Meisha Rouser The Watermark Group

The Watermark Group is a brand new real estate business in Kitsap, with a business model not usually found in the industry. The company is fully agent owned — each agent that works for Watermark owns an equal stake in the business. read more »

Clearwater Casino is now officially the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort. Its resort-style hotel opened its doors for guests on May 26, after an open house event for the public on May 25 that featured live music, complimentary food and prize giveaways.

The 85-room destination hotel offers guests four-diamond amenities — AAA is expected to review the resort several months after it opens to give its official rating — including water views, a full-service spa and an indoor/outdoor zero-entry pool, which is scheduled to be completed later this summer. read more »

Gitch Bremerton Housing Authority, which has been a lot in the news lately thanks to its grand redevelopment plans of its Westpark complex, has a reputation far beyond Kitsap. For the past few years, the agency has been a contract administrator for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development programs in the state of Washington — and currently does the same in three other states. read more »

The Washington Association of Realtors , a professional organization for real estate professionals, has proposed that Gov. Chris Gregoire and state legislature create a Housing Opportunities Legislative Agenda to increase the supply of homes in Washington. The group states that the availability of homes that typical families can afford has dropped to a 15-year low in this state. read more »

Some Kitsap area commercial lenders note that while commercial real estate loans continue strong demand, one type of project becoming popular is the mixed-use concept. A scan of current construction activity confirms that, at least in some areas, this relatively new approach has been gaining momentum. read more »

Nearly everyone would love to own their own vacation home, a place where they can jet off to escape the daily grind for a week or two at a time before returning home refreshed and ready to get back to work. However, with escalating real estate costs and property taxes increasing nearly everywhere, the notion of owning one home, let alone two, is daunting enough for most people. read more »

Pennington Pennington says his training and his disposition helped him survive the lean times. Even now, after three decades, he takes classes regularly and continues to educate himself about the industry, the market trends, laws and other aspects that affect real estate. read more »

When Sandy Foote and her husband relocated to Kitsap County from Southern California a dozen years ago, the long-time IT director knew that she was going to have to make a career change.

“When I moved here I knew there weren’t IT jobs here locally,” she said. read more »

Homeowners fork over huge sums of money every month for their mortgage payments. These payments frequently eat up a significant percentage of a family’s monthly income and, with most mortgages loading interest payments up front, it can take years for homeowners to make a significant dent in their principal.

But a new home loan program being offered by CFA Northwest Mortgage Professionals, called the Home Ownership Accelerator, promises to change this dynamic forever. read more »