Doc's Blog

Entry level homes are in greater abundance now than they have been in a long time. At the end of September there were 106 homes available for under $200,000 in the Port Angeles market. For the same time period in 2008 there were 69 and if you look back to ‘07 you'd find 53. The only other price p...

Whether from market stimulus programs or buyer necessity, the Port Angeles market has picked up in housing units sold over the last two months. Overall sales are only down eleven percent as compared to last year. If you look at sales over the last six months, we are only off by five percent in th...

Things are changing. If you're a seller, things are starting to look up. But if you're a buyer, the party is winding down. We have had more homes in pending status every month for the past four months than we did in the same time period last year. Inventory is down as well. Percentage wise, last ...

Sales activity is still down from this point last year, but apparently gaining ground. Last month sales were off 41% year-to-date from 2008 levels and sales in the past six months were off by 27%. At the end of April the market was down 32% from ‘08 and the "sold in the last six months" level was...

Foreclosed homes are disappearing as investors and homebuyers avail themselves of low prices, historically good interest rates, the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit and programs such as the USDA's 100% financing option. For example, of the eight homes in the $250,000 - $300,000 segment that wen...

Trying to understand how homes are assessed is, to many people, as difficult as understanding quantum physics. Throughout the upcomings months, we'll visit this topic and hopefully shed enough understanding to make this mental quandry, at the very least, palatable. Let's look first at Washington'...

The residential market has both higher inventory and higher sales than last year at this time. By the ninth week of 2008, the Port Angeles market had 264 listings. This year we have 294, an increase of ten percent. Last year we had 19 homes sold. This year there have been 24 in the same period. T...

Although market activity is increasing (with eight sales currently pending in the first week of February), there were only eleven closings of residential properties in Port Angeles in January. Consequently, the absorption rate (the amount of time it would take to liquidate all of the inventory at...

Over the course of 2007, 427 homes sold in the Port Angeles market. In 2008 the number dropped by 31% to 295 sold. At the end of 2007 we had 241 homes on the market and we had about six-and-three-quarter months of inventory. It took about two-and-a-half months to move a house back then. Now we ha...

Two months ago, annual sales levels were down by about fifty percent. Last month they were down about thirty-five percent. This month, just 30% with 280 sales year-to-date versus 398 in 2007. This is not a cause for alarm, despite what the national media are extolling. Annual sales were down in ‘...