Vacation Rentals in Chiwawa River Pines
There is a fascinating issue playing out in the community of Chiwawa River Pines, a residential community along the Chiwawa River in the Lake Wenatchee/Plain area. Over the last few years, there has been a proliferation of homes being rented out on a short term, vacation basis. While the county has no zoning concerns with this, the covenants in the community are pretty clear…that no commercial use of property is allowed. Sometime in the last year or so, the local community association started getting complaints about the rentals. The complaints centered about noise and other disruptive behavior of the short-term renters.
I have a vacation home in Chiwawa River Pines and have experienced some of the issues with inconsiderate vacationers during some of our time spent at our cabin. It turns out that some of the owners of the rentals have made quite a business out of it, some owning multiple cabins and others doing management and maintenance for the rentals.
Often, covenants can be difficult or expensive to enforce. However, in this community the community association also provides water to the lots. So, if a property owner is not in compliance with the covenants, apparently the water to that property can be shut off.
The covenants require a majority of property owners to vote for and approve any changes. In this case, that would require just over 150 votes. Last fall, the association board sent out a little survey and about 70% of the owners who responded were opposed to the vacation rentals. It appears unlikely that the vacation renters will be likely to change the covenants to allow vacation rentals.
All of this created a further problem in the community. There are several folks who run businesses from their homes like backhoe services, bookkeeping, etc. These businesses have no noticeable impact like the vacation rentals, but, in a strict reading of the covenants, would also not be allowed. So, the board is looking at amendments to allow such businesses that might be approved by the property owners this spring at their April meeting.
I attended the December 15th meeting of the Chiwawa River Pines Community Association meeting, and was impressed with how well they were working with this contentious issue. I have rarely seen communities who have the ability to enforce the covenants short of hiring attorneys and going to court. Here is an example where those covenants that everybody sees when they buy a property really do have meaning. I’ll keep readers informed how this all works out.
5 Responses to “Vacation Rentals in Chiwawa River Pines”
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I had heard rumor of this development. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I expect that if vacation rentals are banned you will see prices in that neighborhood stagnate, much like they do inside the city of Leavenworth. Prices too high for locals, but property not worth buying for vacation owners who also want to rent. I think that demand would then go to Ponderosa which is already on the uptick.
I can see two sides to potential impacts on pricing. Yes, folks who can’t afford property there without renting won’t be able to buy. However, folks who can afford to buy in the area won’t have the high level of nuisance that seems to be part and parcel of having the vacation rentals.
When you further consider that the covenants have never allowed the vacation rentals, and they are a small minority of the properties, there is cleary a market for recreation properties that don’t allow short term rentals.
I have been up there and experienced some of the issues with the short term renters, some of whom are beyond inconsiderate. I would personally pay more for a property that has restrictions against short term rentals. So, for me, the short term rentals detract from the value and utility of the property.
Whether it is a vacation property or a pernament residence, the tradeoff between the ability to use the property for short term income or have reduced nuisance from short term renters is something for any buyer to consider. Again, I see both types of buyers in the market.
I won’t speak to other vacation markets like Chelan or Whistler, but I can tell you how I see it works in Leavenworth. Not being able to right a property on a nightly/ weekly basis detracts from its appeal to more folks than would prefer a rental free zone. Not every vacation buyer wants to rent out a cabin or condo, but most (not some, but most) would like the option. Look at condos in Leavenworth. Those zoned multi-family instead of commercial languish on the market. Houses in Leavenworth’s urban growth boundary also are slower to sell because they can’t be rented. It;s not that buyers need to be able to rent, they can afford it either way. I agree that short term renters can be a nuisance, I just think it will have a long term effect on house values in the neighborhood that some folks might not enjoy.
Leavenworth is a bit different. In Chiwawa River Pines you can snowmobile on the streets to get to the trails and, as long as the residents do it responsibly, the county seems willing to let it continue.
Some of the vacation renters don’t seem to care whether they jeopardize that, or anything else, and in some cases treat the community streets as their own racetrack. It is a hazard and a nuisance, especially at 2:00 a.m.
When it is your neighborhood, and you plan to come back regularly, there is a tendency to be a bit more considerate.
That ability to snowmobile is one of the things that makes the neighborhood so desirable. Putting that at risk doesn’t increase values.
For vacation condos, I completely agree. They do seem to get a better price when you can rent them in a short term fashion. They also typically have on-site management that can prevent some of the problems and parties that absentee landlords in single family neighborhoods couldn’t control if they chose to. Also, as pointed out previously, there are already other neighborhoods that allow vacation rentals. Having one neighborhood that doesn’t is different that having a whole town that doesn’t allow them.
In the Chelan area, single family homes in waterfront neighborhoods that allow vacation rentals don’t sell for any more money than homes in the city where the short term rentals are not allowed. In fact, Chelan is usually considered more desirable. There is one neighborhood in Manson that is relatively very high priced, but there are basically no vacation rentals.
So, since this particular neighborhood has little value to me or my family when it is filled with drunks driving machines at high speeds around where children want to play, I’m just as happy for the people that want to rent their properties to buy elsewhere where rentals are, and have been, allowed.
But, maybe I’m just a little different! It only takes a majority vote of the property owners to change the covenants. If a majority of the owners think they want to allow rentals, they could certainly allow them. However, I doubt the majority of owners there feel that allowing rentals increases the value of their property based on a survey that the board took a few months ago.
As far as the neighborhood, it is unfortunate that a few folks decided they could just ignore the covenants and create a big issue. No matter what is decided, somebody is likely to disagree with the outcome. That makes it a challenging issue to resolve.
With luck, some other folks will weigh in with their thoughts of what might make a higher value neighborhood for them! I sure appreciate the discussion, Thanks!
This will be an interesting test of CC&R’s. I know in my neighborhood, we have a “no commercial business” restriction on the original plat layed out back in the 50’s. We’ve had only 2 nightly rentals in the past 15 years. The first lasted 24 months and the 2nd lasted 36 months, only to be raided and closed down by the police as a meth lab.
When people purchase in our neighborhood, we tell them up front our community does not want nightly rentals.
For those that try, neighborhood yard signs about “no nightly renters wanted” tend to really dampen the enthusiam.
For those of us who live here, one of our major reasons is peace and quiet. We don’t want to me in a commercial business district, which is where nightly rentals belong, and where Leavenworth Zones them.