Gig Harbor Undressed

“Can we move to Gig Harbor?”

I get this question asked of me often, via emails or online forums.  It mostly goes something like this: “We love Gig Harbor, and we’ve heard so many great things about it, but I don’t think we can afford it.  Besides, we’ll be working in Tacoma and have heard that the bridge (or toll) is really bad.  We’d love to move to Gig Harbor when we relocate, but can we really afford to by a home in Gig Harbor?”

The answer is different for each individual case, of course, but generally the answer is “Yes, you can relocate to Gig Harbor!”  First, the issue of the bridge.  HWY 16 connects Gig Harbor to Tacoma, and up until July 2007 there was just the one Tacoma Narrows Bridge running across the Tacoma Narrows.  Traffic would grind to a halt during rush hours and be sluggish the rest of the day.  Now, there are 2 bridges covering that span, one east and one west bound.  Both have 2 regular lanes, an exit only lane, and a carpool lane.  So we’ve gone from 2 lanes each way to 4, virtually eliminating (and at the very least easing) traffic concerns from Gig Harbor to Tacoma (check out the traffic cams in the sidebar links of this site).  The toll is a one-way deal, only charging you as you travel east.  With a commuter Good to Go pass, the toll is $2.75 now I think (I don’t really pay too much attention as it gets auto deducted from my account). 

I live and work in North Gig Harbor, just before you hit the Kitsap County border and Port Orchard and Olalla.  It takes me 18 minutes to get to Downtown Tacoma from my office, takes about 40 min to get to Olympia, about 65 minutes to get to Downtown Seattle, and about 30 minutes to Bremerton.  Portland is about a 2 hour drive from here.  Overall, pretty central and convenient location.

Other than traffic concerns, home prices in Gig Harbor tend to be the next worry.  Gig Harbor’s real estate market has felt the crunch that most of the rest of the nation has felt (to varying degrees).  Our prices have dropped.  Along with that, home ownership has become more affordable than ever with rates being offered at less than 5%, and tax breaks to first time buyers and folks who haven’t owned a home in the past 3 years.  Did you realize that with a $400,000 house, every 10% drop in price is negated by a 1% hike in interest rates in terms of payment?  With home loans as inexpensive as they are now, and with home prices dropping, there are some amazing deals in Gig Harbor right now.  We toured an amazing 3300+sf 1-level home on over an acre in a great location near Gig Harbor High, gated entrance, top of the line finishes, built in ‘06, tax assessed at $785k, being offered at $609k.  I also recently showed a great home near Gig Harbor Golf Course, 3800+sf, large yard, nice clean neighborhood, asking $429k.  There are several homes available that were built within the past 8 years, 2200-2400sf, for around $385-$400k.  I’ve seen more homes in the low $300k’s and high $200k’s than I’ve ever seen here before.  Whether you’re looking for a home in the $270k’s or for $1.5M, the inventory of homes for sale in Gig Harbor is amazing right now.  Certainly worth taking a look at. 

If you’re just curious about what’s available, but you don’t want to bother with a real estate agent right now, try my Home Scouting Buyer’s Report.  It’s a free web-based home search that gives you access to all of the homes for sale with all of the different companies, and you are in control!  You get photos, details, maps, status updates, and more straight to your email.  It’s free, try it! 

If you are moving to the Seattle or Tacoma areas, and are thinking that Gig Harbor may be the right place for you to buy a home, take a look.  Ask me some questions.  Stay with this blog and get to know the area.  This may or may not be a good time for you to buy, but that’s okay.  I have some pretty good leads on a lot of rental properties in Gig Harbor as well.  Lots of folks trying to sell their homes are choosing to rent instead, and I may have some leads that you can’t get from the Gig Harbor home rental and property management companies.  Gig Harbor is a great place to live, but you’ve got to believe you can live here first!

Thoughts on 2009

I’ve been writing Gig Harbor Undressed for about 14 months now.  I truly enjoy getting to interact with the readers who leave comments or send me emails, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to help a handful of folks who found me via this blog buy houses here in Gig Harbor.  I’ve met some great folks while sharing photos of Gig Harbor, and made some good friends out of folks who started as clients.  Pretty neat stuff to come out of writing an Internet journal! 

As we come to the end of 2008, and get ready for 2009, I thought I’d share some thoughts, hopes, goals, etc.  I listed goals and predictions last year, and as fun as that was, I’m passing on it this year.  Partly it seems to formal for a “journal,” and partly I don’t like being wrong and I only scored a 50% on my ‘08 predictions!  So here are my random thoughts for 2009 (I warned you they’re random):

• Real estate in Gig Harbor will continue to struggle.  I imagine we’ll see more home sales than we did last year, but I think we’ll see prices drop a bit more.  I think a huge number of real estate agents will leave the business.  Gig Harbor already lost about 30% of licensed real estate agents this past year.
• Buying a home in Gig Harbor is still a great move for many.  I don’t really get it sometimes.  Gas prices drop, everyone runs to the pumps.  A store has a sale, folks line up outside the doors waiting to get in.  Home prices drop, as does the cost of borrowing money to buy a home, and everybody puts on the brakes and waits to buy.  Waits for what?  Prices to go back up?  Interest rates to climb again?  It’s not the right time for everybody to buy…it is the best time in history for some to buy.
• Selling your home in Gig Harbor may hurt.  Your house is most likely not worth today what is was 3 years ago.  If you’re looking to buy something else, you’ll make up for it there.  Folks, you can’t sell high and buy low at the same time!  It doesn’t work!  If you have to sell low, take heart!  You’re buying low as well!
• Enough of real estate.  Gig Harbor High will bounce back and win the 2009 girls’ State Cross Country Championship.
• My daughter will turn 2, begin talking, and continue to amaze me with the things she can do (funny thing, if you pointed to your toes and nose and ears I wouldn’t care, but when she does it I race to get the video camera!).
• Our area will have a better professional sports year in ‘09…really, can it be worse?
• I’m excited for the new Franciscan Hospital to open in Gig Harbor in March.  I don’t really know why.  How exciting is a hospital, really?
• I want my new website, MeetGigHarbor.com, to take off.  Partly because if it takes off it brings me money, which is why I’m in business.  Mainly because I know that small business owners in Gig Harbor deserve an inexpensive way to get the best possible form of advertising, and I believe that I offer that.  It’s just a matter of getting the word out.  I enjoy helping people, and I enjoy making money by helping people.
• I hope that more people recognize the beauty of living in Port Orchard if they work in Seattle.  Seattle’s a great place to work, but a really expensive place to live.  Why not get a great view home near the ferry for WAY less money?

There you have it.  Nothing ground breaking, nothing risky, nothing overly exciting.  Just some random thoughts as I sit at my computer on a cold, wet December day.  What about you?  What thoughts do you have about ‘09?

Family trip to Carpinteria, Ca

Gig Harbor Undressed–2008 Year in Review

As we near the end of 2008, I figured I’d take a quick look back at two posts that I wrote at the end of 2007.  I wrote one post on my “Resolutions“, and another with my predictions for 2008.  I thought it’d be fun to take a look at both and see how I did.

First, my resolutions.  I don’t like the connotation of the word, so I choose to refer to my goals.  I listed 11 goals for 2008, and I can happily report that I successfully achieved 7 of them.  Others, such as watching the Gig Harbor High girls’ cross country team win a 4th straight state title, weren’t really in my control, and they came oh so close!  Overall, I’m quite happy with how 2008 turned out for me and what I was looking forward to. 

Now, for my predictions.  I made 10 predictions for 2008, and got 5 of those right.  I made a couple of predictions for the real estate market in Gig Harbor, and missed on those.  I thought we’d see more homes sell in Gig Harbor in ‘08 than ‘07, and that the median price would increase $6k-$10k.  Wrong.  With only a few days left, Gig Harbor’s home sales have dipped 36% (453 sales versus 708 in ‘07).  The median home price in Gig Harbor dropped 7.5%, from $433,250 to $400,000.  I did correctly predict that new construction homes would have a tough time selling in 2008.  Only 45 new homes sold in Gig Harbor this past year, compared to 90 last year.  Median price has stayed the same, however ($650,000). 

I will freely admit that I didn’t see this big of a market crash happening this year.  I figured it’d be tough, but not as tough as it’s been.  As I look at all of the indicators that I know, I don’t see much of an upswing for 2009, but that’s for my next post!  Overall, 2008 was a good year for me and my family.  I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the year 2008.

What matters?

Today is Monday, and Mondays I usually reserve for a local real estate market report.  There’s not much to report.  Real estate in Gig Harbor has come screeching to a halt.  Christmas time, lots of snow, struggling economy…they don’t make for a great time of home sales.  So this Monday I’ll post about what matters more to me.

7 years ago today my wife and I were married.  It was a great wedding, and not just because my wife was in it.  It was great because my wife planned it perfectly, and God arranged the rest perfectly.  Beautiful weather, beautiful Christmas decorations, family and friends, it was just a great time.  The past 7 years have also been beautiful, but not perfect.  I’m still learning what it is to share my life with someone, still learning how to be vulnerable, still learning how to express love that I bottle up due to fear, still learning how to love completely without hanging on to parts of my heart lest I get hurt.  I’m not sure many other women would have lasted 7 years with me; I have tended to be a slow learner in this area.  I am sure that there are no other women that I’d find worth it to continue to strive to grow for.  If you’ve ever seen my wife teach, or if you’ve seen her mother our daughter, you’ve had a quick glimpse into how amazing she is when she is passionate about something.  I get deeper glimpses into that and in more situations.  Makes me feel pretty fortunate. 

So yes, I worry about the economy.  I wish my business were doing better than it is.  I wonder where we’re headed.  I wish I was in better shape.  I wish I had more self control.  That will all work itself out, maybe like I want it to, maybe not.  God decides that.  I’m in control of how I love my wife, and after 7 years I think I may just now be starting to get what that can look like.  If you’re still interested in this blog, check in on December 22, 2015 and I’ll let you know how the next 7 years went.

Snow and Water–2 sides to Gig Harbor

Gig Harbor is in the midst of a snow storm the likes of which I’ve never seen around here, and I’m not sure Gig Harbor has ever had this much snow.  Most folks looking to move and relocate to Gig Harbor think of maritime images, boats and marinas and bays.  This winter we have the unusual combination of all of those things, with a blanket of snow!  It’s truly beautiful…and still falling.  I invite you to explore all of my photos of the snow storm in Gig Harbor on my Flickr page, but here are a few images from today.

A means to end foreclosures?

Home foreclosures may not be a crisis in Gig Harbor, but it is certainly a growing trend.  I’m not ready to endorse the program highlighted here, but I am intrigued by it.  There are some pretty big minds that read this blog, so I thought I’d ask for some of your input.  The author of Partners In America is a Gig Harbor resident and Realtor.  I’d encourage you to read his plan for halting foreclosures in America and chime in with your thoughts.  What works and doesn’t work about his proposed plan?

Gig Harbor snow storm

Having grown up in Park City, UT, I’m a real snow fan.  As much as I love Gig Harbor, I do wish we got more snow.  God was nice to me today and gave Gig Harbor a good Utah-like snow storm.  I hope you enjoy my photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Click on this photo to watch a great video

“I’m moving to Gig Harbor, but where should I live?”

If you are moving to Gig Harbor but are confused about where to live (or if you are already happy with your home but want a fun new toy to play with), here’s a website that can help.  I read about OptimalHomeLocation.com on another real estate blog and had some fun playing with it this morning.  You can enter in your usual routine (where you go to work, to the gym, to church, shopping, etc), and then the website tells you where your optimal home location would be along with some pretty basic stats about housing in that area.  If you are moving to Gig Harbor, I think it’s more useful to call a Realtor such as myself, but the website may be more fun!  Give it a try.

You think Gig Harbor’s cold now?

If you’re struggling with the below freezing temps and the light snow in Gig Harbor right now, check out this video from 1950.  Gig Harbor Bay is frozen solid, and folks are ice skating and riding their bikes across the Harbor.  I’ve seen it frosted enough for snow to accumulate on the Harbor, but I’ve never seen it frozen solid!

Christmas events recap

The weekend in Gig Harbor turned out nicely, and I wanted to share a few photos from the Nativity Scene, boat parade, and Christmas concert.  We skipped Zoo Lights due to the cold, snow and ice!

Click on the photo to view videos of the concert

The Christmas concert at Believer’s Fellowship was amazing.  The Flaherty family, 8 kids ranging from 5-17 years, performed and put on a great show.  The audience was smaller due to the snow, but still a great time.  Click the photo above for access to four short videos of their performance.

The Gig Harbor Yacht Club’s boat parade was also a treat.  A bit cold, but beautiful.