Windermere

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Theres something magical about an area where bald eagles regularly soar above you, Mount Baker beckons from the distance, the water is blue, and the sunrises and sunsets take your breath away. Whether youre a kayaker, whale watcher, mountain biker, camper or boater, our parks, beaches and forests and our proximity to salt and fresh water offer you access to some of the best recreational opportunities in the Pacific Northwest.
Anacortes is also home to several community events that attract thousands of visitors each year, including the Anacortes Arts Festival, Anacortes Jazz Festival, Waterfront Festival, The Oyster Run, First Friday Art Walks and Shipwreck Day to name just a few.
If youve ever wanted to live in an area that is truly stunning no matter which direction you look, come see Anacortes and Fidalgo Island.

S o I’ve heard a few times in passing recently that the housing market is worse than a year ago, and folks wondering aloud when it will change, so I took a look at some market activity numbers this morning and found that things are indeed much better than a year ago and I can’t see them moving backwards at this point. Through August, Anacortes has seen a 27% increase in homes going under contract versus the same period of time in 2009. We have seen a 32.5% increase in closed sales the same time period. Our inventory, the number of homes listed, was only 11% higher in August, than at the beginning of the year. This same January to August time period in 2009 saw a 58% increase in inventory, in 2008 it saw a 44% increase in inventory. I believe it’s a great sign that the inventory is starting to level off, and if I calculate the average number of homes on the market in any given month, we are actually starting to lose inventory overall. This is needed for a healthy market, which the National Association of Realtors pegs as a market in which there are six months of inventory available. In 2010 our Months of Inventory based on closed sales dropped 27% from its 2009 levels. We are still high, but headed in the right direction.
This all means to me that the market activity has picked up and we are past the bottom of the activity market. This doesn’t mean we’ve reached the bottom of the value market, but if we haven’t we must be close. Our average price per square foot is down 5.5% this year to $167.50, and there is a chance that will drop a bit more - but not much. If sales continue to pick up at the pace we’ve seen happen in 2010 versus 2009, we will be fairly close to 2007 numbers which will cement my theory that we are past the activity bottom. On a pricing note, more activity plus fewer listings equals upward pricing pressure. On an affordability note, which is different than pricing, interest rates literally have no place to go but up. If there is a one point change, any small remainder of value loss will be more than offset by the interest savings on your 30 year mortgage.
Next year you will wish you had bought this year, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

R ight now in the Skagit River Valley area there is lots of buzz about the new, proposed FEMA flood zone maps. If adopted by FEMA, these new maps will change the flood insurance designation for many Skagit County properties from “B” properties (relatively low risk of flood damage) to “A” properties (higher risk of flood damage). FEMA is currently in a public comment period and there may be appeals by some of the local municipalities. What does this all mean to the average Skagit Valley homeowner?
Property owners currently in “B” areas who do not already have flood insurance (most don’t as it is not currently required by lenders) have an opportunity to be “grandfathered in” at existing “B” insurance rates should they be re-designated as “A” properties when the maps are adopted. The savings could be tremendous. Current flood policies are averaging under $400/year and new “A” zone policies for properties that do not have grandfathered policies could be over $2000/year. Once the maps are adopted, mortgage companies will require property owners who have a mortgage to purchase flood insurance if they are rezoned into the “A” areas. Time is of the essence, as the maps will likely take effect within one year.
Not adding a flood policy now could severely impact the resale value of a property in the future. The annual premium at the “A” rate could be a sales barrier to many buyers.
We encourage all property owners in the Skagit Valley to check immediately with their insurer to determine the current flood designation of their property. Those that are slated for re-designation should consider purchasing a flood policy now to avoid unwieldy insurance costs later.

La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum
October 1-3 Quilt Fest 2010 will feature applique quilts, specialty vendors, and a silent auction in Maple Hall and the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum. This year the annual event is being organized by the Applique Society. Look at the laconnerquilts.com wet site forworkshops, quilt walkand other events.
New exhibits open during Quilt Fest: “Double Take” with quillt artists Helen Remick and Janet Kurjan and “Constructed Inquiries” Tapestries” with Linda Rees and Carolyn Price Dyer.
Museum of Northwest Art
October 9- January 2, Thomas T. Wuksib paintings will be on exhibition in the main floor galleries. Portraits of Seattle’s cultural society are featured using collage, abstraction and multiple renderings to capture the likenesses of generations of members of several families. Large-scale landscape paintings will also be included. The museum’s permanent collection, on the second floor, will also be new for the opening reception on October 9, 2-5PM.

T he other day I read “Existing home sales sank 27.2% in July, twice as much as analysts expected…”, who are these analysts? What are they analyzing? I looked at our local numbers after I read that and a few other articles last week and found that they are only telling you part of the story. See the problem is, reporters and the news industry in generalare actually the entertainment industry in disguise and they sell news by using fear and scary statistics to get us all to buy their rag and read. Here are a few local statistics, and my layman’s explanation of them.
In Skagit County our sales (closed home sales) dropped 37% in July from June’s numbers; even worse than the National statistics I read on CNN.com. However what they don’t tell you is why. On April 30th the Homebuyers Tax Credit expired, creating a rush to buy in that month. Skagit County saw 160 homes go pending in April, and that represents 61.6% more than the average number of pendings over the past 12 months. April was HUGE in terms of pendings. Well, guess what happens 45-60 days after a home goes pending - it closes. This created a huge uptick in closings in June; to be exact we had 122 homes close which is 73% more than the 12 month average. What’s this mean? This means that July had no place to go but down in terms of closings. A 37% drop is to be expected, and isn’t a bad thing. In fact, July was up 23.9% in pendings from June - the buyers are still buying and the market is fine. July saw 109 homes go pending, our 12 month average is 99 homes in a month, so we are beating the average despite the entertainers/analysts headlines at CNN.com and other news outlets. Closings had to drop in July, that’s not news, that’s the ebb and flow of buyers and closings juiced up by the tax credit. There are still amazing deals to be found in Skagit County and elsewhere, that can be financed at amazing interest rates and it remains a buyers market. Look past the headlines when you see them, and remember that real estate is a long term investment, not a month to month stock.
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R ecently a group of our agents went through an exercise wherein each agent had $100,000 of play money to spend, and good credit. They were asked to answer the question; If you had these funds, what is the best value on the market and why? At our weekly meeting the agents presented the best buys in the Anacortes/La Conner market and there were some absolutely amazing buys available. If you have any interest in a first time home, or an investment home, shoot me an email (nscott@windermere.com) and I’ll have one of the participating agents send you a list of the homes our office came up with.

M oodys said a few days ago that housing prices will be 7.2% higher by 2014. Moodys also pegged the markets that will rebound the best, with the Northwest leading the charge, Bremerton-Silverdale is to expect a 9.7% annual increase for 44.7% value increase over that time period. Wow! Even if they are half-right that’s a great number, and in fact might be better if they are half-right as that big of an increase in such a short period might not be healthy. Tacoma and Seattle follow closely behind, with of course this all impacting the rest of the Puget Sound region.
Good news for everyone in the Northwest!!! Oh, any by the way, increase mortgage rates by just a bit and that will render any small downward movement in prices worthless; you can afford more now than you will be able to afford within a few months…..Buy Now! This by the way doesn’t mean stretch your spending comfort level and buy bigger and more expensive, it means buy the house you want and enjoy a much lower payment today than you will get tomorrow.

G ood news on the Jumbo loan front, the first securitization since 2008 closed late this spring which may point to the beginning of a recovery in the higher price range for real estate. Until this $238 million dollar securitized deal was sold all jumbo loans had to be portfolio loans which banks are reluctant to do. This transaction, representing 255 loans, may have broken the ice in the private mortgage securitization market, which will open the gates a little and allow for more banks to enter this market, and therefore more loans available for higher end homes.
With 14 homes over $750,000 going pending over the last 6 months in Anacortes we have seen a huge uptick in this market locally. Those 14 pending in a six month span outpace the prior year which saw 12 going pending in a 12 month period. Good news seeing this upper end pick up as savvy buyers understand there are bargains to be had, and the cheapest money we will likely ever see in the mortgage market.

S ometimes, we have to take a moment…and re-discover our world. I find that if I’m not careful, my day-to-day cares take over and I lose site of this beautiful place where I live. The water is just a passing view as I travel through the house carrying the laundry, the beaches are for someone else to walk and the sun shining through the windows becomes just an annoying glare on my computer screen. Although I appreciate where I live, I find I have to make a deliberate effort to enjoy my environment.
Yesterday, my daughter asked me to go on a kayaking picnic with her to the south end of Decatur Island. My first response was, “no, I’ve got too much to do today…I can’t do it.” But as most young 20 year olds, her response was to not take “no” for an answer and she kept persevering. Finally, I gave in and made up a picnic and gathered paddles and life jackets for the trip. What a trip it was!….Beautiful glassy water, a warm pebble beach, eating lunch and visiting with my daughter and even a nap in the sun. Suddenly, I wasn’t just a woman checking off items on a “to do” list, it was like I was someone kayaking the San Juan Islands and appreciating the awesomeness of this place for the very first time…the smell of the seaweed, the calls of the various birds and the unsurpassed beauty everywhere. I came home with a pocket full of rocks and sea glass and a full set of charged batteries….ready to attack my first item on my “to do” list….write a blog.
Wherever you live, take a minute and plan a day being a tourist in your own town….visit the museum, have lunch in the park and better yet, spend the day with someone who means the world to you. You’ll be glad you did.

B etter late than never right? Today our Anacortes office is spending the day at the Boys and Girls Club in Anacortes for Windermere Community Service Day. Last Friday all theoffices across our network closed for the day and volunteered in their respective communities; we waited a week to accomodate the Boys and Girls Club and their needs which we will be taking care of today. We don’t just work, liveand play in our community, we also spend countless hours giving back to it.
Boys and Girls Club of Skagit County