Bremerton, WA

As a first time home buyer $8,000 can be a lot of money. Depending on your location and what the typical first time home buyer is in your area $8,000 can be a HUGE incentive or one that just barely makes a dent in any type of scenario.

I don't sell in California and in fact I don't sell in Seattle where the prices for first time home buyers is considerably more than what a first time home buyer can purchase here in Kitsap County. It is true that with the real estate correction over the last 3 years we do have homes in the area that are in the low $100,000 range.

Our income levels are lower here and so the first time home buyer here was being helped tremendously with the $8,000 tax credit. We have a large percentage of military personnel and a large percentage of military personnel marry younger and start families younger. This sometimes has impacted their buying power. They have steady, good paying jobs with benefits but might have over the last several years incurred some debt that can be washed out with this incentive.

Who Qualifies - $6,500 Extended Credit

• Current home owners going under contract to purchase a home between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010 (closing on or before June 30, 2010), who have used the home being sold or vacated as a principal residence for five consecutive years within the last eight. (I am sure more detailed information will be forth coming) IRS publications I am sure to be released. Speak with your Tax Adviser prior to filling.
  

So what does this new "expansion" to the extended tax credit mean to local Kitsap County home sellers or "step-up" buyers? You know what cost are associated with selling your home. Check out this post I wrote a couple weeks ago to refresh your memory.

Kitsap County Real Estate - Sellers Closing Costs - WHAT

Your $6,500 tax credit could help you with the following charges when you sell your home

• Real Estate Fees - remember these are always negotiable but in our market area the average range is between 3 and 6 percent of the sales price.
• Excise Tax - currently you will be paying 1.78% of the sales price to the state for selling your home.
• Settlement charges like title policy fees and escrow closing costs.

This new incentive just might be what you are looking for to help you to that next dream home. Remember how fun it was to be a first time home buyer? Well, I can tell you that to make a move up is just as fun and almost more exciting because your possibilities are usually more. The move-up home is usually one that enables you to have the items that you only could dream about in your first home.

If you have any questions on selling your home in this market just give me a call, or send an email, or text me with your questions!

I can get lost in stats. They aren't much fun and they really are boring to write about but they still fascinate me. I can spend hours doing different types of searches on the NWMLS (NorthWest Mulitple Listing Service) site that us agents use to track and compare homes in the area. I search by price, by square footage, by area and find it fascinating to compare years or areas.

In our area of Bremerton we have seen some huge changes in price over the last couple of years. Yes, Bremerton home owners have lost a significant amount of equity and in some circumstances we probably have neighbors that owe more on their home than what they can sell it for. Of course this is a cycle and as cycles go we haven't been hit as hard as other areas of the country. Some statisticians have said there will be areas of the housing market that will totally recover by 2014 and some not until 2034.

I think those areas that hit the ultimate highs will have a longer recovery period. In the Bremerton area we of course had some good years but remain an area that has solid employment and where home-ownership still was reachable by the younger generation. In some areas of King County a first-time home-buyer price was in the high $300,000's.

I have sold several homes to first-time home-buyers this year who qualified for the $8,000 first-time home-buyer tax credit.

According to the Puget Sound Business Journal on September 17th, the Internal Revenue Service reports that 26,000 residents of Washington state have taken advantage of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer’s credit offered by the federal government.

Here are some stats - just because

Bremerton Homes Sold August and September 2009
Average List Price: $227,490
Average Sales Price: $221,220
The average square footage of the property was 1756 and the average Days on Market - or the amount of time it took to sell the property was 123

Bremerton Homes Sold August and September 2008
Average List Price: $256,277
Average Sales Price: $250,570
The average square footage of the property was 1733 and the average Days on Market was 126

Bremerton Homes Sold August and September 2007
Average List Price: $278,129
Average Sales Price: $277,099
The average square footage of the property was 1760 and the average Days on Market was 78

Bremerton Homes Sold August and September 2006
Average List Price: $277,908
Average Sales Price: $277,099
The average square footage of the property was 1812 and the average Days on Market was 67

During the month of September there were 82 homes that sold in Bremerton. These Bremerton homes actually had a transfer of home ownership. Contracts complete and Lender funds available the home buyer and seller signed all of their documents as escrow prepared the closing packages. Once all the I's were dotted and the T's crossed there where deeds recorded at the Kitsap County courthouse that transferred the property into the new home owner's name!

Statistics are for the Bremerton downtown core and west to Kitsap Lake. The market for other parts of Bremerton and its suburbs should be similar. Bremerton homes were selling for a month end median price of $159,000 at the end of September, about 18% lower than a year ago and down 4% from last month. The more stable 3 month moving average was 13% lower than a year ago. The Kitsap County 3 month moving average median price has fallen 8% over the past year. Bremerton's 3 month moving average for number of closed sales is up 11% from a year ago. The number of closed sales is up 14% Countywide from a year ago. The 3 month moving average number of Bremerton pending sales is up 46% from last year, but recall this number includes pending short sales that may not close. The number of Bremerton active listings (178) is 31% lower than a year ago. The inventory turnover (total Bremerton homes on the market divided by number sold last month) is 6.1 months (better than the 8.2 last month but definitely improved from 14.1 months a year ago). The Bremerton market is probably still a buyers market because of shadow inventory that has been pulled off unsold.

More about Bremerton Real Estate

From terrorist blockade to PSNS Memorial Plaza.

After the September 11 attacks security for military installations around the country implemented new security measures, and bases in Kitsap County followed suit.  The Navy proceeded to purchase land in downtown Bremerton adjacent to the Bremerton Puget Sound Naval Shipyard entrance for a security buffer.  Instead of looking at some jersey barriers along the sidewalk the City of Bremerton had a vision that would lead to the creation of PSNS Memorial Plaza. 

The now complete park prevents vehicles from driving into the shipyard fence and its gorgeous with lots of plantings, fountains, cut and polished boulders, a ship's bow and a history lesson! 

The bow is from the Guided Missile Cruiser USS South Carolina. 

The park is a history lesson of the shipyard.  There are three sections, women workers of WWI near Burwell Street, in the middle World War II history and at the bottom the area honoring today's shipyard workers. 

On Sunday I went down with my video camera to capture this unique and gorgeous Bremerton feature.  I had been down a few weeks ago but hadn't carried my camera.  Sunday was a gorgeous day and I really enjoyed my time there.  While video taping a Navy Veteran stopped me to ask some questions. Lots of Navy Veterans visit Bremerton and the shipyard probably because they served here at one time in their career.