Leavenworth Real Estate Blog

Another beautiful day in Leavenworth, another day marketing Leavenworth real estate.  I have been doing this job for about twenty-seven years.  Before that I didn’t think I would stay at any job for more than two years, much to my wife’s displeasure. I had managed to stick with the U.S. Coast Guard for four years, then the UW for another four but beyond that nothing seemed to hold my interest.  Somewhere around the end of my college career I invested in some real estate in Merry Canyon which lies north of Leavenworth.  That investment was an instant success and I was hooked.  Real estate, especially Leavenworth real estate, seemed like a most exciting adventure.  I started this company about twenty-five years ago. It has been quite a ride, coming from the recession of the early eighties and through all the innovative and scary banking debacles to get finally to this point.  Along the way I have learned a lot about real estate brokerage and a lot about people.   Prudential Mike West Real Estate is now and has always been the biggest and busiest and most trusted real estate brokerage in this area. If you want quality real estate in the Leavenworth area, we have it.  All of my agents and associate brokers were hand chosen by me, not so much for their sales skills, they are all well educated professionals,  but more for their character and integrity.  In dealing with anyone from Prudential Mike West Real Estate you will be in the place that Allstate Insurance made so familiar, you will be in good hands.  – Mike West

Another beautiful day in Leavenworth, another day marketing Leavenworth real estate.  I have been doing this job for about twenty-seven years.  Before that I didn’t think I would stay at any job for more than two years, much to my wife’s displeasure. I had managed to stick with the U.S. Coast Guard for four years, then the UW for another four but beyond that nothing seemed to hold my interest.  Somewhere around the end of my college career I invested in some real estate in Merry Canyon which lies north of Leavenworth.  That investment was an instant success and I was hooked.  Real estate, especially Leavenworth real estate, seemed like a most exciting adventure.  I started this company about twenty-five years ago. It has been quite a ride, coming from the recession of the early eighties and through all the innovative and scary banking debacles to get finally to this point.  Along the way I have learned a lot about real estate brokerage and a lot about people.   Prudential Mike West Real Estate is now and has always been the biggest and busiest and most trusted real estate brokerage in this area. If you want quality real estate in the Leavenworth area, we have it.  All of my agents and associate brokers were hand chosen by me, not so much for their sales skills, they are all well educated professionals,  but more for their character and integrity.  In dealing with anyone from Prudential Mike West Real Estate you will be in the place that Allstate Insurance made so familiar, you will be in good hands.  – Mike West

1.  Pay special attention to the front door, which is considered one of the most powerful aspects of the entire property.  Besides being the first impression from a buyer; abundance, blessings, opportunities, and good fortune enter through the front door. Make sure the area is swept clean of cobwebs and clutter, properly lighted, or better yet, light the path leading to the door to create an inviting atmosphere.2.  Chi energy can be flushed away wherever there are drains in the home. So always keep the toilet seats down.

3.  In the master bedroom, it is better if you can place the bed diagonally in the farthest corner.  Paint the room in colors that promote serenity, relaxation, and romance.4.  The dining room symbolizes the energy and power of family togetherness.  Make sure the table is clear and uncluttered and use an attractive tablecloth to enhance the look of the table while also softening sharp corners.

5.  The windows are considered to be the eyes of the home. Getting the windows professionally cleaned will make the home sparkle and ensure that the view will be optimally displayed.

Source: Sell Your Home Faster With Feng Shui by Holly Ziegler (Dragon Chi Publications, 2001 

-Stephanie Cuthill, Realtor, Prudential Mike West Real Estate
Selling real estate in and around Leavenworth, WA for 9 years.

Well, at least I thought I did.  If necessity is the mother of invention then I guess I could place some of the blame or credit there. 

It all started back in about 1984.  I was showing a cabin to some folks who lived and worked in the Seattle area and would be using it for a getaway place.  They said they would only be using it a few days a month, perhaps two weekends, and were trying to justify the mortgage payment for such minimal use.  Ultimately they decided it was just too much monthly outlay to put toward something they would use sporadically and so walked away.

 It wasn’t the first time I had heard that concern from potential purchasers of recreational properties.  I began to ponder just how to make those places more affordable.  There were only a few factors to work with.  Either the sellers had to come down to about half price in order  to make the difference or the bank would have to loan at ridiculously low rates to reduce the payments and make it work.  Those two entities seemed to be unlikely participants, at least to the degree I needed in order to make a substantial dent in the payment and thus make those properties more affordable.

I ordered my brain to work on the problem and then went about business as usual until the light bulb appeared, comic book style, bringing the solution.  Since people would  be using the homes for only  a few days a month, the home would be available for other users to come, stay, and leave money.  The solution seemed so simple.

 I called a friend who had a gorgeous log home which he hardly used and bounced the idea off him.  It did indeed bounce off him, sort of like bullets off Superman.  He told me I was crazy to imagine someone opening their home, complete with all furnishings, dishes, artwork, lava lamps, and other valuable and prize possessions, to complete strangers.  Haranguing and cajoling did the trick though, well, and me promising to cover any loss or damages, and so the first vacation rental cabin in Chelan County came to be.

It was a fledgling business indeed.  There was no infrastructure, no contracts, no paved road to follow.  There wasn’t even a beaten pathway to guide us.  My wife and I did the cleaning on the first cabin and made the kids help.  They loved it because all kids just love to work.  We learned things that worked and some that didn’t.  There were some wasted motions but pretty soon we had gotten it down to a well oiled process.  Most important of all we learned that people treated the homes as good or better than their own homes.  There was zero theft, minimal damage, perhaps a wine glass or two, and maximum appreciation for their opportunity to enjoy a quality getaway place. 

After that it was easy.  I started a new company called Destination Leavenworth and hired my Cousin Carol Porter to manage it.  We were able to garner a dozen or so cabins to start and added to it as we went.  Maids were hired to help us with the quick turnover required in some instances.  I bought a couple of cabins myself to put into the rental pool.  One of them was a great cabin on Fish Lake which my family was able to use ourselves when it wasn’t being rented out.  The kids enjoyed it immensely and have fond memories of it today.  The part time rental scenario made it possible for all that.

The income on the cabins we managed was adequate to offset the price of purchase to the degree that it enabled many people to own getaway places who otherwise could not have afforded them.  Destination Leavenworth is still in business today and is owned and managed by Dan Eby    If you’re interested in a quality getaway cabin you can reach them at www.destinationleavenworth.com.

So, I don’t know if I actually invented the vacation rental property system but I know it didn’t exist anywhere in my world at that particular time.  There are now more than a thousand overnight rental units in Chelan county which spun off my original idea and company.  Al Gore may have invented the internet and even pants which he can add to his list of accomplishments but I’m claiming vacation rental properties as my own.  Nobel prize material, who knows?  It could happen!!!!! www.prudentialmikewest.com  or  www.leavenworthluxury.com

Salutations, In my never ending quest for knowledge I have been perusing the articles and recent news stories regarding the current debacle over interest rates, housing prices, and inflation. Of course there are many different concepts and rationales from as many experts in their fields. I certainly wouldn’t want to be Ben Bernanke at this moment in history. His task is a daunting one indeed. I haven’t seen a political style cartoon yet of him juggling the many parts of the economy. I can imagine it though and don’t envy him one bit for his perilous position. He is charged with dealing with the problematic housing market, the increasing inflation, a stock market which seems fickle at best, fluctuating unemployment figures and pressure from every quadrant to “just fix it.” Often though what’s good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander when it comes to the economy. To improve one segment of the economy might well cause another to be put in peril. Gentle Ben has lowered the interest rate by one and a quarter points, since the beginning of the year in an attempt to bolster our economic condition. I was hoping to see more of a reduction in the fixed interest rates offered by lenders but that three quarters of a point did not transfer directly to their bottom line, at least in the products offered to borrowers. Perhaps in the spring when speculation says Bernanke will lower rates by at least another quarter of a point, we will begin to see some real deals from banks and mortgage brokers. I will say that recently one broker offered me a five year ARM in the four and a half percent range which is pretty tempting. Truthfully I believe we are all spoiled from years of great rates and easy lenders. Things may be a little bit tighter right now but borrowing is still easy if you have decent credit.  Interest rates are still at a twenty year low. For anyone who can hearken back to days of yesteryear, circa 1982, you might recall seeing interest rates which exceeded twenty percent and then settled in at around sixteen percent. Comparatively we are sitting pretty in today’s economic situation.So what will happen next with the Fed? How will that affect prices? What about inflation if interest rates are further reduced? Well, I think I will go along with the experts I watched on msn.com today. The panel of three agreed that interest rates need to continue to be lowered to further stimulate business and stay away from the specter of recession. They believe that if inflation occurs we can better deal with it from a healthy and robust position rather than one which is sluggish. As those rates are lowered the opportunity to purchase your dream home, investment property, or getaway retreat may reach the affordability range. In that case please keep us here at Prudential Mike West Real Estate in mind. We can handle the details for you and make your transaction a simple and clean experience. We have some amazing homes and properties to consider, a truly fine selection. Check out some of the listings on our web sight at www.prudentialmikewest.com. and see for yourself.Â

My father drove a snow plow for the State Highway Department for over thirty years right here in Leavenworth. He saw some amazing things in those years, some of which he shared with me. I will share some of those stories with you perhaps but not today. I only mention the highway department to tell you about George VanBrocklyn. George was an old timer by anybody’s frame of reference and the lead man at the highway department. His lower lip seemed to  protrude in a way that always made him appear to be casually but completely satisfied. In the conversation I had with him about fifteen years ago when he was around ninety, he told me a story about when he was a young man and he and his father  bought four hundred acres just southeast of Leavenworth in the East Leavenworth area of the valley. He said they bought it to run some dairy cows on and became the laughing stock of town because they paid an astronomical fifty cents per acre for it. He said they ran cows on it for a few years and then decided to sell the property. When they did they had instant redemption and the last laugh all in one fell swoop. “We showed em,” he said “we got a dollar an acre!” When he was telling me that story, of course, he was aware that the value of those very acres was in the vicinity of seventy five thousand per acre. Now, fifteen years later, it is worth more than twice that. Hindsight, it is said, is always twenty twenty. One thing I have learned over the past twenty five plus years in this business (that would be Prudential Mike West Real Estate of course) is that those trends of increasing values has not changed in this area. Not only does Leavenworthhave little private property compared to all the federal ownership surrounding it, but lots of the private land is steep hillside. The result is precious little level or even buildable property available at any one time. That makes the special parcels all the more valuable and all the better an investment potential. You might like to own something as special as Leavenworth area real estate. If so, give us a holler. We are the consummate pros in the Leavenworth area and have the very best the market has to offer. Our main website is Prudential Mike West Real Estate .com. You can look at pictures of most of our gems and see if anything strikes your fancy. George made a shrewd investment here, maybe you can too!

When I walked out of my house this morning I noticed that my ears began to tingle.  Actually it was their way of saying “take us back inside you loon, it’s cold out here! They’re big whiners, my ears. I don’t listen to them much. As it turned out though, they were right this morning. The digital thermometer in my car was saying it was ten degrees. I started my car and went back inside to wait for it to warm up a little and thaw the windshield. If you ever move to Leavenworth you will have to figure a little extra time into your morning regime for warming up your car on cold winter days. Yesterday was beautiful and clear and yes even sunny. Cold clear nights usually follow such gorgeous days though so you have to brace a little for those. I guess its just the price we pay, tit for tat. My friend, Dexter, who also grew up here in beautiful downtown Leavenworth, was just reminding me of a time in about 1964 or maybe 1965 when the thermometer dipped down to about thirty below and stayed there for a week or two. He said he remembers going out and shoveling, wearing just a tee shirt, when it finally warmed up to ten degrees above zero. Luckily we don’t see that kind of weather very often. Today might be a good day to go out and soak up some rays. I need to straighten up some “for sale” signs the snow plows have had their way with anyway. It’s just one of the hazards of selling real estate in snow country. Sometimes after a snow storm just the Prudential “rock” is visible above the snow with the rest of the sign being buried. That’s when some wading is in order. I need to have the “Prudential Mike West Real Estate” boldly visible so that people recognize we have yet another fine property available. We do actually have a pretty nice and varied selection of quality properties available. If you haven’t seen our web site in a while, check it out. The main site is at Prudential Mike West .com. Let us know what you think. www.prudentialmikewest.com