Karen Best was watching a client measure carpet and decide on updates to a home built in the 1990s, the decade when Best first began selling real estate in Port Ludlow.

Her conversation with those new buyers last Friday made Best, now one of the top-selling and the longest-serving agents in Jefferson County, reflect on the changes she’s seen in the community.

“I came in when things were going down, and there wasn’t a lot of new construction,” Best said of when she began selling property in 1993. “People were talking about updating the houses of the 1970s the way they are talking now about updating houses from the 1990s.”

“There hasn’t been new construction since mid-2008 to 2009. That was the last of the new construction,” said Best, who is associated with Coldwell Banker.

Times change. Port Ludlow has grown. Many of the real estate agents she worked with are gone, victims of the last great recession. Today, the real estate market in Port Ludlow and Shine is “balanced,” she said.

And there’s new construction.

“We are not back to where we were prior to the recession, but we are seeing some appreciation. It’s a much better market. I think it will continue to be strong, because we are seeing a lot of baby boomers retire to our community,” said Best. “They are coming from all over, primarily from California, but from the East, Texas and West Coast. Right now, I’m working with someone from Portland.”

What’s changed for Best, in addition to the loss of agents, is the age of the Internet.

“People are coming based on what they see on the Internet: Zillow, Coldwell Banker, Trulia, Realtor.com. I bet I get a lead a day,” Best said of prospective buyers surfing the net and discovering "sleepy," underpriced Jefferson County.

Actually, that’s not exactly how she sees it, though she knows that’s how some see it.

“There is a perception of Port Ludlow that it’s a sleepy, old, retired community and that it’s not vibrant, and that’s not true. It’s very vibrant, and there’s lots of diversity. It’s convenient to shopping. We have a great grocery store 10 minutes way in Port Hadlock, and there’s Poulsbo, and we’ve got medical here. We’re a fairly complete community and we’re growing,” said Best.

STATISTICS, LOTS, NEW

Statistically speaking, Port Ludlow property is valued at about $494 million and is the second-largest assessed area in the county. Port Townsend property is valued at $1.3 billion, according to Jefferson County Assessor Jeff Chapman.

In 2004, there were 170 homes sold in Port Ludlow, and the median sales price was $267,750, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Then, in 2006, at the height of the real estate bubble, there were 120 sales, and the median price rose to $397,000.

In 2012, there were 65 sales, and the median value was $225,500. Through August 2015, 86 properties had sold, and the median property value is $275,000.

What is not selling, according to Chapman, are vacant lots. In fact, Chapman admits he was optimistic in 2014 and raised values, but didn't make a distinction between lots and homes.

“We had a lot of appeals to the Board of Equalization,” Chapman said. “We readily admit we were wrong on vacant land, and the evidence was irrefutable.”

All told, that dropped the assessed value of Port Ludlow by about $8 million, Chapman said.

Property values were adjusted on 146 lots, mostly in North Bay, as well as all 42 lots associated with Ludlow Cove Cottages, which is the newest construction project for Port Ludlow Associates (PLA).

NEW IN THE COVE

Joe Buskirk is on the other end of the real estate scene from Best, being new to the community. He leads the sales effort for Ludlow Cove Cottages, the first new construction by PLA, owner of the resort, since the housing recession. Buskirk is broker for Port Ludlow’s John L. Scott office.

“I'm the guy who is lucky enough to sell these. Things are cranking over here,” said Buskirk, who has been selling in Port Ludlow since 2013. “What we’re seeing is a lot of people who are done being yard-tied. They want simpler homes and nice homes. I’m seeing savvy buyers."

The homes are built by Westharbor Homes. Floor plans have names such as the Port Townsend and the Chimacum, the Bainbridge and the Kingston. The Quilcene is the smallest model home at 1,489 square feet. The lots range from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet, and six of the lots are directly on the waterfront, set a mere 30 feet back from the high tide mark.

(Longtime locals remember this area as being the "log dump." Long after the lumber mill was gone, logs were stockpiled, put in the water, rafted and towed away.)

The first model home was completed in November 2014 and since then, 10 homes have been sold.

“Our goal is to be completed with construction by the end of 2017. That’s the goal, and we’re well on our way to do that. We’re roughly 25 percent sold out in less than a year,” said Buskirk.

It’s true that people can go up the street and buy a 15-year-old home in the $330,000-$400,000 range, but the systems in those homes need work, he said.

“What you need to move in here is a refrigerator, a washer and dryer, and blinds, and if you want a fire place, a fireplace. Those are the options.”

So who’s moving into these new homes in Port Ludlow?

“My buyers right now are a mixed bag of local residents who are downsizing or upscaling their home. They’re moving from the golf course to the waterfront. People within Port Ludlow are relocating here. And then buyers from King County, the Eastside [of King County]. We have weekend users and full-time residents,” he said, adding that what he hears from those buyers is that they are being taxed out of their homes and they are tired of city traffic.

And those buyers are indeed using the Internet, not just to pick property, as Best has observed, but to watch their retirement dreams be built.

“They can watch the progress online," Buskirk said of Cove construction. "We put pictures on and update them.”

Cove homes range from a high of $590,000 to a low of $382,000. If that sounds pricey, Buskirk is quick to say, “I get zero arguments. People initially thought the prices are high, but when you see what you get, we feel it stacks up very competitively in what you can get in a resale home.”

And he’s getting a lot of people looking.

“I’m still seeing 80-120 people a week come through. It’s like a trade show,” he said of the interest expressed. “We had 3,000 people come and see this [model home] in the first six months.” Another 1,000 people stopped by to take a tour of the single-story model.

Although the website touts Ludlow Cove Cottages as a place to “accommodate aging in place” the homes are not automatically handicapped accessible. The homes are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), he said. Some showers have no curb, for example, should someone want to roll a wheelchair in it. The homes have fire suppression sprinklers, and the lots are landscaped.

Asked if he could sell buyers on Olympic Terrace II, another PLA project that has not been completed, Buskirk said he would use other agents at John L. Scott to push undeveloped lots that are still available and could accommodate a large home with a three-car garage.

“I don’t have a lot of people asking for bigger homes or too much bigger lots,” he said.

With the two model homes available for a walk-through, Buskirk said, people can “kick the tire and see what they’re going to get. “And if they want to take it to the moon, you can do that, too,” he said of asking for add-ons.

DIVERSIFICATION

Somewhere between Best, with her experience, and Buskirk, with his newcomer's enthusiasm, is Ludlow Bay Realty’s Kevin Hunter, who has been selling real estate in Port Ludlow for 15 years.

Back in 2005, Hunter worked with seven real estate agents. He was with ReMax from 2003 to 2008, then stepped out and created his own agency. With the name “Ludlow” up front, his company name “bumps up to the top of any Internet search.”

Hunter specializes in property in Shine and Port Ludlow, and, like Best, extends his reach all the way to Port Townsend.

Hunter said the Port Ludlow market is finally at a “brisk pace,” with multiple offers on some homes, but mostly it just has good prices, much lower than in Port Townsend.

What helped him weather the recession was going into the property management business, he said. His website lists dozens of rentals, ranging from a 2,269-square-foot home for $3,000 a month to a 1,009-square-foot home for $950 a month. Almost all of his listings are rented, he said.

While it is true that people may be looking to downsize into a smaller home, “they see the opportunity is here," and what they can get for the same amount they might spend elsewhere is “quite good," Hunter said.

“Port Ludlow is a fantastic living hub. It’s centralized to anything you want, Sequim, Port Townsend; it’s 25 minutes to Kingston and close to Bainbridge and Seattle,” he said, touting the area, as Best did.

While he calls the market brisk, he admits that there is a slight concern right now about low inventory.

“Right now, in Port Ludlow Resort area, we have 111 homes listed and 32 pending,” he said.

“The bottom line is that we still have great values. We aren’t technically what would be a seller’s market, but we have a much brisker sales and a better price point.”

Generally, homes sell close to their list price, with some wiggle room to negotiate, he said.

As for bidding wars, Hunter said he’s seen a few centered on water-view and waterfront homes.

CONTROVERSIES ASIDE

Like Best, Hunter said that he hasn’t seen anyone turn away from buying a home in Port Ludlow because of the controversy around PLA’s logging this year within the master planned resort. That logging included an area that had been designated as open space reserve, which residential owners had understood was never to be logged. Since concerns about the logging have been raised, more people have attended meetings of the advisory Port Ludlow Village Council than almost ever before. PLA contends it had the proper permits, although Jefferson County applied stop-work orders. The legality question has yet to be answered.

“People who live here are very concerned about it and want to maintain the lifestyle here. But I haven’t seen anyone walk away from a purchase because of what has occurred,” Hunter said.

Best agrees that it hasn’t been an issue. She said there could be a perception that there is infighting in Port Ludlow.

“But I live here and I don’t feel that way, but I see you could get that perception. And that’s one of the nice things here is that you can be vocal on things. Like Iron Mountain [quarry expansion]. That’s gone away,” Best said.

And even assessor Chapman said the controversy hasn't impacted property values; at least, no one has come to the assessor and asked that their property assessment be decreased because of the timber harvest.

“The reality is, when you are retired, you can live wherever you want to go. You may be looking at several communities, but if you can't find something, you're still going to retire,” said Best.

Best said someone once called Port Ludlow “the best-kept secret” in Jefferson County, because “you can get more value” than in other communities.

Ludlow had high prices at the top of the housing bubble, and then the bubble burst.

Today, Best, Buskirk and Hunter are seeing things on an upswing – great activity, as newcomer Buskirk calls it; a brisker market, as Hunter sees it; and a balanced market, as Best describes it.