Clallam and Jefferson counties’ real estate professionals say the spike in foreclosures has hurt the housing market by driving home prices down.
They also say the worst of the mess is over.
“Certainly the market is stabilizing here,” said Port Townsend Mayor Michelle Sandoval, owner of Windermere Real Estate Port Townsend.
“We hit bottom a long time ago.”
Sandoval, who has been a Realtor in Port Townsend for 18 years, said the housing market is slowly rebounding from the crash of 2008.
“We’re doing much better,” she said. “We saw a great deal more activity in the last quarter. I think it will continue to get better.”
Generally, Sandoval said, the value of real estate in Jefferson County has dropped by about 25 percent since 2006.
Foreclosed properties are auctioned across the state on the steps of county courthouse every Friday at 10 a.m. Lenders have to go through this step to get the title to the house.
Stuart Smith, a certified public accountant in Port Angeles, who monitors the auctions there, said there are “lots more” foreclosures in Clallam County this year than past years.
“In most cases, they owe more than the house is worth,” Smith said.
“Almost all of them are upside down.”
Asked how long he sees the foreclosure trend lasting, Smith said: “I think there’s still a ways to go.”
Dan Blevins, Port Angeles Association of Realtors president who works at Carroll Realty in Port Angeles, said the foreclosure trend is just temporary.
“I’m optimistic it’s going to pass,” Blevins said, adding: “It’s going to take time.”
“I think it’s going to be a year or two.”
Blevins said the way to solve the foreclosure fiasco is bringing in jobs.
“It boils back down to jobs,” he said.
“In Port Angeles and Clallam County, it’s jobs. I don’t care how you cut it.
“We have to be on the lookout for places to come in, that want to move here and do business. Hopefully it’s manufacturing. That’s what we need.”
Sandoval attributed the spike in foreclosures to the housing market slowdown of 2007 and the crash of 2008.
“It was all about timing,” Sandoval said.
“Most of them are the ones that were bought in the height of the market.
“In some instances, I think some of the houses that were foreclosed on were second homes.”
While she is aware of bank repossessions in the Port Townsend city limit, Sandoval speculated that more are taking place on large acreages in Jefferson County.
“We are seeing some [foreclosures] in the city, but I tend to think more are in the country than there are in the city,” Sandoval said.
“That’s just anecdotal.”
When a bank seizes a foreclosed property, they want to sell it fast, Sandoval said.
“Banks price it to sell,” she said.
“If you jump through the hoops, there are good prices. That’s the silver lining.”
Sandoval said most foreclosure proceedings take a long time.
Foreclosures are “terrible” and “tragic” for a family who loses a home, she said.
“Once you’re in that path, you want it to be over,” she said.
Blevins said the foreclosure mess could be worse than it is on the Peninsula.
“It’s grown, but it’s not like Arizona and Florida,” Blevins said.
“We don’t have solid blocks for sale. It’s sporadic. I think the bigger problem is with the regulation on the banks now.”
Calls to several bank managers on the North Olympic Peninsula were not returned last week.
“It [real estate] is going to recover,” Blevins said. “It will recover because it always has. It always does.
“Real estate is what pulls our economy back out of the recession.”
After a bank takes possession of a foreclosed property, the lender often will hire an asset management company to list it.
These companies usually seek a broker’s price opinion and put it back on the market, Blevins said.
“I do think we’re stabilizing,” Sandoval said.
“It will be interesting to see if they [foreclosures] continue to go up next year.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
