I can tell you now.  The bottom of the real estate market was almost exactly one year ago at Lake Chelan.  Sales at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 were the worst in a long time.  Since then, we have had two quarters of stronger sales.   Check it out on my Lake Chelan Real Estate Residential Sales Report. Will prices start to climb?  Might we have another dip in housing?  The answer to all of those question is that anything is possible.  But, inventory of homes is still good for buyers with a great selection of homes.  Prices are still lower than they have been in years.  AND, interest rates are at nearly record lows for my life time.  I expect interest rates to go up significantly at some point.  Do the math, if you have steady income and will be staying in the same location for ... 01/22/2010

One of the outstanding strategies I use when selling a home is to make a coffee table book of the home. A home has to be very unique, very stately or very luxurious to pull off a coffee table book, so we can't do this with every home we sell. But, where we can, the coffee table book works wonders. By building a custom coffee table book for your home, and by leaving it open on the coffee table, right by the sofa in your carefully-staged living room, I am inducing the buyers to sit down. I want them to sit down on the sofa and get comfortable and go through that coffee table book page by page, photo by photo. I want them to try the house on, and by sitting there with that book they will get a feel for how your home feels to them. I just created a coffee table book for the Antoine Creek R... 01/06/2010

The posting on highest price home sales at Lake Chelan in 2009 was popular so lifestyles of the Lake Chelan rich continues!  Since inquiring minds want to know, I thought I should share a bit of historical information as well.  The 2009 highest price sale was a $3.5 million property with a couple of older homes on it, which are likely to be remodeled or removed, making it sort of a waterfront land sale.  The actual highest price home that is likely to be used close to as it was sold was a $1.95 million dollar sale of a north shore home. In 2008, the highest price residential sale was a home at 1215 Wapato Way in Manson.  This is a 7 bedroom, 4 bathroom home on 1.05 acres of 4000 square feet.  It was originally priced at $3.897 million and was not on the Chelan MLS until it sold.  It's e... 01/06/2010

At least through December 10th, here are the top 3 highest price home sales at Lake Chelan this year!  First, at $3,500,000, 240 - 246 S. Lakeshore Road sold.  This is a lakefront property with 2 older homes and 1.77 acres that closed on September 1, 2009.  The value in this property is primarily in the land with water rights and 340 feet of beachfront.  The property had been on the market for 311 days and was originally listed at $4,600,000. Next, at $2,700,000, a property in Key Bay with no number assigned on Key Lane sold with a manufactured home on it.  The property is 9.98 acres with 80 feet of waterfrontage.  It had been on the market 129 days when it closed January 15, 2009.  The original price is listed at $3,450,000. Third, at $1,950,000, 3124 S.R. 150 in the Manson area and is... 01/06/2010

As the "lifestyles" series continues, another way to look at activity of wealthy home buyers in the Lake Chelan area is by the number of transactions of home for $1 million or more each year. Here are the numbers: Year         Sales       Average Sale Price 2009           6            $1,958,3332008           5            $2,390,0002007          7            $1,737,500 For high end home sales, 2009 has not been a bad year.  I will tell you, the buyers are getting much more home for their dollar than they did a couple of years ago.  If you want to know about waterfront Lake Chelan homes for sale, or sell yours, click the link. 01/06/2010

Even with the Lake Chelan real estate market heating up, there are still lots of choices and great values in Lake Chelan waterfront homes.  The average sale price of Lake Chelan waterfront homes fell from over $1.6 million in 2008 to about $995 thousand in 2009!  But with the market warming back up, the low prices that are here today may be gone tomorrow. So, here is information on 26 Lake Chelan waterfront homes that are currently listed for under $1 million!  Earlier last year, I there were 50 Lake Chelan waterfront listings for under $1 million.  If you're thinking Lake Chelan waterfront, now is the time! Lake Chelan waterfrontage has some unique characteristics.  Some properties own the land out to the 1079′ level (class 2 shoreline) and on others the property ends at the 1100′ lake... 01/06/2010

The City of Chelan Downtown Master Plan was presented to the public December 16th.  The draft plan is 88 pages of effort that reflects broad input from the community.  Participants in the effort included the Historic Downtown Chelan Association as well as representatives from the public and neighborhoods.  The city hired Makers Architecture and Urban Design to facilitate the development of the plan.   This is plan is something that Chelan and its citizens can be proud of!  It is still a draft, so have a look at it and get any input to the planning department.  You can email comments to downtownmasterplan@cityofchelan.com. 01/06/2010

We're past the bottom of the real estate slump at Lake Chelan.  The bottom was just about one year ago!  The last two quarters of 2008 and the first two quarters of 2009 were pretty dismal, making the mid point of all that last New Years!  Check out the Lake Chelan Real Estate Residential Sales Summary for 2009! But, the 3rd and 4th quarters have been a big improvement.  December was 3 to 8 times December 2008, by transaction volume and dollar volume.  Waterfront home sales in 2009 were double that of 2008, but the average price fell from over $1.6 million per sale to $995 thousand per sale!  Wow, that may lower some assessed values. Inventory is still good, prices are still low and interest rates may be the lowest we'll see in our life times!  If you have income and plan on staying pu... 01/06/2010

I received this update from Chelan County Natural Resources on last month's meeting on Large Woody Debris mitigation requirements on Lake Chelan: On Dec 16, 2009 a meeting of the Large Woody Debris (LWD) Forum took place.  Meeting attendees included US Corps of Engineers, WDFW, DNR, Lake Chelan Sailing Association, City of Chelan, Chelan County Natural Resource Dept, Chelan County Commission and Chelan Chamber of Commerce.  The focus of the meeting was to discuss the short-term and long-term goals of the Forum. Short-term Goals Project development for mitigation options - Development of a pilot project to determine the most effective and appropriate mitigation actions. Dr. Mark Lorang from Flathead Lake Biological Station has agreed to provide some conceptual designs for the mitigation ... 01/06/2010

A fun video of some beautiful horses playing around at the Antoine Creek Ranch at Lake Chelan, Washington. Horseback riding is one of the many recreation amenities in the area of this beautiful, luxurious ranch at Lake Chelan. If you've ever wanted to private retreat in a beautiful setting with 300 days of sunshine per year, check it out at www.antoinecreekranch.com.  Contact Al for premium Lake Chelan real estate. This is a truly spectacular spot, just minutes from town, yet isolated enough to see all the stars at night.  A retreat, horse farm or just live here and let critters keep the pastures down.  You really deserve to check this out. 12/10/2009

The Chelan County Hearing Examiner approved the Tuscan Village Development on the south shore of Lake Chelan.  It has taken three years of effort by the owners group to get the approval.  In the beginning, the owners worked to be included in the City of Chelan Urban Growth Area to have access to domestic water and sewer services.  The proposed extension of city utilities is still on the Tuscan Village web site.   However,  the developers changed their approach and looked to provide their own water system or to work with surrounding water systems for domestic water and to provide their own on-site sewage treatment.  They can select from all the presented alternatives including connecting with the city for sewer and water or using their own reuse systems in the future.  "This decision is ... 12/10/2009

The Lake Chelan Snapshot report from Pacific Appraisals is available for October. Here's the summary: Sales volume is mixed among the various categories. Homes, mobile homes and waterfront homes have increased over last year. Community waterfront homes, homes on acreage and full share condominiums have receded during the same time frame. Average and median home prices held basically stable over last year. Median sales price for waterfront homes has gone down by nearly 40%. - Lake Chelan Snapshot report For another take on Lake Chelan real estate sales, check out our Lake Chelan Residential Sales Report. 12/10/2009

I make a dedicated web page for each of my listings.  The web site includes a photo gallery from the dozens or hundreds of photos we take about a home.  It includes the story, illustrated with pictures, of the experience of your property. We also make every document we can obtain about the property available as a .pdf file on that web site including: comparables, pre-sale inspection reports, the MLS listing itself, appraisal, and a property disclosure statement when available.  The web site is designed to take the interested buyer and immerse them in your house.   If a potential buyer invests hours going through all the information on your house, that is time they are not spending looking at other properties. The individualized web site, and the blog posting pointing to it, sells homes.... 12/10/2009

The City of Chelan Planning Commission meets December 16th.  The scheduled agenda items include a presentation of the City of Chelan Draft Downtown Master Plan prepared by the consultants, Makers. When: at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009. Location: City Hall Council Chambers, 135 E. Johnson Avenue. For additional information, please contact the City of Chelan Office of Community Development at 682-8017. 12/10/2009

While many folks know Lake Chelan primarily for it's summer activities, there are world class winter sports activities available here as well.  There are hundreds of miles of snowmobile trails, downhill skiing at Echo Valley and world class Nordic skiing at Echo Ridge. World class Nordic skiing?  Absolutely!  Echo Ridge has 25 miles of groomed trails and 2.4 miles of snowshoe trails.  The views are like nowhere else on this earth!  From a low point at 3100 feet of elevation to just over 4000 feet, nowhere else has such spectacular views of mountains set against Lake Chelan as Echo Ridge.  Couple that with days of sunshine during Seattle's rainy season and it is amazing Echo Ridge is still such a well kept secret. Here is a map of the trails at Echo Ridge.  The system is operated under ... 12/10/2009

Here are pictures of bears, black and brown bears, going about their business at the Antoine Creek Ranch at Lake Chelan, Washington. This video is shot in the western meadow of this beautiful private retreat that is teaming with wildlife. Recreation abounds with skiing, fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, hiking and all the fun of Lake Chelan. Check out the bears, horses, and more at http://www.antoinecreekranch.com 12/10/2009

That's right, the latest Lake Chelan Real Estate Residential Sales Summary is out!  It shows that 112 homes have been sold through the end of November as compared to 108 homes for all of last year.  Average sale price is down a bit though, with the average dropping to $410,905 from $457,691 in 2008.  In November, there were 10 sales closed this year compared to only 2 in 2008!  One Lake Chelan waterfront home sold in November.   The number of homes sold for the 3rd and 4th quarters of this year exceed 2008 even though we can't include December in the data yet!  Unless things turn down again, the lowest sales periods in the number of homes sold were the 4th quarter of 2008 and the 1st quarter of this year.  There is still good inventory available for buyers with 271 homes on the market. 12/10/2009

To predict what is happening and when might be the best time to buy or sell in your home or property, you need good information.  What you see in news reports and in the papers are reports that are usually done on national real estate trends and may have little bearing on what is happening in your neighborhood. Pundits love to make predictions as to when U.S. home prices will stabilize. But even well-respected forecasters and analysts may disagree, and even if a forecast proves true nationally, your local market may behave in a wildly different way.  - When will your housing market recover?  MSN Fortunately, you're at the best place to find local information on the Lake Chelan Real Estate market!  We have the most current Lake Chelan Real Estate market reports that are updated promptly ... 12/10/2009

Technology for protecting your home and its contents has come a long ways.  Today, you can buy a kit to install an alarm on your home for a few hundred dollars.  For a few hundred more, you can buy everything you need to install your own video monitoring system. And then what?  Some Atlanta homeowners used their video system and YouTube to catch the theives that robbed their home.  They helped to break up a ring that lead to 6 arrests!  Cool!  A pair of Atlanta home owners took home surveillance video of their homes being burglarized and posted them to YouTube. Instead of waiting for an overworked police department to solve the crime, they took matters into their own hands, worked with the online community, and solved the crimes. The evidence rounded out the information the police had b... 12/10/2009

One of the outstanding strategies I use when selling a home is to make a coffee table book of the home. A home has to be very unique, very stately or very luxurious to pull off a coffee table book, so we can't do this with every home we sell. But, where we can, the coffee table book works wonders. By building a custom coffee table book for your home, and by leaving it open on the coffee table, right by the sofa in your carefully-staged living room, I am inducing the buyers to sit down. I want them to sit down on the sofa and get comfortable and go through that coffee table book page by page, photo by photo. I want them to try the house on, and by sitting there with that book they will get a feel for how your home feels to them. I just created a coffee table book for the Antoine Creek R... 12/10/2009