Gig Harbor Undressed

Gig Harbor Rambler | Sylvia Lake

If you’re looking for a great Gig Harbor rambler, I have recently listed this home in the Sylvia Lake neighborhood.  This 3 bedroom, 2 bath rambler has 1352 square feet and sits on an ultra-private 1.56 acre lot.  It’s a best of all worlds situation as you’re in the popular Sylvia Lake neighborhood (with their gorgeous little lake and resident swan), but you are completely secluded from all of your neighbors.

The home features updated baths, a large open living space, a large master with attached bath, and a huge wrap-around Trex deck.  There is also an attached 2 car garage.  Listed at $217,000, this home is right in the sweet spot of Gig Harbor home prices.  You can contact me for a private showing if you’re interested in viewing the home.

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Gig Harbor Real Estate Stats | January 2012

Let’s take a look at the Gig Harbor real estate stats from January of 2012.  Warning, what you are about to see may contain content that will make your heart skip a beat, or your stomach turn just a little.  It’s not pretty.  But there’s good news at the end, so hang with me.

January was an ugly month for home sales in Gig Harbor, as we saw a total of 23 sales all month (remember, I look at single family homes and condos in zip codes 98332, 98335, and 98333 [Fox Island], for multi-family homes or other areas, please email or call).  For a little perspective, last January we saw 33 homes sell, and last month (December ‘11) there were 52 homes that sold in Gig Harbor.  23 just isn’t a good number.

Prices were decent, however.  I win the ribbon for selling Gig Harbor’s most expensive home last month, with the Timbercrest home I sold for $800,000. That’s a pretty low number for the top selling home in Gig Harbor.  Overall, though, prices held their own with a median sales price of $324,300 and an average of $357,033.  Consider that last January’s median was $309,500 despite two $1M+ sales.

So what’s the good news I promised? January seems to be just a little hick-up.  In the first 3 weeks of February, Gig Harbor has already had 17 homes sell and 44 more homes go under contract.  Those are both very strong numbers for February.  Another good element is the absorption rate, or inventory count, of Gig Harbor homes for sale. Some people still believe it’s a strong buyer’s market, and in some price ranges they’re correct.

Currently in the under $250,000 price range, there is 8.5 months of inventory in Gig Harbor.  There is 8.8 months of inventory in the $300k’s, 9.7 months in the $400k’s, 15.5 months in the $500k’s, 13.5 in the $600k-$800k, and a whopping 41 months of inventory in the $800k+ price range.  So what’s the news here?  If you’re looking to buy a home in Gig Harbor for under $400,000, your choices and time are limited.  We’re in what’s considered a stable market right now.  Similarly, if you’re hoping to sell your Gig Harbor home for less than $400,000, you’ve got less competition and a larger buying pool.  If you’re $500k or above, we’re still in a strong buyer’s market.  Those of you in the $400k’s are sitting right on the fence.

If you have questions about a specific neighborhood or about Key Peninsula real estate, Tacoma real estate, or Port Orchard real estate, please contact me and I can get you the information you’d like.

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Coming Back

Sorry for my absence these past 10 days.  The blog will be coming back here in the next few days as I get back on track.  My absence is partially due to the real estate market in Gig Harbor coming back, too.  Since last Thursday, I have listed 5 new properties, written 3 offers for buyers, and secured 4 offers on my listings.

I’ve got my balance back and will be handling the business and the blog soon!

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Going Green…Or Have We Gone Too Far?

One of the biggest trends in real estate, as well as just about every other area of life right now, is “going green.”  It’s a great goal, something that can really help us be conscientious about the world we’re living in.  One of my favorite bloggers just wrote what is perhaps my favorite blog post, and it is on the topic of going green.  The question arises, have we gone too far to get to green?

Take 90 seconds to read this post on Gig Harbor Scene.  It offers a fantastic perspective I believe.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.”

The young lady clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. YOUR generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”

Click here to read the rest of the post…where it really gets good.

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Consumer’s Perspective of Gig Harbor’s Chocolate Walk

Here’s an open letter to the Gig Harbor Historic Waterfront Association (yes, it was sent to their leadership, too).  If you missed it (I’m sorry for you), the GHHWA just put on a fantastic event…the Art of Chocolate walk through downtown Gig Harbor.  There was a lot to love about this event, and a few things that I think the merchants could do to improve (maybe not on the event itself, but on the purpose behind the event).

• Firstly, great job on ordering up the weather! Sunny and 60 in the first week of February?! Not sure how you did that, but it made the walk even better.
• Fantastic idea to provide the bags to all of the participants. Easy and relatively cost effective way to keep your brand in front of people, and very useful to us for the walk and for grocery shopping.
• The prizes were a great idea.  It certainly encouraged me to make sure we made it to more shops.
• Kudos to the shops who went above and beyond on the chocolate. While I appreciate the Hershey Kisses and Dove hearts, the truffles, cupcakes, chocolate peanut butter balls (thanks Kelly’s) and the chocolate covered bacon (nice move, Brix 25) were a fun treat.
• One thing I thought was odd was not one shop we visited was handing out coupons for their store. If I own a store downtown, and have that many people spoon fed through my doors, I’m giving them a very attractive coupon to come back when they don’t have a chocolate headache and look around.
• Only one store we entered was having a drawing for their goods (a haircut and salon products).  Goodness! They had 2 baskets full of people’s names, phone numbers, and email addresses because of those drawings.  EVERY store downtown could have done that successfully.
• I would recommend to store owners to hire a temp or bring a friend and have a separate section of the store for the chocolate walkers, apart from the main counter.  There were some long log jams with people trying to buy things and people just wanting their stamps.  Serve the customers first, don’t make them wait in line.  Have a place for those of us with little kids to go away from the shoppers to get our stamp, our chocolate, and our coupon to come back without the kids!
• Finally, PARTICIPATION.  Why was there not 100% participation?  I bet the percentage is pretty high, but it wasn’t 100%.  We walked into one gallery and were greeted with, “We’re not doing it this year. There were too many kids in here last year.” Wow.  Wow.  Myself and 3 others turned around at that moment and walked out, never to return to that store again.  There’s a dentist with his office right in the middle of this walk. You’ve got hundreds of people walking around with chocolate in front of your office.  I’m thinking handing out toothbrushes with your name and number (and maybe a 1/2 off cleaning coupon?) would be more effective than being closed.  If an association is going to deliver customers, take advantage!

Overall, what a great and fun day.  I’ve lived in the Gig Harbor area for 14 years, in the Harbor for 8 of those, and that was the first time I’d been in several of those places.  It won’t be the last, I hope, as there are some neat shops down there.  If I had a reason in my hand (read coupon) to go back, it’d be nearly a sure bet.  Can’t wait for next year’s chocolate walk!

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Gig Harbor Wild Watch Pier Into The Night

In case the Chocolate Walk this Saturday isn’t exciting enough, the Gig Harbor Wild Watch crew will be hosting the Pier Into the Night event from 5:30-7:30pm (on Saturday Feb 4th).  This is an opportunity to come to Jerisch Dock and see sea life that we normally don’t see in the day by the special underwater lights from Harbor Wild Watch.  Get your kids all riled up with chocolate then enjoy some really fun sea creatures in the evening!

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Peninsula School District Levy

If you live in the Gig Harbor area, you’re most likely aware that there is an upcoming vote on the Peninsula School District replacement levy.  I’ve heard some very interesting arguments against the levy, and some compelling ones for the levy as well.

The most common argument that I’ve heard against the levy focuses around the amount of money that is already being spent on our students, backed by a belief that we need to send a message to those in charge that we want our school district to be more responsible with the money they have rather than taking more funds.

I want to address that with my opinion, and then share my opinion for why I am supporting the levy. I don’t know the details of how our district allocates the funds.  I know Superintendent Bouck and I like him.  He’s a nice man and he cares about our schools. I don’t know much about how he operates the budget.

I do believe that voting down a replacement levy seems like an unproductive way to send a message to “those in charge.”  Voting out the governor, voting for a new school superintendent, getting involved in the PTA or running for a position on the school board…those all seem like productive ways to send a message of change.

Taking money away from the schools seems like it will be putting our schools in a backward trend, which is not what we want.  I don’t have children in the PSD, but even so I am 100% convinced that our schools area  vital part of our community.

I know that several of the home buying clients I have that choose to live in Gig Harbor do so because of the schools, even though they may work in Kent or Auburn or even Seattle.  The schools make our community worth the commute for them.

I understand not wanting property taxes raised.  I understand not liking the direction our government is headed.  I understand wanting to make sure our schools are using their funds wisely.  I don’t understand withholding funds from our schools to try and make a point.

Please, share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Gig Harbor Chocolate Walk!

I love this event.  Love it.  L-O-V-E it.  On Saturday, February 4th from 10am-6pm, over 30 Gig harbor waterfront businesses will be participating in the 3rd Annual Art of Chocolate walk.  What is this?  It’s a chance for you–for FREE–to experience some of Gig Harbor’s best shops and art galleries and load up on some really fantastic chocolate!

It’s a really fun event with a prizes and give aways for visiting the most shops.  And we’re talking good chocolate, too!  Take a look at a fun little video from last year’s event.

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Preparing Your Home For Sale | Pricing

When you are preparing your home for sale, pricing and condition are the two most important factors that you can control.  Some people would throw marketing in with that, but I think that’s the real estate broker’s job, not yours.  We’ll talk about condition later, but I want to focus on pricing for a minute.

First, pricing a home is not an exact art.  There’s nothing exact about it.  What determines a home’s price?  Two things.  1. What a seller is willing to take in exchange for parting with the home, and 2) what a buyer is willing to pay for the particular home.  What are a few things that DON’T affect a home’s price?

1. What  you paid for the home
2. Cost of upgrades you put in the home
3. What your neighbor says it should be worth
4. What a real estate agent says it is worth
5. What you need out of the house to make a profit

Do any of these things surprise you?  Let me try to go through them and explain, then feel free to voice your thoughts in the comments section.

1. What you paid for the home is irrelevant in your home’s worth.  Like most things that cost money, values fluctuate.  That car you bought last year?  Value is down.  That gold you bought two years ago?  Worth more now.  That laptop I bought 4 years ago?  I can get a much better one now for 30% less.  What you paid matters to you, no doubt, but not to the buyer who is 1/2 the determining factor of today’s value.
2. This one bothers a lot of people, but the cost of the upgrades you put in the home don’t impact your home’s value.  For starters, the upgrades you put in may not be upgrades that a prospective buyer values.  You may have put a lot of money into granite counter tops, when the buyer would have been happy with a cheaper Corian counter.  Upgrading your home, in most cases, does increase its value.  The cost of those upgrades may not be reflected in the improved value though.
3. This one sounds funny, but it is an argument that I get frequently.  “Well, my neighbor (or co-worker, or mom, or friend’s cousin) told me that they just sold their house for $325,000, and ours is way nicer than theirs.”  I hear that a lot.  A few things that I’ve found in this situation.  Often times, no house actually sold.  Really.  I ask for the home’s address so I can look it up, and none is ever given.  Some times, the house sold, but not at what was reported.  That $325,000 sale was actually $319,000 minus another $7500 in concessions.  Finally, often we’re not comparing apples to apples.  The home that sold may indeed not be as nice of a home, but it may be in a much better location.
4. How can this be?  How is it possible that what a real estate agent says a home is worth has nothing to do with what your home is really worth?  Sadly, some real estate agents “buy” listings.  They tell a seller their home is worth more than it is in hopes of enticing the sellers to list with them.  This gets them a home to market around, gets them leads from potential buyers of other homes, and if they can keep the listing, a few price reductions later gets them a sale.  More commonly, real estate agents are wrong in our evaluations.  I’ve had 2 listings recently where this has been the case.  I’ve done my research, I’ve studied the comparables, I’ve evaluated market trends and buying habits.  Based on all the numbers, I come up with a price at which I’m sure the home will sell, market it strongly, only to find out that there was something I missed (a neighbor’s home in disrepair that turns away buyers, an influx of other condos on the market) that makes my estimated value not the value that buyer’s put on the home.
5. This one sounds self-evident, but is tough to swallow at times.  What you need out of the sale may not be what you can get, and you can’t expect a buyer to over pay for your home to release you from a debt.  This is where either short sales come into play or staying in the home longer (or keeping it and renting it out) all become options.

A final thought…what other nearby homes are listed for also isn’t a good indicator.  Someone may have over priced their home for one of the above reasons, and that can’t impact how you decide to price your home.  So what is a home seller to do?  Hire a good agent, one with a good track record of selling homes in your area in a relatively short period of time.  In collaboration with them, determine a price that you both feel is one that you can live with and there is evidence that a buyer will pay.

More often than not my anticipated sales price is pretty accurate.  I have become pretty good at analyzing the Gig Harbor real estate market and knowing what a home will sell for.  If you are thinking about selling your home in Gig Harbor, I’d love to chat with you and give you my best educated opinion of what you could expect to net from your home’s sale.  There’s no cost and no obligation for that, and we can decide from there if we would make a good partnership to sell your Gig Harbor home.

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What does Gig Harbor have to do with World Class Golf?

When you think of World-class golf, do you think of Gig Harbor, WA?  Probably not, but you will soon! Last year the 2010 US Amateur Golf Championships came to Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place.  Chambers Bay is one of the most scenic golf courses in the country, and will be host to the 2015 US Open Golf Championships.

So what does Chambers Bay have to do with Gig Harbor?  Some of the most incredible views from the golf course are of Gig Harbor and Fox Island, thus some of the most incredible views of the course are from Gig Harbor and Fox Island.  With golf championships come avid golfers.  Avid golfers tend to like Golf and Country Clubs and beautiful golf courses.  And while I certainly don’t want to put down University Place or Tacoma, there are no courses or golf communities there that can hold a candle to Gig Harbor’s Canterwood Golf and Country Club, or Port Orchard’s McCormick Woods or Trophy Lake golf courses.

Kyle Stanley, currently leading the PGA’s Farmer’s Insurance Open in Torrey Pines, hails from Canterwood (his grandparent’s home was recently for sale there).  So when the avid golf fans converge on our area again in a few years for the US Open, it’s a pretty safe bet many of them will make the short drive across the bridge to visit Gig Harbor (and if I were them stay here!) and give our courses a try.  If I were a really savvy golf fan, I’d take advantage of today’s interest rates (around 4.175%!) and our current low prices and pick up a home on Fox Island or Gig Harbor with a view of the course (no, you won’t be able to watch the tournament; the Sound is a bit too wide for that, but you could boat over!).

If you’d like a list of homes for sale in Gig Harbor or Fox Island that have views of Chambers Bay, give me a call or send me a quick email.

Photo Courtesy of Chris Anderson and Flickr and is posted on this blog with written permission.  PLEASE respect the photographer’s work and do not repost without permission!

View Chambers Bay, Canterwood, Trophy Lake, and McCormick Woods golf courses on a map

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