Gig Harbor Undressed

Gig Harbor Open Houses

Are you thinking of moving to Gig Harbor?  Maybe you’re just visiting Gig Harbor and think touring some homes sounds like fun.  Or maybe you’re a Gig Harbor resident and you want to compare your home to other homes that are for sale in the area.  Whatever the case, here is the list of this weekend’s open houses. 

Buying a home is a huge decision.  You’ll want to make sure that you have a professional in your corner who can help guide you along the way.  I can help you with the purchase of any of these homes listed here, as well as any other house that you may wish to purchase.  If you’re looking to buy a home in Gig Harbor, Port Orchard, Tacoma, or the surrounding areas, please give me a call.

This list of open houses is taken from the NWMLS.  Information is reliable but not guaranteed.  Some agents may forget to list their homes as open, so this list may not be exhaustive.  Interesting to note that 15 of the 29 homes are listed by Keller Williams Real Estate.  There are many possible reasons for this, but I believe that the training and continuing education that we offer our agents has made our office the premier listing office in the Puget Sound region.  Sellers pay good commissions to real estate agents, and while there are good agents to be found at most offices, I truly believe that Keller Williams stands out as having the best prepared, most professional agents available to serve you.

Where to get dinner in Gig Harbor?

I’m not much of an escargot fan…I don’t even know if I spelled that right.  If you’re looking for fancy dining in Gig Harbor, you have a few options.  I’ll highlight those options at another time.  This guy found a nice snail dinner along Ray Nash Drive, at the home of a friend and client.   To really appreciate the series, you should see it in full size.  Click here  and click “All Sizes” to view it larger.  Thanks for the photos, John!

Gig Harbor Photos

This has been a tough week.  I have a 5 month old baby who won’t sleep anymore, sold 2 homes that got a little rough at the end, and am feeling behind on work.  Living in Gig Harbor has a way of washing away some stresses.  Prayer is a powerful thing in my book, and recently it seems as though my prayers have been falling on deaf ears, but at least I get to pray them in places like this!  Below are some photos that were emailed to me by one of my readers.  Thanks Mark!

Slow Down! Go for a walk in Gig Harbor

I don’t know why I get such a kick out of this photo, but it cracks me up.  I was walking with Sebastian through Canterwood Golf and Country Club yesterday, and when I got about 20ft away, this radar actually picked up my speed!  Since nobody was around, I kept going back and forth, trying to see how high I could get it.  At one point, I had it up to 12MPH, but it’s really tough to take a clear picture at those speeds.  I could have gone faster, but Seb’s getting old (if you believe that one…).

This afternoon the whole family went for a walk along the Gig Harbor waterfront.  Sunny skies and temps in the mid 50’s meant that there was no shortage of folks out for a walk.  Gig Harbor’s downtown is just one of many great places to slow down and take a stroll in this beautiful town.  It may be the most popular spot.  About 2 miles of waterfront with shops, sidewalks, and beautiful views the entire way make this an ideal spot to walk.  Sebastian is very courteous and moves off of the sidewalk when other people are approaching, stays close by my side when other doggies come near (even when their owners let them stray to the ends of their elastic leashes), and never litters the sidewalk with…well, you know what I mean.  I’m sure that the dog owners who let their dogs meander aimlessly back and forth across the sidewalks, approaching and sniffing everybody and every dog they see, making messes on the sidewalks, aren’t trying to be inconsiderate, I’m sure they’re just pre-occupied with the beauty of the walk. 

Here are a few more shots of our walk this morning.  Where are some of your favorite places to walk or favorite Gig Harbor walking stories?

Another look at Gig Harbor’s Real Estate Absorption Rate

For my weekly look at the Gig Harbor real estate market, I wanted to revisit the absorption rate of houses for sale in the area.  As a reminder, the absorption rate measures how long it will take for our current home inventory to be completely sold, or absorbed.  To calculate this number, we take the current number of homes for sale in Gig Harbor, and divide that by the number of houses selling each month. 

Currently there are 572 homes for sale in Gig Harbor.  Over the past 3 months, we are averaging 24 home sales per month (only 20 homes sold in Gig Harbor during January).  At this current pace, if no more homes were listed for sale, our current inventory wouldn’t be sold until January of 2010!  Port Orchard has a much better scenario, as their absorption rate is only 12 months, exactly half that of Gig Harbor.  Port Orchard has 621 homes for sale, and is averaging 48 home sales per month over the past 3 months. 

So what do these numbers mean for you if you are needing to sell your home soon?  PRICE IT WELL!  Houses are still able to sell quickly, when they are priced correctly.  Of the 72 Gig Harbor houses to sell the past 3 months, the average days that they spent on the market was 191 days.  However, 24 of the 72 homes sold in 3 months or less.  This is a perfect example of how house pricing affects the statistics. 

If your house is overpriced to begin with, not only will it be sitting on the market with the other 572 homes, but it will have the additional competition that gets listed each week.  On January 6 of 2008, there were only 500 homes on the market in Gig Harbor.  You can see how our inventory is rising.  An overpriced home quickly gets pushed further and further down the list, quickly becoming a “stale” listing.

So how do you know where to price your home?  Have a Realtor analyze what similar homes have SOLD in the past few months.  Don’t make the mistake of basing your home’s value on what else is currently on the market.  Let’s say the data for SOLD homes shows your value to be around $455,000, for example, but you’re positive your home is nicer than the one down the street listed for $485,000, so you decide to list at $495,000.  What happens?  The one listed for $485k has been sitting, so they do a price reduction to $470k.  A new home comes on the market for $465k.  You drop yours to $475k to try and keep up.  Meanwhile, the other two homes, still over priced, do price reductions, and now you’re chasing the market.  By the time your home sells, it may have been sitting for 9 months and been reduced $50k.  Don’t let that happen.  Look at the SOLD numbers, swallow your pride, don’t gamble, and let your house sell.  Make sure you hire a Realtor who can swallow his/her pride as well.  Many real estate agents have been accused of “buying” listings; that is, telling the seller they can sell it for more than any other agent just to get the listing, only to start the priced reduction game later.  Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the case for every house that has price reductions.  Sometimes the seller and the agent just guess wrong; sometimes there are factors that can’t be controlled.  If you under-price your home, chances are you’ll get multiple offers which may end up driving the price of your home up even more.  If it’s not under-priced, and is in fact priced well, it should sell within a month.  There are so many buyers out looking right now, tired of the over priced homes, that the instant a well priced home pops on the market they’ll be ready to snatch it up.  For more information on the area’s absorption rate, or further details on preparing your house for sale, please feel free to contact me.

Gig Harbor Open Houses this weekend

Here is the weekly look at the open houses you’ll find in Gig Harbor this weekend. 

If you would like more information on ANY of these homes, I’d be happy to provide it for you.  If you are looking to relocate to Gig Harbor, or simply purchase a new home in the Gig Harbor area, I’d love to show you what services I can provide.

*This list of open houses is taken from the NWMLS.  Information is reliable but not guaranteed.  If your home is open this weekend but you don’t see it on this list, contact your real estate agent.

See the light in Gig Harbor

My family and I took a late afternoon walk along the Downtown Waterfront of Gig Harbor yesterday, and I had a fun realization.  As we passed a store that was closed, I noticed their hours said they closed at 5pm.  “Is it really after 5?” I asked.  Sure was…and it was still light. 

Winters in Gig Harbor can be long, as darkness sets in during the 4 o’clock hour.  Summers are a whole different story as it stays light from 5am til nearly 10pm.  It was fun to realize that it was staying lighter longer, the temp was in the 50’s…spring is coming.  If you have ever wanted to visit Gig Harbor, spring is a wonderful time as things will soon be blooming.   Spring is coming!

Great Example of Community

My goal with this website is to promote the community of Gig Harbor.  I want people to get a good understanding of all the good that goes on here.  The link below is a recent news story featuring a Keller Williams agent from Tacoma, as well as the Gig Harbor Keller Williams’ Operating Principal.  It’s a great example of what community is.  In the interview, Mike Bastian makes a very profound statement that really grabbed me.  I’ll give you each one guess…the first comment that correctly identifies what quote of Mike’s grabs me as most profound I’ll send a $5 gift card to a local coffee shop.

Enjoy the video.

Looking for a great private school in Gig Harbor?

The Peninsula School District is commonly known as one of  Washington’s best public school districts.  Even with the great schools that Peninsula offers, many Gig Harbor families still opt for the private school route.  One of Gig Harbor’s finest private schools, Lighthouse Christian School, is having a public open house tomorrow (Feb 12) from 9am-11am and again on Thursday, March 13th from 5-7pm.  Tomorrow’s open house will allow families to see the school in full swing, with students present, while the open house in March may be more accommodating for families that need an evening schedule.

I have a special interest in LCS, having worked there myself part time for one year, my wife taught there for a year prior to having our first child, I have sold homes for four LCS teachers, and just generally really enjoy the school!  If you are looking for private schools in Gig Harbor, LCS offers K-11th (with 12th coming).  It’s well worth checking out!

Gig Harbor Real Estate Weekly Report

Each Monday I like to track home sales in the Gig Harbor, Port Orchard, and Key Peninsula areas.  Real estate is a local market, and no national report can ever give you the flavor of a local report.   Below is a chart showing the total number of homes for sale in Gig Harbor and the surrounding areas at week’s end for each week of ‘08 thus far.  As you can see, inventory is still rising, though at a fairly controlled rate.  Gig Harbor has more homes listed for sale each week than homes actually selling, an obvious indicator of rising inventory.

Bottom line?  If you are thinking of buying in this area, you’ve got a great selection.  If you are wanting to sell your Gig Harbor house, you need to make sure it is in top condition, priced right, and marketed aggressively.  I’d be happy to offer assistance in both cases.