Houses For Sale in Outlying Areas

[Lake Hills Renter]

I was in Wilkeson this weekend (just northwest of Mount Rainier National Park) and I was amazed at the number of houses for sale. This is a tiny town way too far from the metro area for commuting. I've seen lots of houses for sale places where the commute must be insane, like Maple Valley, Orting, etc. But seeing so many in places like Eatonville, Darrington and now Wilkeson really surprises me.

I'm sure there's some number of jobs in these and neighboring towns, but why so many houses for sale? Financially strapped people selling vacation homes? People trying to cash out on record high values (assuming rampant appreciation there for some reason)? Investors dumping properties because they thought people wanted to live in Wilkeson? People fleeing increasing tax rates from the runup?

[carlislematthew]

I was just out near Rattlesnake Ledge at the weekend (I-90, exit 32) and noticed a lot of places for sale. It's been like that for a while, but seems to be getting "worse".

Also, same with Granite Falls area, and Hood Canal too. There are quite a few cabins coming online in the 100K to 200K range. My theory is that this is the HELOC coming back to roost, and do you sell the primary residence or the crappy cabin you only went to four times?