Wasilla and Palmer Deals Of The Week… Revived November 28th, 2007
Wasilla Real Estate News
Deals Of The Week
I am reviving the “Deals Of The Week”, (DOTW), with a couple new rules.
- 1. Just because I say its a deal doesn’t mean that you should buy it “sight unseen”. I am only looking at the MLS. In most cases I am not physically previewing these properties.
- 2. To qualify for DOTW, within the past week the property must have either been newly listed, come back on the market, or had the price lowered. This is based on the assumption that if a property was truly a “deal” it would not last more than a week on the market.
Please keep these rules in mind when checking out these properties.
This past week was a slow one for listings so there are only two interesting properties
- 4150 N Barbara Street, $85,000, 2 bedroom, 2.3 acres with frontage on Cottonwood Creek, listed with Lou Kaminski, Distinctive Properties.
- 12235 Little John Drive, $159,000, 3 bedroom home, 4 car garage (quonset) Listed with Dave Johnson, Fishhook Realty
Give me a call to see any of these properties. 907 232–7900
Monday Morning Market Memo, Nov 19-26, 2007 November 26th, 2007
Wasilla Real Estate News Statistics for the week of Nov 19–26, 2007
All the numbers took a drastic downturn this past Thanksgiving week. There were only 8 new listings which is the lowest number since I started the Monday Market Memo last January. I’m sure the holiday had a lot to do with this. We will likely see slower activity between now and Christmas.
| Average Price | DOM | ||
| New | 8 | $232,005 | . |
| Total Active | 845 | . | . |
| Pending | 14 | $281,432 | 122 |
| Closed | 23 | $204,107 | 52 |
As you would expect, pretty much all the new listings are houses that people have to sell for one reason or another. They are moving in winter, losing their home, or just finished a spec home. There still are quite a few buyers out there ready to look at new listings so a good house entering the market at this time of year will grab peoples attention.
The total amount of listings is also down and probably will continue to drop until January or February.
Don’t Turn Down the Mat-Su Acre November 25th, 2007
A search for properties in the Mat-Su Valley for one acre or more will leave out the majority of the developed lots. A little digging will turn up a curious fact, most developments are made up of lots that are just under one acre. In fact, the lots are less than an acre but greater than 9/10ths of an acre. We call that lot a “Mat-Su Acre”.
A Mat-Su borough ordinance requires any lot that uses an on-site well and septic system contain at least 40,000 square feet. An acre is 43,560 square feet. Most developers divide their subdivisions into lots that are just over the 40,000 square foot minimum size. If they do that with 12 lots, they have another 40,000 square foot lot to sell.
Very little of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough is served by water and sewer utilities so the developers have to allow for private wells and septic systems. My lot, shown above, has a well and septic system on site. All my neighbors also have their own systems. If you are hoping to find an acre or more of land in the Palmer or Wasilla areas that is on public water and sewer you are going to be disappointed.
Take a look at the google satellite map of the core area, almost everyone in the photo is on a private well and septic system. Palmer is on the east edge and Wasilla is on the west edge of the map. Both cities have city water and sewer, but most of us are not served by those systems. We need our own systems so we need at least 40,000 square feet of land.
Make sure to look at lots of 40,000 square feet or more when you are doing your search. If you don’t you will eliminate many great properties.
Related articles:
Alaska Land, How Much Do You Want?
Wells in the Mat-Su Valley
Monday Morning Market Memo, 11/12-11/19 2007 November 19th, 2007
Wasilla Real Estate News
November 12-19, 2007 Market Statistics
The market continues to hum along steadily without a significant winter slowdown so far. We will probably see the new listing numbers drop as people celebrate the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
As I have mentioned before, although the new listings usually show a significant decline during that time of the year, buyers do not stop looking. If a good house hits the market buyers will be all over it. This is actually a good time to put a well priced, clean home on the market. You will have less competition.
| Average Price | DOM | ||
| New | 32 | $234,244 | . |
| Total Active | 866 | . | . |
| Pending | 21 | $221,676 | 115 |
| Closed | 27 | $210,089 | 80 |
New construction is still a significant part of our market. In the last two months new construction homes have been about 1/3 of all the homes that have sold. That is not down significantly from the hot new construction market of a few years ago…CLARIFICATION: After I posted this I realized that this is misleading. While the percentage of new homes is not down significantly, the whole market, including new construction is off by about 20% or so from two years ago.
What has changed about new construction is the fact that more of those new homes are pre-solds. Pre-solds are what we call new homes that are sold before construction begins. A buyer contracts with a builder to have a house built. The builder does not start on the construction until the home is under contract.
Pre-solds are contrasted with “specs”. A “spec home” is one that is built on speculation by the builder hoping that he can sell it when it is finished. About 20 percent of the current homes on the market are “spec homes”.
It is obvious that a significant portion of the buyers are turning down the existing homes to opt for a new house. New homes are still competing with the rest of the market although builders have had to sharpen their pencils to keep prices competitive.
We wrote an offer last week on a pre-sold and have a spec home on the market with hopes to have it finished by the end of February. If you would like help with a new construction home give either Marty or Jay a call at 907 373–0999. That number rings both of our cell phones.
Cottonwood Shores, Wasilla Alaska November 18th, 2007
Cottonwood Shores is one of the largest subdivisions in the Mat-Su Borough. It is just east of Wasilla on the North shore of Cottonwood Lake. Click on the map to the left to get an idea of it?s location, or for a detail map with all the street names click here.
There are over 550 lots in this subdivision and most of them have houses on them. If you assume only 2 people per house that is more than 1000 people in this subdivision. That would make it larger than most of the towns in Alaska. Only 26 towns in Alaska have populations larger than 1,000.
Most of the houses were built in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The average price of the homes in Cottonwood Shores is about $180,000 which makes it a very affordable place to live. Most of the homes have at least 3 bedrooms and they are on 3/4ths of an acre or more. The homes along the lake are much more expensive and are also much larger.
Finger Lake Elementary School borders Cottonwood Shores on the East. Many students walk to school. The middle school and high school are both Colony Schools. The bus does come through the subdivision to pick up children.
Our family used to live in Cottonwood Shores and one of the most enjoyable things was to take the canoe out on the Cottonwood Lake. The lake is fairly large with Cottonwood Creek flowing in one side and out the other. Some nice wild rainbow trout are in this lake if you like to fish. Salmon also run through the lake in the summer but are not legal to fish for because they are spawning.
There are currently about 10 homes for sale in Cottonwood Shores. Give me a call if you would like to find out more about this great subdivision. My cell is 907 232?7900
Marty Van Diest, Tele 907.232.7900 / marty[at]valleymarket[dot]com
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