Rich Jacobson Your Kitsap County WA Real Estate Agent

A BIG 'Thanks!' to the agents and staff of Windermere Peninsula Properties in Allyn WA for enduring participating in our meeting this morning!

Richard Bell, Managing Broker of Windermere Peninsula Properties (with two offices serving the North Mason market - Allyn and Belfair) is a member of ActiveRain, along with several of his agents, including Dinah Lee Griffey, Valerie Spaulding, and Michelle Roethle. I had commented on one of Richard's posts a couple weeks ago, and our dialog turned into an opportunity for me to visit their office and talk with their agents about Web 2.0, Social Media, Blogging, and ActiveRain.

Along for the ride was my trusty companion and SoundBiteBlog Sidekick, Buckwheat (aka Mark Flanders).

If you're part of the NWMLS in the greater Seattle area, and would like to host an ActiveRich invasion, give me a call!

Yours truly has been given the pleasure of meeting with the brokers, agents, and support staff of Windermere Peninsula Properties this coming Tuesday, December 2nd, at 9am.

With two offices located in North Mason County WA (Belfair and Allyn), Managing Broker Richard Bell has assembled a team of top-notch professionals who have established themselves as the predominant area leaders in real estate and superior client representation. Several of their agents have become valued contributing members of our community here on ActiveRain, including Dinah Lee Griffey, Valerie Spaulding, and Michelle Roethle.

Just as a reminder to all ActiveRain members in Kitsap, Jefferson, Pierce, and Mason Counties, a few of us get together every Thursday morning at 8am at The Global Bean in Silverdale WA, just to hang out and share our collective knowledge/strategies with using social media/networking in our business. We'd love to see you there!

It's 7am on a Friday morning, and I'm sitting here at one of my favorite Kitsap County WA haunts, the Global Bean, enjoying a delicious Cup 'O' Joe, waiting for my good friend and blogging counterpart, Mark Flanders, to arrive.

On an adjoining table, the following headline on today's issue of the Kitsap Sun catches my eye:

"With House Values, What Went Up Has Come Down"

According to the article submitted by Rachel Pritchett, if you purchased a home here in Kitsap County WA in 2006/2007, when prices had peaked, then there's a one-in-three chance you own more on your mortgage than your home is actually worth today.

And the expert source for such a sobering dose of reality?

Why, our Friends at Zillow.com, of course!

Zillow also claims that home values in Kitsap County WA have fallen 12 percent since the Spring of 2007, and are now back down at 2005 levels. The Seattle-based company calculates its home values based on median price, tax assessments, physical characteristics of the house, and comparable sales.

As a locally licensed real estate professional here in Kitsap County WA, my experience with Zillow's 'Zestimates (their name for estimated home valuations) have varied. Sometimes their estimates are high, other times they're low. I usually find them to simply be a 'starting point' in the conversation with Buyers and Sellers, and set the stage for my own detailed comparative market analysis (CMA).

My point here is not to necessarily argue the reliability or accuracy of Zillow's figures, but rather to draw attention to their obvious ability/success at establishing themselves as a perceived leading industry authority, even for very specific local markets like Kitsap County WA.

Regardless of what you may think about Zillow or their Zestimates, you have to admit they've done an impressive job of creating a viable Internet presence, and cultivating their position as a leading voice in the real estate industry.

Okay, so we were never actually in any kind of perilous predicament, or in danger of losing our lives, ....but we did catch a lot of crabs!!!

It was the last day of the crabbing season, Labor Day Weekend, on the scenic Hood Canal in the Western Puget Sound of Washington State. The capable crew of Bob Stewart, Jonathan Washburn, my oldest son, Ben, and Yours Truly, set sail for a three-hour tour.... uh, wait a minute...that's a different tale!

We spent a good part of the afternoon motoring around the Hood Canal to where our crab pots were submerged, about 120 feet down. We pulled up 4 pots, and limited out with 20 legal sized male Dungeness crabs.

Then it was off to Pleasant Harbor to grab some munchies and soak up some rays.....

Jonathan provides the 'Play-by-Play' as Ben skillfully demonstrates the art of cleaning a crab!




Last Spring, it was The Great White Clam Hunters....this past Summer, it was King of the Crabs....What, pray tell, is next for our adventurous crew?

One of the more difficult challenges in moving to a new area is finding a good, reputable auto repair shop. There are few things worse in life than having your car breakdown in a strange city and not know where to take it.

If you have recently moved to the Kitsap Peninsula in picturesque Washington State, then you are most fortunate. One of the best auto repair shops is right in your own backyard!

To learn more about Town & Country Auto Repair, go to SOUNDBITEBLOG.

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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, SOUNDBITEBLOG, and Crabbing in the Hood.