Great Affordable Housing

Fabulous work! A great addition to Spokane real estate.

clipped from www.kxly.com Spokane Urban Ministries unveils Walnut Corners SPOKANE -- A new apartment complex opened in in the West Central neighborhood Thursday that will help fill a need for affordable housing in Spokane. James Kashork is the president of the board of Spokane Urban Ministries, a non-profit created by four local Lutheran churches behind Spokane's newest affordable housing complex dubbed Walnut Corners, a 47-unit complex with one to three bedroom apartments built for people struggling to survive on $300 a month or less. "These are most likely the folks who are on the lowest end of the income scale in the city of Spokane," Kashork said. The complex also includes a community garden and residents will learn to grow vegetables and then they will all share the food grown here. Workers are also just completing a ground floor space that will house a small grocery store and coffee shop.

Spokane Real Estate Marketing Rally

The Spokane real estate market is showing some promising signs of coming back to life. With low interest rates, good prices, and a great inventory it really is a great time to buy a home in Spokane.

clipped from www.spokesman.com Housing markets rally for rebound Home sales rise in June in U.S. and Spokane, Kootenai counties Mike Prager mikep@spokesman.com, (509) 459-5454 New figures on U.S. housing sales indicate the housing market may be starting to rebound, and recent sales figures in Spokane and Kootenai counties suggest the local housing market is picking up. The U.S. Commerce Department said Monday new-home sales rose 11 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000 houses, from a May rate of 346,000, which was higher than previously thought. It was the third straight month of increases. However, the median sales price of $206,200 was down 12 percent from $234,300 a year earlier. At the same time, the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes increased 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units in June from a downwardly revised pace of 4.72 million in May, but were 0.2 percent lower than the 4.90 million-unit level in June 2008.

Foreclosures up but still less than average

Spokane is well known for its steady real estate market, that it's foreclosure numbers show less of a swing than other areas is typical of the market in Spokane.

clipped from www.spokesman.com Spokane’s foreclosure rate has doubled, company says A service that tracks mortgage activity says Spokane homes are being foreclosed at twice the rate they were one year earlier. According to May 2009 data from First American CoreLogic, 3 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent, compared with a 1.5 percent rate for May 2008. The company also noted that in the 12-month period from June 2008 to May, Spokane saw 3,592 foreclosure filings, or 9.8 a day. That compares to the previous 12 months from June 2007 to May 2008, when there were 1,992 foreclosure filings, or 5.5 a day. The company also noted that Washington’s delinquency rate for May was 3.8 percent. The national rate for the month was 6.5 percent, according to a release from First American CoreLogic. The company’s foreclosure rates are adjusted to take out all nonactive or paid-in-full mortgages. It claims that system produces a more accurate rate when looking only at active home loans.

Federal Government in Action

Laudable goal, but I'm not sure this will stimulate the economy the way they promised.

clipped from www.spokesman.com Stimulus benefits housing for poor Federal cash may ensure completion of affordable units When Salem Lutheran Church in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood started looking at what really was the best use for land it owned behind and across the street from the church, the answer was simple: low-income housing. That’s what already occupied some of the property, but only on a small scale “Now, instead of 14 units, there are 47 units, which will be a real blessing, we think, to the community and to these folks we’re serving,” said the Rev. Tom Soeldner, pastor at Salem Lutheran. Some of the former residents are moving back into the new units. In a city that lost about 200 units of affordable housing in the past two years due to market-rate development, a combination of federal, state, local and private funds along with the work of numerous groups brought the Walnut Corners project together, in what Soeldner called “kind of a miracle story, as far as timing is concerned.”

Home Foreclosure Legal Help Available

Need help to prevent home foreclosure. Try this:

clipped from www.spokesman.com Program offers foreclosure legal help June 24, 2009 Thomas Clouse tomc@spokesman.com, (509) 459-5495 A new legal assistance program aims to help homeowners facing foreclosure. The Home Foreclosure Legal Aid Project is available to those who need legal advice to sort through the foreclosure process Penny Youde, executive director of the Spokane County Bar Association, said the local economy has had different challenges than elsewhere in the state. “We did not have the decrease in home values as much,” Youde said. “We haven’t noticed a lot more calls from people asking for that. But we are anticipating (more foreclosures) as people lose their jobs.” The Foreclosure Legal Aid Project is coordinated by the Washington State Bar Association. For more information, call toll-free (877) 894-HOME (4663) or go to www.wsba.org. For local legal help, contact the Spokane County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Program at (509) 324-0144 from 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays or 1 to 4 p.m. Thursdays.

Homes Sales Up, Prices Down

It is a buyer's market, when will you start looking?

clipped from www.spokesman.com Home sales rising in West The Spokesman-Review Los Angeles – Home sales in the Western region of the country posted a 9 percent annual increase in May as homebuyers jumped on low interest rates and falling prices, according to two reports released Tuesday. Foreclosures and other distressed sales continued to drag down the median home sales price in the West. It tumbled more than 30 percent from May of last year to $197,700 – the biggest drop in any region. That helped pull the national median down nearly 17 percent to $173,000, the National Association of Realtors said. Nationally, sales rose slightly from April to May, but were roughly 7 percent below year-ago levels, without adjusting for seasonal factors. Home sales in the West have posted annual increases every month going back to at least last summer, when many first-time homebuyers and investors began snapping up sharply discounted bank-owned properties in Arizona, Nevada and California.

Spokane Real Estate Investor - Richest Spokanite

Harlan Douglass made his fortune as the biggest Spokane real estate developer. Sold his Eagle Hardware to Lowes and owns a reported 40% of INB.

clipped from www.businessweek.com Who Are the Richest People in Town? Every town has a richest person. Do you know who the richest person in your town is? Have you ever wondered who the richest man in town is? Some of these individuals, like Gates, were well-known. His $40 billion fortune has established him as the richest man in Seattle, if not the world, for more than a decade. But what about the richest man in Spokane, Washington State's second-biggest city? According to Jones, it is Harlan D. Douglass, the largest real estate developer in town, who also sits on the board of Northwest Bank (NBCT) and invests in local companies such as Eagle Hardware & Garden. Bet you didn't know that.