Belfair, WA

Tall evergreens dip their branches down to the cool Hood Canal waters.

An Eagle spies his first meal of the day.

The gentle waters rock the anchored boats to and fro.

A cloud drifts by to take a look.

The skies melt into the waters and the crickets chirp. A salmon sounds with a splash,as the cat finds my lap.

Life is simple here.There is day and there is night. The Seasons find their voices and all is well.

Welcome to Belfair. Minutes from everything ...yet a world away.

It has been a year of ups and downs with the real estate market. The bail out money has really helped mason county sales, over all the market seems to be stabilizing.

As we head to winter the people that have bought homes are sure to enjoy them ,as we welcome our new neighbors, the hole town benenfits.

Picture this, Real Estate is SLOWWW. Where do we start?

With the first time buyers of course, we give them the confidence and incentives to buy. This stabilizes the bottom, and even encourages a little growth in the lower end of the market. I know in the Belfair Washington Real Estate Market, if you have a newer home under $200,000 3 beds, 2 bath with a decent lot, your home is gold.

If you as a seller, know that there is support for the buyers of your home, you are going to price it with a little slack. You know that all buyers have seen everything that is out there, and when your home hits, it will attract a lot of attention.

Would you tell a buyer to wait until after the credit expires? Could they save more than this $8,000 that they would be getting in the form of a credit.

All of the first time buyers are very motivated right now to find "something" so that they can get their 8grand. Will houses be priced more than 8k less after this credit expires?

Will house prices drop more than 8k once this credit expires?

I am not trying to be negative, but thinking as a buyer, would you be better of waiting?

I may be over thinking this, but what do you think about it?

________________________

Josh Murphy

Windermere Peninsula Properties Belfair Wa

Mason County Commissioners recent decison will give Housing in Belfair a Boost with the go ahead for engineers to move forward with Phase 1 of the Belfair Wastewater Treatment Plant. The public is invited to a groundbreaking ceremony this coming Columbus Day, Monday October 12, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. at the Assembly of God Church in Belfair.

The new Belfair "Sewer" treatment plant is being touted by Emmet Dobey, Mason County Utilities and Waste management Director as "an economic development generator". The long awaited Belfair "Sewer" project will supposedly satisfy the Growth Management regulations and should open the door for future housing development in the Belfair UGA.

Work is scheduled to begin November 1.

If you're asking how much this "Sewer" project is going to cost the consumer, then I suggest you attend the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday. Emmet Dobey plans to give us some idea on what to expect. Rumor has it that monthly rates are estimated to be about $80 to $90 per month. Hook up connections could be somewhere in the $3,000 to $4,000 range. However, the County is applying for a septic-tank conversion grant to help people with the connection fee.

Anyway, hope to see everyone at the Belfair Wastewater Ground Breaking Ceremony.

Oh by the way, Congressman Norm Dicks is planning to attend too.

Tommorrow, Oct 7, 2009, is the Active Rain Workshop in Seattle and I am looking forward to attending. Not sure what to expect.

But then a panic thought came to mind that I had not written anything for a few weeks and I went brain dead. You would think with all the activity in business, community activities, honey do chores, weddings, parties, book clubs, yachting etc that I would have volumes of topics. NOPE. NADA. SPACE OUT!

So what do I write about today. YEP. Real Estate Market Statistics. HEY...I am a Real Estate Broker. We live by the numbers.

I might add that there are some loyal readers of my statistical postings and they are anxiously awaiting for this valuable information. So I present to you in this post the Mason County Bi-weekly Real Estate Market Report. Thank you for reading and commenting.

"Mason County Real Estate Market Report for Sept 1 through Sept 15 2009 reports 55 Total Closed Sales in the amount of $8,268,056. Area A, (Shelton, Arcadia, Kamilche) lead the sales count with 24 closed sales in the amount of $4,263,000 followed by Area D, (the Hoodsport/Union area), with 13 sales totaling $1,735,000. Area C, (North end of Mason County), posted 10 sales closed in the amount of $1,742,045. Meanwhile Area B ,Hartstene/Agate area, posted 8 closed sales in the amount of $528,011."

"Single Family Resale's, on less than 5 acres, accounted for 24 of the total sales. Three New Single Family homes sold and 2 Multi-family units sold."

"There were no Single Family homes on more than 5 acres sold. There were 2 Commercial properties reported sold and 2 Condominiums sold."

"Land sold with a Mobile posted 4 sales and there were 12 platted lots recorded as sold. Short plats posted 5 sales and there was 1 unplatted parcel sold."

"The highest sold price range for a Single Family Resale, during this period, was in the $250,000 - $299,999 range. 5 properties sold in the $200,000 - $249,999 range and 4 in the $115,000 - $129,999. The lowest price range of homes sold were in the $40,000 - $59,999 range."

"The average price for Single Family Resale's was $166,744 with a Median price of $169,750. Sold Lots averaged $40,892."

There were 109 Loans taken out in the amount of $18,670,182. The average conventional 30-year loan rate was 4.98%.

By the Way, the weather here in Washington State is absolutely awesome. Sunny skies, cool brisk mornings, warm afternoons. Life in the Pacific Northwest is Good!