Sequim Real Estate Prices vs. Port Angeles

Here's a great visual of Sequim real estate prices and Port Angeles real estate prices in the first 11 months of 2006 and 2007. This is very revealing! Click on the graphic below to enlarge it.

Total site-built homes sold in Sequim in the first 11 months of 2006 was 363, and in 2007 it is 318. Total site-built homes sold in Port Angeles in the first 11 months of 2006 was 334, and in 2007 it is 330. So all the negative news in the press does not necessarily apply to Sequim and Port Angeles, does it?

Notice that the average selling price this year in both Sequim and Port Angeles has increased, NOT decreased, and Sequim sales are only down to 318 from 363, while Port Angeles sales are only down to 330 from 334. Obviously, Sequim having been "hot" for a time has seen its sales down in 2007 more than Port Angeles. Overall, this is still a very healthy real estate market.

Note on Source of Data: These statistics come from the most reliable real estate agent database, Paragon, which is the primary source of all agent listings and sales in Sequim and Port Angeles. Some brokers also belong to the Northwest MLS, but since not all brokers belong to the NWMLS, and all brokers do belong to the Paragon MLS, Paragon is the only source of all listings and sales through brokers. There is a small segment of market data that is not included in either the Paragon system or the NWMLS, and that is the for-sale-by-owner listing or sale. Since that is such a small percentage of the market, the Paragon statistics are deemed the most reliable and statistically accurate.

Port Angeles Real Estate Prices - Beware Overpricing

Just about every property owner in the world believes that their property is worth more than the current market will bear. It is a given just about every time a real estate professional or an appraiser determines a range of value. There are risks attached if the seller prices their property over the current market value. The two greatest risks that can affect a seller are:

• The Property may never sell
• The Seller will not get top dollar

If the owner intends to sell the property and attempt to get “top dollar” there are dangers to intentionally overpricing the property. The dangers included but are not limited to the following.

• The home may not meet lender qualifications. It must appraise for the buyer to get a loan.
• It will take longer to sell. It will be on the market too long and become “shopworn.”
• The property will have fewer showings limiting the market. Buyers, as well as agents, are wary of overpriced homes.
• The seller may receive very low offers. Don’t wait for them because they are rare and often insulting.
• The property will help sell the competition. The buyers will compare it against another property they are intending to purchase.
• The sellers have to weigh the “holding costs” during the longer marketing time.
• Once an agent sees an overpriced listing, they never go back. Agents don’t want to show properties that are overpriced.
• Sellers end up selling for less than what they would sell for if the property was priced right initially.
• Overpriced listings attract the wrong buyers. Buyers have certain images of homes in that price range based on what they have seen.
• The sale price reflects motivation and sellers are competing with sellers that HAVE to sell.
• Sellers look greedy by asking more than the competition.
• If the seller were a buyer, he wouldn’t buy an overpriced house. Just put the shoes on the other feet.
• About 40% of properties sell in the first 30 days if they are priced competitively regardless of the market conditions.
• The impact from lowering the price is minimal and often overlooked. Therefore, it is highly recommended to list at a competitive price initially.

This article courtesy of 425Realty.com.

Also on this blog see:
Overpricing Your Home Can Be Costly, and
Port Angeles and Sequim Real Estate Listings

Sequim Real Estate

Sequim Real Estate for Buyers

If you're from California or the Seattle area, or for that matter anywhere outside of Sequim, the most efficient way to search for real estate (homes or land) is to do what you are doing right now--using the Internet. The great challenge is finding sites that actually will give you what you are looking for. I promise to do that here and with my other websites, which have links from this blog. My services cost you nothing on the Internet, and here's what you will find:

Sequim lots for sale
Sequim homes for sale
Sequim water view lots for sale
Sequim water view homes for sale
Sequim farm land
Sequim horse ranches
Sequim mountain view property
Sequim real estate market news
Money Saving tips from a real estate attorney (ret.)
And many Sequim real estate articles written by author Chuck Marunde, J.D.

Browse this blog, and SequimPortAngeles.com, and you'll not find another site where you can get more useful information, and you can email me for even more specific information. As a retired real estate attorney and practicing Realtor, it would be my pleasure to email you answers to your questions or more relevant information on your property searches. Here are a few resources for buyers:

Keys For Buyers Only:

1. Key Links for Buyers Only: Buyers Only
2. Get automatic emails of the latest listings with your specs: Latest Listings
3. How does a Buyer's Agent work: Buyer's Agent Only
4. How to save $10,000: Save $10,000
5. Subscribe to the #1 weekly email newsletter for buyers of real estate in Sequim & Port Angeles at the Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate Blog: Go to Blog (and subscribe there)
   

Lot Sales in Port Angeles and Sequim

This chart shows lot sales each month in 2006 compared to each month in 2007 in Port Angeles and Sequim. Click on the chart to enlarge it for better viewing. The number of lots sold is shown on the vertical axis.

I find it interesting to see both last year vs. this year and Port Angeles and Sequim lot sales. With all the talk about the real estate market slowing, it is helpful to see the actual numbers.

Buying Green Real Estate, Green Homes

With all the talk about green houses lately, I thought it might be helpful to clarify what a green house really is. The color green has come to be associated with environmentally friendly construction and with energy efficiency.

The most reliable way to know if a home is green is to see its certification from a reliable organization. While each certification is different, some of the factors include resource efficiency (making use of natural light and reducing energy use), indoor air quality, a home's carbon footprint (how much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are emitted from the home), materials used to build the house, water efficiency and appliances, ranging from refrigerators to air-conditioning units.

There are a number of green certifications out there, but there are three that I would mention here that have a good reputation for a strong checklist of requirements.

1. Built Green: Developed by the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, this program is a partnership with King and Snohomish counties and the city of Seattle. Through the nonprofit Built Green, builders can certify their homes based on features of their project, with five stars indicating the highest level of greenness achieved.
2. LEED: Perhaps the most widely known program nationwide, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is offered through the U.S. Green Building Council. Similar to Built Green, it offers different levels of green certification, which are based on features in a development. Each project is certified by an independent third party, usually a local contractor of LEED, providing an unbiased review of the home. The program, developed in 2000, focuses on commercial development. The Green Building Council only recently launched a pilot home-certification program. That program is scheduled to make its formal launch this fall.
3. Energy Star: Known largely for certifying products rather than structures, this program uses guidelines for energy efficiency set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. Homes have to be at least 15 percent more energy efficient than the 2004 national residential code to receive the program's signature blue star of approval. You may recognize the name Energy Star, because it is on many appliances.
   

Now you know about green houses. If you're going to have a green house built, ask your architect and builder what they can do to help you go green.

Real Estate Prices Nationwide

As you ride this roller coaster, notice that periodically the year will show up in the bottom right corner under the YouTube.

How Much Is My Business Worth?

Did you ever notice that the attitude of a seller of real estate is often substantially different than the attitude of a buyer? Sellers have been known to irrationally claim their property has more value than it does, despite evidence to the contrary.

The buyer often sneers at the seller's price, and claims the property is hardly worth buying, that the seller is crazy, and that as long as the seller thinks he has such a treasure trove, he can keep it.

Now here's where it really gets fascinating. All buyers eventually become sellers. Some well meaning folks will display both attitudes, first the buyer's attitude when they purchase (This property is hardly worth buying.), and then years later when they are ready to sell, they display the seller's attitude (This property is a hidden treasure worth far more than I paid for it, and any buyer would be lucky to have it.). I love to watch and learn about human behavior, and this behavior fascinates me.

Let me bring this home to roost where the most eggs are laid. Small business owners. Many small business owners drive a hard bargain when they purchase their business. During the years they run the business, many don't show all the income on their tax return. For example, it is commonly known that coin operated businesses are ripe with opportunities to skim coins off the top without reporting that as income. Another approach, within legal limits, is to deduct the heck out of everything and show virtually zero net income. And the Trap . . .

Is that when it comes time to sell, they want more than they can justify, because they can't prove to the buyer it really makes all that income.

Key Point. When you purchase a business, always operate the business as though you intend to sell it to get the highest possible FMV. If you can't prove income, you won't get your price.

Real Estate, Estate Planning, and Asset Protection

Traps for the Unwary Millionaire

Over the the past 25 years, I've had many incredible clients as an attorney and Realtor, and some of those clients became millionaires buying, selling, and developing real estate. Several were home builders and are now worth ten to fifty million dollars net. A few lost everything once and earned it all back. I admire successful people. All of these people had some things in common: an intense drive to succeed, tenacity and perseverance, creativity, and each of them took massive action to get where they are now.

There is one other thing most of them also have in common. Think of it as another Trap for the Unwary. Eight out of ten have done almost no estate planning to avoid probate and taxes, and they have done virtually nothing to shield their personal wealth from business liabilities. In this litigation fertile culture we live in, deep pockets are great targets for potential plaintiffs and their attorneys. A large portfolio of real estate is the ideal treasure chest, since it cannot quickly be liquidated and converted to a safe haven.

May I suggest a wise course of action? First, find a professional who really understands business entities, business development and business succession, estate planning, trust planning, capital gains taxes, insurance devices, securities, real estate, and asset protection. Do not assume your average financial adviser or average attorney understands these subjects in depth. Most do not. I strongly recommend you do not let an inexperienced planner experiment with your life's work. I could talk for hours on this subject, but I won't.

Second, get a good plan and implement that plan. And find a professional who is both competent and trustworthy. When you find that person, keep them for life. You will make more money even after paying their fees than you ever could taking short cuts.

To read some of my articles, see one of my sites at: http://freerealestatelaw.com/assetprotection/ and
for a review of the types of trusts that can revolutionize your planning, take a look at: http://freerealestatelaw.com/assetprotection/TypesofTrusts.html and
for a discussion of asset protection, see: http://freerealestatelaw.com/assetprotection/assetprotect.html.

Best regards,

Chuck Marunde, J.D.
Broker/Owner, (Retired Attorney)
Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate
618 South Peabody St., Suite I
Port Angeles, WA 98362
tel.: 360-775-5424
chuckmarunde@gmail.com
http://www.SequimPortAngeles.com

Are Houses Selling in Sequim and Port Angeles?

With all the hullabaloo about real estate sales and prices being down, and with a media that likes to generalize and lump all states together, I like to look at our local stats to find out exactly what is going on. What is happening to Port Angeles real estate sales and prices? Likewise, what is happening to Sequim real estate sales and prices? Watch this blog for regular posts on this subject, and for vignettes of the market. Here is a vignette comparing October sales of last year with October sales this year.

Okay, both Port Angeles and Sequim sales are down this October. P.A. sold 11 less houses, and Sequim sold 15 less houses. If you're selling your home, consider this: 37 houses still sold in Port Angeles last month, and 45 houses sold last month in Sequim. We are far from a depressed market. It is alive and well, and those net proceeds could be yours.

Now, if you are a FSBO, are you doing the right things to sell your home now? Is it priced right? Do you know where to find buyers? If you have a Realtor, is your Realtor on top of all this? This morning a friend told me she has not heard from her Realtor for months. Her Realtor has not showed their home, is not advertising it, and does not call or write. I sincerely hope you don't find yourself in this position in this market. In a market that has slowed, and that is this market, you can no longer depend upon luck to sell your home, or a Realtor who does nothing but throws your property in the MLS and hopes someone sells it. Buyers are still buying, but fall into any of the many Traps for the Unwary, and you will still have a house for sale.

Interested in a particular comparison or other market stats? Let me know, and I'll pull the numbers, chart it and post it for you.

Internet Real Estate Search

People everywhere are using the Internet to search for real estate. The National Association of Realtors' survey indicated 84% of all home buyers start their search on the Internet. Now there is more proof of the growing reliance on the Internet for all things.

Internet usage in the US has reached an estimated 178 million, or 79 percent of the entire adult population, according to a recent survey conducted among 2,062 adults by Harris Interactive over the course of July through October.

Harris first began tracking Internet usage in 1995. Then, only nine percent of the population went online. However, the numbers have been steadily increasing year after year from 57 percent in 2000, 66 percent in 2002, 74 percent in 2005, and 77 percent last year. The amount of time people are spending online has also increased. The average number of hours per week that people are spending online rose to 11 hours, up from 9 hours in 2006 and 8 hours in 2005.

But perhaps most notable was the increase in people who use an alternative location besides work or home to get online, up from 22 percent in 2006 to 31 percent today – which could be, to a certain extent, attributable to the proliferation of web-enabled mobile devices. You can read the rest of the survey results here.

If you are buying or selling real estate, this logically means you would be well advised to connect with a Realtor who has a substantial Internet presence. Right? Here's what I would look for: Competence, trustworthiness, experience, and a large Internet presence (not just a Static Internet Brochure masquerading as a website). Check out FreeRealEstateLaw.com plus this site, Sequim-Port-Angeles.blogspot.com, plus SequimPortAngeles.com plus ActiveRain plus Seattle Post Intelligencer Real Estate Blog plus Ezine Real Estate Articles and more that I chose not to reveal here, because some of my marketing is top secret and not to be revealed to my competition. I'm here to help. Email me. Buying? Selling? Tell me about it. Maybe I can help.

Sequim Water View Real Estate

Sequim view property is plentiful. As a matter of fact, Port Angeles view property is abundant, too. Where in the U.S. can you find so much view property? And where can you find it (1 to 5 acres) for $200,000 to $300,000? Not in California.

Answer: Right here on the Olympic Peninsula. Granted, the pictures here are actually European castles, and not local mansions. I do have plenty of local photos, if you are far away and would like to see more.

Real estate developments in Sequim and Port Angeles have a surprising number of lots with great views. I'm always careful when someone is asking me long distance about the view, because every view is measured by past personal experience. What one person considers a great view another one considers just a view, and then someone else will go crazy over the view. We are also blessed with some great mountain property and high bluff property also. Disclosure: the photo to the right is not an actual Sequim photo.

Real Estate Divorce

The Real Story of the Prince and the Princess

Once upon a time there was a young Prince who met a beautiful young maiden in a distant village while riding his Stallion throughout the fiefdom. She was thin and shapely with long hair and soft skin. The prince fell madly in love with her quickly for he mistook high levels of testosterone for love. She feigned poise and confidence, but beneath the pretty surface was a girl of low self-esteem, and quite unbeknownst to the Prince, his beloved was a dysfunctional girl secretly carrying several suitcases of family baggage.

Before they could get married, the Princess-to-be started to get a large stomach, for she had become ripe with child. No one knew until the Princess had her first child, but as the years passed by, their sin faded in the memories of all. The Prince and Princess were the perfect family in the Kingdom with 2.4 children. They had a nice home, an above average carriage, and the Princess always wore the latest French fashions. As the years passed, she forgot about her childhood and her poverty.

The Rest of the Story . . .

Alas, all things were not as they appeared. The Princess filed for divorce one day to the great dismay of the Prince and the entire royal family. Many were shocked, but not all, for the Princess had been telling white lies about the Prince to her friends, brainwashing the servants in the Castle dungeon, and together with her lady friends she started a secret organization forbidden of women in that day. Determined to rise above their high positions, the liberated Princess and her friends decided they were entitled to more. No one in the organization could define "more," but they all agreed that they were entitled to more, and with that as their motto, they created the National Organization for Princesses and Spousal Units, using the acronym "NOPASS," but only because no one in the organization could spell.

In accordance with her new theological philosophy, the Princess proceeded to divorce the Prince and sued him for all that he had, including all his real estate holdings, his past and his future. In addition, after petitioning the Royal Court for all that the Prince owned, the Princess also petitioned the Court for Princess Maintenance in the sum of 2.4 chests of gold due in full on or before each full moon.

Becoming impatient with the Royal Court's wooden wheels of justice, the Princess implemented advice from her Royal Committee of Exhortation and Culinary Secrets. The advise was to file a petition under oath that the Prince had physically attacked the Princess, and to seek his immediate eviction from the Castle with a Royal Order of Restraint. Although the Prince had never raised his hand against the Princess, the Royal Court always assumed such a petition to be true, and the Prince was prematurely evicted from his own Castle.

The Prince sought the protection of the law of the land, but his Esquire told him the best he could hope for was his life and a small cottage in the country. Assuming his lawyer was a genius, the Prince agreed, and the Royal Settlement Decree gave all his real estate to the Princess, except one piece encumbered by a 140% loan from KingdomWide Loan Company. The Princess also got all the Castle furniture and personal possessions, although she agreed to let the Prince have his Royal underwear and all the Kingdom debts.

Between the cash settlement and the lawyers' fees, the Prince had no Royal funds. He could not afford the Princess Support payments as he had no gold left, and one day the RSHS (Royal Social & Health Services) took his license to drive a carriage, suspended his license to shoe horses, and his only donkey was repossessed and sold at a barn sale to a pauper for 50 cents. The Prince's troubles grew, because he had no funds to pay past Royal income taxes (gift taxes were due on the debts the Princess had given him), and the Royal Infernal Revenue Service assessed a penalty of 50% for all unpaid taxes, and 12% to accumulate on the unpaid balance until the Prince should win the Royal lottery or die, whichever should occur first.

The ex-Prince had no money, no place to live, and had to take a job cleaning horse stalls in the village. No one believed he had once been a happy Prince. He did not look or smell like a Prince. Without money and without a horse the ex-Prince had no means to travel the many miles to visit his beloved children. The Princess subtly spread the word that the ex-Prince was unfit, that he did not care about his children and that he refused to meet his manly responsibilities to support his family.

Meanwhile, the Princess took her children on a long trip in the golden Royal carriage to Paris and far away places. She ate exotic foods and laughed amidst the entertainment of the jesters. Her children loved her, because she made them feel happy and secure.

In the months that followed the Royal execution and scorging, . . . I mean Royal separation and divorce, the ex-Prince, being sensitive and in touch with his emotions, became sad and was very lonely. The Princess not being one to miss an opportunity, quickly spread a rumor that the ex-Prince had lost his mind and was bipolar. Many sycophants in the Kingdom congratulated the Princess for her wisdom in divorcing the Prince and taking him for all that he had.

The Princess became a very wealthy landowner as real estate values appreciated and as she inherited all the remaining wealth of the Royal family. Everyone worshiped the Princess all the days of her life, because she let them touch her gold and silver, and because she poured sweet words and kisses upon them.

Memory of the ex-Prince faded, and his children grew up thinking of their father as a failure. They did not know what became of him, but believed their mother who told them he had died in an insane asylum.

The ex-Prince grew older and wiser through all his trials. He grew to understand that life is not about things, but relationships. He learned that life is not always just. Wishing to be helpful to others and to leave a legacy, the ex-Prince never mentioned again that he had been a Prince, was sworn into the Priesthood, and became a strong proponent of asset protection and prenuptial agreements. The ex-Prince taught these things at the Monastery, and his seminars became the most popular subjects taught at the monastery in over 1,100 years.

The End