Even MORE good news about our local housing market!

Housing news continues to be very positive. Here's a U.S. News and World Report story that mentions our area specifically. I think we can all breathe a little easier as we move into the holiday season.

Home prices in these 10 cities will appreciate handsomely over the next decade

Kitsap Housing inventory dries up; prices spike

Analysts were embarrassed this weekend as many homes were taken off the market, resulting in a buying frenzy as the few remaining homes not in foreclosure saw bidding wars. House prices, which have been declining for nearly two years, have suddenly shot up to near record levels.

Edward Brooke Johnson, media spokesperson for the EKCRA, stated in a phone interview "All of us were taken by surprise by this. Nobody saw it coming. Apparently homeowners decided that the market was not a good one for sellers and decided not to sell. Buyers who have been waiting for further declines were also surprised. Instead of a strong buyers' market, we are now in a very strong sellers' market. Buyers hoping to save money are now hoping to get their home at any price."


I want to make two points here.

Anyone who has not clicked through to read these remarks will be misinformed by this article, just as anyone who does not read more than one media source will be misinformed by for-profit journalism. No, the headline is not true.

But do a gut check: did you experience any chill or nausea as you read the first two paragraphs? Is this the situation you're waiting for?

The bottom line: Pay attention to professionals, not the mass media. Stop thinking you can predict the future market. A scenario like this really can happen. Get the best advice you can and ACT!

Kitsap Closings: April 13-26

The local market is starting to heat up, and we expect more activity from this point on.

27 closings for single family homes, 6 condos, 4 parcels

Silverdale 6 homes, average market time 49 days
Poulsbo 9 homes (4 presale), average market time 77 days; 1 condo on market for 34 days; 2 parcels on market an average of 97 days
Kingston 4 homes, average market time 133 days; 2 condos, average market time 146 days
Bainbridge 8 homes, average market time 174 days; 2 condos, average market time 34 days, 2 parcels, average market time 106 days

The same period last year closed 40 homes, 11 condos and 3 land parcels. Bainbridge Island and Poulsbo were the hot spots.

Silverdale 1 home, 1 parcel
Poulsbo 12 homes, 2 condos, 2 parcels
Kingston 8 homes
Bainbridge 15 homes, 9 condos

Curious about the final price of the home or condo that sold in your neighborhood? Ask your real estate professional for a detailed report including photos, time on market, listing price and selling price.

Hard evidence: Best time to buy is now!

This is a very rare opportunity if you're thinking of buying. Inventory is large, rates are still at a historic low, and sellers are willing to accept your offer. I have the numbers comparing closing prices between 2007 and 2008 to date--including the average and median prices--for all cities in Kitsap County.

If you appreciate numbers, you'll find these very informative. Send me an email request and I'll send you the stats.

Kitsap Closings: Mar 30-Apr 12

Curious about the final price of the home or condo that sold in your neighborhood? Ask your real estate professional for a detailed report including photos, time on market, listing price and selling price.

14 closings for single family homes, 2 condos, 2 parcels

Silverdale 5 homes, average market time 398 days
Poulsbo 4 homes (2 presale), average market time 111 days; 1 parcel on market 161 days
Kingston 1 parcel, on market 53 days
Bainbridge 5 homes, average market time 145 days; 2 condos, average market time 81 days

The same period last year closed 26 homes, 4 condos and 7 land parcels. Bainbridge Island and Silverdale were the hot spots.

Silverdale 7 homes
Poulsbo 5 homes, 2 parcels
Kingston 4 homes, 1 parcel
Bainbridge 10 homes, 4 condos, 4 parcels

Kitsap Closings: Mar 16-29

Curious about the closing price of the home or condo that sold in your neighborhood? Ask your real estate professional for a detailed report including photos, time on market, listing price and selling price.

19 closings for single family homes, 2 condo, 4 parcels

Silverdale 4 homes, average market time 103 days
Poulsbo 8 homes (1 presale), average market time 257 days, 2 parcels avg mkt 18 days
Kingston 1 parcel, on market 14 days
Bainbridge 7 homes, average market time 148 days; 2 condos, average market time 102 days, 1 land parcel, on market 42 days

The same period last year closed 35 homes, 5 condos and 3 land parcels. Bainbridge Island and Poulsbo were the hot spots.

Silverdale 8 homes, 1 condo, 1 parcel
Poulsbo 11 homes
Kingston 5 homes, 2 parcels
Bainbridge 11 homes, 4 condos

Kitsap closings: Mar 1-15

Curious about the selling price of the home or condo that sold in your neighborhood? Ask your real estate professional for a detailed report including photos, time on market, listing price and selling price.

18 closings for single family homes, 1 condo, 3 parcels

Silverdale 3 homes, average market time 31 days
Poulsbo 7 homes (1 presale), average market time 93 days
Kingston 2 homes, average market time 284 days
Bainbridge 6 homes, average market time 136 days; 1 condo on market 147 days, 3 land parcels, average market time 74 days

The same period last year closed 35 homes, 10 condos and 3 land parcels. Bainbridge Island was the hot spot.

Silverdale 11 homes, 1 parcel
Poulsbo 11 homes, 1 condo
Kingston 1 condo
Bainbridge 13 homes, 8 condos, 2 parcels

What are you waiting for?

Hesitant to get into the market or wary about moving up to a larger home? Afraid of paying too much for a house? Feel like you're at a store and want to make a purchase, but you've been told the store is having a sale next month?

If this sounds like someone you know, read on!

The fact is that the real estate market is nothing like a retail store. The fact is that nobody--not Ben Bernanke, not the New York Times, not even The Donald--knows where the bottom of the market is. We’ll know only after it has already "corrected" itself and is on the way back up.

This is the best buyers' market in eighteen years! I'm just as clueless as Bernanke and Trump about where the bottom is, but I promise you that a year from now prices will be higher than they are today.

Why is it time to get off the fence?

*Right now there are a lot of homes for sale, which means you have many choices and you'll be able to find a home you really love.

*Prices have adjusted approximately 7% on Bainbridge Island-more in some markets, less in others. This market has already had its sale!

*Interest rates are good.

Waiting often doesn’t pay. Now is the time to start building long-term wealth.

Kitsap home prices drop, surplus grows

By Brynn Grimley, Kitsap Sun
Sunday, December 9, 2007

Kitsap County had more homes and condos for sale last month than November a year ago and the median sale price dropped $19,000, or 6.69 percent, during the same period, according to Northwest Multiple Listing Service statistics released last week.

But real estate professionals are trying to emphasize that the drop in prices shows that real estate trends, including those in Kitsap County, are starting to return to normal for the time of year rather than signaling a problem.

"As expected, Kitsap's housing market has adjusted to the slow down in job growth, stricter credit requirements, and the traditional slower winter season," said Mike Eliason, executive of the Kitsap Association of Realtors. "In comparison to real estate markets throughout the nation, however, Kitsap is still relatively strong."


Inventory is up 25.33 percent from this time last year and pending sales have declined 27.53 percent during the same time period.

In contrast to the increase of homes for sale from this time last year, the number of condominiums for sale for the month of November was down 7.53 percent. The slight decrease in condominium sales from last year to this year is likely due to higher listing prices and fewer purchasers, Eliason said.

In November 2006, the median sale price of a home was $285,000. That median dropped significantly last month to $265,000. This could be reflective of the market's entrance into the "winter cycle" where real estate activity is less.

The decline is a positive for those wanting to own homes, because the new median home price is beginning to align with income levels of Kitsap residents.

In an effort to help people with subprime loans, the Bush administration is trying to do its part to reduce the number of people forced out of their homes due to foreclosure. Earlier this week President George W. Bush negotiated a deal with the mortgage industry to freeze the interest rates of roughly 2 million homeowners with subprime mortgages.

Some subprime mortgages are scheduled to rise in the next couple of months to interest rates as high as 11 percent. That increase would add hundreds of dollars to typical monthly mortgage payments for many homeowners.

While the negotiation will help homeowners currently living in homes with subprime mortgages or loans provided to borrowers with spotty credit histories the impact on those trying to buy homes will likely be minimal.

"Since Washington state ranked 49th in the nation in foreclosures and subprime loans accounted for fewer than 10 percent of mortgages during the reporting period, the impact will be minimal in general," Eliason said.

Demand down, supply up in Kitsap County

by Josh Farley, Kitsap Sun, November 11, 2007

Kitsap real estate prices leveled off in October while the number of homes on the market continued to rise, according to statistics released last week by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

There were 453 more homes for sale in Kitsap in October 2007 than in the past year, and those that did sell went more cheaply than in previous years.

The median price of a home sold in the county rose less than one percent, from $282,691 in October 2006 to $285,000 this year. And the median residential home price actually fell by about 1 1/2 percent. That was offset only by the sales prices of Kitsap condominiums, which climbed by about 54 percent to $358,000 thanks in part to condo projects on Bainbridge Island and Bremerton's waterfront.


The bottom line on the new stats, according to Mike Eliason, executive of the Kitsap Association of Realtors, is a supply-and-demand story.

The real estate boom of the early 2000s fueled a boom in construction of homes, Eliason said, contributing to supply. But the red hot market also contributed to money lenders' willingness to get anyone into a home who wanted one —regardless of credit. When the overall U.S. housing market finally turned south this year, it caused a flooding of foreclosures, and made even more homes available.

Central Kitsap experienced the highest rise in number of homes on the market, according to the MLS statistics. The Seabeck and Holly areas, for example, had 80 homes on the market in October 2006. In the same month this year, there were 142.

Demand, meanwhile, as lenders tighten restrictions on attaining mortgages due to fears of more foreclosures, has decreased. And national real estate trends aside, Eliason said that the market is entering its "winter cycle," where real estate activity is less.

Eliason said there's one other positive aspect of a the current market. While home values hit record levels in the past few years, that market made owning a home unaffordable for many — outside of the "subprime" or highly volatile adjustable rate mortgages that spurred the wave of foreclosures earlier this year. Eliason predicts a downturn of the median home price in Kitsap County, one that will be more accurately aligned with Kitsap's wage earners.

"We've pushed people out of the housing market," Eliason said. "Now we're going to start to see people coming back."

Kitsap County residents beginning to support urban growth

A growing number of Kitsap County residents support the concept of targeting population growth in urban areas, according to Mike Eliason, government affairs director for the Kitsap County Association of Realtors.

A new survey conducted for the statewide group Washington Realtors shows that Kitsap residents are concerned about taxes and the rising cost of housing, Eliason said, but many believe that things are "going in the right direction" for the county.



The survey, conducted in early September by Call Research, questioned 200 people each in Kitsap, Thurston, Clark and Spokane counties, providing a 6.9 percent margin of error for each county's results.

Such surveys can be helpful when talking about "quality of life" issues, Eliason said.

"Elected officials should not necessarily make their positions based on polling," he said, "but it is important for them to understand where the public stands at any point in time."

Asked about the general feeling about life in Kitsap County, more than half (52 percent), said things were going in the right direction, while about a third (32 percent) said they were on the wrong track. The other 16 percent either didn't know or declined to answer.

Respondents' top priorities were widely scattered, but leading the list was "holding the line on taxes," with 15 percent ranking it first, followed by improving public education, with 12 percent. Wasteful government spending, affordable housing and growth management were tied, with 11 percent ranking them first.

Protecting the rights of property owners (7 percent) came in ahead of protecting the environment (5 percent), though the margin of error placed them on par.

"Interestingly," Eliason said, "a lot of the debate has become property rights versus the environment, but those aren't the biggest issues for the people."

Of the four counties surveyed, only Kitsap had the largest group putting the greatest emphasis on taxes. For Thurston and Whatcom, it was managing growth. For Spokane, it was improving the economy. For Clark, it was a tie between public education and wasteful government spending.

More than two-thirds of Kitsap respondents (67 percent) said they were very concerned or somewhat concerned about the cost of housing. Concerns were roughly the same for Thurston, Whatcom, Clark and Spokane counties.

People have reason to be concerned, Eliason said. Median home prices in Kitsap are up 8 percent over a year ago, but the median income has grown by only 7 percent over the past five years.

Asked about where growth should occur, 29 percent of Kitsap residents said in cities, 24 percent said in suburbs, 22 percent said on the "fringe of current suburban development," and 16 percent said in rural areas.

Kitsap residents were overwhelmingly convinced that urban and suburban growth benefits the community. About 70 percent said they were "very convinced" or "somewhat convinced" that urban growth allows people to live closer to work, thus keeping traffic from getting worse; 69 percent said urban growth would encourage economic development and increase jobs; and 60 percent said it helps preserve the environment and maintain the quality of life.

Looking at previous surveys, Eliason said more people are seeing the benefits of urban growth, as the state's Growth Management Act drives more housing construction into urban areas.

"The community is becoming more supportive of urban growth once people see it in action," he said, "because people see that it does not negatively affect them."

But he added that it's important to remember that many people in Kitsap County already live in unincorporated areas, making it easy for them to support urban growth.

More than 70 percent of Kitsap respondents said they would support new homes in their own neighborhood to avoid overcrowding of streets and roads, preserve parks and open spaces, or maintain neighborhood character.

Seventy-seven percent said they would support building "affordable homes" in their neighborhood if the housing were provided for teachers, firefighters, police and "other people whom we rely on for help."

Eliason said Bainbridge Island is one community facing a realization that many employees providing essential community services cannot afford to live on the island. City leaders are studying the problem, he said, and they may follow Mercer Island, which identified funding for teachers to live in the school district where they work.

Sixty-six percent of Kitsap residents said they would support building a variety of new housing types, including single-family homes, cottages and townhomes. Seventy-six percent said local governments should allow such construction.

That's because people support choice, Eliason noted.

Addressing the problems of rising housing costs requires a partnership between the real estate community and the government sector, he said. The problem involves market forces, government regulations and the lending environment, he noted. To help people purchase their first home, multiple solutions are needed.

By Christopher Dunagan, The Kitsap Sun
dunagan@kitsapsun.com
Originally published 01:30 p.m., October 18, 2007
Updated 01:30 p.m., October 18, 2007

Kitsap County housing market: current snapshot

Below is the current snapshot of the Kitsap County real estate market. The median sales price on Bainbridge for September was $638,500, the average $750,945, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Forty-four homes were sold in September, down from 52 in September 2006.



By Angela Hiatt

Although the number of real estate sales in Kitsap County may be down when compared to boom years of recent memory, prices for county properties continue to rise at a rate that leads the state.

Finalized housing sales in Kitsap County for the month of September were nearly 24 percent lower than last year, according to data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service Friday, and the sale of residential homes and condominiums in Kitsap during the first nine months of the year was at about 85 percent of last year's number of closed deals.

A total of 2,898 units, including both residential homes and condominiums, had been sold as of the end of last month, compared to 3,418 units at the close of Sept. 2006.

The drop in sales doesn't necessarily indicate a lack of selection, since there were more than 500 additional active listings than at this time a year ago.

The median price of a single family home in Kitsap continued to experience the largest percent increase among Puget Sound counties, a change of nearly 13 percent. Median home prices in Kitsap grew from $269,900 this time last year to $304,547 in September this year.

In comparison, King County's median home price increased by nearly 6 percent and Snohomish County's by almost 3 percent. The median home price in Pierce County experienced a decline of around 1 percent.

The median price for a condominium continued to rise in Kitsap, up to $421,258 from last year's $197,000. Within the county, the West Bremerton waterfront, likely driven by an upscale condo project that opened over the summer and another just last week on Washington Street, had the highest median price at $514,950. That was followed by Bainbridge Island condos at a median price of $434,500.

Closed condo sales were down, from 37 to 32, in Kitsap compared to a year ago, and pending condo sales decreased by nearly 49 percent.

What Sven needs to know about today's market

The media have been full of stories about the slowing housing market – and although this kind of market normalization is commonplace in the real estate industry, there is no question that in Bainbridge and Kitsap, houses are currently on the market a little longer and there is more competition for buyers.

Hire a Professional

If you want to sell your home fairly quickly, now is not the time to go at it alone. You want to make sure that your home gets the maximum exposure and the best marketing strategy. When you work with a qualified real estate professional, your home will be listed on a MLS database that other real estate professionals can access. In addition, you get the benefit of an experienced marketer and negotiator who is familiar with real estate issues in your community.

When selecting someone to represent you, interview at least three real estate professionals who are familiar with your area. Ask questions such as: How will your home be marketed to reach the greatest number of buyers? What price can they get for your home? What’s the average time their listings have been on the market? They should be able to back up their answer with a Comparative Marketing Analysis and provide the names of two or three of their most recent sellers who you may contact for a reference.

Price It Right

A house priced at just below market value piques the interest of real estate professionals and buyers, while overpricing chases them away. If your home is priced too high, interested buyers may never even tour your listing. It is true that you can always drop the price, but the first 30 days are the most critical. That is when interest is the highest, and it can be difficult to recapture people’s interest later on. The longer the property is on the market, the fewer the interested buyers.

Get Your Home In Show Condition

Get your home in tip-top shape before any potential buyer views it. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Get rid of the clutter. Touch up the paint where needed. Clean the carpet. Consider having your home inspected, and make any recommended repairs. (If there are any repairs you decide not to fix, inform the buyers about the condition of your home and discount the repair cost from the selling price).

Curb Appeal

Don’t overlook the outside of your property. You don’t want a buyer to rule out your home based on the outside appearance. The lawn should be trimmed, bushes and shrubs pruned, and leaves raked. The front of the house needs a clean, fresh appearance. Even the mailbox needs to be attractive and functional. (Believe it or not, a rusty, unhinged mailbox can turn potential buyers off.) And don’t forget to put away bicycles; toys and other items that may make your property seem cluttered.

Offer Incentives

Offering incentives can be just the impetus a potential buyer needs to select your property over others. You may want to consider offering a carpet or paint allowance. If the buyer knows up front that there is an allowance for the worn carpet or paint, they may overlook those cosmetic flaws in order to choose their own color. You could pay for a professional home inspection or a home warranty – and, depending on your market and budget, offer to pay some of the closing costs.

Don’t be discouraged if there are competing homes for sale in your neighborhood. Making the right moves at the beginning of your home selling process can give you the upper hand you’ll need in today’s competitive market.