Port Orchard Real Estate holding up well? (Seattle, Tacoma: bank owned, for sale)

[Tony1790]

Hello,

I lived in Port Orchard on/off from 1993 to 2007, I've considered moving back, but the real estate market had gotten too expensive. I bought my 2000 sqft home in 1999 for $131,000 and sold it in 2006 for $292,000. That's just too expensive for me. With the downturn nationally in the real estate market and the new narrows toll bridge in place, I was wondering if Port Orchard real estate is getting more or less expensive?

Also is the commute better now with the bridge in? How's the Ferries doing? How much to cross the sound now?

Tony

[Sobefobik]

I live in Gig Harbor, and I know housing costs has dropped somewhat. You probably wouldn't be able to get a 2000 square foot home for $130,000 anymore, but you could probably get one around $200,000, at least in Port Orchard. My sister and her husband just bought a beautiful piece of property for $80,000--five acres worth.

There is absolutely no waiting time crossing the Narrows Bridge now. You won't believe how much the traffic has improved on HWY 16, although the same can't be said for I5 (it's always a mess).

I'm not sure of the cost of the ferrie. It is free to go from Bremerton to Seattle. It's $6.50 to cross back into Bremerton (on foot). I don't know the cost for a car because I have never done that.

I would personally not want to move back to this area if I had moved away. The area is just growing so much and I don't like all of the surrounding areas. I would love to move to the east side of the mountains or to the Olympic Coastline somewhere--to get away from all of the people and the hustle bustle of Seattle/Tacoma.

[Tony1790]

Thanks for the reply,

While waiting for some other replies I looked on CL and did a JLS home search to see how many 3 bedroom homes listed for sale under $200,000. I saw 67 homes under $200k, now many of those were manufactured homes and older homes, but I had a few rentals that I sold in 2006 in the $235k to $242k range that were 1200-1400 sqft and when I had them listed there were less than 15 homes under $200k for sale.. I saw some nice homes built in 2006-2008 listed for sale in the $234k to $275k for 2000-2800 sqft, that's in the 90-120 sqft range.

Are these prices just due to it being winter? If not these have to be flukes due to frightened sellers, because if these numbers are correct, these are 2004-2005 prices, not 2009. I'm thinking that the ones I saw must be bank owned or something, how are "normal" homes actually selling?

As to moving back or not, I'm torn, I really hated the traffic and commute, but I miss many things about WA, my son really misses it. I've not made any decisions in that regard, even if I decided to go back it wouldn't be until late this year or early next as I'm currently in Nursing school and don't graduate until Aug 09.

Take care,

Tony

[mthomson]

Ferry is $8.90 for a vehicle PO to Seattle, free for passenger. Here's the link. Prices are coming down in Port Orchard, but not to the level where you could get a 2000sf place for $200k (not in good condition anyway).
In the past 4 months, the median sales price in PO has been $234,279, and median cost per sf is $136.94. Basically, we're back to where we were in '05 in terms of prices. Prices are still going down, but interest rates are going up. There's the new $15k housing tax credit which looks like it'll go through, and lots of new buyer programs that go as far as eliminating mortgage insurance and waiving appraisals. Great incentive for buyers, but looks suspiciously like what got us into the mess in the first place.
The new bridge, as Sobefobik said, has drastically cleared up traffic. It does bottle neck where 16 meets I5. If they ever finish that improvement, it'll be great.

[mthomson]

Tony, the homes you're looking at are most likely the homes at McCormick. They are communities built by Quadrant and DR Horton. They're pretty basic homes with no frills, no yards, and 100s of homes in the same community that all look alike. They're not bad options for someone wanting a new home, but they're tough for resale. If one goes bad, it hurts all of their values. Plus, they're building so many new ones, it's tough to sell your 2-3 yr old house when a brand new one a block over is the same price.