Wasilla Real Estate News, Valley Market Real Estate

It’s EASY to buy a house in Wasilla June 12th, 2008

Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Market Trends

I showed a house last Friday to a couple that had already made up their mind. They wanted this house. They didn’t want to look at any other houses because this one was perfect.

In fact it was so perfect they wanted it just the way it was.  The seller was planning to sell some furniture, lawn mowers, and other personal items at a garage sale.  The buyer wanted it all…and they wanted it now.  The seller agreed to only take her clothes, a couple clocks and some pots and pans.  She left the dishes in the cupboards and the food in the fridge.

The buyers wanted to write a check and move in the same day.

It easy, but it’s not that easy.  Some things need to be done:

• You need to know the exact pay-off figures for the sellers loan.  In this case the seller had a first and second deed of trust.  The lenders for each were notoriously slow in giving pay off information.  One lender was the US Government and you know how slow they usually are.  This is where an experienced title company came in handy.  Mat-Su Title was able to get both pay-offs within three days. 
• You also need to know that the seller has a right to sell, and that no one else has a lien on the property.  For this you need a title report.  Mat-Su Title got that done in one day.
• Then you need to actually sign the closing documents.  In a cash sale there are not many documents, but they still need to be done correctly. 

We closed today, and the transaction records tomorrow…one week.   The closing took 15 minutes at the title company, total closing costs for the buyer…$179.

Not bad for a deal with two different lenders that needed to be payed off. Not bad for the seller either…she doesn’t have much to pack.  Tomorrow morning she just loads her clothes in her truck and drives away.

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Off The Grid In Alaska June 11th, 2008

Categories: Alaskana

People have been producing their own energy in Alaska for long time.  The photo to the left, of Holikachuk in the 1950s, shows two wind generators spinning on top of wooden towers.

Today, the independent minded use wind, solar, and diesel to power their homes.  Or some of them go low-tech with kerosene lamps, wood stoves and out houses. 

It’s probably simplest and the least expensive to forgo the modern conveniences and make do without plumbing and power, but for many that just isn’t acceptable. We like to flip the switch and see the light.  We also like indoor plumbing.

I recently talked with Ricky Wilder in Chickaloon.  He and his family live in a modern log home with in-floor heat a long way from the nearest power line.  They heat their home and detached garage with a central boiler from Frontier Heating Concepts in Palmer.

Electricity is supplied by batteries to light the home, run the pumps for the heat, and take care of all the other appliances normally found in a modern home.  The batteries are charged by a combination of solar panels, a wind generator, and very occasionally a diesel generator. 

I was most interested in the fact that much of the Wilder’s power comes from the sun.  We tend to forget that for six months of the year, we get more daylight than anyone south of us.  That daylight can generate electricity. 

In fact, Wilder reports useful solar power from February through October.  He likes solar so much that he plans to increase his solar array this year.  There are only three months of the year when he depends almost completely on the wind generator. 

When the wind is blowing…and it blows often at their hilltop location…that wind turbine is really humming.  It keeps the batteries charged easily. 

Ricky Wilder and his son Jordan have been fine tuning his system and helping others with theirs since they purchased their home.  They are currently working on a book about wind power and solar power.  If you would like to talk to them just drop them a line at akricky(the @ sign)yahoo.com.

Holikachuk photo compliments of celebratechar.org

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Wasilla Real Estate Statistics for June 2 through June 9, 2008 June 9th, 2008

Categories: Monday Market Memo

The real estate activity for Wasilla, Palmer, and the rest of the Mat-Su Borough for the week was very similar to last week. 

For the second week in a row there were more closings than pendings.  We had a record number of new listings for the week.  Eighty nine new listings and only 23 new pendings.  That brought our total inventory up to almost 900.  This is a great market if you are a buyer.

However we are still selling about 100 houses a month.  These houses are the ones that are priced right.  Buyers have about 9 houses to look at for every one that they buy. 

Last week saw several houses over 400K close.   That is good.  For the year so far, there have been 26 closings over $400K…there are 133 on the market.  So there is two and one-half years worth of inventory on the market in that price range.

Compare that to the under $200K market in the Wasilla and Palmer  There have been 173 closings so far and there are 171 on the market.  That is an inventory of about 5 months.  That is the active market and will continue to be the most active market for the rest of the year.

Most of the houses that sell are motivated sellers.  These are people who really want their house to be sold.  They will work with you to structure a deal that works  I’m almost finished with my list for the week if you want to sign up.

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Wasilla Real Estate Statistics, May 26-June3, 2008 June 2nd, 2008

Categories: Monday Market Memo

For Palmer, Wasilla, Houston, Willow, Talkeetna and the whole Mat-Su Borough, here are the stats for the week.  These are single family residential homes that have pended, closed or been listed this past week.

We ended up with 3 times as many new listings as there were closings this week.  This week for the first time in a long time there were more closings than pendings.  Neither of those are good signs for our market.

With a market like this, sellers need to be serious about selling. I wrote about this in a previous post,  Price it right or don’t bother… this is even more true now than it was then.

If you would like an unbiased market value report of your house…give me a call or drop me a line.  I would be happy to meet with you.  My cell number is 907–232–7900.

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Fowler Oil And Gas Begins Work June 1st, 2008

Categories: Wasilla Real Estate News

Fowler Oil and Gas dropped off equipment at the Kircher Farm just off Trunk Road over the weekend to begin building the access to a drilling pad.  They plan to drill for coal bed methane on this site.

They will be using different drilling methods than those proposed by Evergreen Resources which was basically driven out of the valley four years ago.  The wells will be a minimum of 1000 feet deep and any there will be no water pumped to the surface.

There is huge potential for coal bed methane development here in the Mat-Su Borough.  Fowler has multiple future drill sites leased if this first one is encouraging.  Here’s hoping that Fowler can find enough gas to supply South-Central Alaska and even the rest of the state. 

Next thing you know we’ll be arguing about who is going to build a pipeline from Palmer to Chicago…OK, that might be stretching it a little.

More about Fowler Oil and Gas

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