The Sequim weather report is cold.  It’s 34 degrees F, and the sun is out.  Most of the snow we had over a week ago has melted.  Here’s the interesting news.  The Sequim weather (snow and low temps) has not put a damper on buyers who continue to shop and buy homes in Sequim.

Sequim Weather Not a Damper on Home Sales

We had a few days of snow, which was a surprise, but I was also surprised and delighted to submit an offer on a Sequim home during the snow storm.  I also have a transaction closing today, and yesterday I showed houses all day to a couple from out of town.  Saturday we’ll look at more houses.  Some of my clients have expanded their home search for a water view home beyond Sequim to Port Ludlow.  I sold one home in Port Ludlow, and will be showing two more this Saturday.

Sequim Weather – Still Showing Homes

Retirees are clearly still planning to move to Sequim in significant numbers, and even though we are in the middle of the winter season, retirees have not stopped their careful process of searching for their perfect retirement home.  I know many of us often say, “there’s no such thing as the perfect home,” and that may be true, but it sounds better than “ideal retirement home.” 

It’s true that it is rare that anyone will find the perfect home, although it has happened.  It’s more often the case that a home has nearly all of the features a couple want, and what the home doesn’t have can be added or compensated for in some way.

Yesterday the homes I showed did not include the perfect retirement home for my clients.  Three of the homes were fun to look at, but did not pass my client’s test.  One home had an absolutely stunning panoramic water view, but it was an older manufactured home, which turned my clients off.  A couple of the homes had what I call “unconventional” floor plans, partly the result of remodeling that occurred in one home built in 1954. 

I find it fascinating that homes with unconventional floor plans are priced the same as new homes with great modern floor plans.  Of course, when I put it that way, it is obvious that a home with an unconventional floor plan should be priced less, and substantially less in some cases, but apparently that it not so obvious to the owners and/or their agents.  If you’ve been out looking at lots of homes, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about here.

Sequim Weather – Don’t Let It Stop You

If you’re planning to retire in Sequim, don’t let this cold (and recently snowy) Sequim weather stop you from coming to look at homes.  In my opinion, looking at homes before the crowd arrives in the spring is a good idea.  The one home you might fall in love with will undoubtedly be loved by other retirees who think like you do.

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A Sequim real estate broker who practiced as a real estate attorney in 1994, started the first Sequim real estate website dedicated to giving away free real estate information, law, forms, checklists, and guidance on buying and selling real estate.  In 1994 the world wide web had just begun to go public, and building a website back then was not as easy as it is today.  He also published a print newsletter letter to help Realtors.  Eighteen years later Chuck Marunde’s online websites, blogs, eBooks, videos, and photographs have grown into the largest source of real estate information for buyers and sellers in the Sequim and Port Angeles area.  Click on the image below to read the full 1994 article, the beginning of what has turned out to be something very big, especially for buyers from outside the Sequim area.

Sequim Real Estate Broker

Sequim Real Estate Broker

I’m Chuck Marunde, and I absolutely love helping buyers.  One way I’ve been doing that for my entire career, going back to the mid-’70s when I first became a Realtor, is to give everything away, including information on buying and selling real estate, checklists, legal issues in real estate, case law, guides to buying and selling real estate, forms, and lessons learned in the trenches on negotiating price, foreclosures, short sales, contingencies, and unique issues to Sequim and Port Angeles areas (septics, wells, water flow, water quality, drainage).  In 18 years I have not stopped writing and posting and giving away real estate information, and I can unequivocally share that buyers tell me they love having all this information available 24/7 from their home computers absolutely free and with no obligation to register their confidential information.

Sequim Real Estate Broker

I love being a Sequim real estate broker, and I’ll continue to post articles, information, and powerful tools for buyers, and many of these you will find directly on this site on the right side.  If there is anything that you would like to request, please email me, and if I can do it, I will.  Free of course.  By the way, once in a while someone will ask me what do I get in return?  Nothing up front, but I’ve learned that in the long run, buyers appreciate the work I do for them, and many retain me as their Sequim real estate broker and buyer’s agent.

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The question, “Do people buy homes in Sequim in the winter months?” came up recently, and with this recent snow, it certainly is a relevant question.  The short answer is yes, but here’s a fuller explanation of who, what, and when on the subject of buying and selling homes in Sequim during the winter with another nice graphic illustration brought to you by the research staff of Chuck Marunde.

Homes in Sequim

Homes in Sequim and Peak Sales Years

A chart like this tells its own story.  Two quick explanations are necessary.  The months are shown in the bars as consecutive months, so for example in the first grouping of bars we have November and December of 2004 plus January of 2005, which keeps the months together.  Also I only include homes that sold for $150,000 or more.  You can’t buy much for less than $200,000 in Sequim, but I included low priced homes, some of which are probably foreclosures.

Homes in Sequim sold during the winter months of November, December, and the following January show us an interesting pattern.  The peak year for the sale (closing) of November homes in Sequim was 2006.  The peak year for the sale of December homes in Sequim was 2005.  The peak year for the sale of January homes in Sequim was 2006.

This is why I consider 2005 the peak year for home sales in Sequim.  Even the peak closings in January of 2006 were the result of deals written in November and December of 2005 since most transactions close 30 to 60 days after mutual acceptance.

Homes in Sequim and January Sales

The homes in Sequim that closed in January confirm a few things for us.  It turns out 2009 was the trough for lowest closings in January.  Only 11 homes sold in January of 2009.  That reflects buyers who were looking at homes in the prior two to three months.  And 2010 wasn’t much better with only 12 homes sold in January.  Interestingly enough 2011 sales jumped way up in January to 22.

Here we are today, the 21st of January, 2012, and so far this month we only have 3 closings.  What can we make of that?  We have 7 closing days left in the month, and closings often happen near the end of the month, so we shall see.  Check back at the end of the month, because I will update the number of closings in January.  One preliminary interpretation I will share.  I would expect January of 2012 to have  low numbers for Sequim, because in the summer and fall of 2011 retirees stepped up their purchases from the prior two years.  They told me that they had put their plans on hold for the past couple of years while they waited for the economy to begin to recover and the status of their retirement funds to stabilize, but after waiting, many have decided it’s time to move on and buy a home in Sequim and retire, regardless of the uncertainty in the economy and in the world.

Now you know about homes in Sequim that are selling in the winter months.

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Sequim weather is snow!  It is a surprise, and the last three days have dumped a lot of snow on Sequim.  Our Sequim weather is normally much dryer, although this time of year rain is not unusual.

Sequim Weather and Snow

Sequim Weather Cold

I took this photo on Dryke Road in Sequim.  Ehad!  Snow everywhere, and plenty of snow ball fights and even sledding in Robin Hill Park.  The temperature has been freezing at night, and a few degrees below freezing.  We have had winters in Sequim with no snow at all, and we’ve had winters with snow that lasted two days to two weeks.  Next calls for 40′s and rain, so all this snow may be melted by then.  We shall see.  This winter the Sequim weather surprised a few of us.

Update:  Two days later and the snow is melting rapidly.  It’s much warmer and some rain is helping to melt the snow.  Oh well, Sequim weather is somewhat unpredictable.

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How a home for sale is advertised and promoted to prospective buyers is a fascinating study.  Buyers often share their frustrations about how different a home appears when they see it compared to the photos or descriptions they saw online.  I’ve been watching this since the mid-1970s when I first got in real estate sales in Fairbanks, Alaska.  Then I observed how a typical home for sale is advertised as I lived in Spokane, Las Vegas, Puyallup (in the Tacoma-Seattle metropolis), and for the last 18 years in Sequim and Port Angeles.

Home for Sale Ads

When you’re looking online for your perfect retirement home, you’ll undoubtedly filter through hundreds of homes.  It’s tough to narrow that search down to half a dozen to one dozen homes, isn’t it?  The job is made harder if descriptions or photos of a home for sale are not precisely accurate depictions of what you will see in a live 3D version when you get here.

I had a client call me from southern California to tell me he was going to get on an airplane and come to Sequim to look at a home that sounded absolutely perfect.  He said the advertisement described it as a bungalow with a traditional kitchen and a water view.  One of the photos showed a nice water view.  I told my client on the phone, “Before you spend the money and time to fly here, let me run out to Discovery Bay and look at the home, take a few photos for you, and call you back with my impression.  In other words, I’ll be your boots on the ground before you come to Sequim.”  He liked that, and what I found out saved him the trip.  The house was so old, it was barely inhabitable.  The kitchen was traditional if traditional means 1934.  There was no water view from ground level or from any of the windows in the house, but there was a peek-a-boo water view if I stood up on the hill behind the house with my feet level with the peak of the roof.  The water view shared a lot of power and telephone wires and a large shop building on a neighboring property.

Home for Sale Advertisements True or False

Today on the business news the commentator boasted that Bank of America stock was up 16% this year.  This reminds me a lot of the way that some homes are advertised.  What the commentator represented was technically true, but actually was the opposite of the real story from a longer term perspective.  This graphic illustration makes the point by showing the real story of Bank of America (BAC) stock.

Home for Sale Representations

It can be hard for buyers from outside the Sequim area to view homes online with photographs and limited descriptions, but I’m here to help if you need more photos or more information about what is adjacent to the home or what the views really are.  I can be your boots on the ground and preview the property for you, email you photos, and share my observations of the property, it’s condition, and what the views are around the home.  I love doing that, so please don’t hesitate to ask.  I’d love to help you find the perfect home for sale and make it your dream home.

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Sequim Houses for Sale can be searched on Sequim’s most powerful and easy-to-navigate MLS site.  Here is a fun example of a search for Sequim houses for sale at $500,000 and above.  There are 44 current MLS listings for homes priced above $500,000.  Click on this image to see the actual search results where you can open up the details and also view the full photos.  There are some gorgeous homes in this search.

Sequim Houses for Sale

Sequim Houses for Sale in Luxury Market

Sequim does have some beautiful luxury homes for sale, but if you’re a buyer you will be glad to hear that the percentage of buyers for these more expensive homes is a very small percentage of the buyer population.  That is not encouraging news for sellers, but it means this is a super buyer’s market in the luxury home market, and that is good news for buyers.

Sequim Houses for Sale – Super Buyer’s Market

I thought you might be interested to learn how many Sequim houses for sale in this price range of $500,000 and above actually sold in calendar year 2011.  How many would you guess?  The answer is 19.  Nineteen.  That’s not very many.  That’s why this is such a super buyer’s market.  As a qualified buyer in this price range, you have tremendous negotiating power.

Change your parameters on your search and have some fun looking at Sequim houses for sale in whatever price range you set.

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