Windermere/K-2 Realty LLC is a full service real estate agency located in Moses Lake, WA. Our experienced residential agents sell homes, condominiums, residential lots and multi-family properties. Our commercial agents sell and lease commercial, industrial, agricultural, investment and development properties. Our property management division handles rentals including single-family homes, duplexes and apartments.
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What’s New in Moses Lake
February 25th, 2010
#3 Real Estate Trend of the Decade
#3. Government-Led Recovery
When it became apparent in the later years of this decade that the housing market wasn’t just going through a small correction and would not resume its rise, economic policymakers in the federal government took action to solve the crisis in residential real estate, as it was viewed as critical to the broader economy. In fact, President Barack Obama listing housing as a key recovery “metric” in one of his first televised speeches in office.
Thus far, the results have been mixed. For example, the home buyer tax credit has turned out to be very popular among real estate pros and consumers, and arguably effective to boot. On the other hand, loan modification programs have not met with as much success, due to reasons ranging from complicated processes to inadequate lender effort to scams.
In addition to entirely new (and supposedly temporary) programs, a couple of established federal institutions have put forth considerable efforts to spark a recovery. First, the FHA stepped in to fill much of the void in mortgage financing caused by the breakdown of Fannie and Freddie. (In fact, nearly 40 percent of recent buyers used FHA loans, according to the latest REALTORS® Confidence Index.)
Also, the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve each have bought loan securities to provide additional financing for mortgages, though it’s not clear how many they’ll continue to buy and for how long.
Now, the complete and cumulative effect of these endeavors is debatable, and probably won’t be fully understood until years from now. But we can say one thing for sure: Without the government’s intervention, the housing market would look very different right now.”
Watch for the blog on the fourth-ranked trend of the real estate market for the decade!
February 16th, 2010
#2 Real Estate Trend of the Decade
(509) 750-7587
As promised here is the second-ranked trend of the thousands. Written by Brian Summerfield, Online Editor of Realtor Magazine.
We’re getting close! Here’s the second-ranked trend on our list of top real estate developments of this decade:
#2: The Fall of Fannie and Freddie
When the financial system that underpinned mortgage financing for more than three decades collapses, it’s a pretty big deal. The fact that it’s not number one on the list of most important developments over the past 10 years should tell you something about the kind of decade we’ve had in real estate.
Fannie Mae (established in 1938 and privatized by Congress in 1968) and Freddie Mac (created as a government-sponsored enterprise, or GSE, in 1970) together comprised more than half of the secondary mortgage market in the United States in recent years.
But all that ended on Sept. 7 2008, when FHFA Chair James Lockhart III announced his decision to put both Fannie and Freddie under the organization’s conservatorship after the value of their shares had plummeted by half during the preceding week. Henry Paulson, the U.S. Treasury Secretary at the time, supported the move, and explained that after reviewing the financial situations of the GSEs, “it would not have been in the best interest of the taxpayers for Treasury to simply make an equity investment in these enterprises in their current form.” (Translation: We’re not going to throw good money after bad business practices.)
The near-failure of Fannie and Freddie also set the tone for what was to come in the broader economy. That same month, financial institution Lehman Bros. went bust after more than a century and a half of operations, and AIG’s rescue plan was announced.
Besides the general economic uncertainty it ushered in, I think the most shocking thing about this was the speed of the decline. In 2008, the same year they all but folded, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were ranked at numbers 53 and 54, respectively, on the Fortune 500 list. When it was clear that these GSEs weren’t going to hold up on their own, the decision to pass them over to FHFA conservatorship was similarly speedy, with Lockhart, Paulson, and Fed Chief Ben Bernanke all affirming it was the right move at the right time.
Now, Fannie and Freddie could get on the path some sort of comeback during the next decade—indeed, many see their resurrection as essential. But even if they are restored, their role in the secondary mortgage market will not be the same as it was before those dark days of September 2008.”
Watch for the blog on the third-ranked trend of the real estate market for the decade!
February 9th, 2010
2009-Year in Review Grant County, WA
(509) 771-WIND (9463) lisahanley@windermere.com
Yes, it is painfully obvious that the real estate market remains down. BUT, hold on there Little Buckaroos… don’t get too worried yet! The numbers actually are better than expected, and bear in mind that Grant County is a relatively small market, so pay more attention to the numbers than the percentages.
Using quarterly figures from Northwest MLS, Grant County has seen increases in both solds and pendings in the 4th quarter of 2009. The number of single-family homes that have gone pending (under contract but not closed yet) in Grant County is up 12% from 110 in 4th quarter ‘08 to 124 in 4th quarter ‘09. Sold homes are also up 11% from 142 in 4th quarter ‘08 to 158 in 4th quarter ‘09. The increases are due to several factors including the obvious, such as the home buyer tax credits (recently expanded to include current home owners), and the less obvious… the rapidly expanding pool of short sales and foreclosures hitting the market, as well as improved weather conditions.
Interest rates have miraculously, and against all predictions, remained low. The most recent news from the feds is that, for now, they are going to keep them as low as possible. This should result in brisker than predicted market activity. The graph below shows the current active, pending, and sold for the last 15 months. Be sure to pay attention to the month to month comparisons, as well as the overall trends.
Summary: It is still an AMAZING time to buy. It is a respectable time to sell if you approach it pragmatically, get educated information about how to prepare your home, and set the most realistic price point. Homes are still selling…you want yours to hit the ground running!
February 2nd, 2010
January 2010 Moses Lake Home Market News
By: Lois Kincaid
Owner/ Broker
Windermere/K-2 Realty LLC
GREETINGS
People always ask me, “How’s the market?” As promised, here’s the latest statistics just released from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
MY THOUGHTS
The tax credit stimulus has buyers out of their caves. If you are a first time home buyer it means $8,000 in your pocket. If you are repeat home buyer it means $6,500 in your pocket. A contract must be in place by April 30, 2010. Home purchases must close by June 30, 2010. Act now…call me today!
Interest rates are at 4.87% for 30 year fixed on a 30 day lock. How can you beat that?
Please stop in and say hello the next time you are going by.
We would love to see you!
January 27th, 2010
NEW JOB GROWTH IN GRANT COUNTY SHOULD REVIVE EPHRATA AND MOSES LAKE REAL ESTATE MARKET
Owner/Realtor
Windermere/K-2 Realty
he total number of single family homes sold in Grant County declined 29% in 2009 as the local economy reflected the national recession. The median price of single family homes sold in 2009 fell only 4.5%.Graph Source: Realist/ NWMLS
However, two recent announcements should translate to a needed boost in the local real estate market.
The recent news that the BMW/SGL joint venture company is considering building a plant in Moses Lake to manufacture carbon fibers that would ultimately be used in the making of the electric “Megacity Vehicle” in Germany (See Columbia Basin Herald Article Link.) Moses Lake is one of only two sites in the world that is being considered. One of the reasons that Moses Lake is in the final running for this plant is the fact that BMW/SGL wants the production of this next generation vehicle to be a “Green” process including the use of hydro-electric power in the manufacturing process. This plant would eventually provide about 180 jobs when completed and would stimulate the local economy in the interim during construction of the plant.
The Port of Ephrata and a Washington Tire representative announced recently that construction will begin in April of 2010 on the first phase of a tire manufacturing plant on property sold by the Port. An import tax of 35% on tires manufactured in China has made it financially feasible to manufacture in the U.S. This will be one of the first tire manufacturing plants built in the U.S. in the last 25 years. If all goes well they could have the first phase of the project operational by end of 2010. The company representative said that by the end of the third phase of the project (likely in 4 to 5 years) they expect to offer more than 2,000 jobs to the local economy. (See Columbia Basin Herald Article Link)
Like the ongoing REC Silicon project and other completed construction projects, these two projects will provide a significant number of construction jobs which will stimulate the weakening rental housing market. The flow of employment dollars and capital expenditures during construction should shore up the home market and eventually the commercial real estate market.
Other projects like the $100 million bio-oilseed plant in Warden and the startup of the nearly completed Guardian Industries insulation plant in Moses Lake will also contribute to the speedy recovery. Eventually, (maybe as early as 2011) the permanent job hiring will begin on these projects and bring back the severely depressed new housing construction market. Both Moses Lake and Ephrata have new housing subdivision projects that have stalled or been stopped due to the current economic slump.
In my opinion the needed recovery in the local residential real estate market should begin by early 2011. The recovery in the commercial real estate market including expansion of retailing should follow in 2012. This year (2010) will provide a good opportunities for buyers.
January 25th, 2010
10 Best Real Estate Developments of the 00’s
This is a really good read! Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, Realtor Magazine, posted this article on December 23, 2009. #1 according to Brian is the Boom and Bust of the U.S. Housing Market, #2 is the Fall of Fannie and Freddie, #3 is the Government-Led Recovery, #4 is The Practitioner Explosion, i.e., the Realtor gold rush of the 2,000’s. But wait, there is more. You will not want to miss reading about the #5 is the Commercial Crash, #6 is the HVCC, #7 is the Record Lows in Mortgage Rates, #8 is the RE.net, #9 is Real Estate on TV, and last, but not least - #10 Going Green!
#1: Housing Goes Boom and Bust
I have to be honest: I feel like this entry is kind of cheating. It just seems too broad to offer up as a single development. Why not talk about something more specific, like the subprime crisis? Surely that’s emblematic of the larger issue, isn’t it?
But, really, the boom and bust in housing wasn’t just the real estate story of the decade, it was the economic story of the decade. And even that’s not really doing it justice. To put it another way, it would be impossible to write the Great American Novel about this time period without including the tumultuous real estate market in some way. For that reason, I feel like there’s no getting around putting it at the top of this list.
I’m not going to go through all of the events that produced the explosion in housing values and the ensuing drop, partly because I’ve already touched on some of them in previous #Top10inRE blogs, and it’s simply too much to cover in a single post.
But I would like to discuss, briefly, what we’ll take from all this into the next decade and beyond. There are some obvious lessons, such as scaling back on exotic mortgages and easy credit. Then there are some that are more problematic.
The one I find most troubling is how we’ve perceived homes as an asset. In the housing mania that lasted roughly from 2001 to 2006, consumers came to view their homes as a very safe, sustainable investment that would yield high returns for everyone in a short amount of time. The fact that there has never been such an investment in the history of investing did not seem to deter them in the least.
But after the housing bubble burst, the pendulum swung too far in the other direction. The conventional wisdom came to be that houses were no longer investments, but rather mere shelter. This isn’t quite right, either. While home ownership does provide a roof over one’s head, so does renting. And there’s a reason why, even now, the majority of people in this country prefer the former.
Real estate is a store of wealth, one that does appreciate in value. But it’s not the kind of investment that’s going to provide 50 percent or greater returns in just a couple of years for an indefinite period of time. The sooner everyone—practitioners, lenders, buyers, sellers—realizes this, the sooner we’ll be on the road to a long-term, tenable recovery in real estate.
Well, that’s my list for this decade. Let me know if you think I left anything out!”
I hope you enjoy this information. Want to discuss theories? Please stop by my office. The coffee is always on… Look for the second top real estate development of the 00’s to come next week!
January 19th, 2010
Moses Lake Museum
Moses Lake boasts a fantastic opportunity for artists around the Columbia Basin as well as families interested in being involved in the community. Aptly referred to as the MAC, the museum is home to the Adam East Collection of Native American artifacts from the Columbia Basin Region. They also frequently change out the subsequent art on the walls with ever-evolving Columbia Basin Artists and traveling exhibitions. The best part is that the museum is always FREE!
As well as offering you those opportunities of learning the history of the Columbia Basin they also offer weekly classes for you or your family on a variety of topics that may interest you. Just two weeks ago I was able to take my kids to a Family Free Saturday where they made igloos out of marshmallows! Coming up on January 23 they are offering a class on Origami.
Within the quarterly brochure that goes out to all families in Moses Lake from the Moses Lake Parks and Rec Department you will find a full schedule of all the classes offered by the museum for you and family. Once a month they offer a Family Free day for you and your family to enjoy. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to take full advantage of all the community has to offer!
January 13th, 2010
Small Projects, Big Bang
I saw this great article in Realtor Magazine last week, by G.M. Fillsko. Most home sellers have projects that could help get their home sold, but are not sure which projects would return the most bang for the buck. Although our market is not exactly the same as some of the big markets surveyed, the conclusions are the same. Some of these remodeling projects could be the difference in receiving an acceptable offer for your home.
Take a look at this article and see what projects could help sell your home.
2009 Cost vs. Value Report: Small Projects, Big Bang
December 16th, 2009
Long-Term Rates Set Another Low in Freddie Mac Weekly Survey
Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.71 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending December 3, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 4.78 percent. One year ago, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.53 percent. The 30-year has never been this low since Freddie Mac began its weekly survey in 1971.
The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.27 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.29 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.77 percent. The 15-year FRM has never been this low since Freddie Mac started tracking it in 1991, and breaks the record low set last week.
The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 4.19 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up slightly from last week when it averaged 4.18 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.77 percent.
The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 4.25 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.35 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.02 percent. The 1-year ARM has not been this low since the week ending June 30, 2005, when it averaged 4.24 percent.
Credit: National Association of Realtors Weekly Newsletter
December 10th, 2009
Homebuyer Tax Credit Update
Bringing the Dream of Homeownership Within Reach
As part of its plan to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing our nation, Congress has passed new legislation that:
- Extends the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit of up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers until April30,2010.
- Expands the credit to grant up to $6,500 credit to current home owners purchasing a new or existing home between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010.
Here is more information about how the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit can help prospective home buyers become part of the American dream.
Information provided by The National Association of Realtors and National Association of Home Builders.