Financial Impact on Kitsap's Housing Markets

By now some of the hysteria of yesterday's congressional vote on the $700 billion rescue plan has passed. Thank God for politics...I don't know what we'd do without the posturing, blustering and finger-pointing!

Now, let's see if we can't wade through the mud and figure out how our county's real estate markets will be affected.

First, do I have all the answers...absolutely not and if anyone tells you they do then they're "full of it." What I do know is that we need time, probably several months, to get back some of our sanity.

Second, there are too many external factors to try to quantify and weigh the effect of each and the impact overall.

Third, if you are being forced to sell or buy real estate now, regardless of the reason, it's as good a time as any as long as you understand some of the factors you'll be facing and the risks involved. None of us have the ability to control any of these factors but we might be able to reduce some of the risk factors. Specifically, there's money to be lent, as long as buyers have established and protected their credit ratings and they're serious about proceeding. If you're waiting until the market "hits bottom," good luck. It'll have passed before you realized it. As a seller, you need to "get ahead of the market." Price aggressively, stage professionally and market proactively.

Helpful Information

Cell Phone Numbers Went Public September 25th, 2008.

REMINDER....all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies tomorrow and you will start to receive sale calls. .... YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS To prevent this, call the following number from your cellphone: 888-382-1222.

It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only takea minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.

Kitsap County Market Stats for September 22, 2008

Not too much change in our markets this week compared to last week.

The absorption rate for Silverdale decreased from 137 weeks of active inventory just waiting to be sold to 131 weeks. There were 131 active listings on the market.

For Kitsap County the absorption rate dropped from 101.4 weeks to 87.7 weeks. Overall there were 2,719 listings on the market.

There were 51 new purchase contracts written during the week.

What's Happening Now at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae?

Now that you and I own a piece of Fannie and Freddie (as taxpayers, not investors (not that either of them are worth much any more)) do you believe we'll have a say in what happens to these institutions?

Most of you know what happened that weekend awhile back but what you may not know is that James Lockhart who as oversight administrator has prohibited Fannie and Freddie employees AND lobbyists from lobbying or donating to any member of Congress. Yesssss!

What remains to be seen is whether this policy will be kept in place once the elections are over. I'll bet Congressman Barney Frank who chairs the House Financial Services Committee and a fervent supporter of both Fannie and Freddie is really pissed about this. Tough!

As far as the investors go, they've made some money over the years and if they didn't sell they lost. What goes around comes around! Tough again!