 employees the opportunity to voluntarily leave the company. But what does this mean for Washington's economy, the future of Big Tech, and the Seattle housing market? In this episode, Anton Stetner examines Microsoft's workforce restructuring, record-breaking profits, and massive investments in artificial intelligence to uncover a bigger shift ha...

Washington State has passed new housing laws designed to increase supply, expand development opportunities, and make homeownership more accessible. But if the rules are changing, why is housing still so expensive? In this episode, Anton Stettner welcomes back real estate investor and housing advocate Mike Appleby to discuss the challenges facing Washington's housing market—and why changing zo...

Could Washington’s Millionaire Tax eventually affect more than just millionaires? And what happens when the Washington Supreme Court overturns an initiative approved by millions of voters? In this episode, Anton Stetner sits down with Brian Heywood, founder of Let’s Go Washington , for an in-depth conversation about the future of Washington State politics, taxes, business, and voter rights. They e...

Washington real estate may have officially reached peak fear—but what happens after buyers, sellers, and investors become this uncertain? In this episode, Anton Stetner breaks down the forces shaping the Washington State housing market, including slowing activity, affordability pressure, changing buyer confidence, limited inventory, and shifting expectations among sellers and builders. Are current...

How Many Tech Workers Need to Get Laid Off Before Seattle Home Prices Crash? Seattle's housing market is facing growing uncertainty. With tech layoffs making headlines, home sales slowing, and buyers becoming increasingly cautious, one big question is emerging: How many tech jobs need to disappear before Seattle home prices actually crash? In this episode, Anton Stetner takes a closer look at...

Washington utility bills are already climbing — and the argument in this episode is that Washington homeowners could be facing even more pressure in the years ahead. Anton Stettner breaks down what’s happening with natural gas, electricity rates, Washington’s energy policies, the Climate Commitment Act, building codes, and the growing demands being placed on the power grid. The conversation starts...

Why is the Washington housing crisis getting worse when everyone agrees the state needs more homes? In this episode, Anton sits down with real estate broker and developer Ryan Gillis to break down what’s actually happening behind the scenes of new construction in Washington State. The problem isn’t simply demand. Builders are facing a brutal equation: falling home prices, expensive land, financing...

Should you wait until 2027 to buy a home? Waiting feels safe, but it can cost you more than buying now. In this video, we break down what could change in 2027 with mortgage rates, home prices, and inventory, and how to decide based on your own situation, not headlines. About the Show Welcome to the Anton Stetner Podcast, where we break down real estate, economics, investing, housing policy, and th...

Mortgage rates have hit a 13-month high — but what happens when the rate isn’t the problem? What happens when the bank says the property simply can’t be financed? In this episode, Anton sits down with Cody, a loan officer with 26 years of experience, to break down what “non-financeable” actually means and what buyers can do when a conventional mortgage isn’t an option. They walk through the proper...

Washington State didn't ban AI data centers. Not one city or county has actually banned them — but that's not what the headlines say. In this episode, we go through the actual ordinances behind the "AI ban" wave sweeping Washington State: Skagit County, Seattle, Snohomish County, Marysville, Federal Way, Burien, and more. Nearly all of it turns out to be temporary moratoriums,...

In this episode, Anton sits down to unpack one of the strangest land fights happening in Washington State right now: a $260 million power line slicing through 32 miles of Quincy farmland to feed the AI data center boom. It starts with a number that's hard to shake — $2,415. That's what one family in Quincy was offered for a permanent easement across a third of an acre in their front lawn...

Congress Says It Fixed Housing. It Didn't (What Washington Homeowners Need to Know): Congress just passed the 21st Century Road to Housing Act with a stunning 85-5 Senate vote and bipartisan applause. Every headline said the same thing: Washington finally did something about housing. But here's what nobody is telling you — this bill will do almost nothing for home prices in Washington St...

This week we're reacting to a viral Instagram post claiming U.S. homebuyers have fallen to their lowest level ever — supposedly worse than 1929 and worse than 2008. We dig into where that headline actually came from (Redfin, now owned by Rocket Mortgage), what the real numbers say, and why comparing today's market to the Great Depression or the Great Financial Crisis doesn't hold up...

Seattle is punishing the exact people it needs to survive — housing providers, small business owners, builders, and workers — and this week we follow the money to show exactly how. We break down the JumpStart payroll tax from the inside: what it promised back in 2020, what it actually raised, and the uncomfortable fact that roughly 70% of its revenue now comes from just ten companies — companies t...

Feel like everything in Washington is getting more expensive? You're not imagining it. In this episode, real estate broker and small business owner Anton Stetner reveals the hidden force driving up your cost of living: the Washington State Supreme Court. This November, 5 of the 9 seats on the Washington State Supreme Court are up for election — the biggest judicial election in a generation. A...

Washington just passed something voters rejected for nearly a century — a 9.9% income tax on households earning over $1 million. And here's the part almost nobody caught: you can't overturn it by referendum. The legislature wrote a clause into the law that blocks that path, and the state Supreme Court backed it up. In this episode, Anton and Benji follow the money from the State Capitol...

What does it take to leave a thriving business, a loving family, and every modern comfort behind to row 2,700 nautical miles across the open Pacific Ocean — with no chase boat, no safety net, and no way home but forward? Former Army Ranger, jiu-jitsu academy owner, and author Greg Anderson joins the show to unpack his 54-day ocean rowing expedition from La Push, Washington to Maui, Hawaii. Greg wa...

Is the era of cheap money finally over? In this episode of the Anton Center Podcast, Anton Stettner breaks down what the appointment of a new Federal Reserve Chair could mean for the U.S. economy, mortgage rates, inflation, and the future of real estate. If the Federal Reserve is moving away from decades of easy-money policies, homebuyers, investors, and business owners should be paying attention....

Everyone's watching the headlines and assuming Washington State real estate is in freefall. In this episode, we sit down with Anton — land developer, investor, and content creator with 29 active development projects — to break down why the data tells a very different story. Anton walks us through the real signals of a market bottom: the Seattle bank building that just sold 50% below replaceme...

Washington politicians broke the economy… or did they? In this episode, we examine one of the biggest debates in Washington State today: rising taxes, government spending, housing affordability, and whether lawmakers are making the economy stronger—or passing the cost on to taxpayers. We break down the data behind Washington's growing budget challenges, increasing property taxes, and the poli...

Most people believe Wall Street and corporate investors are the reason housing has become unaffordable. But is that actually true? In this episode of the Anton Stetner Podcast, we break down one of the biggest housing bills passed by Congress in decades and separate the headlines from the facts. We examine what the legislation actually does, why President Trump delayed signing it, and whether limi...

Washington is facing a massive budget crisis — and property owners may be the next target. In this episode, Anton Stetner breaks down why Washington is going broke, how state spending exploded, and why property taxes could become the easiest way for the government to fill the gap. From King County’s property tax spike to Sound Transit’s taxing power, House Bill 1334, the millionaire tax, and the p...

Everyone is blaming landlords, interest rates, and remote workers for Washington's housing crisis — but what if the real villain is new construction itself? Washington State is building thousands of new units, politicians are celebrating permit numbers, and yet affordability keeps getting worse. Rents aren't dropping. First-time buyers are still locked out. Working families are leaving f...

Blackstone just took a $332 million loss on a Seattle, Washington, skyscraper — and it's one of the loudest signals the smart money has sent in years. The world's largest real estate investor sold the US Bank Center for 54% less than they paid. Seattle, Washington, now carries the worst office vacancy rate in America — worse than San Francisco, worse than Los Angeles. A doom loop is quie...

Washington State has proudly stood as one of the few states with no income tax — until now. Initiative Petition 26-645 threatens to change everything with a proposed 9.9% income tax on millionaires . But here's what they're NOT telling you: once a state income tax is introduced, it almost never stays contained to the wealthy. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on IP26-645 — who&ap...