NCW Real Estate Blog

The latest Snapshot Report from Pacific Appraisals shows that pricing in the Wenatchee market is basically stable, with little change since February of last year.  Sales volume, while still below last year, is remaining down about 27% by transaction volume and 30% by dollar volume but not declining further.

Inventories are continuing to rise, with more homes being listed than sold and a total of 653 homes on the market at the end of September.

In the current environment, Wenatchee is really doing incredibly well.  Thanks again to Pacific Appraisals.

Tags: General Interest, Local, Marketing by Al Lorenz
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This is the type of fun that everyone in the county can still have.  Admittedly, I am a geek about this kind of stuff.  Regardless, the first workshop in Chelan was well attended, lively, and productive.  For those of you who like to do your homework and have useful information at these events, I even have a link to the list of questions that will be asked by the moderators!

As public meetings go that impact our lives, these are important and well run events that even stayed on schedule!  I’ll probably even go to a second one!  The shorelines (usually considered 200 feet from the water) under regulation by the Shorelines Management Act in the county can be found in the Draft Shoreline Inventory.

The first few questions in the session included, and there are many more:

1. Are there adequate areas for residential, business, recreation, public access, [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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The Shoreline Master Planning program currently underway with Chelan County, the cities of Chelan, Cashmere, Entiat, Leavenworth and Wenatchee is looking for public input.  They have a series of public workshops scheduled throughout the county.  Also, available here, is the Draft Shoreline Inventory which you can comment on in writing by Friday October 31st by sending comments to:

Erin Fonville
SMP Project Manager/Natural Resource Specialist
Chelan County Natural Resources
316 Washington St. Suite 401
Wenatchee, WA  98801

Office:  (509) 667-6324
E-mail:  erin.fonville@co.chelan.wa.us

The schedule for the workshops:

City Workshop Schedule:

Tuesday, October 21st, 6-8 p.m., City of Chelan, City Hall
135 E Johnson Avenue, Chelan [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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The Stella Street Condominium project, just off McKittrick in Wenatchee completed its phase 1 of 24 units just this September.  Of course, this is not the ideal time to have inventory coming on the market so the developer, Gary Noyes, is getting adjusting his game plan to rent the units as apartments.

According to an article in the Wenatchee Business Journal by Ryan Bently, normally Mr. Noyes would expect to sell the units as condominiums in about 6 months.  In the current market, it would take much longer.  So, to adjust to the market, he will now rent the condos as apartments.  He intends to market the project as apartments as well.

While not an ideal outcome, it may well be [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Local, Marketing by Al Lorenz
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The member meeting for Chiwawa River Pines Community Association was held on Saturday.  There were three covenant amendments on the ballot and here they are and the results:

1. Allow Long Term, low impact, service oriented businesses?
   YES 226   NO 15
2. Allow long-term, residential rentals for a period of more than six (6) consecutive months?
   YES 183   NO 51
3. Allow short-term residential rentals for a period of less than six (6) consecutive months?
   YES 78  NO 160

The community association is also running a blog site for getting out information to the community that can be found at www.chiwawariverpines.wordpress.com

Tags: General Interest, Local by Al Lorenz
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The National Association of Home Builders predicts that  60% of all custom, upscale homes will be built with two “owner suites” by 2015!   Sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, snoring and other sleep difficulties seem to be driving much of the trend.  Here is one of those statistics that pops up that makes me think wow, I didn’t know that!

The trend is pretty clear, with only 12% of married couples sleeping alone in 2001 as compared to 23% in 2005 from surveys conducted by the National Sleep Foundation.  These are the types of lifestyle trends that impact home design so expect to see more homes with multiple “master suites” in the future, whether custom homes or not.

For more information, here is a link to an article from CNN.com.

Tags: General Interest, Marketing by Al Lorenz
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The latest tactic in the now slower real estate market it to use a raffle to sell a home.  For a $300,000 home, you would only have to sell 3000 tickets at $100 each to get it sold!

Many states regulate raffles under gambling laws.  Raffles for homes or properties are illegal unless the homeowner has a nonprofit organization as a partner, and the homeowner cannot make more than the appraised value of the house. (Some states, including New York, forbid even nonprofits from raffling off a home.)  So, with the marketing involved and working with a non-profit, a raffle is not an easy way to sell a home.

However, the process does have its fans.  Below is an excerpt from a New York Times article on how a couple sold their home by raffle:

Ms. Crawford came up with a novel strategy: she would hold a raffle. Tickets would go for $100 each, and one lucky person would win the farmhouse. If they could sell enough tickets, they could walk away debt-free. [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Marketing by Al Lorenz
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The City of Wenatchee has released a Request for Proposals, Mixed Income, Affordable Housing Development.  The available sites for the project are shown here, on land currently used as public parking.  The City is offering to discuss incentives such as density bonuses, required parking reductions, fast track permitting, tax abatements, permit fee wavers/reductions and/or publicy financed infrastructure.  Wenatchee is asking respondents to the RFP to identify the incentives they think may make the project feasible.

Those are all costs to normal development.  Why everybody can’t get “fast track” permitting I have no idea.  [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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Pacific Appraisals has sent out their wonderful Snapshot Report for August.  There is a new addition to the format, where they have included sale and active listings by price range.  “Months Supply” by price range has been a feature for awhile now.

The change in average and median prices for August compared to one year ago is 0% in the overall MLS area and up 3% for the average and 1% for the median in the Wenatchee market.  Volume year to date is down about 30% from last year.

The total listings in Wenatchee are down by 3% compared to last year.  Vacancy rates for rentals continue to be very low.  Have a look and my thanks to Pacific Appraisals.

Tags: General Interest, Local, Marketing by Al Lorenz
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Chelan County is hosting public open houses in Wenatchee and Chelan, with a third meeting being hosted by the City of Leavenworth. The purpose of these meetings will be to confirm priority transportation improvement projects for Chelan County and City of Leavenworth Transportation Plans with community members. Decisions established by this effort will influence the future of all modes of transportation in the County and City.

 Information will be the same for the events in Wenatchee and Chelan, but the Leavenworth event will focus [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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