From Mason County, WA comes statistics at BelfairWindermere.com showing Olympic Peninsula waterfront prices comparisons of 14 different beaches on Puget Sound.
King County buyers can go anywhere in the Puget Sound to live the Washington waterfront experience. Some go north but the calmer, more protected waters of the South Sound is the “E” ticket. Why do they come to Mason County? PRICE.
Yes, kayaking is better on calmer waters & yes, our mountain views are unmatched & yes, Hood Canal is warm enough for swimmers but in the end, larger homes on bigger lots for less money - just getting more for your money is very attractive.
“You say it’s cheaper - OK - how much cheaper?
As a listing broker, I got tired of not having an absolute answer, so I made a website – BELFAIRWINDERMERE.COM. At this website, I documented all 2017 waterfront residential sales transactions – from Olympia to the Hood Canal Bridge. From this MLS data, I made charts to quantify the price for each Olympic Peninsula South Sound beach. I excluded manufactured home transactions, the source of doubters who claimed Mason County prices only appeared cheaper because we had per capita more manufactured homes. Likewise, our retort has been there are fewer condominiums here, so in fairness, I eliminated them too.
My charts are simple. I created a dot for each waterfront home sale in 2017. Each dot was placed on a chart by its price verses its total finished square footage. With 30 – 80 dots per area, this alone showed the price and size of most properties, however I added a mathematically calculated average from these dots. This traveling average creates a climbing line shows larger the home, the higher the price. By comparing like-size homes in different areas, you get a sense of relative prices.
For example, an average 2000 square foot waterfront home on Bainbridge Island cost an average of $1.2 million while the same 2000 square foot home on Hood Canal was $510,000.
For those who use this information to judge the value of their own home, there is this disclaimer. Averages apply to average home condition, size of septic, average water frontage and lot size, kind of heating system and all the rest. This does not necessarily mean your 2000 square foot home would sell for $510,000. Ask an in-area Realtor who has seen many Hood Canal homes if yours is average AND to calculate the difference.
Also because the price per square foot of waterfront homes fluctuates during the year, I used a full year of data
It’s clear - you get more for your money in Mason County.
WHY? One explanation is activity. In a recovering market, activity is an important element I call the “Odds of Selling.” By knowing how many homes were “for sale” compared with how many sold, you get a sense of the supply/demand. Using the same MLS data I used for pricing, I also made charts for the “Odds of Selling” at BELFAIRWINDERMERE.COM.
For those of us with waterfront homes in Mason County, our property values lag behind much of the South Sound. As more buyers discover this, our sales and values will continue to increase. See BELFAIRWINDERMERE.COM for details.
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