Kitsap Real Estate Blog

I have been talking about what drives Kitsap real estate markets. My purpose is to help readers of this weblog to have a sense of the economic, regulatory and cultural factors that have such a dramatic impact on all of our lives through changing trends in Kitsap real estate values. A thread in some of my previous posts, and in more to come, takes on the subject of statistics like losses or gains in primary jobs, migration patterns, land development, new homebuilding, etc, pretty dry stuff to a lot of people.

What is often overlooked though is that it is the people that have perceptions about values and make decisions based on those perceptions are the true drivers of markets. Let me give you a recent example that I was involved in. I had listed a small stand alone, owner occupied commercial building in Poulsbo. One of the owners, Gary Anderson CPA, along with his partners had just acquired another accounting practice and had outgrown his practice and therefor needed to move to larger quarters. They listed the property with me, Jim Freeman, and I began the marketing process.

Gary Anderson CPA, by the way, is a great public accounting firm in Poulsbo. Gary, a number of his associates and a greater number of his clients are real estate investors and owners. He has helped a great number of people become seriously wealthy with his tax and structuring advice. I definitely rely on him for counsel in complex transactions.

Kitsap Real Estate Markets Cooling(???)

Statistics from the last quarter of 2006 definitely indicate a slowdown in sales, an increase in days on market, an increase in the number of listed homes in inventory divided by the number of sales for Kitsap real estate housing markets. The “trend reversal” was rather dramatic from the 3rd quarter to the fourth quarter of ‘06. Nobody rang a bell but people’s perceptions had changed on the buyers’ side in just about that length of time but sellers’ perceptions were still lagging.

But what about Kitsap commercial real estate markets? Is there a correlation as the statiticians would say. When Gary Anderson’s building came on the market the bloom was defintiely off the rose in housing but within about 2 weeks we had procured multiple offers and the building sold eventually for $223 per square foot, “just like the good old days” of less than 6 months prior in housing markets. 

So, are Kitsap real estate markets really cooling? The Anderson CPA firm’s perceptions of the future growth of business in Kitsap county real estate was demonstrated by their decision to acquire another firm so they could improve the quality and breadth of their service to a growing market. Their decision to sell their building in what others may have perceived as a declining market proved otherwise. Does the successful marketing of their owner occupied commercial building portend business confidence in Kitsap real estate and possibly indicate growth in jobs? Will those jobs fuel greater demand for housing?

I’ll be talking more about insider secrets in Kitsap commercial real estate in  the next few posts and what affect that may have on housing values. Stay tuned.