GoLakeChelan's Chelan Real Estate Blog

Pacific Appraisals has decided to no longer offer the Lake Chelan Real Estate Snapshot report.  But, they did do a final issue through December of 2009.

From the report:

2009 ended with an average home sales price of $314,400 -up from the previous year by 5%. Waterfront home sales price saw a decrease of 17% to an average of $1,339,455. 

When comparing the total market dollar volume sold, 2009 numbers are below 2008 numbers by 3%. Community waterfront, homes with acreage, and full share condos all saw a decrease, while homes sold showed a 73% increase, mobile homes a 20% increase and waterfront homes 14% increase. – Pacific Appraisals Chelan Snapshot Report

We will still be publishing our Lake Chelan Real Estate Residential Market Report.

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On Monday, the National Association of Realtors is going to release their report on existing home sales.  It is likely to look lousy, with declines and the media worrying about another free-fall in the market.

I don’t think you need to worry about it.  The drop in from November is mostly due to folks rushing to get in before the tax dediction, now extended, expired.  Month to month numbers don’t really mean as much as the press normally would make them appear.  Year to year trends are more instructive.

At any rate, when you hear the lousy housing report on Monday, you can be over it in advance.

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This is a pretty interesting report and includes graphs of sales information that go back 14 years!

Home sales for December rose 53% and were reported to be a count of 49 vs 32 last year. 43 of those sales ranged between $108,000 and $350,000, while 6 were between $351,000 and $840,000. The overall average price is $256,000, slightly above the yearly average.

For the MLS market area in Wenatchee, home sales rose 60% in December!  Have a look at the complete Pacific Appraisals Snapshot Report for Wenatchee year end 2009.  Our own Lake Chelan market saw sales of over three times last year’s for December 2009.

If you’re wondering why I’ve been telling people that NOW is the time to get your home on the market, here’s the data!

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The State Building Code Council in November voted to remove fire sprinklers in residential homes as a statewide mandate.

The International Code Council (ICC) voted last year to adopt the mandate requiring fire sprinklers in all new townhouses and single‐family residences as part of the building code—all new single‐family homes would be required to install fire sprinklers by July 1, 2011. While homebuilders and affordable housing advocates strongly protested the decision as unnecessary and cost prohibitive, fire officials lobbied aggressively in favor of the sprinkler requirement.

The final decision on mandated fire sprinklers was left to individual states. Washington is now the sixth state to reject the ICC’s fire sprinkler mandate since its adoption in 2008.

The Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) fought to prevent fire sprinklers from being required in Washington.

The BIAW  pointed out that residential fires and fire deaths have consistently declined.  From 1980 to 2005, the number of home fires dropped by 50 percent while the number of one  and two‐family housing units increased by over 47 percent. Coupled with the 54 percent decline in fire deaths and 37 percent increase in population between 1977 and 2007, the numbers demonstrate housing has become much safer without mandated fire sprinklers.

And a 2009 report by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) found the reliability of fire sprinklers questionable. According to the NFPA, sprinklers did not operate or were not effective in 61 percent of fires occurring in one and two family homes.  Combined with the SBCC’s own findings that fire sprinklers are much more costly than fire officials claimed ($1.50 to $8.50 per square foot), the Council ultimately rejected the burdensome ICC mandate.
The decision whether to require fire sprinklers in single‐family homes will remain with local jurisdictions.  – BIAW

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Intrawest ULC, the owner of Whistler/Blackcomb resort and other resort properties, will be up for auction during the Olympic games with an auction scheduled for February 19th, according to an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal.

Colorado’s Steamboat ski area and Quebec’s Mont Tremblant Ski Resort are also Intrawest Properties.  Intrawest is owned by Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund operator, who acquired Intrawest in a leveraged buyout in 2006.

The legal notice in The Wall Street Journal announced that Wilmington Trust FSB would auction “100 percent of the limited liability company membership interests in Intrawest Holdings.”

“Purchase of the membership interests of Intrawest Holdings would result in the indirect ownership of certain real property and equity interests,” read the notice.

The ad identified other Intrawest resort properties, including locations at Squaw Valley in California, Sandestin in Florida, Lake Las Vegas, Stratton in Vermont, Mont Tremblant in Quebec and “partnership interests” in Whistler Blackcomb.

They certainly scheduled the auction at a time of maximum exposure for the property.

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The City of Chelan is hosting its first Sustainability Steering Committee meeting on January 27, 2010 at 4pm at City Hall.

Sustainability is generally defined as meeting the needs of this generation without compromising the needs of future generations. The Sustainability Element and Action Plan will guide the City in fostering sustainability and a sustainable community.

The City’s Comprehensive Plan is a legal document that the City Council has adopted to guide the future physical development of the community. It is used by the Council, the City’s Planning Commission, private firms, individuals, and City staff when making decisions about land use development or changes, capital improvements, and changes to development regulations and related growth management legislation. The Comprehensive Plan also supports the goals of the State’s Growth Management Act.

The proposed Sustainability Element is scheduled for adoption in 2011. The Sustainability Committee has identified 11 focus areas to be addressed in the element and the action plan:

• Climate
•  Energy
•  Natural environment
•  Economy
•  Building and development
•  Transportation
•  Government operations
•  Waste reduction and recycling
•  Environmental quality
•  Micro-agriculture
•  Sustainability education and awareness

The Sustainability Element will include goals and policies for each of the focus areas. The action plan will list action items—things the City can do—to improve sustainability in each area.

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From the International Builders’ Show and PF Waterworks, a drain trap that is claimed will never clog.

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I wanted to put out a report on homes that sold, on Lake Chelan only, with waterfront for 2009.  This report doesn’t include Columbia River waterfront homes, homes in the area on other lakes nor condominium marina slips.

Here are the homes that sold in 2009 that are on Lake Chelan.  I removed things like sales of marina slips and Columbia River waterfront homes and homes that sold on other area lakes.  These are only Lake Chelan waterfront sales for 2009:

For a bit more detail and (more)

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RealtyTrac will release their foreclosure report tonight. According to an interview that Rick Sharga, Senior VP at RealtyTrac, gave to the Wall Street Journal it will show foreclosures up 21% from last year.

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The Knight Foundation and the Gallup organization undertook a study to figure out why people become attached to their community and how it can impact a community.  The poll was conducted in 26 communities and involved asking 28,000 people from all over the US how they feel about their communities.

The study found that a community’s social offerings, physical beauty and openess to new and different people are the most important aspects of creating love for the community with its residents.  Those factors outweigh the economy in their ranking of what is important.

Would you have guessed that aesthetics were ranked higher than public safetyor highways or freeways?  Vibrant social cores, dense areas where diverse groups can socialize and interact that are fun and vibrant are more important than even aesthetics in why people love their communities.

The number one trait that was  identified as decisive in determining residents’ attachment to a community was its “openness.”  It may be that the most important trait is also the most difficult to measure or improve.  It is a fascinating study, you should have a look at it at www.soulofthecommunity.org

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