Port Angeles, WA

Sequim and Port Angeles now have a newspaper online with a new and exciting look and content that is driven by local interests, stories, and helpful news. This is bigger than it may sound for several reasons. What sets this newspaper apart from the Sequim Gazette or the Peninsula Daily News? A lot. Here's the short list:

Exclusive Online Newspaper. People are using the Internet for almost everything, including reading the news and searching for information. The Internet is an amazing venue, because it doesn't matter whether a person lives in Sequim or Port Angeles, or in Santa Barbara or Phoenix, all can do the same search on the Internet and read the same news online. Now with a dedicated online news source, Sequim and Port Angeles has joined the rest of the world with an exclusive online newspaper.

User Friendly. This online newspaper is designed for consumers to be easily navigated with news well organized as well as information and classified ads easily accessed. Logical and intuitive navigation is no small thing these days. Sometimes it's hard to find what you're looking for on the Internet, but this newspaper is designed to make it easy and enjoyable to read. Readers will love our articles and the positive focus of our efforts. We seek to educate our readers with solid news, local news, national news of interest, photographs of local activities, opinions and commentaries, good advice, and a free classified ad service online only for Sequim and Port Angeles buyers and sellers. Our readers will receive valuable services, all free, including the ability to search the entire Sequim and Port Angeles MLS (multiple listing service) online without registration. Readers are encouraged to submit news and human interest stories. When was the last time a print newspaper made that offer? Our readers can email news to our editor and submit news of local events and local people. This makes this newspaper something that is essentially owned by Sequim and Port Angeles residents. You can not only read the news, you can be the news.

Free Subscription Online. While print newspapers have to rely upon subscription fees and advertising income, we offer our online newspaper to our readers absolutely free. Not only is our newspaper free online, many of the services that are packaged with our newspaper are free, including a powerful online classified ad service dedicated to Sequim and Port Angeles, MLS searches, and much more to come.

Independently Owned. Traditional business models for print newspapers are completely different creatures. Print newspapers have a lot to worry about, including high overhead and massive fixed and variable expenses, and as a result they have to chase businesses (with some high pressure techniques) to pay for expensive advertising. That is a driving force for print newspapers that a dedicated online newspaper simply does not have. You'll be pleased with our online newspaper, because obnoxious advertising isn't slapping you in the face every time you look at it. What does that mean for consumers? It means news that is focused on what consumers are truly interested in reading without artificial or hidden agendas. It also means we can publish human interest stories and positive news that inspire and encourage its readers. You may wonder who the founder and editor is. That would be ChuckMarunde , J.D. Chuck is a retired real estate attorney, real estate broker, and author. Chuck is an avid writer on the Internet and an Internet marketing consultant. This is another of the community services that Chuck is pleased to offer.

Read, learn, laugh, and enjoy. Sequim and Port Angeles Newspaper online. Let us know if you like what we are doing.

Finally, there is a dedicated online classified ad service for everyone in Port Angeles and Sequim, businesses and individuals, and to introduce the service with a new promotion that benefits all businesses and citizens here, the service is being promoted absolutely free until next spring, May 1, 2009.

If you're a business, and you want to promote your business online free, just register and type your product or service description (with good persuasive sales script), and you can even include a photo of your business or your staff or your product. Include your address and phone number if you like, or your email address, and guess what? You can include a link to your website, too!

If you have something for sale, find the category and put it online. Again, you can include photos of your puppy or your car or whatever.

If you want something, find the category and tell us what you want. Be specific.

And for volunteer and non-profits, you can use this to promote your service and your needs. Is this not exciting folks? Who is doing this crazy thing? Yours truly as a community service. The domain names are easy to remember. You can use either one:

SequimClassified.com PortAngelesClassified.com

Port Angeles now has it’s own Blog to openly discuss the future of Port Angeles, or in other words, the vision of Port Angeles. Many local businessman and local citizens have strong opinions about what can and should or could be done to promote Port Angeles as a great place to live, a strong business environment that fosters the growth of small and large businesses, and what the direction and plan should be for the future of Port Angeles.

There have been many discussions in the past dozens of years about the future of Port Angeles, and local government has made many decisions that have defined where we are today. Those decisions include land use and zoning, development restrictions, regulations, business fees and taxes, incentives, and thousands of decisions made on multiple levels, including city, county, the Port of Port Angeles, the Chamber of Commerce, quasi-government agencies, and private associations.

For many locals, the outcome on many issues has been unsatisfactory. For example, the bus depot downtown was a hot issue. Was it the right decision or wrong? There have been hundreds of decisions like this made in years past.

Some argue that Port Angeles has some of the most valuable and beautiful water front property in the world, but one only needs to look at the furrowed brows of visitors who drive through our water front to affirm that something has gone amiss. What about downtown buildings and development? What about business incentives? What about the philosophy of our city leaders? What is their vision for Port Angeles? Shouldn’t there be some cooperation on a vision among all government agencies? Or should we let them each do their own thing, even if the results are quite contradictory?

Why a blog on this subject? Because this is the one place where all discussions are documented and permanantly on public file for all to read and re-read and comment on. You can always come back and see what someone actually wrote, and how others felt about that position. When the Chamber invites a speaker on business development in Port Angeles or the future of Port Angeles, you might have 30 people attend, or on a good day you might have a 100. Those 100 people go home and each has a memory of the speech that fades over time. Meanwhile, the remaining 24,900 people in Port Angeles did not hear the speech and had no opportunity to express their position.

Or take a city council meeting. The same could be said. Limited people, limited opportunity to respond, and politicians only get 1% of the people’s perspective, and that 1% is often special interests. Now everyone has the ability to dialogue and express themselves on this blog focused on the future of Port Angeles. The Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce has over 500 local business members. They can all express their views here. And the person on the street can do so. Politicians will be able to hear more voices here than any other forum available. And politicians and regulators can intelligently express their positions, ask questions, and answer questions. And all articles and comments are archived for all to read and consider.

That’s the value of this blog. The good news is that it is a valuable community resource and absolutely free to all users. Check it out at PortAngelesVision.com.

There have been fifty-percent fewer sales this year than last in the Port Angeles market.

While one might think only the higher priced homes would sell less frequently this year; the data does not seem to hold that correlation.

Shown in declining order, sales volume of homes priced between $500,000 and $599,999 is off by 75% (12 last year, 3 to date this year) and for homes priced from $600,000 and above it's off by 70 percent (10/3). Properties priced from $300,000 - $349,999 are off by 66% (35/12) and those priced from $400,000 - $499,999 are down by 60 percent (20/8).

Surprisingly, homes listed from $200,000 - $249,999 are down 58% in number of sales compared to last year (133/56).

Homes valued from $350,000 - $399,999 are off by 33 % (21/14) and homes priced from $250,000 - $299,999 are 28% lower in volume sold (50/36). The segment showing the best numbers

this year has been the least expensive; the $199,999 or under grouping; but even that group is down by 13% (110/96).

Market inventory is up about ten perecent from this time last year with just two of the eight segments having fewer homes available. If you're looking in the under $199,999 price range, there are 69 on the market. Last year there were 53.

The supply of homes priced from $200,000 - $249,000 is almost identical with 55 on now versus 54 in 2007.

Seventy-one properties are currently at $250,000 - $299,999. Last year we had 58. Folks shopping in the $300,000 - $349,999 price range will find seven more than previously, with 38 now for sale.

Only 33 homes are being offered in the $350,000 - $399,999 range. In ‘07 there were 38.

There were 35 priced between $400,000 - $499,999 last year. The inventory right now is identical in number.

Selection of properties valued at $500,000 - $599,999 is from thirteen homes. Last year there were two dozen on the market. The highest -priced segment of $600,000+ has 34 homes to choose from in the Port Angeles market. A year ago there were 21.

The average home is taking almost a month longer to sell this year. It's taking an average of 128 days now.

Despite the lack of sales, the broader market continues to appreciate. According to the WashingtonCenter for Real Estate Research at Washington State University, the median price (half above and half below) for homes in Clallam County had risen to $250,000 by the end of the second quarter.

The average home price has fallen, but that is understandable considering the number of lower priced homes and the

repossessions, foreclosures and distressed properties that have come on the market and sold, coupled with lower sales in the upper ranges.

Our office currently has twelve distressed, foreclosed, or repossessed properties. The Trulia website lists thirteen foreclosed, eight going to auction and six by bankruptcy, for a total of twenty-seven. And while the number may be disturbing and indicative of the times, it also means that there are very strong bargains available to the discerning buyer.

If you are looking for a property as an investment, it is possible to find an opportunity below asssessed value. Recent offerings have been as much as $50,000 - $70,000 under.

Real estate prices in Sequim and Port Angeles and throughout the Seattle area are holding up well compared to other investments, particularly the stock market right now. USA Today published an article on October 8, 2008 entitled, "$2 Trillion Wiped Out of Retirement Funds." While this represents a 20% decline in retirement funds in a matter of weeks, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service data shows the average price of a single family home is down only 7.8% this September compared to September of 2007.

This is good news for home owners and for investors who are not over leveraged. Again, we see that real estate is a solid investment compared to other retirement options.

In Clallam County, the third quarter of this year (July - Sept 2008) the sales of single family homes were priced as follows:

The median price this year is only down $25,500 from last year. That's real money, but it's not a fortune by any means. Days on market (DOM) are up, but not substantially for these sold homes. [To weight the data for more accurate results, I eliminated the homes sold above $700,000, which represents a small segment of our market but can skew the data and the results.]

This should be encouraging news for those in real estate. We are in challenging times, but we will get past this disruptive election cycle and the economy will stabilize, and we will get back to normal.