It’s that time again; time to set the clocks ahead one hour. I love the idea of “springing ahead” and think that would be a great thing for the real estate market to do. Actually, there is some increased action around our office, if that is any indication of anything. We keep “free” lists of Mason County properties outside on the side of our building, and notice that these lists are starting to disappear faster these days. The phone is ringing a little more often, and sellers are feeling good about listing their property. Just a month ago they wouldn’t list, but were just sitting on their properties, waiting.
I think that when the light comes back, and our days are longer, people start to feel more optimistic. We’ve been having some sunny days lately. Of course, today it was snow showers here and there, along with sunshine. It was interesting to drive around Mason County today because near town I was driving in sun and under blue skies. As soon as I headed up toward Hoodsport, I ran into blowing snow. Nothing sticking — thank goodness.
We just had the news that our two American Indian Nations, the Squaxim and Skokomish, are getting stimulus dollars to help with housing. According to Dedrick Allan on the Mason County Daily News:
Although no official confirmation has been made the Squaxin Tribe is getting $326,438 while the Skokomish Tribe $274,400. The Squaxins plan to use the funds for modernizing and energy efficiency upgrades on some tribal homes. The Skokomish may use the funds to build new homes for tribal members on higher ground west of U.S. Highway 101 or to repair and upgrade older homes.
These two tribes add a lot to the economy within Mason County, and employ a lot of people. It is good to hear that they will have a share in the stimulus pie. They are going to help keep open at least one of our state parks, but some of our other parks are at risk. Any park closed is not good news for us because we draw a lot of tourists here (to spend their money) because of our beautiful and well maintained parks. One of my favorite parks, Potlatch Park, is on the endangered list.
I’d better hurry and get this post finished. The wind has kicked up, and I’ve lost the connection once already. It was an interesting tid bit of news today locally. One of our well known Seattle papers, the P.I., may have to give up paper and be an online news source only. This would be so strange. The Seattle P.I. and the Seattle Times have been around forever. So, if there is anyone out there who wants to buy a newspaper, the Seattle P.I. would like to talk to you.
I love my newspaper, and while I do read a lot of my news online I still enjoy sitting down in an easy chair and reading the paper. I like the touch and feel and sound of it. It will be a sad day if we lose newspapers.
Well, I best get this posted now.
[...] One of the projects that is described as shovel ready is for a sewer pump station. I like knowing that we could be getting our share of that stimulus money. We are already expecting money for the two tribes in regard to housing, as you may recall from a previous post. [...]