Leavenworth Real Estate

Leavenworth Condo Update

In an earlier post I called 2007 “The year of the new condo” in Leavenworth. We have seen 5 new projects come on the market this year. River Park Homes, The Boulders, Aspen Suites at Icicle Village, Haus Wunderbar the newest on Titus Road. Condominiums have always been a hot item here in the Bavarian Village, but we probably didn’t need so many new condos all at once.

 

The number of condos listed in Leavenworth so far this year is up 176%! Last year 50 were listed and this year the number is 138.

 

The number of sales and the sales prices are up considerably, but there is still too much inventory for the market to absorb.

 

As of today’s date 23 Leavenworth condos have sold. That’s up 53% from last year. The average price is up to $298,000 up 48% while the median price is up 65% to $325,000. Of course not all condos in town have gone up that dramatically in price, the majority of the price increase is the large numbers of new construction condos that have sold.

 

The market is slower than many developers might admit. Currently there are only 5 pending sales and 69 active condos on the market. That’s a pending ratio of merely 7%. (A hot market would be at least 50%) At least one project has offered deep discounts and I suspect the others would be willing to make some concessions. I think there are some good deals to be had in this market (and some bad deals to avoid.)

Leavenworth Shorts: This week’s news Highlights

• -The city council has decided on the design firm for the Leavenworth Train Station to be located on North Rd. HNTB Engineering Firm of Bellevue will be designing the platform. The plan is to break ground spring of 2008 and have trains stopping by the fall. 
• -Tierra Learning Center is closing their doors. The future of the 315 acre site is uncertain but a local couple is looking into educational uses for the site. The 2 acre organic share farm will continue next year.
• -The Leavenworth Winter Sports Club is having their ski swap this Sat, Nov 10 from 9am to 11:45am at the Cascade High School. A $1 donation is accepted at the door.
• -Cascade High School football team has made into the first round of the state championship. They play Cle Elum on Friday night.
• *Information from The Leavenworth Echo-Nov 7, 2007, Volume 104, No. 45

Lake Wenatchee Ski News

Lake Wenatchee XC Ski News from Lake Wenatchee State Park

 

 

Hello everyone,

We’re starting out the season with some unfortunate news. We will have no trails groomed out Nason Ridge this season due to logging on Longview Timber Company lands which begin immediately South of Kahler Glen Golf course and include most all the trail system “up top”.

We will be grooming our “core trails”, including 8k in the South Park, 5.3k in the North (limited skate lanes), and 8k at Chiwawa See&Ski (skate lane full distance).

Though we never know for certain year-to-year, Longview believes the logging will be completed this season and access to their land next season will likely resume. Many thanks to Longview Timber Company for allowing access to their land in the past, and we hope to be skiing up there next year!

Thanks,

 

Rick Halstead
Park Manager
Lake Wenatchee State Park

Win a Leavenworth Night Out!

I just started a new ad campaign and I need to see if anyone is seeing it. It should be starting soon in the greater “Eastside” area – Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Mercer Island.

 

If you are the first to spot my new ad I’ll send you a $50 gift certificate to your favorite Leavenworth restaurant.

 

Good Luck…

Update 10/16

For every guess or attempt that gets logged here as a comment, I will provide a hint. The more guesses, the more hints I will provide until someone wins. (Emails to me are nice, but only “comments” will result in hints. Jim, Holly, Mark, Jordan, and the rest of the lurkers… I’m talking to you.)

Foreclosures 101

Foreclosures, short sales, and auctions seem to be on everyone’s mind as the media continue to squawk about the national real estate slump.

We don’t see a lot of foreclosures in Leavenworth and I don’t expect we will. Appreciation has been strong the past 3-4 years (giving home owners lots of equity). Additionally, we rarely see buyers who are using exotic loans like negative amortization or interest only. I see a lot more cash sales than I do buyers paying less than 20% down. The people I see in Leavenworth getting in trouble are those people who used their house as a piggy bank with HELOCs and multiple-refis.

Jason Schwieger, of Brio Realty wrote a great article about Investing in Foreclosures. This is required reading for anyone thinking of getting into the investing game. Allyson and I get lots of questions about this and I think Jason did a great job explaining how it works.