Geordie Romer's Real Estate News for Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee

New Posts for Spring on the Leavenworth Real Estate Blog

2009-05-21T10:01:02Z

We have been busy in Leavenworth over the past month. Pending sales for May 2009 have been double those of May 2008 and we have been listing lots of great new properties as well.

The Leavenworth Real Estate Blog at IcicleCreekRealEstate.com has a bunch of new posts that are definately worth taking a look at:

David asks " Is now a good time to buy land in Leavenworth? "
Kevin Rimes of Taylor Mortgage talks about FHA Loans for Fixer Uppers
Lake Wenatchee State Park Not Closing

We are also posting info about sold homes that you can't find on the big box sites like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com

Here are the sold homes in Leavenworth and the sold homes in Cashmere for April 2009.

It's easy to subscribe all new articles on IcicleCreekRealEstate.com - just click here!

Is the Leavenworth market sick?

2009-05-04T09:55:41Z

I've received a number of offers in the past month by buyers (or would be buyers) assuming that the real estate market in Leavenworth is doing much worse than it it is. 3 of these offers were flat out REJECTED by my sellers with no counteroffer.

In a recent blog post over at the Leavenworth real estate blog, I wrote about No Swine Flu for Leavenworth Real Estate to help buyers get a better idea of what is going on.

Leavenworth WA - 3 New Articles

2009-04-20T19:18:41Z

The Leavenworth real estate blog at IcicleCreekRealEstate.com has a bunch of new articles that we would love for you to come check out.

1st Quarter Home Prices for Leavenworth WA
Leavenworth Festivals - I list them all !!
Finding a deal in Leavenworth

or you can just click here if your just looking to search for homes for sale in Leavenworth

If you love what you read here, why not subscribe to our RSS feed so you don't ever miss a post ?

Cashmere Real Estate

2009-04-05T12:05:08Z

"Geordie, you sure write a lot of posts about Leavenworth. Do you ever sell any houses in Cashmere?"

I do. In fact, Allyson and I live on the west edge of Cashmere just a little outside the city limits near the Chelan County Fairgrounds.

One of my goals for 2009 is to do a better job of making it easy for folks to find out about the Cashmere real estate market.

On our main website, www.iciclecreekrealestate.com , we plan to have regular articles about the Cashmere real estate market.

I have also created a specific page that takes you directly to Search for Cashmere Homes for sale.

Of course, the best way to stay informed is to get new articles delivered:

The Latest News for 98826 - Leavenworth WA

2009-03-19T00:33:09Z

I have written two more articles and posted them over at the Leavenworth Real Estate blog.

The first was about the news from the State of Washington that said they have a list of state parks that they may be mothballing and our local jewel Lake Wenatchee State Park has made the list.

The most recent post was about new tax laws and how they effect owners of Leavenworth vacation homes or anyone thinking about buying or selling a vacation home.

Please come visit us to learn more about Leavenworth real estate.

While you are at it, sign up for articles to get mailed directly to your inbox or get new Leavenworth listings emailed to you?

New articles about Leavenworth

2009-03-09T22:34:38Z

There are a number of new posts over at the Leavenworth Real Estate blog which I really hope you find useful.

Dave writes "I really like the look of your site as well as what it does: it shines a true light on the Leavenworth market while all the other agencies just offer brochures (or fliers...). Good luck with it and keep up the good work! "

Leavenworth Condo Update for Spring 2009
How to find more Leavenworth Luxury Homes for Sale
Primer on Short Sales in Leavenworth

Of course you can get all these stories in a feed reader or in your email if you like.

I hope to get a tax attorney to write a guest post about this new change in tax law that effects owners of vacation homes. Do you know of someone who could help?

Seattle Mortgage Pro | Making Social Media Work

2009-03-07T17:53:56Z

Seattle Mortgage professional Rhonda Porter is a great example of someone in real estate who gets

social media and is really making it work for her.

What does Rhonda do?

She is very active online, sharing information as she gets it, and constantly educating consumers and real estate agents about changes in rates, lending requirements and programs.

Rhonda's homebase is her Seattle Mortgage Blog http://www.mortgageporter.com which is a wealth of information about everything related to home loans and lending.

She also posts articles and weekly rate reports on Seattle's Rain City Guide and here on Active Rain as well. For those of us who prefer to stream our rate information (seeing as how rates seem to change 3-4 x a day) Rhonda also tweets Seattle Mortgage Rates throughout the day.

I've been lucky enough to write a guest post for Rhonda on her "Sunday Drive" column that she posts and to have her join me on my site as contributor to my Mortgage Roundtable.

How has it paid off for her?

The mainstream media do their research in much the same way as we often do. They use google. (It's certainly how the NY Times found me a few years back.) In the past few weeks Rhonda has been quoted by the AP and the Seattle PI.

If you want to use social media in your business, emulating Rhonda Porter by focusing on giving out great information is fabulous way to start.

Newest posts at ICRE.com

2009-02-27T00:51:04Z

A number of new posts over at the Leavenworth Real Estate blog.

Leavenworth Windermere is consolidating offices
Kahler Glen Condo Association is Hiring
Part II of the Mortgage Roundtable with David Gibbons, Rhonda Porter and more..

Of course you can get all these stories in a feed reader or in your email if you like.

I'm always looking for guest bloggers, is there something you care to share with my readers?

2009 Mortgage Update

2009-02-14T13:58:46Z

The mortgage market is a different place in 2009 than it was in 2007 or even 2008.

5 mortgage professionals and real estate insiders give us their thoughts on the state of the mortgage world. (Including Rhonda Porter, Tom Vanderwell, Darel Ansley and David Gibbons from Zillow.)

Come visit the discussion on the Leavenworth real estate blog.

Leavenworth real estate - new blog, new website, all brand new!

2009-02-02T00:06:17Z

Leavenworth WA now has a new real estate website. After months of hard work we have combined the Real Estate Search function of www.GeordieRomer.com and the news and opinion of www.MyLeavenworth into one great real estate site.

We worked with the folks over at the Real Estate Tomato to create a custom WordPress Blog that had all of our old posts - 4 years worth along with the improved search capabilities of IDX Pro.

Please come vist our new Leavenworth Real Estate site, www.IcicleCreekRealEstate.com

We have lots of neighborhood pages, from Lake Wenatchee to Ponderosa Estates to Fish Lake.

We also have some great search pages which allow you to search for very specific places like Cashmere or condos in Leavenworth.

There are still a few glitches, but we'd love to hear what you think. We certainly couldn't have gotten here without all our friends from AR over the years.

Condo Auction in Leavenworth

2008-12-16T19:01:03Z

Bad decisions by developers in Leavenworth have led us to our first auction. It wasn't a foreclosure, but there were some bargain basement prices.

Here are what the local sources said.

The Wenatchee World (yes that's me in the hat - the Jack Abramoff looking character):

NCW Real Estate Blog

The Leavenworth Real Estate Blog (That's my main blog)

It would be nice if that was our last auction, but I don't suppose it will be. Developers have overbuilt the condo market and aren't smart enough to list their products at market pricing.

Leavenworth Real Estate News

2008-10-04T18:42:58Z

Looking for Leavenworth Real Estate News?

I have been pretty active over at www.myleavenworth.com, the Leavenworth real estate blog.

Most recently I wrote a post about the ban on vacation rentals in the Chiwawa River Pines neighborhood. This is a pretty contentious issue - you can read another opinion about it at www.ncwrealestateblog.com

The week before I did an outline of Leavenworth's Fall festivals including last weeks Autumn Leaf and Leavenworth's Oktoberfest which started last night and runs for the next two weekends.

Darel Ansley also wrote an article sharing his opinion on the Big Bailout aka the Paulson Plan . It's been approved since then, but it's still worth the read.

Lastly, I wrote an post about increasing bear activity around Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee. A lack of berries this summer has bears down low getting in to trouble looking for food.

Not looking for Leavenworth Real Estate news? Cick Here to search for current Leavenworth homes for sale

Leavenworth Real Estate - New Blog Posts

2008-08-05T10:21:31Z

www.myleavenworth.com the real estate news source for Leavenworth, WA has a few more posts this week.

You can read about online "home values" and sales prices in Leavenworth and Chelan County.

You can read tips on Seller Financing in 1031 Exchanges.

or you can read about USFS Leases and similar leases on NPS Land.

Is there a topic you want to learn more about? I'm happy to blog on request. Just email me your question about Leavenworth or Lake Wenatchee.

Leavenworth Real Estate Blog - New Posts

2008-07-26T11:53:05Z

The Leavenworth Real Estate Blog - MyLeavenworth.com has a few new posts.

Allyson wrote a piece about " What $200,000 buys you in Leavenworth " . (The answer, of course, is not much.)

I also wrote an update on Leavenworth's Condo Market which has been struggling as of late.

I have a few ideas in the hopper and probably need to share a post with the Seattle PI too.

SEO and Yahoo Directory

2008-07-20T11:19:08Z

Here's a question for more tech savvy folks than myself - (if I call you out by name will you respond? NikNik? 4realz, Jim Cronin, Mary Mcknight, Kay Frenzer, Karen George, or ... Matt Cutts)

Does paying $300 to be listed in the Yahoo Directory really have as big an effect on SEO as it appears to be?

I know that paying for ads on Google doesn't help with organic results, why would paying Yahoo, the competition, have such a postive effect on Google?

There are three websites above me on Google for my favorite search "Leavenworth Real Estate" and the Yahoo Directory seems to be a common thread.

I hate to shell out the money, but if it puts me atop the listings on Google or even #2, that would certainly be worth it.

Leavenworth Real Estate Update

2008-07-20T10:50:22Z

The Leavenworth market has finally succumbed to outside pressures and we saw our first real signs of a slowdown in the second quarter of 2008.

Unlike other parts of the country, our is less effected by the difficulty to secure lending, but rather by the general sense of economic uncertainty that hangs over all of our heads.

I wrote a more detailed post on the Leavenworth Real Estate Blog, Myleavenworth.com. Click here to read the current state of the Leavenworth Real Estate Market.

Prices appreciation seems to have flattened and the inventory has really soared. Most devastating is that the number of homes sold is 1/2 that of the 2nd quarter of 2007. We are seeing the same sorts of numbers for land sales as well.

Condos are a very different story, which I hope to have posted soon.

Consumers Asking Questions

2008-05-30T17:44:30Z

There are so many places online to ask a question of the community. Where are consumers (buyers and sellers) going online to ask questions?

I don't think many are asking questions here on Active Rain.

Are they going to Trulia Voices, Zillow, Merchant Circle, City-Data?

There really are too many to track. I try to stay on top of these communities, but it seems like my Google Alerts don't pick up the discussions on these various boards.

Do any of the tech folks have good data on which site is getting used the most? Does it differ regionally throughout the U.S.?

Buying a Peshastin building lot

2008-05-29T16:32:10Z

or not!

I almost bought a building lot in Peshastin yesterday. It was a deal that just seemed to good to pass up.

I didn't end up buying the lot, but the experience had some great "teachable moments" for me to share with other folks looking to get a great deal in real estate.

You can read all about it at the Seattle PI Real Estate Professionals Blog

(Sorry for making you click on the link, but I blog for the PI as well as on www.myleavenworth.com and I have to decide which blogs gets which article each time I write one. )

Selling your Leavenworth Home?

2008-05-24T15:35:04Z

Are you considering selling your home in Leavenworth, Fish Lake or Lake Wenatchee?

Are you in the process of hiring an agent to help you with this important task?

My resume says that I am one of a dozen Certfied Residential Specialists in Central Washington and the only Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist in all of Chelan County (including Leavenworth, Wenatchee and Chelan). I was nominated for the Tech Savvy Business of the Year in 2007 for the Wenatchee Valley. I have been interviewed by the New York Times about Leavenworth real estate.

But you want to know why I should be the one to help you sell your home.

The answer is quite simple...

Leavenworth real estate - video on youtube

2008-05-23T10:38:35Z

Buying a Leavenworth vacation home, a Kahler Glen condo, or a home on Lake Wenatchee?

Disappointed with the information you get from a few listing photos on the internet?

Come visit Leavenworth WA's ONLY source for real estate video. I have set up a channel on YouTube - Icicle Creek Homes to host video clips of current listings, interviews, and neighborhoods so you can learn more about Leavenworth and current offerings from your own computer. The selection is small right now, but will continue to grow.

Some of the videos are responses to consumers questions. How close is the train track? What does the rest of the property look like? etc.

Do you have a question best answered by video? email me and we'll try and answer with a video.

Windermere Photo Gallery - Now with Video

2008-05-18T20:36:45Z

Did you know you can now add embedded video to a Photo Gallery on Windermere.com ? (For Windermere Real Estate agents.)

This is a great new addition and I certainly will be playing with it to see how I can best use video to help sell houses for my clients.

Here is my first example. Click on the river photos to see the video

Luxury Home on the Wenatchee River

It's still pretty rough, but I think we are all learning about this a little more every day.

Interviewing Home Inspectors

2008-05-16T09:56:52Z

I have been lucky to work with John Griffith of Cascade Site Services in Cashmere, WA these past few years as my home inspector. John was always very thorough, wrote great reports and communicated well with my clients. I used him to do pre-listing inspections, I recommended that my clients use him, and hired him to inspect my own home. Unfortunately, the rising cost of liability insurance and a slowing market, have caused him to re-think his business plan. John is also a licensed appraiser and is switching the focus of his company to the appraisal side of things.

Do you have a favorite inspector in Central WA? Are you an inspector looking for another 15-20 inspections a year? Don't be shy, I'm hiring!

First Video with Flip Video

2008-05-09T09:03:53Z

This is my first video using my new Flip video camera. I took a bunch of video today on my hike up Sauer Mountain above Leavenworth WA today. I wasn't very pleased with the Muvee software and am looking for suggestions for easy to use editing software. I used Microsoft Movie Maker today, but am considering Mixpo due to the good press it's gotten here.

Sauer Mountain - A Video Tour

2008-05-08T22:09:26Z

This is my only second video with the new Flip video camera. I enjoyed shooting, but found the editing a little tiresome. I am excited about all the possibilities once I get the details worked out.

I hope you enjoyed the views from Sauer Mountain in Leavenworth and all the great wildflowers.

CRS article on VIP Clients

2008-05-06T12:53:41Z

I just got my copy of the May / June "The Residential Specialist" (The Council of Residential Specialists magazine.)

On page 28 is a story about working with VIP Clients called "Halls of Fame" by Regina Ludes. On page 31 is a few quotes from me about working with VIP and CEO clients.

I don't think this available online, but I can email you a PDF if you are interested.