A quick look at Washington pleasure RRE

I have a trio of Washington coastal towns I like to look at once in a while to gauge the state of recreational residential real estate.

These are open searches using the Windermere RE website -- they are the 800lb gorilla of PNW real estate.  I include houses as well as raw land; you see a lot of the latter come out of the woodwork when owners panic and want to dump undeveloped land or lots.  There are multi-million dollar estates in the results as well as $150K ramblers.

First is Birch Bay, to the north, and including a bit of the I-5 corridor leading up to it, with 834 listings.

Birch Bay, WA

Next up, a place I would not mind winding up at the end of the day, Port Townsend and its peninsula, with 316 listings.

Port Townsend, WA

This week's winner is out on the true Pacific coast, Ocean Shores, and the Grays Harbor area, with an incredible 1,205 listings.  There are hundreds of pleasure properties for sale in Ocean Shores proper, along with many others in the wider economically-depressed area.

By the way, Ocean Shores gets wiped clean like a blackboard when the Cascadian subduction zone lets loose with its next guaranteed 9.0+ quake.

Ocean Shores, WA

Keep buying, lemmings, or else get Priced Out Forever.


EDIT:
Here is a close-up shot of Ocean Shores, showing 415 properties for sale in a very small area.  Note that the Windermere site does not render all 415 icons for these properties on the page, but they are out there.

Ocean Shores, WA

Walk to Everett, 2013 edition

Every year on St. Patrick's Day, I walk from Seattle to my mother-in-law's house in Everett.  The distance is no worry, but the pavement is rougher on the soles of the feet than any trail.  Earlier posts from this walk are here, here, and here, and here, and also here.  Here's what I saw today.

A little moss on the roof?  Can you believe that only a few years ago idiot RE speculators were waiving inspections on their darling little $400K Seattle debt traps?  This one on 145th Street is a teardown.

Hideous monstrosity a few miles north in Shoreline.  American dream!

Here is a high-end house underway on Olympic View Drive in north Edmonds.  It has a view and is made of real wood plywood instead of chipboard.  Maybe they should leave the cedar shingles off to show off the plywood.

Or is this the house?

$300K buys this building in the dead space between Edmonds and Lynnwood.  Perhaps asset inflation can kindle animal spirits and provide some sort of George Gilder supply-side miracle on this one.  Onward recovery!

Of course, across the street is an empty, failed strip mall.  Someone built it several years ago, and it has yet to find a tenant.

Crossing WA 526 -- the Boeing Freeway -- on a pedestrian overpass.  I can almost smell the corned-beef.

Watching Aguirre, The Wrath of God tonight, easily one of my all-time favorite movies.  I still can't believe Herzog made this film.  I can't believe Herzog made this film without killing half the cast.