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Chuck Marunde, J.D. Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate

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The Future and Vision of Port Angeles

10-22-08
Chuck Marunde, J.D. Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate

Port Angeles now has it’s own Blog to openly discuss the future of Port Angeles, or in other words, the vision of Port Angeles. Many local businessman and local citizens have strong opinions about what can and should or could be done to promote Port Angeles as a great place to live, a strong business environment that fosters the growth of small and large businesses, and what the direction and plan should be for the future of Port Angeles.

There have been many discussions in the past dozens of years about the future of Port Angeles, and local government has made many decisions that have defined where we are today. Those decisions include land use and zoning, development restrictions, regulations, business fees and taxes, incentives, and thousands of decisions made on multiple levels, including city, county, the Port of Port Angeles, the Chamber of Commerce, quasi-government agencies, and private associations.

For many locals, the outcome on many issues has been unsatisfactory. For example, the bus depot downtown was a hot issue. Was it the right decision or wrong? There have been hundreds of decisions like this made in years past.

Some argue that Port Angeles has some of the most valuable and beautiful water front property in the world, but one only needs to look at the furrowed brows of visitors who drive through our water front to affirm that something has gone amiss. What about downtown buildings and development? What about business incentives? What about the philosophy of our city leaders? What is their vision for Port Angeles? Shouldn’t there be some cooperation on a vision among all government agencies? Or should we let them each do their own thing, even if the results are quite contradictory?

Why a blog on this subject? Because this is the one place where all discussions are documented and permanantly on public file for all to read and re-read and comment on. You can always come back and see what someone actually wrote, and how others felt about that position. When the Chamber invites a speaker on business development in Port Angeles or the future of Port Angeles, you might have 30 people attend, or on a good day you might have a 100. Those 100 people go home and each has a memory of the speech that fades over time. Meanwhile, the remaining 24,900 people in Port Angeles did not hear the speech and had no opportunity to express their position.

Or take a city council meeting. The same could be said. Limited people, limited opportunity to respond, and politicians only get 1% of the people’s perspective, and that 1% is often special interests. Now everyone has the ability to dialogue and express themselves on this blog focused on the future of Port Angeles. The Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce has over 500 local business members. They can all express their views here. And the person on the street can do so. Politicians will be able to hear more voices here than any other forum available. And politicians and regulators can intelligently express their positions, ask questions, and answer questions. And all articles and comments are archived for all to read and consider.

That’s the value of this blog. The good news is that it is a valuable community resource and absolutely free to all users. Check it out at PortAngelesVision.com.

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Blog_tag

Sequim Homes Sold First Nine Months of 2008

10-14-08
Chuck Marunde, J.D. Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate

Sequim Homes Sold compared to Port Angeles Homes sold in the first nine months of this year are shown in this graph in $50,000 increments.

Sequim Real Estate

Courtesy Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate.

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Good News in the Real Estate Market on the Olympic Peninsula

10-12-08
Chuck Marunde, J.D. Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate

Real estate prices in Sequim and Port Angeles and throughout the Seattle area are holding up well compared to other investments, particularly the stock market right now. USA Today published an article on October 8, 2008 entitled, "$2 Trillion Wiped Out of Retirement Funds." While this represents a 20% decline in retirement funds in a matter of weeks, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service data shows the average price of a single family home is down only 7.8% this September compared to September of 2007.

This is good news for home owners and for investors who are not over leveraged. Again, we see that real estate is a solid investment compared to other retirement options.

In Clallam County, the third quarter of this year (July - Sept 2008) the sales of single family homes were priced as follows:

LIST PRICE:
SOLD PRICE:
DOM:
HIGH LOW AVERAGE MEDIAN
$695,000
$99,000
$279,343
$269,000
$640,000
$99,000
$267,000
$253,500
763
0
120
71
Comparing these numbers to last year's third quarter (July - Sept 2007):
LIST PRICE:
SOLD PRICE:
DOM:
HIGH LOW AVERAGE MEDIAN
$690,000
$122,000
$311,093
$289,500
$665,000
$90,000
$302,044
$279,000
679
0
98
58

The median price this year is only down $25,500 from last year. That's real money, but it's not a fortune by any means. Days on market (DOM) are up, but not substantially for these sold homes. [To weight the data for more accurate results, I eliminated the homes sold above $700,000, which represents a small segment of our market but can skew the data and the results.]

This should be encouraging news for those in real estate. We are in challenging times, but we will get past this disruptive election cycle and the economy will stabilize, and we will get back to normal.

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New Homes Being Built in Clallam County Washington

10-07-08
Chuck Marunde, J.D. Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate

Are homes being built in Sequim and Port Angeles? How many new homes are being built so far in 2008? Has the slowing real estate market and the troubled economy hurt the building industry? No doubt it has, but the picture is brighter than I might have thought just by reading headlines and listening to the talking heads.

I’ve tracked building permits issued by Clallam County from 2005 through September of 2008, and here are the results:

New Homes in Port Angeles

I’ve included data for single family stick-built homes, manufactured homes, and duplexes. We see again proof that 2005 was a banner year in real estate with 359 permits issued for homes. Since then we have a steady decline, and for the first nine months of this year, we have 160 building permits. Annualizing this number would give us a rough equivalent to the number issued last year, but I suspect that the remainder of this year will see fewer permits with the year ending at about 190 building permits.

This is good news. You would have thought no one was planning to build a home, but in fact many are, an average of about 17 each month. That’s not a big number, but in little Clallam County, that’s a positive number in the worst real estate market in decades.

I’ve included data for manufactured homes to show they are still a factor for many retired couples moving here. I also included duplexes only to show that we have virtually no duplex market here at all. That may answer a few questions for investors who email me asking about duplexes.

[Source of Data: Olympic Listing Service]

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Sequim is a Wonderful Place to Live and Retire

10-02-08
Chuck Marunde, J.D. Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate

Sequim WeatherSequim is a wonderful place to live. Here are seven reasons I love Sequim, and why you might love it, too.

1. Sequim is a beautiful and peaceful community with water views, mountains, and old growth forests;

2. Sequim has retirement communities, lots and homes built to suit retirees in close proximity to shopping and community activities (but you can also buy a farm or 5 acres outside of town);

3. Sequim’s school district is one of the best in the country, and the children are all above average (4 of them are mine);

4. Sequim has an extremely low crime rate, and you’ll feel like you went back in time 30 years;

5. Sequim doesn’t suffer the traffic nightmares of most cities (do you love the country?);

6. Sequim has great weather and is popular for its rain shadow, meaning it gets about a third of the rain fall of Seattle; and

7. Sequim has an amazing variety of recreational activities, such as fishing, boating, bicycling, hiking, flying, marathons, dog shows, farmer’s markets, boat races, bird watching, hikes into the Olympic National Park, skiing at Hurricane Ridge, short ferry rides to Victoria, B.C., horse riding, lavender farms, great motorcycle rides around the Peninsula, more volunteer activies than one can list here, dozens of hobby groups and clubs, and just about anything you can imagine for every age group.

[Photo by Chuck Marunde, John Wayne Marina in Sequim]
[Original Article Posted at: Sequim Real Estate News]

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