When: Wed Feb 15, 2012, 6:30-8 pm PST
Where: Commodore Options School
9530 NE High School Road, Bainbridge Island

Chilly Hilly’s 40th Anniversary Ride
Don’t miss the kick-off ride for the 2012 bicycle season in the northwest. The Chilly Hilly, presented by The Cascade Bicyle Club, is February 26th. With 2,675 feet of hill climbing, the ride is sure to be a challenge but, if the current weather pattern holds, this year’s ride may be balmy compared to last year’s snow, rain and sleet.
The Chilly Hilly is a well supported 30+ mile ride around beautiful Bainbridge Island. Sign up online at www.cascade.org.

Affordable Housing Jump Starts the New Year: Ferncliff Village, Bainnbrige Island’s newest affordable housing development and Community Land Trust project is celebrating the completion of the first homes with a community open house February 11 & 12. The community is invited to the kick-off event at 10am on Saturday, February 11. Model homes will be open to the public from 11am-2pm on Saturday and 1pm-4pm on Sunday, February 12. Twenty-four new green built homes (3 home designs) now available for presale. Open space, rain gardens, two playgrounds and a public trail. Come and visit Ferncliff Village!

With a few exceptions, most of us were happy to see 2011 in their rearview mirror. We entered the year full of optimism, but we realized by the second quarter there was not going to be any major positive shifts in our real estate market. We rebounded a bit in the third quarter and the fourth was slightly better than the same period in 2010. In the end, the market mirrored its actions of the past few years, going up and down without ever really establishing consistency. The number of homes sold has increased each year since the 2008 trough (which is good news!), but we are not seeing numbers anywhere close to where we were a decade ago.

The Market’s Sweet Spot

Last fall, we talked about the division in our real estate market. The fourth quarter continued this trend. Of the 19 homes sold in December, 14 of those (or 74% of sales) were less than $600,000. We had a 61% increase for the year below the $600K mark and a 33% decrease for higher-priced listings.  We had a late-year surge in homes between $1M and $1.5M and sold as many homes in this price range during the fourth quarter than in the previous three quarters. One has to keep in mind, however, using a broad definition of average prices, a home that would have sold for $770,000 in 2008 would have sold for $600,000 in 2011. With the more affordable homes experiencing stronger sales than the middle and higher areas, the average price changes (in this case, decreases) likely get more dramatic the farther you get from $600K. With a total market drop of 9.2%, one would have to assume that homes less than $600K dropped less than 9.2% and homes above more. The last wrinkle in this discussion is how to interpret total market numbers.  It’s important to remember that the value of any one home is a function of the home itself, its condition and its location – not the total market. Its value change may be completely different (better or worse) than the general market numbers.