It’s a great time to buy your dream vacation home!

If the empty nest syndrome is near, or if you can count the years until retirement on one hand, then it’s the perfect time to consider a 2^nd home in Leavenworth.

With only a short, beautiful 2 hour drive from Seattle, Leavenworth offers endless summer and winter activities along with the postcard Bavarian Alps scenery.

According to a recent survey, baby boomers with discretionary dollars to spend have fueled an increase in the number of vacation-home sales in recent years. In fact, the National Association of Realtors reported that a record 1.07 million vacation homes were sold in 2006, a 4.7% increase over 2005.

According to a recent survey, buyers are buying second homes for these reasons:

1. The majority bought a second  home to use for vacations or as a family retreat
2. Buying was to diversify their investments.
3. Using the home as a primary residence in the future
4. The tax benefits were a reason to buy.
5. Buying because they had extra money to spend
6. Planned on renting out the second home nightly to help pay the mortgage while getting to use the property when not being rented

Your second home will be as popular with the children and grand children as it is with you. It’s a great way to bribe your kids to want to hang out with you!

 “No one is going to have fun basking in the light of their municipal bond,” –     Stephanie Cuthill, Realtor

So a few days ago it was my birthday.  I turned fifty-six and took a moment to stop and take stock of my life so far.  I only took a moment because, as I said, I’m now fifty-six years old and didn’t want to waste too many moments. 

In fact, while I’m on the subject of moments, a couple of years ago I read a book about living in the moment.  It pointed out that we are always thinking about the past and planning for the future but forget to enjoy the present and precious moment.  I’m sure I do that very thing to some degree but I don’t feel too bad because I am in a lot of good company.  One tip the book gave to get started in recognizing and focusing on living in the moment was to enjoy even little things like washing your hands.  It said we should enjoy the feeling of the warm water and the slick soap against our skin.  It is a small thing but has the effect of anchoring us in the present moment.  Hey, it is at least a place to start. 

Anyway, I digress.  I was talking about sliding into third base of life and marveling at the fact that I’ve even made it this far.  Think of all the near misses we have all had in a lifetime of driving in crazy traffic, balancing on tipsy ladders and dodging flaming arrows of one kind or another.  My good fortune so far almost starts to make me feel a little bit invincible.  Maybe  I am indeed bullet proof.  Yeah, maybe superman has nothing on me.  Yeah, and maybe I’m starting to ask for it with such a smug position on my fate.  I am after all fifty-six now.

One thing I am a little surprised about is that I’ve been at this job for so many years, over twenty-seven now.  Where oh where has the time gone.  They have been great years in business.  I watched the beginning, middle and end of the recession of 1981. 

The recession didn’t look at all like what the press is wanting to call a recession right now.  Back then unemployment was pretty high, inflation was double digit, the federal reserve cut off the supply of money available for banks to borrow, interest rates for home loans was as high as twenty-four percent but leveled off at a comfortable and steady eighteen percent.  I thought if I ever saw interest rates at a low low ten percent that happy days would definitely be here again. 

Now of course the fed is loaning banks money as low as 2.25 percent, there is over two hundred billion new money available to banks just for the purpose of making home loans, unemployment is still near an all time low, and inflation is still in low, single digits.

All in all, things are looking pretty good.  It looks more and more like right now might be the very best time to make investments, especially in real estate.  Prices here in the Leavenworth area have not rolled back much overall but they haven’t gone up overall in the past year either.  There are some excellent homes and properties to choose from right now.  If you are considering a getaway cabin or retirement home you might want to come and take a look at what the market has to offer before summer gets here and heats the market up.  Now that I’m old I might be napping when you get here or may have misplaced my car keys.  Fear not though, I have a dozen or so young, smart and professional agents who can find you your perfect property.  Give us a call.   –Mike West

So here we are, all wondering just where we are, financially speaking that is.  Some say we are teetering on the brink of a recession, some say we are already in a recession.  There are certainly some slow downs in different sectors of the economy, not so much in others.  I’m happy to report that our business here at Prudential Mike West Real Estate has been fairly brisk for the past few months.  I think it’s the combination of a good selection of quality homes and properties and savvy buyers.  The Seattle PI stated that prices of homes in the Seattle area rose 1.2% in February, a fairly strong indicator.  Time on the market of homes there was estimated at five months near the city and as much as eleven months further out, say in the Snohomish area.  That’s not bad at all, especially compared to other areas of the country, like Arizona or Florida, where foreclosures are rampant and spec builders overshot their market by thousands of units which now sit vacant.  A few days ago the Federal Reserve met and shaved another three quarters of a point off the prime lending rate.  This followed a release of two hundred billion dollars made available for banks to borrow at this new lower rate,  which is now at about two percent.  Thinking that great loan rates were imminent I called several lenders I do business with and they all had the same comment for me, “don’t count on it, kid.”   Okay, I deal with really old bankers.   But, let me get this straight.  There are Brinks trucks stuffed full of billions of cheap money and lined up in front of the Fed, ready to roll to a bank near you, and still no great rates?  Their explanation was thus:  ”We banks took a bath when we made a bunch of bad loans and now we have to recoup.”  They explained that their plan was to borrow as much as they could of the really cheap money and then purchase bonds which would yield big returns in order to replenish their own depleted coffers.  Call me crazy but I don’t think that was what the Fed had had in mind with their recent financial gyrations.  Not only are lenders not passing on loans at reduced rates, they are circling the wagons and creating lending rules which would deny a loan to Warren Buffet.  Come on you guys, share the wealth a little.  Sure you need to recoup from the tremendous mess you’ve gotten yourself into.  That will come with time and sound business practices.  Right now you need to let that money flow to those it was intended for.  There are good, credit worthy borrowers who deserve that reduction in rates which was put into place to stimulate the housing industry.  Thousands of people with ticking ARM time bombs are doing their best to hold on to their homes and counting on you.  So, come on, open those flood gates and let some of that money flow.  If we do it right there’s enough for everybody.    –Mike West          

Salutations!  In my never ending quest for knowledge I have been perusing the articles and recent news stories regarding the current debacle over interest rates, housing prices, and inflation.  Of course there are many different concepts and rationales from as many experts in their fields.  I certainly wouldn’t want to be Ben Bernanke at this moment in history.  His task is a daunting one indeed.  I haven’t seen a political style cartoon yet of him juggling the many parts of the economy.  I can imagine it though and don’t envy him one bit for his perilous position.  He is charged with dealing with the problematic housing market, the increasing inflation, a stock market which seems fickle at best, fluctuating unemployment figures and pressure from every quadrant to “just fix it.”  Often though what’s good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander when it comes to the economy.  To improve one segment of the economy might well cause another to be put in peril.   

Gentle Ben has lowered the interest rate by one and one-quarter points since the beginning of the year in an attempt to bolster our economic condition.  I was hoping to see more of a reduction in the fixed interest rates offered by lenders but that one and one-quarter points did not transfer directly to their bottom line, at least in the products offered to borrowers.  Perhaps in the spring when speculation says Bernanke will lower rates by at least another quarter of a point, we will begin to see some real deals from banks and mortgage brokers.  I will say that recently one broker offered me a five year ARM in the four and a half percent range which is pretty tempting.  Truthfully I believe we are all spoiled from years of great rates and easy lenders.  Things may be a little bit tighter right now but borrowing is still easy if you have decent credit.  Interest rates are still at a twenty year low.  For anyone who can hearken back to days of yesteryear, circa 1982, you might recall seeing interest rates which exceeded twenty percent and then settled in at around sixteen percent.  Comparatively we are sitting pretty in today’s economic situation. 

So what will happen next with the Fed? How will that affect prices?  What about inflation if interest rates are further reduced?  Well, I think I will go along with the experts I watched on msn.com today.  The panel of three agreed that interest rates need to continue to be lowered to further stimulate business and stay away from the specter of recession.  They believe that if inflation occurs we can better deal with it from a healthy and robust position rather than one which is sluggish.  As those rates are lowered the opportunity to purchase your dream home, investment property, or getaway retreat may reach the affordability range.  In that case please keep us here at Prudential Mike West Real Estate in mind.  We can handle the details for you and make your transaction a simple and clean experience.  We have some amazing homes and properties to consider, a truly fine selection.  Check out some of the listings on our web sight at www.prudentialmikewest.com, and see for yourself. 

Diamonds and Gravel.  That seems like an odd pairing to even be discussing.  How would those two items end up in the same sentence?  The relevance to me is that it seems like the best way to explain value.  If diamonds were as plentiful as gravel they would have the same or a similar value as gravel.  You would be able to pick up a handful of diamonds on the ground.  And so it is with real estate, especially in a market where there are very limited properties.  Leavenworth is that kind of market.  If you look at a forest service map where private land is white and forest service land is green, Leavenworth is a little island in a huge green ocean.  In fact the US Forest Service makes up over ninety percent of land ownership in Chelan County.  That’s why it is sometimes hard to find that perfect get-a-way cabin on the lake or cozy house on the river or just a mountain retreat here in Leavenworth.  We here at Prudential Mike West Real Estate deal in those diamonds.  We consistently offer the greatest variety in listings and are the most trusted and respected real estate company in the area.  I have been in the real estate brokerage business right here in Leavenworth since 1980.  I was born here, my mother was born here, my kids were born here and now my grandchildren have been born here.  The changes I’ve seen here over the last fifty years are quite something indeed.   It’s quite the place this Leavenworth.  It gets in your blood and makes you want to stay.    -Mike West