I live in Wenatchee and by NCW I mean the NCW Housing Market 2023, around Wenatchee and a 50 mile radius.As we know, 2023 was a difficult year. Rates dampened sellers interest to sell.  Buyers frustrated with cost, rates and low inventory. In fact I read someplace that the average agent in the US had 2 or fewer transactions in 2023. Bringing it home we had roughly 430 agents in our Assn. The one in the exact middle had about 3.8 transactions.BUT the year wasn't all glum. Rates today are 1.5-2% lower than last Sept. My particular market (from Spark on NWMLS) shows that at 12/31/2023 average prices were up from same date 2022. (less than $10,000 but still up) . We were turning inventory in about 90 days including loan ( NAR says 180 days is a buyers market).But regardless of the market he... 02/12/2024

Renting out your vacation home as a short term rental has long been a popular idea in the Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee area. Both the city of Leavenworth and Chelan County have rules regulating vacation rentals and airbnbs so I decided it makes a lot of sense to spell out the differences for local home buyers.You can read the first of my posts here: Leavenworth vacation rental rules 06/28/2022

A big snow in January caused a delay in listings but buyer demand continues to cause home prices to soar in Leavenworth.    The average sale price in Leavenworth in Q1 was... $935,000! See all the details in our latest post: https://iciclecreekrealestate.com/2022-leavenworth-home-prices-first-quarter-report/ 06/28/2022

 Leavenworth home prices continued their meteoric rise throughout 2021.  The average single family home in Leavenworth sold for $819,000 in 2021 which is up 13% from $722,000. The median sales price in 2021 for Leavenworth is up to $705,000 from $620,000.Demand remained very high and supply was extremely low.  While making predictions during a global pandemic seems unwise, it seems likely that we will see similar conditions locally in 2022.For my full analysis, please the read the article posted on my Leavenworth real estate blog.2021 Leavenworth Home Prices   01/14/2022

With summer temps in the 90s and even as hot as 120 degrees this summer, more and more home buyers are considering purchasing a condo in Wenatchee with a pool.  There are a number of public pools in the Wenatchee Valley, but many condo associations do have neighborhood swimming pools for the exclusive use of their members.Want to learn more? We recently posted on our blog about which condos in Wenatchee have pools. I hope this is a good resource for homebuyers in Wenatchee looking for condos especially if having a pool is an important amenity. 08/17/2021

Looking for a 55 and older community in Wenatchee? Curious about how 55 and older communities work and who is allowed to live there? I've got all the details covered in my recent article over on our Wenatchee condo blog. What is a 55 and older community? For those who are wondering, there are two 55 and older condo communities in East Wenatchee and two in Wenatchee. Ambercrest - East WenatcheeStoneridge - East WenatcheeCherry Lane Condos - WenatcheeContinental Condos - Wenatchee 07/29/2021

 What does it take to win a bidding war in Leavenworth's very competitive housing market?  I looked at the sales and listing data for 2021 YTD and found that 36% of homes are selling for above asking price in 2021. These homes sold for 6% more than the list price, on average, which is $38,000. You can read all the details in the newest article on my blog: How much should I offer above the listing price on a house in Leavenworth? 06/01/2021

Bidding wars are more and more common in 2021 and the Wenatchee Valley is no different. The average single family home in the Wenatchee metro area is selling for 2% higher than the list price in the first part of the year. What about the condominium market? In our latest blog post we answer the question on everyone's mind: How much should I offer over asking price on a Wenatchee Condo? The answer may surprise you. Only about 1/3 of Wenatchee condos are selling above asking price and the average condo is selling for a slight discount.   04/21/2021

Are you watching the housing market and wondering when there will be new Wenatchee condos for sale? Inventory is at an all time low and right now (mid April 2021) there are actually ZERO condominiums on the market in either Wenatchee or East Wenatchee. Are you worried that you might miss an opportunity to buy a condo when one becomes available? We can email you new condos for sale in Wenatchee as soon as they hit the market. Sign up here to get an email the first thing in the morning when new condos come on the market.   04/20/2021

We recently interviewed Don Hester of NCW Home Inspections for our Wenatchee Condo Blog. We asked him the questions that most buyers seem to have.  Do you need to conduct a home inspection on a condo? Doesn't the HOA take care of all repairs? How long will the inspection take? What are common issues you find? What's the strangest thing you have found?  You can read more about condo home inspections on our website.    03/27/2021

Big shout out to Wenatchee photographer Travis Knoop for his help on our new Wenatchee condo website.  We have worked with Travis for a decade now and his photos really do a great job helping us tell stories.His drone photos of Wenatchee condos show off the incredible views of the local landmarks like Saddle Rock and Castle Rock and of the nearby Columbia River. Our neighborhood pages that describe local condo associations really shine thanks to his incredible images.Here are a couple of my favorites. 03/13/2021

What's the best month to list your condo for sale in Wenatchee? In our latest Wenatchee condo blog we tackly the question:When is the best time to sell a condo in Wenatchee? We compared the inventory and the number of new homes listed each month over the past 5 years. What month do you think is best for listing a house for sale? 03/10/2021

I'm excited to share my new Wenatchee Condo website with readers of Active Rain. I wa surprised that no one had built this resource for condo buyers in Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. We have tons of neighborhood info from places like Ambercrest and the Legends in East Wenatchee to Fontanelle and the Racquet Club Condos in Wenatchee.  We hope to have a condo blog as well and will write content that we hope can be a great resource. Please stop by and take a look. We would love your feedback. 03/08/2021

Across the country, buyer demand for homes skyrocketed and inventory remained at record lows throughout 2020.  Locations popular for vacation homes, like Leavenworth, turned into “zoomtowns” and folks decided to relocate and work from home and homeschool in a new location, away from the big city.This massive increase in demand, coupled with an existing lack of homes for sale, made for an extreme seller’s market.  2020 Leavenworth home prices, for both average and median home prices, reached dizzying new heights in 2020. The average Leavenworth home price was up 35% to $722,000 and the median sales price was also up 27% from $489,000 to $620,000.While there was much talk of this price increase being driven by the lack of homes for sale in Leavenworth, the number of sold homes tells a dif... 02/04/2021

Wenatchee Home InspectorFear of Crack- Fireplace Chimney Flues Tiles One very common and potentially dangerous situation is a cracked chimney flue liner. During a home inspection one the items I am looking for are cracked tiles. The signs can often be subtle or even hidden behind creostoe that may have built up on the flue liner.The chimney flue is the narrow passageway in which the combustion byproducts of the fire are removed. The construction and operation of the entire chimney system needs a proper design and function so that smoke and toxic fumes exit the chimeny and home. The main purpose of the flue liner  is  to protec the combustible parts of the home. Escaping heat from the chimney can lead to pyrolysis. Pyrolysis can decompose materials within reach simply with heat and oxyge... 02/25/2020

Branch Circuit Extension on Older Ungrounded Wiring SystemsThe Wenatchee Home Inspector   This is one of of those dilemmas when purchasing an older home, dealing with an older electrical system. Homes pre -1960's (1962 to be more exact) typically will have no grounding conductor for the wiring system, or if they do such as later 1950's wiring, they often cut the ground off because they did not know what to do with it.The issue was these older systems where designed for their era. We did not have all the electronics and needs from an electrical system we have today. So quite often people get into their new home and need to make some upgrades to the system to handle their modern needs.(What is a Sufficient Number of Receptacles? A historical review). As the example in the photo often peop... 02/22/2020

 Such a simple plumbing item to do but so often done incorrectly... enter the fixture trap. Plumbing fixture traps are devices that keeps a small amount of liquid every time the fixtures is used in it to create a trap seal.The amount of retained liquid is called a trap seal. Without a trap to seal off plumbing fixtures, unwanted and nasty things such as methane gas and vermin can creep into the house.In addition to a trap seal you want the trap to be self scouring or better stated self cleaning.These need to be properly installed to function properly. Under normal conditions, traps are required to have a seal depth between 2 inches up to 4 inches. As the seal depth increases, so does the pressure required to push the fluid through the trap. If the pressure is too great, the water from a... 02/16/2020

I am being polarizing; two prong outlets in older homes                                            Well I am like the little kid with the bobby pin running around sticking stuff into places. That is what is it seem like when I get into older home and have to check the old twp prong electrical receptacles.As a home inspector I get paid to do this, how fun is that!                                   (Notice the left slot(neutral) is wider than the right)But I started thinking… did you know that many of these older receptacles are polarized? These polarized receptacles have a hot (small slot) and neutral slot (larger slot) and no ground (that is the round hole you don’t see). Polarized receptacles were widely used in homes from the 1920’s onward but not always.So when I am inspecting an old... 07/22/2019

 Living Small in a Big Way- Tiny HomesWenatchee Home Inspections Tiny home seems to be more and more appealing to many looking for a comfortable space on a small footprint and a smaller budget. The problem is the codes have to now deal with these smaller than normal spaces. Enter the 2018 IRC and Appendix Q. Now, most areas have not yet adopted the 2018 code and it may be a while for many. For Washington, the anticipated effective date for the 2018 codes is July 1, 2020.Tiny home design from www.tumbleweedhouses.comHere is a couple of section from the code to give you a feel and what can be expected.From the 2018 IRC Appendix Q- About this appendix: Appendix Q relaxes various requirements in the body of the code as they apply to houses that are 400 square feet in area or less. Attention... 01/19/2019

                          Bighorns of the Swakane Wenatchee Home InspectionsOne of the joys I get is seeing the bighorn sheep from time to time. Here are a few photos that I captured on a return trip from Lake Chelan.       “Sheep, like people, are ungovernable when hungry.” John Muir  If you find any errors or have additional information that would expand on any code, building standards or manufacturer requirements please let me know.   NCW Home Inspections, LLC  is a Licensed Washington State Home Inspection service located in Wenatchee Washington serving Chelan County, Douglas County, Kittitas County, Okanogan County and Grant County Washington and the cities of Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, Oroville, Cle Elum, East Wenatchee, Quincy and many more…   Your Wenatchee and Chelan Pro... 01/16/2019