Showing posts with label Western Washington real estate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Western Washington real estate. Show all posts

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Washington's Hottest Zip Codes

How does an investor find the best areas within which to market for residential properties to purchase?

The areas of Washington with the greatest numbers of real estate transactions are in the zip codes of 98387 (Spanaway), 98391 (Bonney Lake), 98012 (Mill Creek/North Creek), and 98258 (Lake Stevens).

98258 had 110 sales transactions through the NWMLS in the past 30 days, with a median home price of $335,000; 98012 had 177 with a $490,000 median price; 98391 had 113  with $319,950 median price; and 98387 had 117 with $240,000 median price.

Let's take a look at these communities.



1-     Lake Stevens 98258
The City of Lake Stevens is dedicated to improving, and diversifying the Lake Stevens economic and business climate. The city goal is to support a lively, active city where people can live, work and play.

Attention investors:
In 2010, the Lake Stevens City Council developed an Economic Development Strategy to create a “Road Map” for improving the city’s fiscal condition. The City has determined that there are opportunities for economic growth and enhancing the community character for residents and visitors.

2-     Bonney Lake 98391
The economic development activities of the city are to strengthen the Bonney Lake economy, create a more business-friendly environment, and add commercial amenities for residents and visitors to enjoy. 

Most of the economic activity in Bonney Lake is located along the State Route 410 corridor.

3-     Spanaway 98387
The City supports manufacturers such as Boeing, Milgard Manufacturing, James Hardie Building Products, Toray Composites (America), Inc. and Medallion Foods. The city works continuously to improve the business environment so companies thrive here. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), Whirlpool, and Costco have major distribution centers here. State Farm Insurance has a regional headquarters in Pierce County, and innovation thrives at growing firms like the Hanger Clinic, Revalesio, and Heli Trak. 

Pierce County has a large supply of vacant industrial land, much of it with rail access and other infrastructure already in place. With their affordable utilities and skilled workforce, the business can grow here for years to come. 

4-     Mill Creek/ North Creek


Its housing stock is still largely comprised of single family homes on cul-de-sacs and curvilinear streets, but the City recently developed a new town center, is pursuing further commercial development, and has seen the share of multifamily housing grow. At the same time, City residents still benefit from abundant open space and natural beauty. While there is sufficient room within the City limits to accommodate the growth it anticipates over the next 20 years, further action may be necessary to ensure that types of housing will be available to support all segments of the population as it changes. Currently 39% of Mill Creek households are estimated to be cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their monthly income on rent or home ownership costs. Cost burden is most challenging for those with low incomes, who may have to sacrifice other essential needs in order to afford housing. While most of the City’s households enjoy generally higher incomes than other areas in the County, 24% earn less than 50% AMI and are defined as extremely low or very low income.

For a list of properties available for sale in any of these communities, please contact HomeLandInvestment@gmail.com or wendy@c21nwr.com, or leave a message on the recorded hotline at 888-621-4999. 

Happy Investing!

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Wilderness Hideaway

NWMLS # 962098
Listed for $249,000
Seller Financing Available

1.       Personally I like the calm and quiet especially in the morning.  Just a few sounds from birds and a few chipmunks.  They drive my dog to distraction.  But it’s the peace really.  And it doesn’t matter if it’s in the spring/summer like now or in the fall/winter.  They all have their own special qualities.  But if I had to pick I’d probably go with the fall.  I love the sun rises and the sunlight as it cascades across our property and I like the changing of the leaves.  The changing of the season up here is amazing.  The light changes, the feel in the air 
become brisker and even the aromas in the forest seems to become more clear and clean. 

2.      I even like the rain.  Of course being raised in the northwest I’m more use to it than many but its ok and when we’re up here I love the sounds it makes.  On the cabin, the fish pond and even on the maple leaves.  It’s very relaxing. 

3.      Also in the rain I get to enjoy the seasonal creek that runs down the entire property pass the sauna that was built halfway down our property with a collecting pond next to the small building.  There’s even a small concrete bridge that was decorated by the previous owner.  Peaceful and serene are just two words that fit this scene.  It’s probably the most picturesque part of the overall property.  But I’ve taken hundreds of photos over the years of all the beauty that exists up here.  Incredible really.

4.      I like what we’ve done up here.  We took over the property after the previous owner had done a lot to the property like building the exterior of the main cabin, the room on stilts what we use as a studio and guest room when our friends bring their kids up and how he set up the water system.  The engineering is wonderful and has never failed up once.  But it might be what my wife and I did on the inside.  It was used as the owner’s workshop and while extremely sturdy and safe he left the interior pretty bare.  We took it on and with the help of some professionals with the plumbing and electrical we designed, framed, insulated, sheet rocked, painted, tiled and decorated it far beyond what the original realtor could recognize when she first saw it again.  My wife is an interior designer and with what she brought to the table as well as my ‘handyman’ skills we did well.  Very well.  It is one of my favorite things about the cabin.

5.      I like being able to bring my grandchildren up here and enjoy the holidays.  They always seem to find it magical and they never get bored.  One of my favorites was an Easter not long ago and I told them the Easter bunny had been living in a magical building.  The sauna.  And that after lunch I’m sure we could find some Easter eggs. Including a special stash in the ‘Bunny’s’ House.   Grandpa and Grandma hit a home run that day. 

6.      I also like the people around Brinnon as well.  It is a small town don’t get me wrong and they enjoy it.  I think I could write a book about the different personalities.  The wildlife photographer and his wife who delivers the mail, the retired construction worker who helped me with some special framing who lives on his boat and had the most incredible lab, and the women who own the Halfway house the restaurant ‘in town’.  Their staff that is more friendly and funny than most places you’ll find anywhere.  They also care.  When my wife contracted breast cancer they all knew and some sent cards and some really sweet messages.  When we finally got back on Sunday morning they all stopped as she came in and a couple clapped and several hugged her.  Pretty nice if you ask me.

7.      I love having our dog Annie up here.  She loves to run and the five acres is perfect for her and some walks that we make.  During our construction phase there were creative differences between the designer and construction team.  Walks with Annie in the woods was very therapeutic. 

8.      Oh yes, I like the little fish pond right outside our door.  It’s not huge and we only have a dozen or so gold fish swimming around but they’ve been there for three years and seem to be doing well.  They have roommates in the form of 3-4 frogs that huddle in a little pagoda or on the rocks surrounding the pond.  I make sure we always have food on hand for the fish.  The frogs are on their own.  One spring morning after a light rain I came out the door and stood under the fir tree next to the pond and listened to the last few drops hit the water in the pond.  I yawned and clapped my wakes to help me wake up and a large Bard owl swooped out from a lower branch less than a foot from me.  Gets the blood running I’ll tell you.  But the beauty of watching the owl take flight was incredible.  I followed it and took a few pictures but watching with its silent flight in the wild is something I’ll never forget.  I guess I might have disturbed his morning visit to the sushi bar.  Lucky fish.

9.      The Elk are magnificent.  We know they walk through our property but never when we’re there.  They are peaceful and know about us way before we know where they are.   A small herd came walking up our road one afternoon while we were driving out for a short visit with the wildlife photographer and his wife for dinner.  You can only guess who had the right of way.  It truly is a wonderful experience.  They also been on the pasture just as the bottom of our property.  We’ll stop usually until they move on but this one time we moved slowly through them and got some gorgeous photos. 

10.  To round out my top ten and there are many more.  I like the different things to do around here.  All kinds of family things and some nice things for mom and dad to do as well.  The rivers, the canal which offers all types to activities, kayaking is my favorite, hiking through one of most beautiful National Parks in the world, or Heading up to Port Townsend for a day catching an outdoor concert are just a few of my favorite things about this area. 

Email HomeLandInvestment@gmail.com for a detailed listing. To schedule a showing appointment, please contact Doug Hixson at 206-930-9389.

Happy Investing!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Record Level of Home Buying Activity



Home buying activity around Western Washington is at the highest level in nearly a decade, according to

Northwest Multiple Listing Service sources.
 

Northwest MLS figures show pending sales system-wide surged 18.7 percent in February compared to the

same month a year ago, rising from 7,247 mutually accepted offers to 8,599. Twenty of the 23 counties in

the service area reported double-digit increases in pending sales. 


Those numbers might be even higher given the ample supply of buyers, but inventory is far from ample.


Northwest MLS broker-members added more news listings to the database during February than 12

months ago (7,852 last month versus 7,234), but the higher sales volume kept inventory levels well below

year-ago totals. The MLS reported 16,946 total active listings at month end. That compares to a total of

19,273 for the same month a year ago for a drop of about 12 percent. 


Single family homes in King County had the highest median price at $429,900 (up 6 percent from a year ago).


So Sellers, now is your chance to cash in!

Happy Investing! 

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Top Ten Zip Codes for Real Estate Transactions in Western Washington

Below are the top ten zip codes with the highest number of real estate transactions in Western Washington in the last six months. Beside each zip code is the major city, the number of transactions that occurred in that time frame, and the median single family home sales price:

1- 98012 Mill Creek 314 $319,700

2- 98387 Spanaway 267 $180,000

3- 98391 Bonney Lk 240 $251,200

4- 98059 Renton 199 $375,000

5- 98052 Redmond 198 $506,500

6- 98513 Olympia 195 $217,995

7- 98115 N Seattle 179 $465,000

8- 98375 Puyallup 178 $205,000

9- 98374 S Hill 174 $221,250

10- 98338 Graham 174 $234,425