Real Estate Blog

A few weeks ago, I started another blog called "Wenatchee: Birth-Of-A-House" which is solely for the purpose of following the process of having a custom home built with my clients, Wayne and Susan Gerald.  This will chronicle EVERY step of the process, including choosing a lot, selecting a builer, identifying and customizing a floor-plan,  and on through the completion of the home.    Over the next several months, I will post photos and commentary covering the process step-by-step.

Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
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source: The Birth-Of-A-House Blog

source: The Next Las Vegas?

Chelan County Fairgrounds on Flag DayToday, June 14,  has been designated as Flag Day.  "Flag Day" commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day (June 14) by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.

I took this picture looking across the Chelan County Fairgrounds in Cashmere this afternoon. If you click on the image to enlarge it, you will see the beautiful Cascade Mountain range in the background.
God Bless America!

Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
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source: Happy Flag Day

Here’s the Monday evening sky outside of my home just before a huge rainstorm dumped buckets of rain.  Within minutes of taking this picture, we experienced a rainstorm like I haven’t seen here in many  years.  There was serious lightning, thunder and rain for about 20 minutes, leaving raging rivers, mudslides up the Entiat, and the nuisance of some plugged storm drains around the valley.   

After a good gully-washer like that is a good time to check property (for leaks, unstable soil, etc).  It rained so hard, I got to wondering if the building lot some clients are interested in had any serious erosion.   I drove to the Peach Haven II subdivision in East Wenatchee and was pleasantly surprised that everything was still intact.  The road wasn’t even muddy, which gives me confidence that the lots are very stable. 

After a rainstorm is a good time to shop for a home or land.  It’s pretty hard to hide potential issues associated with unusual amounts of rainfall.

Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
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source: House Shop After A Storm

source: The Boom is Over

Whether you’re trying to save money for a down payment on a new home , a new car, college tuition, or just like the idea of being frugal, here is a link to a whole bunch of good ideas.  There are tips for everything from saving money on utility bills to saving on groceries, fuel, consumer interest, text books… and a lot more.   Besides saving money, many of these ideas are eco-friendly.

If you have a money saving tip, you can submit it and enter to win the $100 prize. 

Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
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source: Frugal Tips

Wenatchee Valley College is in the middle of an aggressive expansion plan.  Most obvious is a huge new, 82,000 square foot, Allied Health & Science Building currently being constructed (pictured here) on the Fifth Street side of the campus.  Not as obvious is a new Central Washington University - Wenatchee Valley College Educational Center in the middle of the campus.   Washington State University also has an education center on campus.  WVC is also planning for future expansion with the purchase of the former Eagles property across Ninth Street. 

As construction continues outside, there are new progressive programs being planned inside… poising Wenatchee Valley College for a prominent and envious position among community colleges.   Besides their own degree programs, WVC has become an excellent alternative for those students wishing to transfer to 4-year universities.   

For information about the Wenatchee Valley in general… and real estate in particular, contact:
Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
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source: Wenatchee Valley College Expanding

Yesterday I had an inquiry on one my listings, priced at $135,900.  Fortunately (for me) and unfortunately (for the buyer) this particular listing has a pending sale scheduled to close early next month.  That left the buyer wondering what else was available in the Wenatchee  and East Wenatchee area in this price range.  Sadly, there aren’t many homes for sale in this price range that you’d want to live in.  They said a little fixing up is fine, but many of our current listings in this price range are in the "re-hab" category, not a simple fixer upper. 

Anyway, I did a search of homes in the $100,000 - $140,000 price and this is what came up:
Single family homes 
Condominiums (under $140,000)
(These links will be good until July 9, 2006.  The actual status and information provided through these link is subject to change)

I can also do a customized search for manufactured and/or mobile homes by special request.   Some people use the terms manufactured and mobile interchangeably but they are not the same.   We identify "manufactured" homes as those on land of their own.  "Mobile" homes, on the other hand, are those on leased land where a monthly fee is paid.  Besides the use of the land,  the monthly fee for mobile homes generally includes water, sewer, and (sometimes) garbage.

Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
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source: Wenatchee Homes For Sale: $100K - $140K

The 2.7 acre commercial property parcel adjacent to the new Apple Annie’s Antique Mall (in Cashmere, WA) is on the market again (or still).   It is priced at $800,000 which computes to $296,296.296 per acre!  Whew… I hope mineral rights are included because there’d better be gold in them thar shovels of dirt.  Of course, I shouldn’t be negative because someone just may come along and pay it because it suits their needs exactly!  It does have excellent exposure and easy access from highway 2/97.   

For further information, contact:
Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
To do a complete land or home search (local, statewide, nationwide)
Stay current with Wenatchee Valley real estate news, info and trends

source: $296,296.29 Per Acre

In my line of work, as a Wenatchee realtor, I spend a lot of time online… and I mean a lot.  All three of my real estate MLS systems are internet based and I spend a tremendous amount of time doing input and property searches.  I have struggled for the last several months with Internet Explorer being so slow it was making me crazy.  It was, quite literally, slower than a dial-up connection.  I figured it was my computer being bogged down, but I diligently do disk cleans and defrags nearly every day.  Lately,  I resorted to using AOL (through the high speed connection) as my primary browser.   It was far better than Internet Explorer, but…

Today, I finally took the plunge and downloaded Firefox to see if that would make a difference.   It made an immediate and dramatic difference!  I will never go back to Internet Explorer and I am slapping myself for not making the switch sooner. 

Firefox has been recommended to me, but a very small percentage of computer users actually use it.  What I discovered is the ones who ARE using it are the more technologically advanced computer users.   Firefox is touted to be faster, have better pop-up blocking, be more secure… blah, blah, blah.     And it is!

The only problem with Firefox is that it isn’t compatible with my blog posting software, so I have to go back to AOL to do postings to any of my blogs.

Despite the fact I’m on high speed internet through Charter, I have always maintained an AOL account because it is so easy to access and use when I travel.  I never have any problems, no matter where I go.   Plus, it’s been an excellent back-up system. 

If any of you out there are struggling with Internet Explorer, I highly recommendFirefox!

Carol@TopPropertiesWenatchee.com
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Keep current with Wenatchee realestate news, info, and trends

source: I Really Like Firefox