Orcas Island Real Estate Sales Increase First Quarter of 2010

More activity in the Orcas Island Real Estate Market the first quarter of 2010 than the previous year.

Despite the increase in 2010 over 2009 numbers, our sales continute to be very few and far between. This cannot be credited to the terrible winter weather; it was one of the mildest on record.  The lack of selection for buyers to choose from isn’t the reason as we have an ample number of listings in every category.  The interest rates are not the culprit as they are attractively low, although loans are demanding better qualified borrowers.  With all of these factors off the “table”, why is it that buyers are not taking advantage of the great purchasing opportunities currently available on Orcas Island?   Either buyers are not convinced that our pricing has reached the bottom and that real estate here is a good future investment, or the nation wide financial crisis has resulted in too much fear to act.

Year   '01      '02     '03     '04      '05      '06      '07       '08      '09


Sales 105    108    136     183    177    148     118      88       59


$Vol    27M    36M    51M    61M   74M   77M   72M    50M    26M

When the economic news improves enough for a buyer to feel comfortable purchasing property, sellers will also feel much more comfortable and will instantly act accordingly by increasing their prices. During the first quarter, the primary real estate markets in Seattle and Bellevue appear to be stabilizing and have increased volume of 64% and 93% respectively, over the first quarter in 2009.  We tend to mirror those markets with a lag time as the majority of our buyers originate from western Washington.

FACT: Many homes are now selling for far less than the cost of materials and labor; below their current tax assessment and in some cases, below what the owner paid. 

FACT: There is a good supply of Inventory and some motivated sellers.

FACT: Orcas Island is one of a kind - People will always be drawn to it's beauty and charm.

                      Real estate has always been cyclical and will always be so.

                                    Do you know where this photo was taken?

Is the Island calling your name?

To see what is currently available go to: www.orcasdreams.com

Or Email kate@orcasdreams.com
                 

 

Orcas Island Real Estate Steals and Deals!

                                           Deer Harbor, Orcas Island in the Evening

We have some very motivated sellers on some of listings here at OrcasDreams - Island Properties. We have been very successful in selling our listings during this slow down in the market. No great secret - mostly just great prices. With the consenus that the market has hit the bottom and is now recovering, now is the time to act!

                                               Sailing in Westsound on Orcas Island


Why live on Orcas Island? For one it is stunningly beautiful! The air quality is the very best you can find in the US. The waters surrounding Orcas Island are sheltered and perfect for kayaking, fishing, small boats and sailing. About 1/3 of the Island is in Parkland and Conservation land. There is fabulous hiking, pristine lakes for swimming and recreating, and the community is well educated, the pace is slower and well, folks are kind.

                                              Jersey cows at Coffelt's Farm on Orcas

If you want to be more connected to nature, and are tired of racing from one thing to another, if you love to garden, if you enjoy slow food, if you are looking for a new lifestyle or thinking of retiring.  Check out Orcas Island. It's one of a kind!

Green Built Craftsman Cottage - Sunny and on Two Acres Now: $425.500

Home With Hanger for Your Plane - Neat as a Pin with Beautiful Gardens! $539,000

Pastoral 5+ Acres with Beautiful Pond  - Sunset Views and in Victorian Valley $337,000

Small Farm with 1910 Fixer  - Two Bedroom Stucco Home in need of love and attention on Three very fertile Acres! $289,000

Coupeville Cottage - Walk to the Waterfront Downtown from this old fashioned home with beautiful gardens in a quiet area. $199,000

Sunny Lot in lovely Eagle Lake - Share in 283 Acres of Wild Beaches and Wooded Uplands, Ponds and Hiking Trails. $119,000

One Acre Lot in Doe Bay- Water and drainfield, this one is a very easy to build site, OK for Yurt/Camping now: $112,000

Most Affordable Home on Orcas- Owner Financing possible on this modest single wide on very pretty lot in town. $125,000

If you too have been hearing that we have hit the bottom, in fact hit the bottom last summer, and you are thinking of a new lifestyle - check out the San Juan Islands.

To see what is currently available go to: www.orcasdreams.com

Or Email kate@orcasdreams.com
                  

Orcas Island and the San Juan Island Sales History

Here is the latest scoop on sales in the San Juan Islands, which includes Orcas, San Juan Island, Lopez Island and Shaw.  The chart above shows how prices have changed since 2002, peaked in 2007 and fell in 2009. Now at last in Seattle we are seeing the market stabilizing and actually showing small increases. In the past, the Orcas Island Real Estate Market has followed the Seattle Market.

F

If you are considering selling property on the San Juan's this chart tells you just how far you need to plan ahead. What it does not say is how much the properties that actually sold had to drop their price.

Innman News - reported the following today:

"SAN FRANCISCO -- The financial crisis is over and the economy is growing at a fast enough clip that the Federal Reserve and other policymakers have already fallen behind the curve in preventing the next asset bubble, economist Ken Rosen said today.
Rosen, the chairman of the University of California, Berkeley's Fisher Center for Real Estate, acknowledged that most economists are still more worried about deflation than inflation."

If you too have been hearing that we have hit the bottom, in fact hit the bottom last summer, and you are thinking of a new lifestyle - check out the San Juan Islands.

To see what is currently available go to: www.orcasdreams.com

Or Email kate@orcasdreams.com

Plan to make your dreams come true!

Ferry Served Island verses non-Ferry Served Islands

I am often asked about the small out islands that seem to have such great deals. What is it like to live there/ vacation there? Often people don't realize that there is NO ferry to Crane and the other small Islands. Some don't realize that there isn't a bridge. We are an archipelago of 172 Islands, but only four are ferry served.

Why choose a ferry served Island? I know you're looking for solitude, for quiet, to be far from the maddening crowd. I understand! But how far do you want to be from buying butter for your baked potatoes? And how do you feel about carrrying everything from your small boat to your island home, perhaps a half mile or more? Have you considered that EVERYTHING you need to do a project, or furnish your home will have to be barged in? Waldron has a school, but only one road, and no commercial establishments. Lots of organic gardening and a small shuttle from Deer Harbor. On Crane you'd need your own boat, no school, no store.  Most people find Island living with the ferries gives them enough privacy.Yes, we have a moat!

If resale is a concern to you at all I would suggest sticking to the 3 major islands; Orcas, San Juan and Lopez.  My husband Ken has worked (built houses) on Decatur and Blakely, both non-ferry served islands. The resale out there takes at least 4 times as long as ANYTHING on Orcas. Development costs are so high on the out islands the cost savings on the land is largely eaten up. Shaw is just as expensive as Orcas and has a VERY slow selling market, though not as bad as the out islands.

  

If you too have been hearing that we have hit the bottom, in fact hit the bottom last summer, and you are thinking of a new lifestyle - check out the San Juan Islands.

To see what is currently available go to: www.orcasdreams.com

Or Email kate@orcasdreams.com
                     

My Client Got a Loan Modified!!

I feel like celebrating!  One of our clients just got his loan modified for his home on Orcas Island- just about cut in half - to an amount that he can actually afford. He has never been well, but the downturn in our economy and the devaluation of his land was the final straw. I did not know what would happen to him.

This client, like so many fellow Americans has always worked to pay his bills, and made a real estate investment which should of made him some money based on his work on the property. Instead it looked like it might result in his becoming homeless..and bankrupt.  But today, he called and he got a modification! I could not be happier!

There are some hidden downsides to getting help from your lender. Of course the 9 months to a year fighting with them to help you is the first and most obvious nightmare. But what many people don't know is that as soon as you ask for help your credit is affected. It can drop your credit score as much as 100 points according to MSNBC news, as soon as you ask for help EVEN if you have managed to pay your bills on time! So don't be surprised if your credit card companies start notifying you that your line of credit has been slashed to 10% of what it was formerly.


"Why should people's credit be hurt even worse when they're trying to do the right thing?" said Eileen Anderson, senior vice president at Community Development Corp. of Long Island, a housing counseling group in New York.

And many homeowners are angry that a program designed to help carries such a penalty, said Kathy Conley, a housing counselor with GreenPath Inc., a nonprofit group in Farmington Hills, Mich.

"It's a feeling of being duped," she said.

Credit score issues are an unexpected consequence of the program that has been plagued with problems and disappointing results since its launch last year. Only about 170,000 homeowners had completed the process as of February. Hundreds of thousands more are still in limbo, but one lucky homeowner will sleep better tonight.

89 Parkwood Drive, Eastsound WA 98245

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Green Built Home on Orcas Island  
JUST REDUCED TO $448,500!!

Are you looking for a Sustainable Lifestyle? What to live in or near a small town with a caring community, where folks visit while sipping lattes in front of locally owned coffee shops? Are you wanting something different than the big malls and stoplights, hours spent in your car rushing from place to place?  Are you a nature lover, and does nature nuture your soul? Do you long for a quiet place to call your own, walks in the park, kayaking calm waters, sailing on those long days of summer with your skin tight and salty from the sun and water. Are you ready to slow down and smell the roses? 

The Kitchen is the Heart of the Home. European style kitchen offers high end stainless appliances, quiet energy effecient dishwasher, Commercial gas range, butcher block counter tops and bamboo floors. 

Kitchen opens to the Great Room and Sunny Southern Deck

 Natural Light throughout this Home!

Window Pop-Out

Corner fireplace adds warmth on cool days.

  French Doors open to Deck creating a natural flow to the out of doors.

 The Master Suite has vaulted ceilings, windows on three sides, and a door to the garden. 

Arbor is built from trees grown on the property.

Located on TWO FULL ACRES this property has great sun and good privacy.

View across the side yard toward neighbors horse barn. 

Currently offered at $456,500. 

Call OrcasDreams-island Properties

360-376-6396

Or

EMAIL ME!

Getting Paid to Leave Your Home

Obama's latest approach to our housing woes is paying some homeowners to leave. This will allow owners to sell for less than they owe and will give them a little cash to speed them on their way. If you think $1,500 is going to be much help after you leave your home, then your needs are more modest than my own..


We are not seeing many foreclosures on Orcas, but Natiionwide, more than five million households are behind on their mortgages and risk foreclosure. The government’s $75 billion mortgage modification plan has helped very few. The Modification program is a joke, the banks have the money and they clearly don't want to share!  You can never talk to someone who can actually make a decission, and you can never even speak to the same person twice. You will be asked to constantly update your financial information and a program that should take two weeks is often still in limbo after nine months. Personally I have created an entire human being in that amount of time!  If they can get you  mortgage in 15 to 30 days why not a modification?

The new plan is a Short Sale, in which property is sold for less than the balance of the mortgage. Lenders will be compelled to accept that arrangement, forgiving the difference between the market price of the property and what they are owed. This plan sprung from the concern that millions of foreclosures could delay or even reverse the economy’s tentative recovery — the last thing it wants in an election year.

Taking effect on April 5, the program could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers  to shed their houses thus creating the biggest land grab this country has ever seen!  Goodby to the middle class! Hello poverty. What happens to all these former homeowners who have ruined credit, no home, stressed out marriages and upset children? It can't be good for our country or our neighborhoods.

Under the new program, the servicing bank, as with all modifications, will get $1,000. Another $1,000 can go toward a second loan, if there is one. And for the first time the government would give money to the distressed homeowners themselves. They will get $1,500 in “relocation assistance.” Personally I have wondered why the money was given to the banks in the firsrt place, why not give the distressed homeowners the $18,000 that was allocated to the banks for each distressed loan? Too simple? Or is the banking lobby just more important than real live folks?

Should the incentives prove successful, the short sales program could have multiple benefits. For the investment pools that own many home loans, there is the prospect of getting more money with a sale than with a foreclosure. That's because it costs the banks $40,000 to $60,000 to foreclose on your home.

For the borrowers, there is the likelihood of suffering less damage to credit ratings. And as part of the transaction, they will get the lender’s assurance that they will not later be sued for an unpaid mortgage balance, so there is some good to come out of this after all!

Cottage for Sale or Rent

Have you ever been to Coupeville? It is on Whidbey Island and it is one of the oldest towns in Washington. Many of the homes are on the Historic Register and the downtown is along the waters of Penn Cove looking across to the mainland. There antique shops and speciality stores, restaurants featuring seafood from the local waters and art galleries are to be found. It's a great place for a lazy stroll along the water and don't miss the huge ice cream cones sold at Iskreme at the north end of town for $2!

Well, we have  a little home there. It was built in 1910. Last spring and summer we worked on it for months redoing the gardens, putting up a picket fence, tearing out the old carpet and sanding and refinishing the 100 year old fir floors. We also had the entire interior scrubbed and painted. Ken installed new energy efficient baseboard heating, and new  cabinets in the kitchen. This may be the house your Grandmother had! It is surrounded by mature gardens with hundreds of bulbs, twenty foot high deep purple lilacs, a prolific old pear tree and a graceful curly willow. This two bedroom home has an ample living room with big windows and high ceilings, a panneled and wall papered dining room, an old fashioned kitchen and laundry area.

We just listed it for sale for $199,000. It is not currently rented, but we rent it for $850 per  month.  Ken is scraping and painting the exterior of the house now. We plan to paint it shades of green.

Somebody is going to get a really sweet deal! From the house it's a few minute walk to the waterfront, and one block to the bus station. In town living! Near the County offices, which make for quiet neighbors.

Give us a call if you think this may be of interest for an Island get away, a retirement home, or investment property. If you are a first time home buyer don't miss the $8000 tax credit!
360-376-4642

Is the Seattle Housing Market Recovering?

According to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service there was a strong gain in home sales in February. Since this is generally the busiest home selling seasong, it will be interestting to see how much the market increases this spring over last spring. King County generally leads the trend and the San Juans are usually at the end of the trend. Closed sales in Feb were up 45% from Feb last year.

Agents in Seattle are reporting heavy traffic at Open Houses and many think the looming deadline for the homebuyer tax credit is helping to boost activity.

Pending sales (offers made and accepted, but not yet closed) also increased 45% from Feb last year. This will be the 11th straight month of increases.

Seattle is seeing more  'Move up Buyers' than last year, which bodes well for the San Juan's and Orcas, as generally the buyer on Orcas Island is mature and sells a home to purchase here, or is purchasing a second home. Contributing to these higher end sales is the thawing of the Jumbo Loan Market.

To see Listings on Orcas Island and the San Juans go to: OrcasDreams-Island Properties

Are Home Prices Changing on Orcas?

According to Inman News today, home prices fell 0.4 percent in the last three months of 2009 compared to the same period a year earlier. However, four of nine regions posted gains, and this included the Northwest, according to a home price index published by Freddie Mac, 

 

Low interest rates and the first-time homebuyer tax credit helped boost home sales to their highest level in 2 1/2 years during the final quarter of 2009 after a seasonal adjustment, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist.

Regions seeing year-over-year price gains were the Pacific Division (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington), up 1.6 percent; the East South Central Division (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee), up 0.8 percent; the West South Central Division (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas) up 1.5 percent; and the West North Central Division (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota) up 1.1 percent.

Prices were essentially flat from a year ago in the Middle Atlantic Division (New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania), which was down 0.1 percent; and the New England Division (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont), down 0.1 percent.

Prices fell 7 percent from a year ago in the Mountain Division (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming); 1.8 percent in the South Atlantic Division (Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.); and 0.9 percent in the East North Central Division (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin).

While Orcas has been somewhat insulated from Bank Repo's to date, there is an occassional sale. For example this month a view home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths on 5 Acres sold for under $478K, this was a bank Repo.  This home would have sold for over $750K not long ago. Great deal for that lucky buyer. 

Call me at 360-376-4642  if you are looking to buy on Orcas!

Kate

Orcas Island Real Estate

Real Estate is slow on Orcas like most places. Prices are lower than I have seen in many years. Well that's great news for the lucky and the few. Most of us are struggling to keep what we have, or to sell what we can no longer afford. Realtors are leaving the business because they can't make enough to pay all the expenses of being in business, or make a living.  On Orcas Island the number of Realtos has been reduced by one third!   Business is down by about two thirds.

I have been selling real estate since 1986, so I have seen a lot of ups and downs. Just never saw a down last as long as this one. On Orcas and the San Juan's we seemed isoloated from the housing decline for a long time, but eventually it hit and it's still here. We have sellers who are aging and who need to move closer to family or medical services. We have sellers who just can't afford the luxury of a vacation home on Orcas Island any more, and we have families who need to move for economic reasons. Where are the buyers?? Where are you? This Island is Paradise!

I am telling you, it's Puff the Magic Dragon Land!  It's green and safe and temperate and the people are kind. You can send your kids a half mile down the road to the neighbor's and not worry about them. If they misbehave in town, you'll know about it before they get home. There are no traffic lights, not a one! We have more than 90 Orcas that live in the waters surrounding these islands.  Where are you, you lucky few who can make the change to Orcas Island! Come now, I am calling you! Believe me you won't be sorry!