How could a Port Angeles home for sale get stolen?  Well, it did, and this is the true story of how a custom built Port Angeles home for sale was stolen.  I know because I personally witnessed the entire episode.  This home was originally listed for over half a million dollars, and it just sold for $227,500.

Port Angeles Home for Sale – Custom Home

Port Angeles Home for Sale – 10 Gorgeous Acres

We need to start at the beginning.  In April of 2010 this Port Angeles home for sale was put in the MLS at a price of $550,000.  It is beautiful custom built home, 3,440 square feet, hardwood floors, a kitchen with custom built cabinets, a large island, and far too many amenities to mention.  You can see from the photo how beautiful this home is.  There are 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, and a large entertainment area.  It was built in 2007, and it sits in the country in a very private setting (you can’t see any other homes).  But it gets better.  This home is nestled on 10 fenced acres, which is 80% cleared.  There’s a small guest home on the property, and a nice garage and shop.  Believe me, this is a rare property.

I showed this Port Angeles home sale several times over the years as the price slowly came down to $450,000 and after not selling for a year, it was relisted and the price raised to $495,000.  I’m not kidding.  There certainly can be a reason for raising a listing price, but in this case there clearly was not.  After not selling for another full year, the price was reduced to $425,000.  During this time, I wrote an offer on the house for what my clients (and I) felt was a reasonable fair market value in the amount of $345,000.  The seller’s and their Realtor laughed at us. 

At the time we drafted the offer, my intuition told me to take my clients down to the county building department and look at the building permit file.  That’s not something I do regularly, but in this case my gut told me something was missing.  I wasn’t sure what it could be, but off we went to the county.  When my clients and I ask for the county building permit file, which is public information, the county clerk said, “There’s no house on that property.”  I responded, “Yes, there is.”  With a straight face she said, “No there isn’t,” to which I replied, “Yes, there is.” 

Port Angeles Home for Sale- No Permit

Finally, with a smile she brought out the file.  The owner had built this entire house without any building permit.  Is that amazing or what!  My clients as buyers would have to get permits in order for the house to be inhabitable legally.  The county told us there would have to be inspections of the inside of the house walls, the electrical, the plumbing, the foundation, the construction of the home, the roof, and so on.  If it all complied with the building code, the permit fees plus penalties would have to be paid.

Of course I called the listing agent and asked if she knew the house was never permitted, and if she did, why was it not on the MLS data sheets and disclosed.  I never got an answer, and the MLS data sheets in the weeks to follow never did disclose that this house was completely illegal and umpermitted.  Amazing.

This Port Angeles home for sale just sold at a foreclosure sale for $227,500.  Absolutely amazing.  I wonder if the new owner even knows that the house has no building permit.  However the new owner may have paid for it (with or without a loan), she certainly got one of the bargains of the century.  This Port Angeles home for sale was stolen.

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This Port Angeles home for sale comes with a huge shop with plenty of acreage.  And this Port Angeles home for sale is also a woman’s ideal floor plan. The kitchen is incredible, and you’ll see more on this video tour, but there is also an large sewing room that ends the discussion for sewing or hobby rooms altogether.  This home has been dramatically reduced in price, so some lucky buyer is going to take advantage of this buyer’s market.

Port Angeles Home for Sale Video Tour

Port Angeles Home for Sale MLS Sheet

You can see more photos and details on the Port Angeles MLS for this home.   The brief description includes this:

This Port Angeles custom home was built with quality in mind, and the setting is private with a peek-a-boo water view. The kitchen has the largest island you’ll see with a second kitchen area the sellers call the butler’s kitchen. The master bedroom is on the top floor with large windows, and the daylight basement has a mother-in-law living area or recreation area. This property has a big shop building with a parking lot all separate from the house on this 4.88 acre parcel.

Port Angeles Home for Sale Viewing

Call me or email me for a viewing of this one of a kind Port Angeles Home for sale.

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Sequim investors cannot find great deals on homes in Sequim.  They are literally unable to find good investment properties to buy with cash.  You would think that in this recession that there would be many homes at incredible bargain prices, and that Sequim investors would be swooping in to snap them up, but such deals do not seem to exist in our market.  Why is that?

Sequim Investors Get Skunked

The headlines around the country for quite a while have been all about the large numbers of foreclosures flooding the market, the crashing housing prices, the home builders going bankrupt, and the mortgage debacle.  Stories are told again and again about the guy who bought a three bedroom home in Vegas for $75,000, or the couple who bought a four bedroom mountain view home on 20 acres in Arizona for $225,000.  Stories abound.

So why can’t Sequim investors find these extraordinary deals?  They don’t exist in Sequim.  Nor do they exist in Port Angeles.  It sure seems like they should, but they don’t.  I have cash buyers waiting for me to find an extraordinary deal.  Try as I might, and I look at a lot of homes in the area, I have not found a home that a Sequim investor could buy, put $20,000 into it with their own labor, and re-sell for a profit.

Sequim Investors Say Where Are The Deals?

Some might think there are many homes for sale, and there are, but not the kind that can be resold within six months for a profit.  Sequim buyers, and this means retirees from outside the area, are not interested in 1970′s style homes with a split level floor plan, or an unusual floor plan, or a home in an unfavorable area.  Investors won’t touch these kinds of homes, because they cannot sell them.

If I could find a post-1990 three bedroom, two bath home with a normal floor plan, a roomy kitchen with plenty of cabinet and countertop space and about 2,400 square feet on a nice one acre lot with a mountain view of some kind, one that needed some remodeling and cosmetic work and could be purchased for about $185,000, I could sell that to an investor in a heartbeat.  He would put about $20,000 to $30,000 into it, lots of labor, and resell it for $240,000.  That would work, but believe it or not, this kind of investment does not exist.  There are homes like this, but the owners want $240,000 for them now, and that leaves no room for investors to profit.  Unlike many areas in the country, the bottom of the Sequim real estate market never fell dramatically.

Sequim Investors Disappointed

While this news has been disappointing to Sequim Investors, it is actually a sign of stability and strength in the Sequim housing market, and this bodes well for sellers as well as buyers.  Buyers won’t find the steal of the century here, but they will buy a home in a stable market and that is a good thing.  Sequim investors may have to look to Vegas or Phoenix to investor their money, and even that will be fraught with significant risk.

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Chuck Marunde is pleased to announce that he acted as a Buyer’s Agent in the sale of another home in Port Angeles.  This home is a four bedroom, two bath,  two story home with 2,600 square feet on a Port Angeles city lot.  It’s a nice neighborhood.  This home is a Bank of America foreclosure and was listed at $177,000 and sold for $128,000.  Don’t expect to find many deals like this.  This was one of the best prices I’ve seen in this area.

Port Angeles Home

You can search for both Port Angeles homes and Sequim homes for sale with one of the best online MLS search sites, and it requires no personal information or registration from you:  Sequim Homes for Sale (includes Port Angeles).

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The massive Port Angeles Walmart Supercenter is open for business.  The new supercenter was built in the same location of the old K-Mart that went out of business.  The center is surprisingly large.  The size is not so obvious when you drive into the parking lot, but as you walk into this Port Angeles Walmart Supercenter, you realize that it might be a good idea to have a golf cart.  Unless you intend to walk a couple of miles for exercise, you will want to make sure that you don’t need items from opposite ends of the store.  If you thought the Sequim Home Depot or Sequim Costco is big, think again.  Both of those stores might fit inside this Walmart Supercenter.

Port Angeles Walmart

Port Angeles Walmart

The Port Angeles Walmart Supercenter is welcomed by some locals and cursed by others.  It is the continuing battle between the big box store and the small local businesses owners.  It is a very real battle, and Walmart has an extraordinary advantage when it comes to buying large volumes at big discounts and passing those discounts on to consumers in ways that local businesses cannot.  While many of us as local business owners want to and do support other local businesses, sometimes the decision regarding our own finances pulls us into Walmart.  This is true especially in this recession, and it is also the reason this Port Angeles Walmart Supercenter is already very busy.

Port Angeles Walmart Prices

A simple example will perhaps make the point.  I do most of my grocery shopping at Sunny Farms in Sequim.  This is an incredible family owned organic grocery store, and just about every single item I purchase there tastes substantially better than the mass produced and processed foods at my local Safeway.  Of course, QFC is a few levels above Safeway in terms of quality food, but so are the prices.  The prices at Sunny Farms are higher than either of those stores, but the quality is substantially better, too.  Sunny Farms has an organic cereal that I really enjoy called Autumn Wheat by Kashi.  It is over $6.00 a box (17.5 ounces) at Sunny Farms, but this exact same cereal is sold at the Port Angeles Walmart for $3.50.  I was surprised they even carried it, but at almost half the price.  I admit I buy several boxes of it at Walmart to save a lot of money.  You can bet that Sunny Farms’ own wholesale purchase price of this cereal is more than Walmart’s retail price.  This is why a small business cannot get into a price war with Walmart.

I’m certain that many will be shopping for Christmas gifts at Walmart.  Local businesses continue to close, and I observed another business closed and empty in Port Angeles yesterday.  Local businesses are going to have to be creative and grab ahold of technology and Internet marketing to survive and thrive.  They cannot and should not try to compete on prices.  Walmart will win that battle every time.  The battle must be won on quality, customer service, and other levels.

If you haven’t seen it already, you’ve got to see this massive Port Angeles Walmart Supercenter just for the shear entertainment.

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Port Angeles has some great restaurants, as does Sequim.  One of my favorites is a classy restaurant named the Chestnut Cottage.  If you like a really great lunch salad with some of the tastiest ingredients and freshest, you’ll love the Cobb Salad.  Look, I’m a bachelor, so I’m no Chef or gourmet of anything, except Lattes (short, double shot, extra hot), but I know an incredible salad when I eat it.  Let your mouth water at the thought of fresh salad greens, tomatoes, onions, still hot bacon pieces, Avocado, slices of hard boiled eggs, chunks of Roquefort, and croutons.  All very fresh, and arranged on a plate like a picture in a magazine.  Well, you get the idea.  For those among you who are visiting and looking at real estate, I highly recommend a mid-day break at the Chestnut Cottage for lunch.  And to help you recognize it when you drive into town, I took this photo from my Android cell phone.  By the way, if you are my clients, I buy my clients lunch here when we are looking at property.

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