Thursday, April 07, 2005

Birthday Activities

Quote of the Day:
"A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child".
- The Knights of Pythagoras


Good Morning!
Today is my 53rd birthday. I was scheduled to go golfing, but over-slept, so I've spent a good share of the morning working on enhancing my website at:

I'd love to have you visit my website and give me some feedback. Let me know if there is additional information you'd like to see.

We've had a hot hot hot real estate market in the Wenatchee and surrounding areas for the last year or more. There are hundreds of new homes being built and they're selling fast. Existing homes are increasing in value at record paces. Some of the new construction homes are custom built but a vast majority of them are built on speculation by the builders for immediate sale. Anything in the under $200,000 category is selling quickly, and anything under $125,000 is selling within a few days! Any buyers looking for a home in the low 100's should be pre-approved for a loan so when a house comes on the market, they can act quickly. Often there are multiple offers on a property with the first 24 hours on the market.

Frankly, I'm amazed at all the massive growth... but I shouldn't be. There's no denying why people want to live here. We've got wonderful weather most of the year and recreational opportunities literally within minutes from town. Our economy is extremely diverse, with agriculture (fruits), hydroelectric power production, medical services, government agencies, and an aluminum smelter (ALCOA) being the major employers.

I moved to Wenatchee more than 30 years ago for some of those very reasons. I wasn't as cognicant of the economy in those days, but I like the good weather and recreational choices.

I grew up in the Portland, Oregon area and I simply got tired of all the rain. The last summer I was there (1970), it rained nearly every single day of the summer. Does anyone know where Corbett is? I thought not! It's about 20 miles east of Portland along the Columbia River Gorge. Beautiful country, but wet most of the time. Anyway, I worked as a crew boss in the raspberry and blueberry fields at that time, and the berries were literally molding on the vines because it was too wet to get the pickers in to harvest the crops. I love Wenatchee because you can actually make plans in the summer and it is very rare that the weather does not cooperate.

Now, back to real estate. As long as reate remain low, I believe real estate activity will remain strong. When rates start to go up, buyers qualify for "less" home and it make affordable housing more difficult to achieve.

My featured listing now is a wonderful 5300 square foot, 8 bedroom home (plus in-home) office... and a great view. The view picture doesn't do justice to the actual view. Check it out on my website at: http://www.wenatcheeidx.com/listing.asp?mls=673167&site_id=731&site_domain=


Hope you all have a great day!

Carol

Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
http://TopPropertiesWenatchee.com

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