About Skagit County, WA

Hey Everybody,

According to an article in BusinessWeek and Yahoo! Finance from November 6th, 2009, our great little town of Mount Vernon Washington is expected to top the Nation's job growth in the first three months of 2010.

Wow!

The article says that our "tourism, retail and hospitality will make a comeback as the economy improves." I think that is outstanding and likely to become the reality.

In Real Estate, we're already seeing the recovery. In the latest monthly recap published by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, Pending Sales in the month of October 2009 were up an amazing 94.44% from the October 2008 Sales in Skagit County.

Simply amazing! The recovery is here and it is real.

Add this to the near historic low interest rates and the $8,000 First Time Buyer Tax Credit, or the $6,500 Tax Credit to people that have owned their home for at least 5 years and you have a fantastic opportunity for buying real estate! If you've been waiting for the right time to buy, wait no longer!

-Bill

According to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research 2009 Third Quarter Housing Analysis; Skagit County home re-sales (# of units sold) were up 14.6% from the previous quarter, and down -9.7% from the third quarter in 2008. Statewide home re-sales (# of units sold) were up 15.6% from the previous quarter and up 2.6% from the third quarter in 2008. Overall building permits in Skagit County are down -16.5% from the third quarter of the previous year, in comparison to the -39.1% reduction statewide. The median re-sale home price in Skagit County is down to $233,600 (down -8.4% from the third quarter in 2008), below the statewide median of $260,000 (down -7.6% from the third quarter of 2008). The 2009 third quarter Housing Affordability Index (HAI) was 121.7 for Skagit County, slightly lower than the statewide index of 122.8.

See full data: http://www.wcrer.wsu.edu/WSHM/WSHM.html

I was speaking with a managing broker this week discussing licensed home inspectors. He pulled out his inspector list and I noticed that he had a name of an unlicensed inspector on his referral. I asked him if he was going to notated who had their license and who didn't. He said that he had spoken to the home inspector in question who had assured him that he carried a number of licenses and certifications. The home inspector implied that with what he already had, he was ok. I did mention the benefits to clients who use licensed home inspectors and said that clients should know who is licensed and who is not on referral lists. I hope this broker does this.

It does bring up the question of why would a practicing inspector (the company above has been around for a number of years) would not get their license? The penalty is that these inspectors have to go back to school for 120 hours or more and then ride along with a licensed inspector for 40 hours. Since September 1st, inspectors who missed the deadline have been popping up like moles. I am sure that the Washington Department of Licensing (DOL) is getting every excuse in the book but because these deadlines were written into the law, the DOL hands are tied. Regardless, if these businesspeople are not aware of what happening in the industry, would you want to hire them? Home Inspectors are generalists and need to be knowledgeable in all areas of the home. I network with local inspectors all the time sharing information. Either this inspector kept to himself or decided that he was going to get out of the business before July 2010. Either way would you want to be referring someone like this?

Rick Bunzel, CRI
Pacific Crest Inspections
WASH. HI #312
ASHI Certified #249557
NAHI Member of the Year 2008
NPSAR Affiliate of the Year 2006-2007
WWW.PacCrestInspections.com
360-588-6956
Fax 360-588-6965
Toll Free 866-618-7764

I hate to borrow a line from Bill Clinton, but it just seems too appropriate not to.

The DOW has had an average monthly gain of 636 points for the last 4 months. (3/2/09 it closed at 6,626.94 and 8/1/09 it closed at 9,171.61). During trading today, I saw the DOW at 9,490 as the momentum keeps marching on.

Residential Home Sales in Skagit County with transactions "Pending" gained 37.93% comparing June 2008 with June 2009, according the Northwest Multiple Listing Service's Monthly Recap for June 2009. June 2008 had 116 residential homes with transactions "Pending", June 2009 had 160 residential homes with transactions "Pending") The same report shows a 22.77% gain in Pending Sales across the whole NW Multiple Listing Service, which represents the bulk of the State. Way to go Washington State!

The Federal Government's "Cash for Clunkers" program is so wildly successful that they nearly used up the One Billion Dollars in the first week of the program. At the $4,500 maximum per car, this represents over 220,000 "clunkers" traded in on more efficient cars. Wow!

Positive momentum is here! There can be no doubting it anymore!

The economists always say "Buy Low, Sell High." Well, it seems that we have reached the low and are starting to go up again. The "Time to buy" is here. Whether you're looking to buy a house, a car, or some stock; do it soon.

This past weekend, for the umpteenth time, my wife and I attended the Anacortes Arts and Crafts Festival. This big-time festival, an amazing business enterprise in the small but very charming waterfront city, has been going on for 48 year now. I have not attended each year, but I have visited the festival for at least 35 years. The photos below show some of the color of the street festival. 

While we were there, the grandson got a spider on his face. No worries, it is not real and it rubs right off.

This year's festival is over, as of last Sunday. But, if the good lord proves willing and the creek don't rise, I will be back again next year.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections