Going Back To Nature
The Wyoming Business Report. “Residential sales are relatively static or down in most of Wyoming, but the markets in Cheyenne and Gillette are full-speed ahead, as energy-related industries are coming in. Despite the increased workforce, there is not a shortage of housing in Cheyenne yet. The average turnaround time from listing to selling a home is 90 days, and sellers are getting about 97 percent of their asking price, noted Patrick Graham, sales manager for Coldwell Banker Property Exchange in Cheyenne.”
“The Jackson area has had some high-priced luxury properties for sale recently. The Rubber Snake Ranch sold at a live auction for $3.7 million. It originally was listed for $6.85 million. Two other big ticket properties are still on the market: one on Spring Gulch that is listed at $175 million, and the Walton Ranch that is on the market for the first time at $100 million.”
“In Gillette, Harry Kimbrough, broker with ReMax, said foreclosures there are ‘nothing close to the national scale; not as prolific as in the Midwest.’ And Kimbrough thinks things are only going to get better. ‘Based on current indicators, things look really rosy here for the next 20-30 years.’”
The Jackson Hole News & Guide in Wyoming. “The situation for residents struggling to maintain their hold in Jackson Hole during the tough economic times is going to get worse before it gets better, according to an assessment of Teton County’s human services needs. Some of them may have held some of the more than 2,000 jobs Teton County has lost between 2008 and 2011. The construction industry has been the hardest hit since the recession began. ‘You look at the foreclosure list, and we all recognize names,’ said Susan Eriksen-Meier, a consultant who compiled the assessment for the county.
“Disabled residents face similar problems. ‘Our local service providers work hard, but the cost of land and housing makes acquiring any kind of institutional housing almost impossible,’ the summary says. ‘The few smaller, low-rent housing developments that have been used as stop-gaps in the past have been converted to condominiums or upgraded to justify higher rents.’”
The Highline Times on Washington. “Mike Gain, CEO of Prudential Northwest Realty Associates, is reporting that the pending sales of homes are picking up in Highline and West Seattle. ‘A lot of people who have been sitting on the sidelines are starting to get into the market. They are feeling that prices have finally hit the bottom and are actually beginning to rise again in some areas,’ Gain declared. ‘If you take the price of homes for sale, historically low interest rates and typical household income, buying a home today in our area hasn’t been this affordable since 1944. Our homes have reached record affordability.’”
The Seattle PI in Washington. “For years, Gary Eyring and his wife have lived and worked in a one-bedroom Seattle condo with tight quarters. But what’s made the space worth it is the stunning views. ‘We just love it,’ Eyring said. That love may not last, since the city has approved a proposed 400-foot-high tower that would block their view, change Seattle’s skyline and cast a long shadow over a nearby park.”
“The building, if it goes up, would come after another skyscraper aggrieved condo owners in Eyring’s building, the Cosmopolitan, several years ago. ‘It will block us out completely. It will completely take out all our views,’ said Eyrin.”
The Olympian in Washington. “A slow real estate market is being blamed for a $1.38 billion drop in countywide property assessments for 2011, to $24.74 billion, according to the Thurston County Assessor’s Office. Assessor Steven Drew said that a down economy and uncertainty at the state level have hit Thurston County especially hard. Drew said that job uncertainty at the state level make it less likely those workers are in the market to buy a bigger house to accommodate their families, and in some cases may be selling houses and becoming renters.”
“Drew said that until financing – particularly on higher-end homes – is more available, those properties will not sell and new construction will suffer. New construction accounted for about $301 million of the valuations, down $35 million from last year. ‘We’re seeing a continuing downturn,’ he said, ‘and our housing market and values are declining at a greater rate and will continue to do so because of that unique local effect.’”
The Columbian in Washington. “Home sales were on the upswing in August for the second month in a row as first-time buyers rushed to lock in low mortgage loan rates and take advantage of shrinking prices. Local experts aren’t ready to declare that the battered housing market has hit bottom. Tracie DeMars, an agent with Re/Max Equity Group in Vancouver, said local real estate agents don’t expect the pace of home sales to pick up speed until Clark County’s large inventory of distressed properties, primarily bank-owned properties, works its way through the system.”
“‘I pulled up 136 listings for a client and only eight of them weren’t short sales,’ she said. ‘I think we’re going to see foreclosures coming through for at least the next couple of years because there are still so many short sale’ listings, she said.”
The News Tribune in Washington. “A California real estate company has purchased Tumwater’s Sagewood subdivision, a 599-lot residential development that fell into foreclosure and has largely remained undeveloped since about 2006. Union Community Partners paid $6.4 million for the nearly 600-lot development, or roughly $10,000 per lot, a steep discount compared with lot prices during the housing boom, Tumwater permit manager Chris Carlson said.”
“During the boom, residential building lots sold for $90,000 to $110,000 each, he said. ‘It’s the largest subdivision I’ve ever processed,’ Carlson said about the site.”
“The Sagewood property has become overgrown with grass and Scotch broom, so the next step is to clean it up and market finished lots to public and private builders, said Kelly Foster, VP of land acquisitions for Union Community. Still, he called it a beautiful piece of property that unfortunately came to market at the ‘crescendo of the bubble.’”
“The site originally was developed by a Pierce County home builder called SoundBuilt. The city issued about a half-dozen building permits for the site in 2006 before work ceased because of the downturn in the housing market. Carlson said there are other subdivisions in the county, that also have been halted by the downturn in housing and are ‘going back to nature.’”
The Yakima Herald in Washington. “A large tract of land for a planned $100 million wine-themed destination resort and golf course northwest of Zillah that collapsed amid financial problems is back on the market. The 490-acre property along Nightingale Road is being offered for $6.4 million, according to a listing on the Commercial Brokers Association Internet site.”
“As conceived, the Vineyards included 230 single-family home sites, numerous rental units, a hotel and retail center, and an 18-hole golf course. But the Vineyards never got farther than a 2008 groundbreaking. The owner of the Nightingale Road site, a subsidiary of the Wisconsin private equity firm, Stark Onshore Master Holdings, wants to sell the vacant property as is and has no interest in completing the project, said Dave Smith of Bellevue, the listing agent. Stark Onshore Master Holdings foreclosed on the property last month. The foreclosure asking price was $3.5 million. There were no takers.”
“Doug Picatti of Yakima, one of the original investors who paid $250,000 for rights to a building lot, said he believes the project is viable with the right developer. ‘I believe there continues to be a tremendous amount of interest in having that type of property available in the marketplace,’ Picatti said. ‘The question is, from a market viability standpoint, can you pencil out the investment and a return on that investment given the state of residential development?’”
From News 1130 in Canada. “BC economists predict the province’s final home-sales number for this year will be slightly lower than last year, but prices will be at a record high. Economist Brian Yu says there is no housing bubble in the city and notes there is little evidence speculators are overly busy. ‘So, we don’t see that there are a lot of investors that are going to divesting of assets if the market turns lower. In fact, a lot of them are owner-occupiers and [they'll] sit tight.’”
“‘And as a result, I think on the listing side, on the supply side, we’re not going to see too much movement of an increase in supply that would flood the market,’ he adds.”
“But Yu does note the Chinese economy could be a wildcard, saying an economic slowdown in China could keep overseas investors from buying property here. ‘We definitely saw the increased demand and increased pricing primarily in areas like Richmond and the west side of Vancouver, while other areas were a little bit more tame,’ he says. ‘If there was a cooling [in China] and it does impact immigration levels those, of course, would be a negative for the demand for housing in the short run.’”
