I'm sponsoring a treasure hunt in Hart Lake Estates, a beautiful development in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. 

It's a real treasure hunt...the treasure is $100 cash.

The clues are updated on my website here:

http://www.valleymarket.com/2009/09/06/hart-lake-estates-treasure-hunt

I am also putting them on Twitter, Facebook, and craigslist as well as Active Rain.

Clue #3 is " The $$$ is in a little plastic bag tied to an Alder tree"

Go to www.valleymarket.com for the complete list of clues and rules.  #1 rule...stay off of private property.

 

I couldn't help posting this view of Echo Lake taken on my way home tonight.  The cranberry leaves are turning red, the birches are yellow and the air is crisp with a full moon over Pioneer Peak. It's a beautiful fall day...but enough, let's talk numbers. Below are the statistics for the last week of August, 2009. Activity is relatively high. People want to get into homes before winter, they also want to lock in the low interest rates, and they want to close before November 30 to get their tax rebate.

29 new listings at a median price of $224,000.
21 pendings at a median price of $186,400
31 closing at a median price of $205,000
925 total listings at a median price of $239,000

The inventory is dropping while people snatch up the good houses with low interest rates.  I had a couple buy a house this week because they are leaving for a three year overseas assignment.  They are sure that interest rates will not be favorable when they return so they want to lock them in now.

Another client was quoted 5.25% today for a 30 year fixed conventional loan.  That is a very good rate.  If interest rates go up to 6.25% they will only be able to buy a $180,000 house instead of a $200,000 home.  If you don't think interest rates are going up, read this.  It's only a matter of time.

 

I attended the Great Palmer Chamber of Commerce yesterday to hear Kathy Wells of the Friends of Mat-Su present the draft Green Infrastructure plan for the Mat-Su Valley.

Friends of Mat-Su has been contracted by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough to develop a green infrastructure plan for the core area of the valley. They are working hand-in-hand with the planning department of the borough to bring this plan to the assembly.

“Green Infrastructure” is a term used to incorporate environmental planning into the overall future infrastructure of the borough. They use “green infrastructure” as a term opposed to “grey infrastructure” which consists of roads, utilities, bridges, etc. The borough feels that “green infrastructure” is just as important in planning as is “grey infrastructure”.

Obviously, the core area is surrounded by Green Infrastructure and this is recognized in the plan. These areas are called green “super hubs”. They include the Palmer Hay Flats, Chugach Mountains, Matanuska Moose Range, Talkeetna Mountains, the Matanuska and Knik Rivers and numerous lakes and creeks. The Green Infrastructure Plans calls for creating green “mini-hubs” inside those “super hubs” and connecting them all together with green corridors so that animals and people can migrate between the hubs while staying in a green area.

One of the green “mini-hubs” is already recognized by many as a green zone. It is owned largely by the State of Alaska, the University of Alaska, and the Mat-Su Borough. This is the area surrounding the central landfill and Crevasse-Morraine Trail on the north, extending west to the Experimental Farm, and south to the Kepler/Bradley Lakes Recreation area. The other “mini-hubs” are mostly in areas of private land.

No restrictions on these areas are currently being discussed. The borough and Friends of Mat-Su are both saying that this is an educational effort at this time. But of course, if it is placed into the planning department at the borough, these educational guidelines will eventually have teeth.

Now is your chance to have input. These plans will come up for public review in the near future, if you are concerned about what you can do with your land if you live in a green zone you should pay attention.

Alaska is slowly becoming a leader in Alternative Energy solutions. There are several factors that tend to bend Alaska in that direction.

One of the reasons Alaska is moving out in front in the alternative/renewable energy field is the many different options that are available. We have rivers galore, tidal and wave action in the oceans, geothermal possibilities all over the place, wind and more wind, and believe it or not we get a lot of sun. Actually, we get a lot of sun in the summer…not so much in the winter.

The fact that hydro-fuels are so expensive in many communities makes people wonder if there are less expensive ways to make power than burning $ 8 per gallon diesel. The high cost of energy is the number one reason Alaskans keep tinkering with alternatives. Although the environment is always a consideration, the cost of the power is at the forefront of peoples minds. If the cost of alternative energy is expensive, then it is impractical, and Alaskans are practical people.

For the rest of this post go to valleymarket.com

I got an Iphone today. It made me aware of how much technology has changed the way we do business.

I remember my first experience on the Internet when I was the tech worker at the University of Alaska library in Fairbanks back in 1981. I kept the copy machines running, microfilmed old books, operated the only fax machine on campus, and sent an occasional message on a computer over the Internet for some VIP on campus.

Then we got cell phones, digital cameras, and more.

Now I can update my blog from my Iphone.

If you would like me to use technology to send you the deals of the week that just went out yesterday, drop me an email.

Btw..this Iphone is nice but I think I’ll type my next update from a regular keyboard.

You get more house for your money…that’s why!

Anyone who shops homes in Anchorage and then comes out to the Valley can see that there is a significant difference in prices. I thought I would quantify it so that you know how much more of a home you get in the Valley compared to Anchorage.

I narrowed the Valley down to the Wasilla and Palmer core area. This excludes most of the land mass of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough but includes at least 80% of the population. If I would have included the whole borough the contrast would have been even more striking.

Real estate professionals often refer to the “3,2 and 2″. That is a description of the most common house sold. It has three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a 2 car garage. I decided to compare these homes in Anchorage to the Valley.

Below is the chart that shows all the sales on the Alaska MLS system of these homes in the past year.

3 bed, 2 bath
2 car garage Total Sales
4/11/2008-4/11/2009 Median Price

Wasilla-Palmer	249	$209,900
Anchorage	349	$265,000

You will notice that only 100 more of these homes sold in Anchorage even though Anchorage has a population at least 4 times larger than the Palmer/Wasilla core area.

Significantly, the median price of a typical three bedroom home in the Wasilla and Palmer areas is $56,000 less than it’s counterpart in Anchorage. Not only is this true, but the homes in the Valley tend to have more land, are newer, and are more energy efficient.

They have more land because the Wasilla/Palmer area is more rural so most of the lots are at least 1/2 acre in size. They are newer because the Valley has grown more in population than has Anchorage in the recent past. They are more energy efficient primarily because they are newer. That is not to say that you cannot find newer, energy efficient houses with some land in Anchorage. You can, but if you do you will spend even more for those houses.

I took a look at what would happen if you compared the two locations with a 3,2, and 2 and at least 1/2 acre of land.

Wow!…what a difference that made. Only 25 homes sold in Anchorage while the Valley sales only went down by 13. In addition, the median price in the Valley rose by only $100 but the price in Anchorage went up by $68,000. Now there is a difference of about $123,000. That is huge.

3 bed, 2 bath
2 car garage Total Sales
4/11/2008-4/11/2009 Median Price

Wasilla-Palmer	236	$210,000
Anchorage	25	$333,000

So if you want at least 1/2 acre of land with your house you will pay dearly for it in Anchorage.

Since 1992 Alaska Housing Finance Corporation<(AHFC), has required new homes that hope to receive financing through them to meet certain energy standards. If you buy a home that does not meet those standards you can work with AHFC to bring improve the energy efficiency. Up to a point AHFC will even pay you to do that.

Most of the homes built since 2000 used good energy efficient building methods. Of the 349 sold in Anchorage only 25% were built since 2000 while 48% of the houses in Alaska were built since that date. Almost 1/2 of the 3,2,2 homes sold in the valley were built since 2000.

So, to sum it up…

You get a newer, more energy efficient home with more land, for less money, if you buy in the valley as opposed to Anchorage.

Hopefully this will be the coldest day of the year!

Community Councils…Get Involved Or Don’t Complain.

We just had a presidential election in which about 60% of the registered voters in Alaska participated.  Some people think that is a pretty good turnout, I think it’s pathetic.  BUT, what people don’t think about is that local government actually has more effect on your everyday life.

It seems that the more local the government becomes, the less participation we see.  In the Mat-Su Borough we generally have these levels of government:  state, borough, city, community council.  There are many opportunities to become involved at each level.  Of those four, the community councils are the most local.

The amazing thing is that although everyone can be involved in their community council, the only people that show up are the activists that want to change the status quo.  All the people that are happy with the way things are remain at home and complain when their world changes around them.

For example, in the Chickaloon Community Council area the minimum lot size is five acres.  This was passed by the community council and now has the effect of law. If you had purchased 5 acres with the intent to subdivide a portion off for a family member you are now out of luck. 

I believe that community councils are an excellent way to get residents involved in local government, but it needs community participation to function well.  I attended the Lazy Mountain Community Council tonight.  It was held at the Lazy Mountain Bible Church on Clark-Wolverine Road.  At this meeting there was a sparse turnout, but Chairman Jim Sykes reported much better participation earlier in the year.

The Lazy Mountain Community Council has their own website here.  On it they show the agenda and report on each meeting. This is an excellent way to keep the community informed.  Here is a copy of their comprehensive: Lazy Mountain Comprehensive Plan,  On their website I noticed a plan for the Wolverine Lake Trail Access.  This trail may go right next to a fantastic lakefront property I am marketing.  

Not only is it normal to have low community participation in the community councils, often the council will restrict who can vote.  For example, I received a report today that the Meadow Lakes Community Council restricts voting members to residents of the area.  So you could own a rental property in the area but not be allowed to vote.  However, your renters will be able to vote to determine what you can do with the property they rent from you.  Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  Here is the Meadow Lakes Comprehensive Plan.  You will notice that it is over 300 pages, while the Lazy Mountain plan is 72 pages.  If you live there, you might want to read it carefully.

I searched the web for other community council websites but only found a defunct site for the Butte Community Council. .  If you want to know what is going on in your area you will need to dig.  You can start with the Borough’s list of community councils here.

The final step for the community councils is some sort of zoning.  Meadow Lakes Community Council is in the middle of that right now.  The borough will eventually have zoning over all of it’s millions of acres of land.   The question is, will you have a say in the rule changes, or will you let someone else make the rules for you?

 

Yesterday I looked at the market trends for the Knik-Goose Bay Road area.  You can see that here.

Today I have the numbers for Palmer and Wasilla.  The first chart is Wasilla and the second chart is for Palmer. These are based on the specific map areas of Palmer and Wasilla. 

You will notice that the Wasilla area has more sales than Palmer.  The reason becomes obvious when you look at the maps, there just are more developments in the Wasilla map area.  The total sales volume is down about 18% from last year and down about 25% from the high in 2006.   However the median sales price is only down about 2% from the high in 2005.

Year	Total Sold	Average Price	Median Price
2003	468	180,862	165,063
2004	477	193,244	175,000
2005	492	220,412	208,500
2006	559	241,604	225,000
2007	520	241,885	224,975
2008	422	238,343	219,950

 The chart below is for Palmer.  Palmer’s sales volume is done about 27% from the high in 2005.  In 2005 and 2006 Hall Quality Homes was building a lot of homes in several developments.  That building is still going on but at a slower pace.

Prices are also hanging in there in Palmer with the median price almost unchanged from the high of 2006.  That is an interesting statistic that will bear watching as we go through this winter.

Year	Total Sold	Average Price	Median Price
2003	195	155,802	158,600
2004	238	190,567	177,076
2005	257	209,520	197,900
2006	242	221,035	213,500
2007	219	230,208	212,000
2008	186	233,459	213,200

The study of sales and prices show that the Matanuska Valley is weathering the real estate market quite well.  There is a lower volume of sales but they haven’t died.  The values are certainly holding their own better than the stock market has been doing lately.

With the increase in gas prices this last year I thought I would take a look at the sales numbers for the homes in the Knik-Goose Bay area for the year so far.  This includes the Knik-Goose Bay Road area out to and including Settlers Bay.

For Realtors and others familiar with the Mat-Su Boroughs tax maps, these include OC3, OC4, and HO16.  You can see the borough maps yourself here.

This area was one of the fastest growing in the Matanuska-Susitna Boroughs which is itself the fastest growing area in Alaska.

You can see that the sales volume, (total sales), was amazingly steady from 2004–2007.  It dropped off this year to the same volume as 2003. Prices increased steadily until 2008 with a huge jump from 2005 to 2006.

Year	Total Sold	Average Price	Median Price
2003	125	152,093	153,900
2004	184	171,750	164,583
2005	183	190,101	179,600
2006	183	211,934	205,000
2007	182	214,152	207,000
2008	128	214,048	195,500

I don’t think that this years decrease in volume can be necessarily attributed to gas prices alone.  Obviously we have seen a drop in sales volume across the board.  It is also obvious that we are not seeing a real estate crash, the volume is still as good as 2003 which we thought at the time was a very healthy sales climate.

I will take a look at the core area between Wasilla and Palmer for a comparison tomorrow.  For a comparison to the whole borough you can look at the study I did at the end of September.