Over on my other Leavenworth real estate blog  I have posted my latest interview. Here are some excerpts from my interview of Eric Kossian of Leavenworth Insurance. 1. What does an insurance broker do? Geordie, an insurance broker locates and shops insurance products to protect clients from the financial risk of loss due to such things as fires (property), accidents (liability), death and unsecured retirement investments and income. While most agents think in terms of selling product that is incorrect; we are in the business of asset protection. Some examples of personal assets could be an owned home, cars, income- your ability to produce it, your life (yes, it is a financial asset), and investments. We then use a wide variety of insurance and annuity products to safe guard assets. A go... 05/26/2007

Geordie Romer, an educated and highly trained real estate professional from Leavenworth Washington. Specializing in vacation homes and second homes in Leavenworth, Lake Wenatchee, Plain, and Cashmere.  Geordie has earned the e-PRO designation from the National Association of Realtors and earned the Certified Residential Specialist designation.  More about the Leavenworth (Important Links) area:Leavenworth, Washington The Bavarian VillageLeavenworth, Washington The Bavarian Village Chamber of CommerceCity Of Leavenworth, WashingtonCall or go straight to Leavenworth Real Estate Blog to get the daily update on important real estate news for Leavenworth, Lake Wenatchee, Plain and Cashmere.Cell: 509-679-8958Fax: 509-888- SOLDFree Reports, exactly, FREE Reports about real estate vacation home... 05/26/2007

Geordie Romer is a REALTOR in the Leavenworth, WA real estate market. His real estate training includes meeting all of the requirements for becoming a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) - an earned designation indicating that he has invested much time and effort in understanding the issues at play in residential real estate, and the challenges that buyers and sellers face. This is the highest achievement available for a residential real estate agent and is not easy to obtain.   Geordie is also a certified e-Pro - one of only a few in the Wenatchee Valley to earn this designation. For clients and customers, this is important; it means that when choosing to work with Geordie Romer, clients can be assured that their REALTOR is qualified and well-trained to use the internet, e-mail, an... 05/24/2007

Leavenworth Condos   With all the great new condo projects going up in Leavenworth a casual observer might think that condominiums are just now starting to be built in our Bavarian hamlet.     Aspen Suites at Icicle Village Resorts   In fact we have had new condos built on a fairly recently basis for the past 25 years, with a major project every 3-4 years.  If buying a new condo in Leavenworth isn't for you, you might see if there are resale units available in any of these condominium projects.   In 1983 it was the 17th Fairway Condominiums which took advantage of their location on the Leavenworth Golf Course. These are very large 2 bedroom units. (1400 square feet.)   The units at the Rothenburg, also on Icicle Road but closer to town were built in the same year. The Rothenburg has a v... 05/20/2007

Leavenworth Condo Update - Considering all the new construction that is going on in the Leavenworth condo market and the increasing prices, I thought I would see how they compared to other regional prices. Ben over at Seattle Condos and Lofts did a short update on the condo market in Seattle. Ben reports that April brought sales of 304 condos in the Seattle area with a median price of $320,000 and an average price of $367,700.First of all, our market is tiny compared to the number of condos in the rainy metropolis to the West. We actually had ZERO condo sales in the month of April. Instead I am using the Year to Date numbers.Three condos have closed in Leavenworth this year, which doesn't give us much data to look at. The average sales price was $261,000 but the median was $218,000.Anyo... 05/15/2007

Buying a condo at Kahler Glen or building a new home on the golf course? Many buyers ask me if membership to the Kahler Glen Athletic Club is included with their association fees. This members only facility has separate memberships that have been limited in number. Recently there have only been 93 memberships and new home owners wishing to join had to buy an existing membership from someone who was moving or not using their membership.  Later this year the Kahler Glen Athletic Club plans to sell additional new memberships. These memberships will sell for $8500 plus a monthly fee of $130. The athletic club was built in 2002 and features all the finest fitness amenities.  It has a heated pool, hardwood courts for racquetball, basketball and volleyball, a cedar lined sauna, and assorted mo... 05/04/2007

 The first annual Leavenworth Ale Fest was a huge success. Held in Leavenworth's Fest Hall it was a chance to sample brews from all over the Northwest and enjoy music from bands like Fat Happy, Left Hand Smoke and Vicci Martinez. One of my favorite breweries from the festival Iron Horse Brewery from Ellensburg, Wa won the Best Brewery Contest. I enjoyed their Brown Ale and really loved their Quilters Irish Death - a fantastically dark brew.  Everyone else seemed to love it too, because it ran out pretty quick. I did not have a chance to try their Cream Ale. Saturday night's entertainer - Vicci Martinez won the Best Band Category. She had the crowd dancing and really amazed us all with her singing and her amazing drumming. Next year's Ale Fest is scheduled for the same time next year and... 05/01/2007

Buying a condo in Leavenworth this year? Here are 5 things to consider: Do you want to use your condo as a vacation rental? In the city limits and the Urban Growth Boundary of Leavenworth this means the condo needs to be zoned for commercial use.  Condominiums in residential areas may be rented on a monthly basis, but not nightly or weekly.  Condominiums at Granite Court, along Whitman and Prospect Streets, and up Titus Road all fit into the category of non-commercial condos.  Without looking at a zoning map, you can safely assume that any condo located North of Highway 2 in Leavenworth is not zoned for commercial use. If you want to a condo as a vacation rental good options include Aspen Suites at Icicle Village, Haus Wunderbar or the Amadeus Suites.          Do you want your condomini... 04/29/2007

Are you curious about investing in the Leavenworth or Lake Wenatchee real estate market? Seems like everyone is interested in real estate investments these days. I see or hear about three types of "investors" most often in our local market. I use the quotes because most of these are "would be" investors who can't find..Read the rest of the article here on MyLeavenworth.com 02/14/2007

Allyson Zacharko, my partner, in life and in real estate, wrote a nice article on our blog about the cheap electric rates in Chelan County and compared them to those in Seattle and other parts of the state. We often have clients who ask if natural gas is available or wonder about how expensive it is to heat and cool a vacation home in Leavenworth or Lake Wenatchee. You can read all about it here. 01/24/2007

  If so, we should talk about the value of your home.  It wasn't very long ago that there were 5 or 6 condos at Kahler Glen for sale, all around $160,000. Slowly, they finally sold. The next house came on at  $180,000. I had some clients who made an offer, but weren't willing to pay that outrageous price. It sold, and so did the next one at $209,000 in the Fall of 2005. A year later, the only listing in the area sold at $275,000. The demand is still out there. How do I know? Kahler Glen and Kahler Glen Condos remain popular search terms on my website. The market for vacation homes a few hours from Seattle remains strong. People love being able to ski, golf, and visit Lake Wenatchee from their condo. Update: Spring 2009 I love Kahler Glen and I really like the condos there. However, the ... 01/23/2007

Now that 2006 has concluded, we have the final tallys for home prices in Leavenworth. The average home price for 2006 was $362,000. This is for a home of approximately 1700 square feet. The average days on market was 111.  We can break this down further into waterfront and non-waterfront homes. The average waterfront home on Lake Wenatchee, Icicle Creek, the Chiwawa and Wenatchee Rivers sold for $670,000. No homes sold on Fish Lake. The average non-waterfront home sold for $337,000. Within the city limits of Leavenworth, the average home price was $275,000.How does this compare to 2005? Prices have gone up nearly 15% from an average price of $317,000. While things have been cooling in other parts of the country, we continue to have solid growth here in Central Washington. 01/05/2007

Steven's Pass Ski Area is opening early this year. This Friday they will open at 9am with a number of lifts and runs available. They are reporting a 45" base despite a little rain earlier today. I hope to get up there this weekend, but if not this weekend then certainly soon. A good ski season always helps out the town of Leavenworth and clients of mine like the 59er Diner. Hope to see you at the hill - drive safe. 11/15/2006

"How's the market doing in Leavenworth?" my friends from Seattle always ask. It depends is often the answer.Condos remain a hot ticket. More specifically condominiums zoned Commercial (to allow for overnight rentals) under $250,000.  We are seeing a number of new condo projects, but the prices start much higher. Generally for condos we have just a month or two of supply and a high number of pendings to active listings.Manufactured homes remain slow. Most of these sales are for older homes with little value that sit on a nice peice of land.  With 10 active homes on the market, we have a supply of nearly 7 months.Single family homes in the Leavenworth market are all over the map. Overall we have a supply of about 6 months and a pending ratio of only 15%. Clearly a buyers market. However, ... 10/27/2006

Our lovely Leavenworth, the Bavarian Village in the Cascades was the centerpiece of a nice article in the Seattle Times. It may be hard to find the perfect home here due to such low inventory, but it isn't hard to fall in love with Leavenworth. Coming over for Oktoberfest? Look us up. 10/12/2006

The real estate market in Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee, WA has been doing really well these last few years. Prices seem to be increasing between 15-20% a year and inventory remains low.However, despite this there is a BUYERS MARKET in a certain price range for qualified buyers. High end homes, especially those not on waterfront, are not selling quickly anywhere in the Wenatchee Valley. In our market I call high end any home above $700,000. Currently in Leavenworth and the surrounding area the recent sales price for a single family home is just above $300,000. Unfortunately, the average listing price is above $500,000. More and more high end homes are coming on the market each week.How about some data... In the past year 4 non-waterfront homes above $700,000 sold in the entire Wenatche... 09/13/2006