Richard R Bell Broker-Manager Allyn~ Belfair Washington State Realtor

Each year in September, I have the dubious honor of being a "Booth Boy" in a 17 Day Event known as...

"The Big Fantastic"

The Puyallup Fair

According to Wikipedia:

"The Puyallup Fair is the largest single attraction held annually in the state of Washington. The fair continually ranks in the top ten largest fairs in the United States. ^[1] Situated in Puyallup, 35 miles (56 km) south of Seattle and 10 miles (16 km) east of Tacoma in the shadow of Mount Rainier, the fairgrounds comprise 160 acres (0.65 km²), with buildings and land valued at more than $54 million.

Until 2006, the fair was officially known as the "Western Washington Fair."

For the past 20 + years the Puyallup Fair has been a big part of our Real Estate Company's Marketing Plan for the promotion of our Development -LakeLand Village Residential Golf Course Community in Allyn, Washington.

This is the first year that I brought along my lap top. Hooked into a wireless network. And started blogging. Isn't Web 2.0 Cool?

So for the next several weeks, I will be the "Booth Boy Blogger" an report on what is going on at the Puyallup. Oh, by the way, you kind'a have to be a local to pronounce Puyallup correctly.

Next blog, I hope to tell you about Al's Brain. It's an exhibit about "The Human Brain" featuring a 3 D movie and hosted by "Weird Al" Yankovic. This I got to see.

See ya Later

Mason County Real Estate Market Report for July16 through July 31 2009 reports 70 Total Closed Sales in the amount of $12,993,555. The Shelton district lead the sales count with 24 closed sales in the amount of $4,117,221 followed by the north end of the county with 23 sales totaling $4,512,484. On the Westside of the County in Hoodsport and Union 12 sales closed in the amount of $2,452,900. Hartstene/Agate area posted 11 closed sales in the amount of $1,910,950.

Single Family Resale's, on less than 5 acres, accounted for 32 of the sales. Three New Single Family homes sold and 1 Resale of a single home on more than 5 acres sold

There was 1 Multi-Family Unit sold. No Commercial property or Condominiums were sold.

Land with a Mobile posted 10 sales and 13 platted lots were recorded as sold. Short plats posted 7 sales and 3 unplatted parcels sold.

The highest sold price for a Single Family Resale, during this period, was recorded at $600,000 for a waterfront property in the Lilliwaup area. The lowest price homes sold in the $80,000-$99,999 range. A large parcel of forest land sold for $908,354.

The average price for Single Family Resale's was $235,859 with a Median price of $222,500. Sold Lots averaged $40,195.

There were 186 Loans taken out in the amount of $35,728,160. The average conventional 30-year loan rate was 5.02%

The Allyn Community Association's Planning Committee is proposing a new sign ordinance for the Allyn UGA. There is currently a 6 page sign ordinance already adopted in the County UGA regulations for Allyn.

My question is "Why is the committee proposing, at this time, a more detailed, restrictive and over regulated code"?

Sign code discussions and revisions require thick skin, unusually high level of participation and a slow, thoughtful process. The fundamental error, in my opinion, of the Allyn process is the assumption that the sign ordinance is relevant today.

A restrictive sign code, now, will just hinder and hurt struggling business in an already difficult economic time.

It seems to me that the community would be better off offering assistance at keeping our streets, properties and businesses clean from junk and debris rather than to make small business owners follow a sign ordinance. Why not look at existing signs and then ask businesses and property owners to try and tidy them up.

Another question is "What's in the best interest of the town? Sign Codes? More Regulation, Rules and Restrictions"?

Perhaps what is best is for the community is to focus on providing better services, events and business opportunities to our visitors and residents. Why not be more active advocates for pedestrian walking areas i.e. sidewalks and trails. Keep an ongoing dialogue open with the State and County for better traffic calmness, road access and parking etc..

Business owners know how to build up a strong and vibrant business district. The Community needs to encourage and support local business not make it difficult to operate.

Now is not the time for a new updated sign code. A code, at this time, is an unnecessarily harsh burden on the business operators.

Why would we want adopt the "perfect sign ordinance" for such a small town? This ordinance was written for a City.

And why are we trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist?

Leave the sign code alone - for now.

Note: Allyn is a small community located in Mason County, Washington

In October 2008 I set out on my journey into the Active Rain realm. I began participating in other Social network platforms. I was encouraged to do so by several of my net savvy agents. It was not easy for me at first, in fact, it is still a challenge to learn, to organize and be consistent.

As a real estate Broker, I felt it was important for me learn all I could about the newer marketing concepts, technology innovations and of course Blogging. If I was going to promote these activities to my crew, I had better be prepared.

I have observed a number of my agents cultivate and prosper with WEB 2.0 systems and have seen others who just ignore this course of action.

For example, I really enjoyed Josh Murphy's, AR Blog, entitled "Social Networking... is it a Generational Thing?" By the Way, I am Josh's Broker. His blog was written after an office meeting where I, once again, endeavored to encourage the agents to explore and learn about the benefits of WEB 2.0 marketing i.e. join Active Rain, set up a profile etc.

Josh had apparently initiated a firestorm of debate with this Blog. He has also learned a lot from it. For a young man he held his own but he also became more sensitive to other perceptions and to have respect for us OLD DUDES.

Josh is growing into a terrific Real Estate Professional and very savoir-faire. He is young, confident and full of energy and I am grateful to have him be a part of our Real Estate team. He is also putting out some great Blogs.

We are a small rural real estate office, 20+ agents, operating mostly in a recreational market place. Several of my agents have done a marvelous job of promoting their community, business and themselves through Social Networking. Active Rain has been a splendid tool for these agents. They have come across and conversed with scores of excellent professionals throughout the Country.

This Broker will continue to encourage our local agents to keep an open mind to Change in our Industry.

Mason County, State of Washington real estate sales statistics for June 1 through June 15, 2009 posted 41 total sales in the amount of $7,217,948. Single family resales on less than 5 acres accounted for 15 of the 41 sales.

New Single Homes and Single Family Resale's on more than 5 acres each recorded 2 sales. .

There were 3 commercial sales, 8 mobiles with land, 6 platted lots, 4 short plats and 1 unplatted property sold during this period.

Sales activity by area revealed that Area C (the north end of the County) produced 15 sales in the amount of $2,806,125 while Area A (Shelton area) had 12 sales in the amount of $1,959,833. Area D (Triton Head, Hoodsport, Union) and Area B (Harstene) each had 7 sales. Area D's sales amounted to $1,317,490 and Area B's amount was $1,134,500

Prices for single family resale's, on less than 5 acres, ranged from a high of $425,000 for a waterfront property on hwy 106 in Belfair to three homes selling in the $130,000 to $144,999 range.

There was 1 sold in the $350,000-$399,999 range and 1 in the $250,000 - 299,999 range. Three homes sold in the $200,000 - $249,999 range, 2 in the $180,000 - $199,999 range and 3 in the $160,000 - $179,999 range. There was also a home selling in the $145,000 - $159,999 range.

For this two week period the average price for a single family home on less than 5 acres was $211,467 and the median price was $185,000. The New single family home that sold was $354,500. Lots that sold averaged $51,625 with a median price of $48,125.

Mason County also posted 198 Loans and Mortgages in the amount of $37,670,077. The average rate was 5.26% for a 30 year conventional loan.