Sequim and Port Angeles homes for sale in the upper price ranges, say above $500,000, are almost impossible to sell right now. Why? There are two major reasons.
Reason No. 1. In Sequim, and even more so in Port Angeles, the percentage of buyers represented in this price range above $500,000 is only about 2% of all buyers in the current market, depending on what week or month you analyze. Generally, over 80% of homes sold here are in the $200,000 to $300,000 price range. Here are the sales for Sequim and Port Angeles in December, 2008 (as of yesterday 12/22/08):
| City | Sold Price | Days On Market |
| Sequim | $169,950.00 | 146 |
| Sequim | $185,000.00 | 118 |
| Sequim | $200,000.00 | 17 |
| Sequim | $230,000.00 | 413 |
| Sequim | $240,000.00 | 167 |
| Sequim | $255,000.00 | 141 |
| Sequim | $269,000.00 | 13 |
| Sequim | $314,900.00 | 175 |
| Sequim | $350,000.00 | 92 |
| Sequim | $743,000.00 | 4 |
And Port Angeles sales for December:
| City | Sold Price | Days On Market |
| Port Angeles | $123,000.00 | 4 |
| Port Angeles | $138,000.00 | 185 |
| Port Angeles | $159,900.00 | 8 |
| Port Angeles | $212,000.00 | 22 |
| Port Angeles | $243,000.00 | 175 |
| Port Angeles | $250,000.00 | 16 |
| Port Angeles | $260,000.00 | 188 |
| Port Angeles | $300,000.00 | 112 |
| Port Angeles | $309,500.00 | 198 |
| Port Angeles | $350,000.00 | 93 |
Don’t get hung up on the “Days on Market,” because sometimes the data here is wrong. A long term listing can end up with another agent and the DOM can get set back to zero, although it may have been on the market for months already.
Reason No. 2. Anyone who can afford a $650,000 or $829,000 home is seriously going to consider building their own custom home at that price. Many luxury homes have been built by the owner with some unique characteristics, but a husband and wife buying team are going to say to themselves (as they have told me they do), “Why buy someone else’s idea of a custom kitchen, or someone else’s idea of a recreation room, or someone else’s idea of a shop, when we can buy our own lot for $250,000, plus or minus, and build an incredible home exactly suited to our personal preferences for $400,000 to $450,000, for a total of $650,000 to $700,000, and have what we want.”
This is what buyers have been telling me. This is also why lowering the price again and again often doesn’t get the house sold. We often like to say, “Well, we’re just looking for that one buyer.” That’s true, we only need one buyer, but eliminating 95% of those in the pool of buyers right now makes for an extremely, almost impossible, sell. Selling luxury homes in Sequim or Port Angeles in this market will require expertise and experience several levels above your average Realtor or enthusiastic homeowner. You might get lucky, but do you want to pin your hopes on luck right now?
I recommend reading an update on the sale of upper priced homes in Sequim by going to an article I published on September 21st, 2019 entitled Home Sales Above $500,000.
Last Updated on June 6, 2024 by Chuck Marunde
