Criterion Properties | Lake Chelan Real Estate

It’s a fact.  Life isn’t fair.  And, it is a good thing it isn’t fair.  We have choices and the opportunity to make good choices, in real estate, and in life.

Whether you’re buying property, selling your home, searching the mls for homes & real estate for sale or investing in Lake Chelan Real Estate, you’ve come to the right place! Of course, you want a Realtor and broker who knows, lives in, and understands Lake Chelan Real Estate. But, maybe you need an expert in commercial and investment real estate.  Or possibly, you need someone who understands the intracacies of Lake Chelan Waterfront. Whether you’re buying or selling, you definitely want to be up to date on development, land use, coming projects and the trends in the Lake Chelan area. Market savvy?  You bet!

Of course, you want only the best in internet technology, advertising and marketing in the valley.  In real estate, results matter!  Criterion Properties is the trustworthy savvy and motivated guide you’ve been looking for in our digital world.

We’re a very different kind of real estate company from anything you’ll find in the Lake Chelan area.  Explore this site, or check out our blogging. When you work with us, you will know get far more information than you are used to getting.  We work harder and do more to market your property.  Start with this web site, which is full of information about how we work.

Say you’re doing something as simple as looking for Lake Chelan Homes for sale.  Other companies make you register and give them your contact information to just search for Chelan homes for sale!  Not me!  I will never contact you unless you call, e-mail or track me down on the street.  I won’t send you anything without you requesting it.

So what really matters when you select a real estate practitioner?  Quality is the only distinction that really matters.  A quality real estate agent will provide you with the effort, ethics and skills to do whatever it takes to get the job done right.  We’re happy to talk about it with you here on the web, by phone  or in person.

Are you ready to find your ideal Lake Chelan Real Estate?  Do you need to search the MLS statewide, locally or for commercial properties?  Do you want to really search Lake Chelan Homes for sale? Criterion Properties is proud of its strength listing and marketing homes and business property.  Shall we get together and chat about selling your home or property?  Do you have a question about Criterion Properties and how we work?  Email Criterion Properties and we’ll get back to you right away.  The choice is yours, but nothing will happen unless you take the first step.

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Trustworthy and motivated Lake Chelan Real Estate experience and expertise.  Contact Criterion Properties for all your Lake Chelan Real Estate needs!

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Tags: Buying your Lake Chelan home, General Interest, Lake Chelan Happenings, Lake Chelan Real Estate, Selling your Lake Chelan home // Add Comment »

A 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom 4000 s.f. home, on 2.9 acres with 220 feet of waterfront just minutes from Lake Chelan with attractive new construction in Beebe Ranch just sold.  Guess what it sold for.   Would it help to see some pictures?  This appears to be a quality new home, with an apartment over the garage.  It has a unique and fun waterfront with a protected basin.  Have a look:

The property appraised at $1,417,000 in 2007.  The lot was purchased for $365,000 in 2004.  The asking price was originally $995,000 and had been reduced to $899,500.

It sold for $760,000.  I’ll let you decide if that is a great value.  If you’re looking at buying, there are prices on homes at Lake Chelan that haven’t been seen in this century.  If you’re selling, to sell, you have to price to this market.  If you would like to be successful in either endeavor, I would be happy to help with your Lake Chelan Real Estate needs!

Tags: Buying your Lake Chelan home, Lake Chelan Real Estate, Lake Chelan Real Estate Market, Selling your Lake Chelan home // Add Comment »

U-Haul sells color coded tape to help make moving an easier job.  The tape has the as the room or  printed right on it allowing you to tape and label your belongings in one step.   What a great way to ease and speed up that move!

Tags: Buying your Lake Chelan home, Lake Chelan Real Estate, Selling your Lake Chelan home // Add Comment »

While working on permits for Desert Highlands, the sixth phase of the Desert Canyon Resort, the developers were surprised to learn that Douglas County will now require them to improve a 1 mile section of Brays Landing Road at a cost of nearly $2 million.

The investor/developers claim in a Wenatchee World article that the development is in jeopardy because of this new requirement.  Even though the improvements to Brays Landing Road were not mentioned when the master plan was first developed in the 1990s, current Douglas County standards would require the developers to improve the road.  Each phase of the project, under county regulations, is re-evaluated under current road standards regardless of what was in place earlier.

The Desert Highlands project is the development’s sixth phase. It would be surrounded by the Desert Canyon Golf Resort and will include 140 lots and three parks on 80 acres, said the lead planning consultant, Thom Vetter, owner of ecoPlan & Design in Wenatchee.

Vetter said Wednesday his clients have no problem with the state Department of Transportation’s request to include turning lanes from Highway 97. Nor do they have a problem with paying to improve a frontage road and second entrance to the area, he said.

“But they are not willing to widen Brays Landing Road from the development’s entrance all the way to the highway, especially when our traffic study says it isn’t necessary,” Vetter said.

Commissioner Ken Stanton explained to the group involved with the project that the county has road standards that developers must follow. “We can’t just say willy-nilly that you don’t have to follow our road standards,” he said.  -  Wenatchee World

It certainly seems like a shame for this project to stall when the industry with our economy in its current state.  Maybe they just need some new financing options!

Tags: Construction, Finance, General Interest, Lake Chelan Investment/Development Property, Lake Chelan Real Estate, Wenatchee Area Real Estate // Add Comment »

Here are some comparisons of some basics for the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) and the Lake Chelan Co-Brokers MLS.  Most Lake Chelan real estate brokerages are only members of the local Lake Chelan MLS.  The entire Puget Sound area is served by the NWMLS.  Most folks over there, and many agents, think it is also the MLS in the Lake Chelan area.  It does have listings here, but only those of the few brokerages who are members of both or properties that are listed exclusively with agents from other areas.

With almost 90% of homes being sold by agents other than the listing agent, do you want 100 or so agents able to sell your property, or 24,000 agents able to sell your property?  Do you want thousands more people seeing your property?  These are important questions if you are selling your Lake Chelan home or real estate.

Lake Chelan MLS                NWMLS

# of Agents                              120                           24,000

Coverage             Local Chelan Area                  21 Counties

Closed Sales                          9                                   3,214
February

Active Listings                       353                                36,350

Tags: Lake Chelan Real Estate, Marketing Lake Chelan Properties, Selling your Lake Chelan home // Add Comment »

Americans have not only reduced their appetite for cashing out their home equity but are often bringing cash to the table and reducing their principal when they refinance.  Yep, rather than taking money out when refinancing, a “cash out” refinance, homeowners are paying down their mortgages and putting money in for “cash in” refinancing.  Apparently those cash out home equity loans are just so 2006 today!

Now the pendulum in consumer psychology appears to be swinging toward reduction of household debt — whether on credit cards or mortgages.

In Freddie Mac’s latest quarterly survey of refinancings, 33% of homeowners put cash into the deal to lower their mortgage balances, the highest percentage ever. By contrast, only 27% of refinancers took cash out — the lowest percentage on record.

Why shift money from savings into your house? Nothaft says a small percentage of refinancers — including himself and his wife — traditionally have preferred to lower their mortgage balances whenever possible.

There are at least two key rationales for doing so, Nothaft says. No. 1: If interest rates are low and you’re getting minuscule returns on your bank savings or money market funds,  paying down your home loan may well provide you a better return on your investment. -  LA Times

Tags: Finance, Finance & Mortgage, General Interest // Add Comment »

If you’re daring and want to buy foreclosures, there is a new web site being set up just for you.  www.rebuildus.com is set up to sell some of the homes bought by a major foreclosure investor, James Odell Barnes, over the web.

Mr. Barnes buys his foreclosures in big batches over the phone.  He doesn’t visit, inspect them or even see them before buying them.  That’s also how buyers would typically be buying them!

While rebuildus.com does have an area for people to purchase for their primary residence, most of its customers are expected to be investors.  His homes average sale price is about $4,000 and they would typically be sold in batches of 5 or more to people interested in reselling them.

The idea is for users of the new Web site to resell the homes to low-income people on what amounts to an installment plan, with monthly payments stretching over 15 years or so, a technique known as “seller financing.”  That’s because many of the people likely to buy homes in poor neighborhoods couldn’t qualify for bank loans. The site provides links to firms that can manage and sell the properties on behalf of buyers, for a fee. – WSJ

This isn’t a plan I’m suggesting to anyone, but it is another example of using the internet to market homes.

Tags: Finance & Mortgage, General Interest, The Real Estate Market // Add Comment »

The folks at the Pine River hedge fund believe housing is heading into a double dip with the small recovery we’ve seen followed by another down turn.  The Pine River hedge fund makes big bets in the housing market.

Hedge fund firm Pine River, which makes big bets on housing, is bracing for a double dip in that market, its chief executive officer said on Tuesday.

“There are still issues in the housing markets and it would not surprise us to see the recovery turn down,” Brian Taylor, who founded the $1.6 billion hedge fund eight years ago, said at the Reuters Private Equity and Hedge Funds Summit in New York. – Reuters

I share the concern that housing may be headed for a double dip.  Well, Pine River might not see it as a concern as much as an opportunity to make money.  However, if you’re a seller pay attention.  There may not be a better time to sell your Lake Chelan home than right now for some time!

Tags: Lake Chelan Real Estate, Lake Chelan Real Estate Market, Selling your Lake Chelan home // Add Comment »

The Lake Chelan Residential Real Estate Market Report shows that waterfront home sales at Lake Chelan are up for 2010!  Since 2009 was a pretty good year for sales of waterfront home sales at Lake Chelan, that’s a pretty strong performance.

Community Waterfront homes sales are up so far as well.  That means 3 so far this year versus only 1 at the end of February last year.  4 waterfront homes have sold as compared to only 1 last year at the end of February.  Prices are down a bit.  The only home waterfront home last year was a high priced one, at $2.7 million.  This is above the average of $954,975 so far this year.  But prices on the Community Waterfront homes are up, with this year’s average sales price at $396,666 through February compared to $270,000 last year.

Combined, we have had 7 sales of waterfront and community waterfront homes this year compared to a total of 2 for last year.  That’s a pretty strong difference!  As I’ve been saying for a little while now, this is the time to be selling at Lake Chelan!

Tags: Lake Chelan Real Estate Market, Lake Chelan Waterfront Homes for Sale, Sold Lake Chelan Homes // Add Comment »

If you have ever considered fishing, hunting, hiking, boating or almost anything outdoors, you have probably heard of Cabelas.  Today, a Lake Chelan Ranch property is featured on the Cabelas Trophy Properties web site. (click the picture for a larger version)

The property on the Cabelas web site is our listing, the Antoine Creek Ranch.   While not every property is a match for Cabelas Properties, we have lots of great acreages and ranch properties that are an ideal fit.  I have been working with the Cabelas Franchisee in Eastern Washington, Northwest Outdoor Properties, to be able to provide this service to our clients in the Lake Chelan area.

Now you have one more reason to consider selling your Lake Chelan property with Criterion Properties!

Tags: Marketing Lake Chelan Properties, Selling your Lake Chelan home // Add Comment »