Matt Thomson Gig Harbor, WA Real Estate & Relocation

Here's the weekly look at the open houses in Gig Harbor, Key Peninsula, and Olalla. There are 14 homes open this weekend, ranging from under $250k to over $1.4M. Quite the range! Remember, this info is taken from the NWMLS and is reliable but not guaranteed. Other homes may be held open, but if the listing agent doesn't enter the open house into the MLS, I can't post it on this site.

Click here for an interactive map showing the locations, statistics, and listing agent names for all of this weekend's opens. If you have any questions on these homes or any other homes you see for sale in the Gig Harbor area, please contact me. If you're considering selling your home in Gig Harbor but aren't sure if now's the right time or you just don't know how to get started, give me a call...I'd love to help in any way I can.

How'd you like to live in this house? This was taken the other day after a little boating trip we took. This house is at the mouth of Wollochet Bay. Sadly, it's not open or even for sale! But other waterfront properties are...let me know if you'd like a list or a tour!

There are some pretty interesting open houses in Gig Harbor this weekend. No Saturday opens this week, they're all on Sunday. From a 6bd house right in the downtown area for only $450k, to a nice starter at $295k, to $1M+ waterfront and water view homes, we've got a bit of everything this weekend. Click here for the interactive map of this weekend's open houses, showing location, statistics, and the listing agent's name. As always, if you have any interest in these homes or any other homes for sale in the Gig Harbor area, I'd be happy to chat with you about my services to home buyers and home sellers.

This photo is from Beach Drive in Port Orchard. I like to post random pictures with my weekly open house updates. This shot has nothing to do with this post, but it's a cool local shot that I wanted to show off.

On Saturday, September 20th, my family and I will be joining a huge crowd of folks for the "4Us" event. Ride4Us is a 5, 25, 42, or 62 mile bike trip through Tacoma and Gig Harbor, for those of you who enjoy bicycling. Run4Us is a 5k or 10k race through Pt Defiance along Commencement Bay for those of you who are into running. For the rest of us, there is Walk4Us, a 5k walk through Pt Defiance. Everybody will enjoy Fun4Us, with live music, inflatable big toys, diaper dash and toddler trot, food, go-carts, etc! Fun, basically.

4Us benefits CareNet Pregnancy & Family Services. Their studies have found that over 90% of women who are able to see an ultrasound of their baby choose life over abortion. That number staggers me. Problem is, many women can't afford ultrasounds. Enter CareNet. They'll provide them for these women. Problem is, CareNet can't afford enough ultrasound machines (they're over $25k each!). Enter 4Us. The 4Us event is a fund raiser to help purchase ultrasound machines for CareNet so women have the opportunity to choose life. Please understand, this isn't a political statement I'm making nor is there any room for political debates on this post.

If you'd like to join us for the actual event next Saturday morning, or if you'd like to donate to this cause, please visit my Donor website and look through the 4Us website while you're there! If you'd like to donate, but you're not comfortable donating online, please give me a call or send me an email and we can work out an alternate method.

Gig Harbor residents Bob Mortimer and his family will complete an amazing journey tomorrow. Bob, who has no legs and only 1 arm, and his family are biking from Gig Harbor to New York City, and the journey will end tomorrow afternoon. Bob's got an amazing one arm crank powered bike that he has used to make this journey.

I've only met Bob once, and it was at a garage sale at his home, so I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on this ride nor claim to have any intimate knowledge on Bob or his mission. Once a week I listen to a radio interview he does with the KMPS crew, but other than that I don't know much more about his trek.

I do encourage you to look at his website and read through his blog. It's a pretty amazing story of Hope and Courage.

Gig Harbor's local real estate market continued along its current trends-unpredictable. Numbers are up from last month, down from August of ‘07. Bottom line still seems to be that we are in a solid buyers' market (absorption rate is about 20.6 months in Gig Harbor). For potential home buyers who have some money with which to invest, there are some great opportunities in real estate right now. With rental prices rising, many smart investors are using this market to increase their real estate portfolio and take advantage of the opportunities that are being presented. Sellers who are being open and real about the market continue to price their homes well (which usually means well below what they'd like!) and they are still selling quickly.

The following chart shows a few comparisons for single-family home sales in Gig Harbor. For an interactive map, showing all of the home and condo sales in Gig Harbor for this past month, click here (Click here for previous months' maps). If you'd like specific information on home sales or condo sales in your area, please give me a call.