Poulsbo Real Estate

No, this isn’t a list of bad personality traits. David Brooks of the New York Times provides an anecdotal explanation for why Norway, with a population about the same as Washington State, wins so many medals at the Winter Olympics.

This is a good article discussing the efforts in various communities to update their shoreline master plans. Also links to each community’s plan.

Kitsap County unemployment rose from 7.4% in December to 8.3% in January. More than 10,000 people are now looking for work in Kitsap County.

Port Madison Estates has purchased the White Horse development, and the Port of Kingston has purchased a foot ferry and contracted to restore service to downtown Seattle.

The stalled and bankrupt White Horse Development got a new lease on life when it was recently purchased by Port Madison Enterprises, the business arm of the Suquamish Tribe. This gives Port Madison Estates control of the golf course and the 159 undeveloped lots in the surrounding area. Ironically, the Tribe was one of the groups opposing the original development of the area. Purchase of White Horse is good news and a shot in the arm for the business development of the area as a tourist destination. Port Madison Enterprises did not announce any immediate plans for the undeveloped property.

The ferry was purchased for $2.5 Million and represents another step forward in Kingston’s push for downtown Seattle ferry service. The Kitsap Sun article elaborates more:

KINGSTON —

Kingston fast ferry fans have been knocked to the canvas a few times, but they keep getting up, bruised but wiser.

On Wednesday night, Port of Kingston commissioners voted 2-0 to buy a boat for another try, with service to downtown Seattle planned to begin around Oct. 1.

“This is a pretty exciting time for the Port of Kingston,” commissioner Pete DeBoer said after agreeing to a $2.5 million deal with Silverdale-based Four Seasons Marine Services on the 149-passenger catamaran M/V Spirit.

“And for the community,” chipped in commissioner Tom Coultas. “It’s been a hard-fought battle, and connectivity to Seattle is what we really need.”

The 5-year-old ferry has four new engines that can propel it at 35 knots, but the port plans to run it at 27 knots to save on fuel and wear and tear. It will make the crossing in 45 minutes, twice to Seattle in the morning and twice back in the evening.

The Spirit, designed by Teknicraft of New Zealand and built by All American Marine of Bellingham, most recently was used for eco-tours in Juneau, Alaska.

The port received a $3.5 million federal grant two years ago and last spring got $150,000 in operating funds from the Legislature. The commissioners believe they have half the money necessary to operate the ferry continuously for three years. The port will be applying for federal grants for the other half, which they say should be easier to secure with the boat in the water.

Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/feb/24/kingston-port-buys-boat-foot-ferry-service-could/#ixzz0h4jyCuy8

Kitsap Real Estate Affordability improved in February as both median prices and interest rates remained low.

We expect the median home price will rise back to typical levels from last year as sales pick up this spring, but the big question is what will happen to mortgage rates when the Federal Reserve stops purchasing debt and mortgage backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Supposedly rates have been driven down by this policy for the past year or more, and some parties see rates rising to near 6% by the end of this year. However, an analysis on the blog Calculated Risk disputes the magnitude of the rise, saying he expects .35 to .5% increase and citing an analysis by Amherst Securities that expects perhaps as little as .25% increase.

Prowse and Company’s February 2010 Kitsap Waterfront Update is now ready for download target=“_blank” on the waterfront page of our web site.

Each month we publish a Waterfront Update Newsletter showing our Kitsap County waterfront listings, giving detailed statistics for the number of waterfront listings, pending sales, and closed sales in various price ranges for each area in Kitsap County for Bremerton, Central Kitsap, Silverdale, Poulsbo, North Kitsap, and Bainbridge Island.

Prowse and Company’s January 2010 Kitsap Real Estate market report is available here.

This is a concise resource for keeping up with national real estate developments and analysis of key statistics about the Kitsap Real Estate market.

This is good news for Kitsap County.

All four area school levy proposals passed in Tuesday’s election.

The Kitsap Sun writes about the latest proposal from Port Gamble developer Olympic Property Group for a community dock at Port Gamble.

Their previous proposal for a marina could not overcome objections from the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe about the environmental impact of the marina.

The Blog Calculated Risk published this article about the sudden rise of short sales in Las Vegas.

Anyone who follows our blog at bprowse.com will know that we have been advocating short sales as a definite advantage for all parties compared to the toll that foreclosure takes on the homeowner, the bank, and the neighborhood.

Now short sales are starting to attract some national press, such as this article in Calculated Risk, "Short Sales Soar." The article describes how short sales are soaring in Las Vegas (the posterchild of distressed homes markets), while foreclosure activity has slacked off. The consensus is that foreclosure activity will pick up again once lenders have done all they can for homeowners currently in the trial loan modification period, but it's heartening that the banks are starting to pick up the scent on short sales.