| Real Estate investment is alive and well in Kitsap County. With the advent of the Growth Management Act and the Comprehensive Plan recently adopted in Kitsap County, Real Estate has never looked better as an investment. As a matter of fact, it has been for years! Many people have actually funded their retirement with their local real estate investments.
You don’t have to be wealthy to start, you don’t even have to know a lot about it if you work with a Real Estate professional.
Lets look at a few driving forces that create patterns for investment. Where are the people going to live? How are they going to get to their employment centers? Why will they live and/or work there?
It is important to look at what would drive another buyer (people), now and in the future, to your investment. This is usually a result of population flow or increased population to an area. Predictions of future growth for areas in and around Kitsap County are available from the Office of Fiscal Management (OFM).
Transportation corridors, both now and in the future are also very important to look at. Currently the major transportation corridors for Kitsap are Kingston, Bainbridge, Bremerton and Southworth ferries, the Hood Canal Bridge and Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Future expansion of corridors may be from Mason County and on rail to Bremerton and a new bridge at the Tacoma Narrows. The advent of a fast foot ferry from Kingston to downtown Seattle will also have an impact.
Why be in Kitsap? Looking at surrounding counties it is easy to see that Kitsap offers affordability and a quality of life not matched in other areas. In comparison, homes under $200,000 in King County account for only 17.3 percent of the market while Kitsap is 61.2 percent. It should be no surprise as to why we see the traffic congestion ever increasing at the portals of Kitsap. How long will it be before the companies employing these people relocate in Kitsap?
What investment is right for you? In most cases people look at investments that will pay for themselves. This means that they are income producing types such as rental properties or have a harvestable crop or use such as timber, Christmas trees, industrial capability, etc. These properties are available in four categories, residential, commercial industrial and land.
Most first time investors look to residential and commercial income producing properties and grow their portfolio from there. Residential and commercial properties are easily financed thus minimizing cash outlay and leveraging the investor’s ability to purchase. Cash flow and rate of return on your investment will vary widely depending on the type of property you purchase. In most cases, the rents derived from your properties will pay for the investment thus allowing you to ride the wave of urban expansion with relative safety and grow your retirement portfolio.
(Editor’s Note: Frank Leach is a commercial and residential real estate professional with the Silverdale office of John L. Scott Inc. He may be reached at (360) 692-9777 or frankl@johnlscott.com.). | 
