BAINBRIDGE ISLAND —
A pair of spectacular homes have come on the market at a price level not yet heard of in Kitsap County, and if they sell for between $8.5 million and $9 million, they may just raise the threshold of what luxury Bainbridge Island properties can command.

To date, the most expensive home sale in Kitsap County was one on Beans Bight Road on southeast Bainbridge. It went for $6.3 million in 2009, according to the Kitsap County Assessor’s Office.

Now, just doors down on this secluded, narrow road is one of the two, a shingled Hamptons-style home with 7,500 square of space. On one acre, it is available for $8.5 million. Nearby on Country Club Road is the other, offered for $8.88 million by Windermere Real Estate of Bainbridge Island and a Seattle-area partner.

The luxury market on Bainbridge, perennially home to the county’s most expensive property, didn’t escape the hard hammer of the recession. But Dennis Paige, managing broker of Realogics Sotheby’s, suggests that prices on high-end homes that fell over the past few years are ready to rebound.

At least two real-estate offices now stand at the ready to tap into the exclusive market. Realogics Sotheby’s opened earlier this year.

John L. Scott Real Estate has just converted its long-standing Bainbridge office to a “Portfolio” office, one specializing solely in high-end homes. John L. Scott Portfolio broker Eileen Black said of the high-end market, “People are buying things and getting good deals.”

Black said that about three million-dollar-plus homes are sold each month on the island. Throughout Kitsap County, 83 such homes were on the market in the past six months. Twelve sold with a median closing price of $1.6 million. The highest sale in the past six months was a home on Mazanita Road on Bainbridge Island, for $3.4 million. The original price was $4 million, according to industry data from Penny McLaughlin, broker/owner of Penny’s Team on the north end.

At the Beans Blight property, white-trimmed French doors open to 132 feet of no-bank waterfront and a sandy beach that look over to Blake Island, Puget Sound and Mount Rainier. With six bedrooms and just as many baths and fireplaces, the home has luxurious detail throughout, including hand-sanded pecan plank floors. Built in 1997 but made to look like it’s been there for a long time, it features massive interior beams.

It was built as a summertime getaway by a Seattle professional.

The home, designed by Stuart Silk Architects of Seattle, is offered by Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty of Bainbridge Island and a Seattle-area partner.

The Country Club Road home, also in the Nantucket style, boasts 835 feet of low-bank waterfront and white beaches at the foot of Restoration Point. Sweeping views focus on the Seattle skyline. The 7,200-square foot home also has two carriage houses.

The four-year-old home was built and is owned by Anson Brooks of Anson Brooks Development of Bainbridge Island and wife Caroline Brooks. The architect is Devin Johnson of Johnson Squared Architecture and Planning of Bainbridge Island.

Inside, curved walls enclose living spaces rich with traditional detail. Generous amounts of Carrera marble cloak kitchen and bath surfaces. White oak floors are throughout.

Both south-end properties are being offered at price levels far above assessed values. The Beans Bight home is assessed at $2.9 million; the Country Club Road home at $2.4 million.

But sellers are confident the properties are priced right and will sell within the year. The price of the Beans Bight property was based in part on what it would cost to build the home today, with all its craft and detail, according to Paige of Realogics Sotheby’s.

With 835 feet of the best waterfront Bainbridge has to offer, Anson Brooks is not going to back off much on the price of the Country Club Road home. He’ll take the home off the market if it doesn’t sell for close to the asking price.

The potential buyers of such homes likely won’t be from Kitsap County, agents say. In both cases, the homes are being marketed regionally, nationally and even internationally.

But the prime targets are buyers from Seattle’s affluent East Side suburbs and from California — areas where buyers would have to pay much more for comparable homes and lack the laid-back lifestyle of Bainbridge.

“There are certain intrinsic aspects of Bainbridge that just don’t change,” Paige said.

The few homes in this exclusive area of Bainbridge are rarely up for sale. They are generally inherited by children and grandchildren of landowners who claimed a country haven here long ago. Many were Seattle business titans. Their purchases surrounded the lush homes in the nearby Country Club of Seattle neighborhood.

Maureen Buckley, owner of Buckley Buckley Real Estate of Bainbridge Island, joins many real-estate professionals who are closely watching what happens with the two south-end homes.

“We shall see,” she said.

“People sense the market’s coming back and are willing to try the high end. It would have been ridiculous to do this two years ago.”