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T he County is putting off the decision on the schedule and raising the rates for the Guemes Ferry until December 16th giving folks one more chance to come forward and have their opinion heard. That chance will come at 7:00PM December 10th at the Guemes Island Community Center, this is your chance to be heard so get out there and let the County hear your opinion. You can read an article on this from the Anacortes American HERE.
Uncategorized •
November 4, 2008
Cast Your Vote!!
G et out and get your vote counted! Here are the places you can cast your vote in Skagit and Island Counties.
Skagit County has drop boxes at the following locations:
- Anacortes Library, 1220 10th St.
- Burlington Parks and Rec Building, 900 E. Fairhaven St.
- Concrete Library, 45770A Main St.
- La Conner Library, 614 E. Morris St.
- Mount Vernon, Auditor’s Office, county courthouse, 700 S. 2nd St.
- Mount Vernon Police Department, 1805 Continental Place
- Sedro-Woolley Post Office, 111 Woodworth St.
Island County locations:
- Camano Island, Camano Annex, 121 N.E. Camano Drive
- Coupeville, Auditor’s Office, 400 N. Main St.
- Freeland, Trinity Lutheran Church, Highway 525 and Woodard Road
- Oak Harbor School District Administration Building, 350 S. Oak Harbor St.
The Auditor’s Office is open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in both counties.
Be counted!
market trends • Uncategorized •
November 3, 2008
New Construction Sales
There was an informative article in the Skagit Valley Herald this weekend about the new construction boom having gone bust, read it here. Just to give you some Anacortes specific insight I pulled some info from the North West Multiple Listing Service which gives me accurate information on Realtor represented properties, but will lack for sale by owner properties.
Through September of 2008 we have sold 10 new constuction single family homes in Anacortes. There are currently 40 new construction homes on the market giving us a 40 month supply of homes based on closed sales. The average asking price at the end of September was $588,000.00 with the average sale being 4% less than current asking price and 8% less than original asking price. The average total days on market was at 402 days, which can be a bit skewed with new construction as some builders start to market their home before the foundation is in.
What does this mean? Probably means it’s a great time to get a good deal on a new home. Builders need to clear inventory and should be willing to negotiate and throw in extra incentives. We have a couple of builders who will buy down already low interest rates to make these homes more affordable or they may carry back 10-20% as a second to help with that down payment. Give your Windermere agent a call and see if there is a new home that might work for you.
Uncategorized •
October 28, 2008
New Casino Coming to Anacortes???
W hile no definite plans have been made public for the newly acquired 14 acres on Highway 20 in Anacortes, a casino probably makes sense for the new owners, the Samish Indian Nation. Combine that with a convenience store and gas station, and you’ve got a nice little bit of commercial activity in an otherwise ugly area, with relatively little commercial activity and therefore little sales tax revenue for Anacortes.
The Samish Indian Nation just purchased the land from a local owner and will in all likelihood begin the land-to-trust process, thereby taking these 14 acres off of our tax roles, and out of the confines of zoning. The next logical step would be to then use the land to generate revenue for the tribe, as one wouldn’t spend 8.5 million then not look for a return on that investment. This process is a long and drawn out one, so don’t expect anything soon, but do expect something eventually.
I say good for the Samish, this gives them a nice piece of land and the ability to generate some great revenue in the future. I also say too bad for Anacortes. I’ve said for a long time now the land on State Route 20 should be zoned commercial to allow all of us to develop in a fashion that takes advantage of the traffic counts out there, takes advantage of the folks headed to Whidbey Island, and removes the pure ugliness that is brought on by storage unit after storage unit. Nothing wrong with storage units mind you, just don’t like them lining the gateway to our city. The previous landowner looked to attract a use like Fred Meyer, or another similar use that would give us options for local shopping and increase our tax base. Kiss that goodbye, and shame on city leadership for allowing that to happen.
Best to the Samish Indian Nation on their new purchase, I’m sure they will build something attractive and bring some nice activity to the area. City leaders, think about the zoning out there so that neighboring property owners might complement the eventual development on this piece and take advantage of the traffic and sales tax opportunities that it might generate.
Uncategorized •
October 26, 2008
Safe Trick or Treat Option for your kids
L ooking for that safe Trick Or Treat spot? Consider heading to down town Anacortes where the local retailers whom we ought to be supporting at every opportunity, have come together to support our community and our kids with a Trick Or Treat party on Halloween from 1:00 till 4:00 PM with candy for the kids, and coupons and specials for the parents. Kids 12 and under also get pizza bites, and all kids must be accompanied by an adult. This event, sponsored by the Anacortes Chamber of Commerce, also doubles as a food drive, so bring a can of food for the Mile of Food drive.
As an ex-small retail owner who has participated in this type of event in Mount Vernon, I can tell you it’s no small expense for these retailers, so please go support them not only tonight, but in the near future with a return trip or two; think Christmas Shopping in Anacortes!
market trends •
October 24, 2008
Good News Again!
N ational Association of Realtors reports existing home sales up 5.5% in September compared to August! This is great economic news which I think points to the beginning of the bottom of this market. I’d say it points to the bottom, but so far our October has been sluggish at best, so I don’t think this increase in sales will go two months in a row – but we’ll see. Check out the article on King5.com here.
market trends •
October 21, 2008
Foreclosures in Washington State
W ashington State continues to be a bright spot in our nation in terms of foreclosure rates. In fact, most of the nation is a bright spot, with just a few states bringing the rest of us down. There are only eight states with foreclosure rates above the national average: Nevada, Florida, California, Arizona, Michigan, Rhode Island, Indiana, and Ohio, the rest of us are below the national average of 2.75 % in June.
Washington State stands at a 1.04% rate for June, ranking us 45th in delinquencies and 44th in foreclosures started, so we are currently performing 62% better than the national rate! We are also performing well based on our 10 year history, and our numbers today are below the numbers from 2001- 2003 when the tech bubble burst.
I saw today that our unemployment rate dropped as well, from 6% to 5.8% for the first decrease in five months. Again, this is better than that same 2001 recession that had employment levels declining for 20 straight months. See the unemplyement article on King5.com here.
The final piece of good news I recieved this week was from Mark Johnson of Bank of the Pacific here in Anacortes. Mark let me know that the FNMA Bond closed up 103 points, and up is good when speaking bonds as the result of the bond going up, interest rates to you the borrower go down. Read Marks newsletter here.
So, bond rates up, mortgage rates down, DOW up, unemloyment down….Washington State: definitely up!
market trends •
October 21, 2008
Seattle bucking the trend!
G reat article from Yahoo! Real Estate, on Seattle bucking the national trend in terms of it’s housing market. The good news is that generally however Seattle does, so does the rest of Western Washington.
La Conner •
October 20, 2008
Ribbon Cutting for Poplar Row
L ast week I attended a ribbon cutting for a mixed use commerical project in La Conner that really struck a chord with me. The project had three commercial retail spaces on the ground floor, and three residential condo’s on floor two. Both spaces used interesting and visually pleasing materials that are not run of the mill finishes and really gave the project some flair and excitement. I hope we see more of this type of development in Skagit County as it’s exactly what our downtowns need, and as a bonus it will help curb sprawl. Having folks living in our downtown cores will give a boost to our downtown businesses and give a break to our farmlands. Check out the Poplar Row development in La Conner if you get a chance and you will see a great example of mix use building. Click here for an article on the developement, and click here to see the residential condos.
market trends • Uncategorized •
October 17, 2008
Market Update
A quick look at our market stats through September tell me that we still have a ways to go in terms of reducing overpriced inventory and bringing supply and demand closer together. The stats I pulled from the North West Multiple Listing Service show all residential properties in the 98221 zip code, and tell me that as summer progressed our supply has remained relatively constant at just over 300 listings, but the Days On Market, which means the total time it takes from the day a home is listed until the day it gets an acceptable offer, has steadily increased ending in September at 208 days. This means if you list your home today, (more…)
