NCW Real Estate Blog

Pacific Appraisals has released their Snapshot reports for Leavenworth and Cashmere sales for March.  These reports have been available for Wenatchee for some time and just started recently in Leavenworth and Cashmere.  Look for them to have even more information as they include more historical data.

Leavenworth Real Estate Sales in March.  In Leavenworth, both the number of homes sold and the volume of homes sold are down 60% from last year. The condominium market is down the same amount. The nine homes sold year to date have sold for higher prices than last year.  So,  the average home sale price is down only 3% and the median home sales price is actually up 8%.

Cashmere Real Estate Sales in March.  So far,  data indicates a 33% decline in the number of sold properties in the Cashmere area, along with a 28% decline in the median home sales price.  Listings appear to be down as well in the month of March.

Tags: General Interest, Local by Al Lorenz
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While folks all over the area, state and country have been grappling with solutions to the crisis due to the lack of affordable housing, a funny thing happened.  The market corrected itself and housing is now at one of the most affordable levels in a decade.  Crisis solved?  Hardly.  Government never likes to waste a crisis and they are not done milking this one yet.

Remember that a big contributor to the crisis was regulation that made land for housing expensive while the federal government was encouraging the lending that is now called the sub-prime crisis.  Housing demand was artificially boosted while supply was constrained, thus prices rose.

Now, that artificial boost in the market has largely ended, the market has corrected the affordability crisis.  But I don’t expect the affordable housing industry to go away as well.  We will still have the local cities, counties and state spending your tax money to subsidize housing like this blip in the market was a permanent condition.  These programs seem to be like Pandora’s box and the lid is nearly impossible to put back on once opened.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Home prices in most of the U.S. have fallen back into line with what the typical household can afford to pay in most of the U.S., according to a new study.

The quarterly report – by economists at IHS Global Insight, a research firm, and PNC Financial Services Group Inc., a banking concern based in Pittsburgh – looks at price trends in 330 metropolitan areas across the country. – WSJ

Tags: General Interest by Al Lorenz
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I attended two of the Shorelines Management Program update meetings last week.  The first was on Monday with the Chelan County Commission and the second on Wednesday with the City of Chelan Planning commission.

After hearing the questions and concerns from the County Commissioners, I felt much better about the direction they would like the process to go.  The draft of the SMP Update that was on the web sites and we linked to, was apparently not meant to be widely distributed to the public, although it was on publicly accessible web sites.  It was a draft to the various groups and stakeholders who have been working on the project before a draft for public review.

That “public” draft is scheduled to be out sometime in May, although that could be delayed.  I will let readers know when it is available and get links to the documents for your review.

There will be a lengthy public review process and adoption of the plan is not scheduled to occur until sometime in 2010.

Great comments were made in both meetings I attended about the public access, particularly from private property, that was in the preliminary draft.  While it is clear that additional public access is desired, the approach that was written into the early draft was not well received by the attendees to the meetings.

In spite of the document getting a bit more attention then may have been originally planned, good feedback was given and received about dimensional, structural and other issues within the preliminary draft.  A variety of approaches to addressing the likely lack of concurrency of the final SMP to  changing of other permitting agencies was also discussed including not having standards in the Chelan County document that are already covered by other agencies.

There were other meetings in Leavenworth and elsewhere in the county.  Please add comments if I missed something or with your thoughts.

Tags: Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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I have to ask, is life fair?  I tell my children all the time it isn’t and they should be very happy it isn’t.  Why do I feel that way?  I think fairness is over rated.  I don’t want to have to be sick when you are.  I don’t have to wear what you are.  I don’t want to have anybody else’s schedule, or live with their choices.  But that is not fair,  according to current thinking.  It is only fair if we all have the same thing and do the same thing.  A life that is fair is not free.  “Fair” seems to be the direction things are going where the government has no qualms about taking the efforts or some for handing out political favors to the many.

So, in a typical government way, the City of Wenatchee did a study on fair and affordable housing in 2006.  What did they find?  Well, in part due to the federal government’s efforts to get people into housing that they couldn’t afford, the housing market got overheated!  That demand made housing more expensive!  Local governments piled onto the bandwagon with impact fees and SEPA fees that drove up the price of building housing.  The result, nobody built moderately priced housing because it could not be done profitably.  Besides, a day laborer could get a loan for a pricey home anyway.

According to the Wenatchee World:

The list of fair and affordable housing problems identified at a town hall meeting Tuesday was long, while ideas for solutions were scarce.

About 50 people turned out for the fair housing forum [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Local by Al Lorenz
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Join Mayor Dennis Johnson, representatives of the City’s Diversity Advisory
Council, Washington Human Rights Coalition and interested parties as we
explore the following questions and get your input:

1) What is the Fair Housing Law?
2) How has Wenatchee performed?
3) What issues are we facing in Wenatchee?

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Wenatchee Community Center

Translation services will be provided
Your voice will be heard!

For additional information click here:  English / Espanol.

Tags: General Interest, Local by Al Lorenz
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Some alert readers let me know that the county has removed the links to the draft Shoreline Master Plan! 

That is unfortunate with the draft SMP coming before the Chelan County Commissioners for Public comment on Monday at 2:00 p.m.!  The City of Chelan Planning Commission is discussing it at their meeting Wednesday night. 

I had several links to the 375 page document in this earlier post.

The time frame for appropriate public review on this large and very technical 375 page document was already quite short, with April 20th being the cutoff date from the County. 

I have e-mails in to Erin Fonville to get a copy of the document which we will post on our servers as soon as I can get it.  I will see of other folks actually saved a copy I can get as well.

This is a huge document that was just recently made available.  I suggest that people let the County Commissioners and City of Chelan know that proper feedback on this document cannot be given from the public by the county’s April 20th cutoff date, especially when the county does not make the document available!  I believe this draft SMP is horribly flawed and requires a major overhaul!  We cannot let this document be slid through an approval process without public scrutiny.

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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One of my favorite recent topics, the Shoreline Master Plan update is on the Chelan County Commission agenda for their April 13 meeting.  a presentation of the City of Chelan Shoreline Master Program prepared by the consultants, The Watershed Company.  This is an important topic that has huge impact if you are a shoreline property owner or a recreationist on our lakes, rivers and streams in Chelan County.

When:  at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, April 13th, 2009.

Location:
Chelan County Board of Commissioners
400 Douglas St.
Suite 201
Wenatchee, WA 98801

Click to get a link to a copy of the draft Shoreline Master Plan update.

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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The Chelan County PUD has updated their water system plan for their water systems around the Wenatchee area.  There is also an opportunity for public comment.

From the PUD:

To keep pace with projected population growth and comply with Washington Department of Health planning requirements, Chelan County PUD expects to keep improving its Wenatchee-area water system over the next six years – adding pump stations, reservoirs and pipe. The PUD invites water customers to review the latest six-year plan and offer comment at the PUD’s regular public meeting on May 4.

Water Resources Manager Ron Slabaugh briefed the PUD Board of Commissioners Monday about the new six-year plan which is required by the state Department of Health for large municipal water systems. Along with nearly $7 million worth of projects already in the works this year, the plan calls for two booster pump station upgrades, two more water reservoirs, water main replacements and upgrades for security by 2014. Total capital project spending in 2010-2014 is estimated at about $10 million.

The plan does not discuss possible rate changes as those are usually revisited during the PUD budget process each year. The most recent water rate changes went into effect April 1.

Anyone wishing to review the six-year plan may contact Ron Slabaugh at 661-4131. Public comment will be invited at the board meeting on May 4.

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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The Wall Street Journal has an article on the huge increase in foreclosures in the Seattle area today.  Many of the real estate markets in North Central Washington are impacted by the Seattle market because so many homes are purchased as second homes by Seattle residents.

Seattle, which had withstood the national downturn until recently, saw foreclosures spike 55% from a year earlier and jump a stunning 88% from the fourth quarter. The Auburn neighborhood topped its list of new foreclosures, or properties scheduled for auction for the first time during the period. – WSJ

So far, the Auburn area is seeing the highest foreclosure rate.    The increase is beyond typical seasonal increases and is believed to be due to economic malaise.

Tags: General Interest, Marketing, Northwest by Al Lorenz
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