Not long ago, a previously esteemed, and here unnamed, state senator labelled a local Mat-Su Valley citizen, “just more valley trash”.  Not only that, he did it in writing!  That comment spawned T-shirt campaigns, bumper stickers, and practically a whole economy.

Since then, Sarah Palin, former mayor of Wasilla smashed two powerful ex-governors for the right to run Alaska.  The Wasilla High School boys flashed their way to the state championships, Colony, another Mat-Su team came in second.  Wasilla High School Girls bashed their competition to become the girls state champs. Not only that the second most powerful executive position belongs to Attorney General, Talis Colberg, a Palmer resident.

Beth Bragg recently wrote an article  about how Wasilla is no longer the wide spot in the road.  While many Anchorage people still joke about “Wasilla garages”, (a blue tarp), and valley malls, (gravel pits with an espresso stand at one end), she recognizes that the valley is becoming a force in Alaska primarily because of population growth. 

As Niel Fried mentioned, the Valley is growing faster than any other Alaskan community in almost every way.  The valley has the room to grow.  The Mat-Su Borough is larger than many states.  It really is a bedroom community for the entire state of Alaska.  People who work in Anchorage live here, people who work on the oil fields live here, people who work in the fishing industry live here.  And those of us who live and work here, live off of everyone else.

Still, it’s fun to joke about the valley.  A few years ago, some clients from Anchorage who have since become friends fell in love with a Palmer home.  When we went back to the office to write the offer we reviewed the disclosure form.  We were shocked to silence by the disclosure of a brutal murder in the home.  After a few moments of awkwardness I broke the ice with, “what did you expect?, you are moving to the valley after all.”  They bought the house.

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Eddie Sacapano, one of my fellow Realtors at RE/MAX of Wasilla, suggested that I write something about avoiding unexpected problems just before closing.  It seems that he recently had a situation where a VA buyer was qualified by a lender prior to entering into a transaction.  Then, just two days before closing the transaction, Eddie was told by the same lender that the buyer may not qualify for a VA loan because of missing paperwork.  The young family had just moved up from the states intending to live in their house. As you can imagine, they weren’t happy to get this unpleasant news. 

As Realtors, our job is to help make each transaction as smooth as possible.  To do this, we work with many other professionals.  In every transaction we depend on the services of loan professionals, appraisers, inspectors, engineers, surveyors, home owners associations, title companies, contractors, and attorneys.  Our job is to coordinate the actions of all of these people so that nothing is done before it should be, and nothing is late.  

If an appraisal is ordered before the inspection, for example, the money may be wasted because the buyer has every right to cancel the contract if an unexpected problem is discovered by the inspector.  We need to order the survey before the title and engineers job can be finished.  Over time, we develop a working relationship with these people and learn who can be counted upon to get the job done on time and correctly.  

As should be expected when working with humans, someone may forget a deadline, or miss an important detail.  Even Realtors can sometimes make mistakes  J   When this happens, we usually all just get together and work extra hard to make up for lost time.  However, when a professional messes up and blames the problem on someone, or something, else that results I lack of trust.  It often sends us in search of new people to add to our trusted working partners.   

It is important for the buyer, seller, Realtors on both sides of a transaction, and everyone else to work together in good faith.  Problems occur when important details are not communicated to the other parties in the transaction.   

Thankfully, in Eddies situation, he was able to scramble around and by calling the presidents of several title companies, uncover the missing paperwork needed to allow his buyers to qualify for their VA loan and move into their new home. 

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Here are the deals for the week.  It looks like Kevin Crozier has a corner on the market this week, BUT if you have any question on these deals give ME a call.  :-)  

907 232–7900 is my cell phone number.

• $35,000 lot in Serendipity listed by Kevin Crozier, RE/MAX of Wasilla
• $134,900 house in Palmer listed by Kevin Crozer, RE/MAX of Wasilla
• $165,900 house in Timberview listed by Donnie Allen, Century 21 North Homes
• $187,900 house on Palmer-Fishhook by Kevin Crozier, RE/MAX of Wasilla
• $225,000 Chalet in Glacier View by Marty Van Diest, RE/MAX of Wasilla
• $227,000 house in Eagle Estates by Sonja Stoker, Coldwell Banker Best Properties

Check out the deals of the week every week in the Wasilla Real Estate News

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These statistics are for real estate in all of the Matanuska Susitna Borough.  This includes Wasilla and Palmer real estate.  The chart below is for the week of March 19–26, 2007.   The indications for this week are pretty healthy for sellers anyway. Compared to lasts weeks memo the numbers indicate more pending sales and closed sales, higher average prices and a lower total inventory. 

If this keeps up, it could turn into a sellers market again.  You buyers might want to step off the sidelines into the fray while interest rates are still attractive. As I said in this post, a 1% hike in interest rates will cost you quite a bit over time. 

I get a weekly mortgage update from Alice Roe of US Bank in Arizona.  You might want to call her to compare loan costs.  Her number is (800) 839–4025 ext 5565.  Tell her Marty sent you.  Her update shows that interest rates rose last week by about 1/8%.  Buyers already in contract may want to discuss with their lenders the option of locking their interest rates.

Notice the Alaska MLS chart to the right, (click to expand).  It shows that the February inventory is a little less than February of last year.  We had a spike last month but it looks like real estate in the Mat-Su remains healthy while much of the rest of the nation is hurting.

Check out some of the past market memos for comparisons.

AlaskaMLS disclaimer…“This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by, and to, the subscribers of Alaska Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (AK MLS, Inc.). AK MLS, Inc. does not guarantee nor is it in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by AK MLS, Inc. is for its own use and may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. “

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Equestrian Acres is a well established neighborhood about 2 miles east of Palmer on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.  It is an organized community with its own website.  A nice park is in the center of the subdivision.

As you will note from this map, many of the homes in Equestrian Acres are on quiet dead-end streets. There is a nice park in the middle of the subdivision that many of the neighborhood children play in during the summer. 

There are about 230 homes in Equestrian Acres and another 20 or so in and subdivision next door, Equestrian Glen.

As of today, March 24, 2007 there are 8 homes for sale in Equestrian Acres and Equestrian Glen.

Here they are:

• $245,000–$260,000 (range priced) 1768 sq ft, built in 2003.  3 bed, 2 1/2 bath, 2 car garage..  Listed with yours truly, Marty Van Diest, RE/MAX of Wasilla

• 10875 Black Eyed Susan. $269,900 1834 sq ft. built in 2001.  3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage.  Listed with Tammy Ervin Dynamic Properties

• 1893 Citation, $265,000, 1883 sq ft. built in 2003 3 bed, 2 1/2 bath, 3 car garage. Listed with Jo Sonerholm, Prudential Jack White Real Estate.

• 2205 N Verde, $264,900, 2009 sq ft.  Built in 2003. 3 bed 2 1/2 bath, 2 car garage.  Listed with Amy Garrison, Help-U-Sell Matsu

• 2208 N Tobasco Cat, $396,000 2704 sq ft. Built in 2006. 4 bed, 3 bath, 3 car garage.  Listed with Cindy Ziegler, RE/MAX of Wasilla

• 2288 N Verde, $250,000 1890 Sq feet, Built in 2002. 3 bed 2 1/2 bath, 2 car garage. Listed by Kibe Lucas, RE/MAX of Wasilla

• 2310 N Verde, $239,900, 1700 sq ft, built in 2002, 3 bed 2 1/2 bath 2 car garage.  Listed by Helga Larson, RE/MAX of Wasilla

• 2329 N Kelso, $345,000, 1956 sq ft, built in 2004. 3 bed 2 1/2 bath 3 car garage.  Listed by Dan Sacapano. RE/MAX of Wasilla

If you would like to know any more about any of these houses…leave a comment below, click my contact above or call my cell 907 232–7900

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If you need to move from Anchorage to Wasilla, or from Wasilla to Anchorage, you face a catch-22 situation. You need to sell your current home before you can buy the other one.

You basically have three options.

• 1. You can sell your home and move into a rental while you look for your next home.  This option entails a double move.  You need to move into your rental after you sell your home and then you will move into your new home when you eventually find it.  But…this is the best choice if you are easily frazzled.  You will avoid all the hair-raising scenarios in the next two options.  And, you will most likely be able to sell your home for more money and buy the next home for less. You will sell your home for more because you won’t be pressured to accept any old offer that comes in.  You can wait until an acceptable offer arrives and negotiate without any time constraints.  Then when you go to purchase your new home you will be a very strong buyer who can negotiate for a lower price.  You will have the cash from the sale of your home, you won’t have the contingency of selling your home, and you won’t be under pressure to move because you are in a rental.
• 2. You can put your home on the market, and when you finally get a buyer under contract you can go out and find your next home as quickly as possible.  This has the advantage of knowing that you have a sale on your home.  In addition, your offer on the purchased home will be stronger because you will be able to show them an accepted contract and closing date.  A stronger offer means you can negotiate a lower sales price.  The BIG downer to this is that you are under extreme pressure to find a home to purchase if you want to avoid the double move of option one. So you may settle for less of a home than you wanted and you may pay more for it to boot.
• 3. You can take the scariest…and most common option.  You can put your home on the market, and then go shopping for a new one.  You can go into contract on the next home contingent on the sale of your present one.  Then you go back and spruce up your current home, lower the price, hold open houses, and practically beg your realtor to get your house sold.   You will most likely have to pay through the nose for your next home because sellers generally don’t like contingent offers unless they are VERY attractive.  You will have to get your house sold in a hurry so that you can meet the contract date of the newer home. 

There are so many nightmare scenarios in option three that I could write a book about them, in fact, that’s a good idea!  I think I’ve seen most of them by now.  I expect to see the seller/buyer break down and cry, or throw a fit of rage at some time in the transaction.  You pay more in cold hard cash and in frayed nerves by taking this option.  But…most people go this way because they want to find the right house before they sell their own, and they want to avoid the double move.  I say, think again.

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We spent last weekend at the Mountain Man Rendezvous.  This is an annual spring fling for men and their sons in the foothills of the Talkeetna Mountains. 

We had a good time just hanging out, talking and feeding the fire.  The temperature got down to -15F  while we were there and it was apparently colder earlier in the week.  The event lasts a week with people coming and going the whole time. We were only there overnight but some of the diehards were there all week. 

This is a not a tightly scheduled event.  Everyone did their own thing at their own time. The only organized thing that I saw was a game of capture the flag in the dark after the younger kids begged to play it.  Most of us old men sat it out.

The teenage boys and young men spent most of their time testing each other on their snowmachines.  What they can do with these modern machines is amazing to me.  I have spent many hours on snowmachines in years past riding the trapline trail, but I didn’t attempt anything close to what these guys were doing.  There was a very steep hill right next to the camp that was covered with spruce trees.  Somehow they were able to ride straight up the hill winding between the spruces

I was most interested in an old cabin that is now hidden in a thick spruce woods.  Apparently it used to be a post office for the surrounding area in the old days when mail was carried by mule trains and dog teams.  It was probably built around 1910 or so. The roof is completely caved in.  In fact, some good sized trees are now growing inside of it.

The kids gave it a passing glance, history is not that interesting when you are 8 years old. They liked climbing on top of it the most.

Here is a picture of Mark’s tent with our machines parked outside.  Mark had a pretty nice camp with a wood floor.  It made it very comfortable in that winter weather. 

The only problem was that he had to feed the small wood stove almost constantly at night to keep the temperature to his liking.  A larger stove would help.

This little stove needed to stay cherry red in order to keep the heat up with the -15 degree weather.

There was no shortage of fire outside ,however.  Even in the cold, it was comfortable around this big fire.  I’m not sure if the fire went out at all during the whole week.  It sure burned well while I was there.  The only problem was that your marshmallow sticks needed to be at least 10 feet long.

It looked like there were about 10 camps there, most of them had heat.  A few diehards were camping out in that temperature without any heat.

I tried it, I made a trench in the snow into which I put my tarp wrapped sleeping bag.  Then I buried all but the head and shoulders in snow.  It was warm, but so uncomfortable that I moved into the tent after a couple hours.

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This post will be a little off-beat for a Realtor.  But I promised to tell it like it is, and this post will do that.

Would-be real estate investors often ask me for good deals.  They are hoping to find a fixer-upper, do the work themselves, and then re-sell for a profit.  Nothing wrong with that, in fact, if I wasn’t so busy finding homes for people, I might do the same thing.  But knowing what I know, I wouldn’t waste a lot of time calling local real estate licensees. The listing Realtors job is to help a seller get top dollar for his home. 

If the Realtor is doing his job right, the property will be priced fairly, perhaps even attractively, but it will not be priced significantly under the market.  Occasionally a seller needs to sell very quickly.  These are the few times a Realtor will price a home at a real deal. 

I search through the MLS system every week to try to find the deals for newsletter.  The inside info for this week does not come from the MLS. 

So how can you find the good deals without a Realtor?…here is the inside scoop.

• 1. Find vacant homes.  In Alaska, that’s easy.  Just drive around during the winter and find driveways that aren’t plowed.  Do not enter the driveway or walk around someone elses home.  That’s called trespassing and is a crime.  Besides, the neighbors might have a shotgun.
• 2. Find sellers in trouble. Look at foreclosure notices in the papers.  All papers have them but the Alaska Journal of Commerce seems to have more than it’s share. Here is one online source.
• 3. Contact the owners. Write them a letter.  To find their address, look them up on the Mat-Su Borough Website.  If the house has a Realtor’s sign in front of it, contact the Realtor not the owner.
• 4. Treat them with dignity and respect.  Most people who are struggling with their mortgage have problems out of their control.
• 5. Be patient. If you expect to find one good deal out of 100 contacts, that will be about right. 
• 6. Be prepared.  You will need to act fast when you do find that good deal so line up your financing ahead of time. 

It takes a lot of homework and foot work to find a good deal.  But they are out there. 

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Here are the statistics from the MLS system for this week.  As you can see, things are cooking right along.  There is a slight increase in the amount of pendings and closings.

The one thing to notice this week is that days on the market is going down.  That would indicate a more active market.  It can also be the result of people giving up after trying for many months to sell.

They have either left the market entirely or re-listed their home with someone else.  Hopefully if they re-listed it is for a lower price.  It is mainly the price that sells a home.  You can market and stage your house all you want, but if the price is to high, it won’t sell.

I use both the Anchorage and Valley MLS systems to do this analysis.  I notice quite a disparity among the two.  For example, this week there were 48 new listings in the Valley MLS and only 38 new listings in Anchorage. 

When I compared to determine which listings the Anchorage system was missing I  was startled by the fact that both were quite different.  There were actually 22 listings that were either not in the Anchorage system or the Valley system.   The Valley was missing 6 of Anchorage’s and Anchorage was missing 16 of the Valley’s.

This is caused by two problems

• 1. Many Anchorage members are not members of the valley and vice-versa.  So their listings only appear on their own MLS system.
• 2. Many Realtors are just not keeping up with their listings.  They may have it on one and not the other.

Bottom line: Buyers should use both the Valley MLS system and the Anchorage MLS system to search for homes.  If they don’t, they aren’t getting the whole story.

Any thoughts?  Make a comment.

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In the Wasilla and Palmer areas we currently have a higher inventory than we have had in the last few years.  This gives the buyer more choices. It is important to determine what you want and need and then go out and look for it.

I recently showed a couple more than 25 homes before they settled on the one that fit.  They are really happy with their new home and are settling in nicely.

After you have pre-qualified, and determined your needs and wants, it is important to look at enough homes to make you feel comfortable that you have seen what the market can provide.  If you buy a house too soon, you will get buyers remorse and need some buyers remorse pills.

You want to find a Realtor that will help you find just what you need.  You don’t need anyone asking you canned lines like, “If we see the house that meets your needs are you prepared to put an offer on it TODAY”.  You know you will receive pressure from that person.  I decided when I first started in real estate that I wanted to help people with their real estate needs, not SELL them anything they weren’t sure they wanted.

We currently have about 800 listings on the market, which is almost twice the amount of two years ago.  Demand has remained steady so we are still selling about the same amount of houses.  That allows buyers more choice.  It doesn’t mean that buyers will be able to talk a seller into a lower price because it does not appear that prices are dropping.  In fact it seems that prices are continuing an upward trend. in Wasilla and Palmer.

So shop till you drop, but don’t pass up the good one when you see it.  We are still seeing multiple offers on houses.  In the past 3 weeks I have been involved in 4 multiple offer transactions.  If you see a good one, grab it now or someone else will.    

If you want to know about the houses when they come on the market send me an email.  I can customize a program that will send you listings as soon as they hit the market.  If you only want 3 bedroom ranches under $200K I can set that up for you.  If you want a nice setting on some acreage I can do that as well.  You will receive the listing in your email as soon as it hits the MLS.

Click on the contact link above or call me at 907 232–7900.

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