NCW Real Estate Blog

The City of Chelan is considering how and where to allow Cottage Homes in Chelan as part of its update of housing and zoning in Chelan this year.  I am on the citizen advisory group for this project.

Today, I noticed a Wall Street Journal article with the above video that describes a couple of these projects in Seattle and Boston.

The designers of the Moon family house, Ross Chapin and Jim Soules, think small in a way that is practically un-American. [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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There was a meeting last night at City Hall to discuss the staff’s proposed action plan on affordable housing.  I wasn’t there.  I had another meeting in Manson.  However, the Wenatchee World was there.

The plan is three pronged, and a draft of it is available here.  It includes incentives for construction of affordable housing, a license and inspection program for rentals and regulation of condo conversions. 

I admit to being cynical about government agencies, or even non-profits for that matter, providing “affordable” housing.  The whole concept of affordable and government don’t seem like they work together. [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Local by Al Lorenz
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With all the angst over property taxes in Chelan County, I had to share this editorial in Investor’s Business Daily titled Proposition 13 Surprise.

Taxes: Thirty years ago, Californians took to the ballot box to save their homes and put some brakes on the growth of government. Now, even the government is reaping the benefits.

It may not get much national notice, but a significant man-bites-dog story has emerged from the debris of California’s real estate bust. Cities and counties are finding that their assessment rolls actually are going up while house values are diving. - IBD

With the downturn in property values in California, you might expect that the tax revenues for local governments are being decimated as well.  As it turns out, a benefit of proposition 13 turns out to be the discipline imposed by proposition 13 and the moderating effect is has on tax revenues.  Who would have thought…. 

Tags: General Interest by Al Lorenz
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Yvette Davis wrote a very thorough article in the Wenatchee Business Journal on the real estate auctions this June in Wenatchee.  You can download it here.

Jon Port, who sold seven homes via an auction that was held May 31st said in the article:

“I spent around $30,000 to do the auction, with around $10,000 going to Northwest Auctions up front, and the rest spent on radio, flyers and billboard advertising,” Port said.

Even with those costs, he said he is happy with the results. He sold seven of the nine houses in one month. All of the homes were in the $250,000-$350,000 price Range, which Port said has stiff competition for buyers.

“Right now there are over 100 homes in that price range on the market, so they aren’t moving really fast. I don’t know too many builders that can say they’ve sold seven homes last month, so I’m pretty happy right now,” he said.

 If you have any interest in how real estate auctions did this spring in Wenatchee, it is good reading.  My auction on May 29th gets some mention as well.

Tags: General Interest, Local by Al Lorenz
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It looks like the Wenatchee City Council is set to talk about Affordable Housing at 5:15 pm during their July 17th Work Session at City Hall.  The Affordable Housing Action Plan is attached and it is 9.9 Meg to open.  Rick Smith, Community Development Director, discusses the history of rising home prices in Wenatchee and hiring David Rosen Consultants to write an assessment on affordable housing in Chelan.  The report is attached to the above plan.

Currently, rather than having one of the fastest rising housing markets, Wenatchee may have one of the most slowly declining.  I have to admit, with the consultant selection process I was expecting that the conclusions of the city staff would be something along the lines of we must tax the citizens to build more affordable housing. 

Director Smith’s recommendations fall into three general categories I’ll paraphrase: [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Local by Al Lorenz
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The Future of Real Estate Marketing (FOREM) had this post on Friday about a Yahoo! study on the impact of the internet on real estate marketing.  The Yahoo! study found that the internet has a “pivotal role in the selection process and was central when it comes to selecting a real estate agent.”

Yahoo! found:

Home buyers and sellers consider approximately two agents on average before making a final decision.

The Internet impacts consumer trust. Forty percent of respondents credited a site in increasing their trust in the agent.

74 percent of people who accessed an agent Web site got there with the help of a search engine. [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Marketing by Al Lorenz
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On Wednesday evening, the Chelan Taxpayers group held a public meeting.  It was a first meeting and was something of an organizational event.  Courtney Cox (http://chelantaxpayers.blogspot.com/) presided over the meeting that was held at Karyl Oules residence in south Chelan.

About 50 people attended the meeting.  The meeting started with a report from the Assessor’s office that even if the appeal was sent in with the wrong form, as long something was filed by the deadline, that it would be considered for appeal.  So far, the Assessor’s office has received notice of at 144 appeals, which is a near record number. [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Local by Al Lorenz
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GoLakeChelan’s own Steve Byquist interviewed Buell Hawkins on taxes today.  He says he has gotten the message, but there is no quick fix.  Listen here!

Tags: General Interest, Local by Al Lorenz
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Revised 9:40 p.m. 7/07:  This just in, King County’s strict Critical Areas Ordinance has been overturned by an appeals court.  The law was passed by King County in 2004 to protect environmentally sensitive areas including salmon spawning streams.  It was considered one of the strictest such laws in the nation.

Critics of the law said it required them to set aside [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Northwest by Al Lorenz
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From the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) and the Seattle Times comes this article.   The median price declined 6% in June amidst sales that surged to the highest level since last August.

An 18 percent increase in houses and condos for sale last month, compared with a year earlier, meant a 6.7 month supply of available homes throughout King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties.

A year earlier, that supply was just shy of four months. A six-month supply is considered “balanced, equally favoring buyers and sellers.

In King County last month, the house and condominium markets were markedly different. Sales of detached houses were down 27 percent compared with a year earlier and the median sales price was down 4.3 percent to $449,700. There were 25.4 percent more houses on the market than a year earlier.

King County condos, on the other hand, saw their median sales price rise 5.3 percent year-over-year to $295,000. However sales declined 45 percent while listings increased 40.5 percent compared with the previous June.

Getting move-up buyers to actually commit is a challenge, says [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Marketing by Al Lorenz
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