Dave Spencer- Gig Harbor Real Estate

As Gig Harbor awakens to a new selling season hopes and expectations began to build. Buyers are acutely aware of low interest rates and high inventory. Sellers putter with last minute projects while they attempt to quantify the little town's multiplying attractions.

For a real estate agent it's a great opportunity to start new habits; a New Year's kick-off to consistency and self discipline. Last year was a tough one and that's no secret. But I've always felt that blaming external events for disappointment was making excuses. As I watched my goals slip further away I realized 2008 would be a year of change. Knowing full-well hard work makes good luck I hypothesized smarter could make even luckier.

In real estate working smarter is actually pretty simple, but it's not very easy. Being a good agent means doing many things well, and it requires knowing your own weaknesses. As a newbie I suspected if a person could fog a mirror and sit in class for 60 hours they could probably schlep houses-- somewhere. But I wanted to be a top agent and I needed to feel good about the people I worked with. I picked the top 2 local offices to interview two extremely experienced brokers. I assumed pay plans, office policies etc were pretty comparable, there was really only one question I wanted to ask; "What does it take to be one; what do you see most often when you look at a top agent?"

To my astonishment each broker peeled off exactly the opposite answer: Alison Ybarra at John L Scott told me that exceptional agents tended to be introspective thinkers. Doug Murphy, of Windermere GH, said; "Well, if I had to pick just one trait I'd say it's a person that doesn't normally think introspectively".

I forged understanding and decided to think on it later. And as to the matter at hand: Of course there wasn't a wrong choice-- so I picked one office (and later the other) to hang my new license in. But I wondered for years about the answers I'd been given until finally it hit me: No matter what side of the fence you travel, whether your knuckles drag on the ground as you amble through the profession or if you visit a counselor every week to get rewound; what both brokers were trying to say is this: It's not only about the client that determines your success in this industry-- alot of it is how you deal with yourself.

Well, it's that time of year again-- time to put away the holiday decorations. I registered a half-hearted grumble and began organizing lights and Santa trinkets in the garage... Something caught my eye and from a dark corner I pulled out a precious but forgotten treasure, my trusty crystal ball. This enlightening globe helped me relocated from Tacoma almost 20 years back. It flashed a green light on Gig Harbor waterfront 10 years ago. It's been a good little cohort but not infallible; together we accumulated alternative energy stocks several years ago-- a tough lesson in humility that earned the little ball it's hiding place on this damp garage shelf. I polished the dust away and these 3 predictions for the coming year appeared:

#1- New homes in Gig Harbor North will stand the market on it's ear. These houses will, quite simply, separate buyers that need a yard from those that don't. The new homes represent an astonishing value and they'll surely have an effect on the scores of Peacock Hill resales close by. That area is brimming with homes built in the 80s and 90's and many seem a bit outdated in comparison (although most have nice yards). The new construction is priced "from the 400's" and that is a direct bull's-eye hit on the resales. 2008 may be the year that quantifies what a Gig Harbor backyard is worth.

#2- Gig Harbor waterfront real estate is significantly under priced. You don't need to be a Realtor with the MLS at your finger tips to see what waterfront sells for in other areas of Puget Sound. The thing about Gig Harbor is; we've got so much of it. And it's so absolutely dazzling! Presumably it was a tricky commute across a dangerous old bridge tempering this market. With that problem solved I expect to see local waterfront prices jump; high and quickly. With our little town securely connected to Washington's Hwy infrastructure there's just no good reason why a lakefront home on the I-5 corridor should bring double the price of a jaw-dropping saltwater property in Gig Harbor.

#3- Certain areas in Gig Harbor will (again) experience double digit appreciation. Is it hard to get excited about Key Peninsula waterfront real estate after watching prices skyrocket 45% last year? Do homes in downtown Gig Harbor seem a bit top-heavy after prices on solds jumped almost 17% for 2007? Consider what these amazing numbers represent in the midst of a lack-luster real estate market; relative strength, true clear and indisputable. Here's a stock market analogy too fitting to resist: A couple years ago, as Google stock doubled to $200 during a very treacherous market many proclaimed "Overpriced!" It seemed only logical. But fund companies spotted extraordinary relative strength and purchased with seemingly reckless abandon-- and were rewarded many times over. Gig Harbor's remarkable strength in a "nationwide" real estate slump is a strong indicator of things to come, no crystal ball required.