Gig Harbor Undressed

Gig Harbor Snow Photo Contest | Winners!

January 23rd, 2012

The Gig Harbor snow photo contest was a blast, and the winners are announced!  I’m very grateful to my wife for coming up with this idea.  There were 32 folks who submitted entries, many multiple photos, and below are my favorites, with the 4 winners at the bottom.  Enjoy!

My 2 honorable mentions…I wish I could grant these two as winners, but there were a couple in the same categories I just liked a bit better.  These two will get GigHarborUndressed t-shirts as a consolation prize!

And the winners are…

In the snow sculpture category:

In the Snow Pet category:

In the Snowy House category (yes, a stretch, but there are homes in this!):

And in the Snow Play category:

Thanks to everyone who submitted photos!  This was a lot of fun for me.

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Kayaking in Gig Harbor

January 20th, 2012

Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak coach Alan Anderson doing a little kayaking in Gig Harbor.  This shot wasn’t submitted to me for the photo contest, but I loved it so thought it was worth sharing.

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Gig Harbor Snow Picture Contest

January 18th, 2012

My wife had the great suggestion of hosting a Gig Harbor Snow Picture contest.  So here we go!  I’ve got 4 different categories, 4 different prizes.  You can post them to my Facebook page, post them in the comments of this blog, or email them to me.

1. Snow Sculpture–Send me your best snowman, snow fort, snow family…any sculpture made of snow.
2. Snowy Houses–Since my business is selling homes, let’s see your most beautiful snow picture featuring a home in Gig Harbor.
3. Snow Play–Show me your most fun snow play photos.  Snowball fights, sledding, safely jumping off roofs into drifts (okay, that was my childhood, but we had more snow than this).
4. Pets in the Snow–Pets loving snow, pets exploring snow, pets playing with the kids in the snow.  If your pet likes the snow, show us how much!

Prizes will be on a first come, first served basis.  I will notify the winners of each category simultaneously via email, and winners will pick from the following 4 prizes.

1. $20 to Ikonos Greek Restaurant in Gig Harbor
2. Free large pizza at Blue Cannon Pizza in Gig Harbor
3. 2012 Gig Harbor Photo Calendar
4. $10 to Green Cottage Pets in Gig Harbor.

Any photos you send will be  published on this site and Facebook, so please only send photos you’re willing to have online.  If you don’t want your kids’ faces online, don’t send clear photos of their faces!  Entries are due by 5:00pm Friday, January 20th.  Winners will be notified on Monday January 23.

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House Hunting In Gig Harbor | Tips

January 17th, 2012

If you are house hunting in Gig Harbor, or you will be house hunting in Gig Harbor soon, let me offer a few tips to make the process easier.  These aren’t all encompassing, and not all are relevant to every home buyer, but all in all some good tips to give you the best experience possible.

1. Have a pre-approval letter from a local lender ready.  Nothing worse than looking at homes in the $325k range when you only qualify for $299k.  Most sellers won’t accept offers without some proof of financing, so don’t let someone else who is more prepared than you buy your house while you’re trying to get your financing in order.
2. Find a good Realtor. “Good” means different things to different people. As a home buyer, you won’t be responsible for the agent fees, as the seller pays a commission to their agent, who then splits that with the buyer’s agent. So it doesn’t cost the home buyer anything to hire an agent.  I recommend finding one that is a full-time agent so they will have more availability, and most importantly find one whom you’re okay spending a lot of time with. Personality matters here almost as much as skill.  Don’t worry about experience…I know of several agents with less than a year’s worth of experience whom I’d hire before agents with 10+ years of experience.
3. Use the online tools available to you. You have pretty much the same access to available houses as your Realtor, so go ahead and search if you have the time. An agent’s value is more in knowing the market, knowing the community, and knowing how to present and negotiate offers than it is in finding the right homes now a days.
4. Don’t look at every house.  You don’t have to tour 50 homes to find the right home. In fact, you can often find the perfect home only touring 5 or so in person.
5. When you tour homes with your Realtor, have a way to keep the homes straight. Homes begin blurring very quickly, and you’ll soon find yourself wondering which kitchen went with which yard in which neighborhood. I take care of this for my clients using my tablet. I’ll take photos and notes of the homes as we tour and email them to you instantly, which is very helpful when you get back home and are trying to sort through what you just saw.
6. When you look at homes, wear slip on shoes or boots.  Many sellers, especially in wet weather, request you to remove your shoes or put on little booties that don’t fit big feet like mine and are super slippery anyway.  Slip on shoes will make things a lot easier for you.
7. Bring a flashlight and measuring tape (or hire an agent like myself who carries those things along).  Many homes have the power off, and rooms look a lot different without your furniture in them.
8. Voice your opinions out loud.  See something that makes you cringe? Say it.  Something you really like that you didn’t know you would like? Let everyone know.  Your spouse, friends, agents, etc can’t read your mind, so let them know what you like and don’t like about each home.
9. Be prepared to write an offer.  Don’t take the mindset of we’re just looking unless you are really truly just looking.  What if you see the perfect house? Are you okay watching someone else buy it because you weren’t ready to act?

So there are my top 9 tips for house hunting in Gig Harbor…or anywhere really.  I’d love to get input from those of you who have recently (or are currently) house hunting.  What are things that worked and didn’t work for you?  What tips would you include?

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Fun Weekend in Gig Harbor

January 17th, 2012

What a fun weekend in Gig Harbor this was.  Okay, not all of it was in Gig Harbor, but part of it was only a 15 minute drive away.

We started off Saturday with the 3rd Annual Resolution Run for the Heroes, a great event supporting a great cause.  I ran the 10k (it was my first 10k in a looong time) and happily placed 8th out of 88 runners.  My wife ran the 5k and placed 47th, 48th, and 49th (she was pushing the kiddos in the double jogger, so that was my attempt at being funny) out of 136 runners.  It was a fun (though cold and wet) day for our family.

Later on, we made the 15 minute drive to the Grand Opening of the new Tacoma Children’s Musuem.  I’m not sure if me, my wife, or my 2 kids had the better time.  It was completely different from the old TCM, and tons of fun.  If you live in the Gig Harbor area and are looking for a fun event to do with your kids, make the trek (before they jack the toll up to $5) to Tacoma and have a blast!

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Gig Harbor Sunset Photos

January 16th, 2012

We have had some amazing sunrises and sunsets in Gig Harbor the past few weeks.  Last Sunday, there was a sensational sunset, and I pulled over to snap a photo but only had my phone.  Fortunately, Jim Gleza was in the same spot I was with a better eye, better equipment, and better photos.  Enjoy the Gig Harbor sunset photos from  Jim!

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How Would A Toll Increase Impact You?

January 13th, 2012

In a very unpopular and some would say illegal move, the toll on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge could easily jump $2 by the middle of 2012.  We’re being told that $4.75 for a Good To Go pass is a rate that we should be prepared for. There is all sorts of legal debate going on about this, with some questioning the legality and most questioning the necessity and wisdom of this toll rate.

I’m curious how this toll increase will impact you.  Will you drive the bridge less?  Carpool more?  Move to the other side?  Do you feel trapped? Please take a minute to vote in the poll, and please voice your opinions (keep ‘em clean) in the comments section.

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New Keller Williams Office Burns Down

January 11th, 2012

As you may have heard, Keller Williams West Sound was set to expand into Silverdale in the next several weeks.  After months of research and planning, we felt that we had the right people on board, and we had finally located the ideal location.  Sharing a wall with Forza Coffee Shop in Silverdale, our new office was going to have a great consumer-oriented informational hub atmosphere.

Lease papers had been signed, plans drawn, and work was set to begin on Monday to create the space we had envisioned.  Then, Sunday afternoon, it all went up in flames.  Literally.  A mishap at a neighboring tanning salon burned the entire building down, making it a complete loss. Fortunately, there were no injuries, but there was devastation.

It got me to thinking about a few things.  One, we were perhaps the most fortunate of all the building’s tenants.  We had no inventory in there, thus we didn’t lose nearly as much.  We can continue selling homes whether we have the office space or not.  Other businesses, such as Forza, can’t continue serving their customers without their space.  Two, none of our people are out of a job.  We need to find a new spot to convene, but we can continue on. Most of the other businesses have employees that are now out of work.

What struck me most is who we are.  Who Keller Williams West Sound really is.  Many companies are somewhat defined by their space.  You know people like this, those who define themselves by their dress or their cars.  Many real estate companies are the same. I used to interview with other agencies frequently, one because they invited me to and two because I was curious as to what my competition felt were their greatest strengths.  Many of the brokerages I interviewed with showed off their office space…the location, the view, the fancy foyer, the cherry wood desks.

Our office in Gig Harbor is nice.  Nothing fancy, but nice.  Our Silverdale office was also going to be nice.  Small, simple, but very nice.  But our office is never what we promote when we interview prospective agents, and it’s not even in the top 5 reasons why I chose to affiliate with Keller Williams.  We show off our people.  Our agents, our staff, our leadership.

Rich Jacobson was one of our key hires when we started the planning for our Silverdale expansion.  He is experienced, he is productive, he is well known (locally and nationally), and he is almost universally well liked. Rich and  I began a friendship a few years back, and the opportunity to work with him has simply solidified that friendship.  We don’t hang out much, our paths don’t cross much, but he energizes my work.

You know those people that you just want to be around?  Rich is one of those people. Have you ever found yourself running low at work, church, a sports team, then someone new joined the group and all of the sudden you were excited about things again?  Rich has done that for me.  I’ve been with Keller Williams for nearly eight years now. At times, I was getting tired…not of the company but of the business.  Things are harder now, and they’re emotionally draining.  Then Rich joins the company and his passion for who we are and how we can serve through real estate just flooded our office.  Just like that, I’m excited again.

Yes, the office is gone.  Our progress is slowed.  But Keller Williams West Sound didn’t burn down.  Our office did.  Keller Williams West Sound is our people.  And we’re good people.  And I’m happy to be a part of that.  We’re still growing, we’re still expanding, and we’re still selling homes from Silverdale to Gig Harbor to Tacoma.

If you’re looking for a new career and have thought real estate may be interesting, give me a call.  If you’re looking at buying or selling a home in the West Puget Sound area, give any one of our great agents a call.  You’ll find that we’re still standing very tall.

**All photos taken by Rich Jacobson

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Gig Harbor’s 3rd Annual Resolution Run for the Heroes

January 10th, 2012

Gig Harbor’s 3rd Annual Resolution Run for the Heroes is coming up this Saturday (January 14).  This is a great event to support a great cause.  The 5k run/walk and the 10k run start at Skansie Park in downtown Gig Harbor and cruise all the way around the Harbor.

All proceeds from this great event go to benefit the Behind The Badge Foundation, supporting families of fallen police officers in Washington.

If you’re a recreational runner, a competitive speedster, or just someone willing to walk for a great cause, it’d be wonderful to see you out in the Harbor on Saturday.

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Gig Harbor Real Estate | 2011 Market Review

January 9th, 2012

Gig Harbor real estate saw another interesting year in 2011.  Trends are hard to come by, statistics don’t tell the whole story, but it’s still fun to look at the stats and try to identify the trends.  First, let’s look at the month of December.

There were 52 home sales in Gig Harbor during the month of December (remember, I look at single family homes and condos in zip codes 98332, 98335, and 98333 [Fox Island]).  That was a pretty nice jump from the previous few months, but was right in the middle as the 6th best month of the year in terms of volume.  The median sales price of homes in Gig Harbor was $340,000 in December, a hair higher than the median for the year.

Other encouraging signs for Gig Harbor real estate is that the number of homes that have sold and the number of homes currently under contract are up for the year.  Our monthly supply of housing inventory has seen a fairly significant decline, as well.  It is interesting to break down the months’ inventory by price range, as the story is vastly different when comparing homes in different pricing brackets.

While December was a fairly good month for Gig Harbor real estate, 2011 was a pretty so-so year.  For the year, there were 595 homes that sold in Gig Harbor.  That number is up mildly (2.5%) from 2010.  Pricing has continued to take a slide, however.  While pricing seemed to recover a bit throughout 2011, comparing 2011 to 2010 we saw some respectable home price declines in Gig Harbor.  The median home price in Gig Harbor for 2011 was $329,500 (down 11% from 2010), and the average home price in Gig Harbor was $387,617 (a 9.5% decline from 2010).

Interestingly, the Key Peninsula (still part of the Gig Harbor school systems, but a very different real estate market) had some slightly different results in 2011.  With 231 home sales (representing an 18% increase over 2010), the Key Peninsula real estate market seemed to show quite a rebound.  While prices dropped there as well, they weren’t as significant.  The median home price on the Key Peninsula was $169,000 (8.7% lower than 2010) while the average home price was $207,788 (5.8% lower than last year).

When compared to other areas around the Puget Sound, the Gig Harbor real estate market seemed to have fared pretty well in 2011.  I still don’t find anything that points to a significant rebound, but I do believe that the increased sales, more properties in a pending sale status, and smaller inventory all do point to a stabilization in the home prices for 2012.

If you have any questions about a particular home or neighborhood in Gig Harbor, please give me a call.  I’m more than happy to analyze those numbers for you.

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