I have been showing houses pretty much all day for the last 3 days to a buyer moving up from the states.  We have looked at a lot of new and almost new houses. 

I was reminded again that the best builders in the Mat-Su Valley are usually people that you never hear about.  These are builders that build only 1–6 homes per year.  They are hands-on builders.  They take pride in their work and make sure that things are done right.

I did not count the houses that we saw but it must have been close to 30 or more.  We drove past a lot more because he knew the type of setting that he wanted and didn’t even go into a house unless the lot was acceptable.  We narrowed it down to two homes, one is built by the owner and the other was built by a small builder who has been building in the valley for decades.

We went in a house yesterday that is for sale by owner.  This house was obviously just a step above all the other homes in quality.  It had in-floor heat, hard wood flooring, granite counter tops, upgraded trim, a fantastic master suite, three car garage on a nice one acre lot for $290,000.  Unfortunately for this buyer, the 1,680 square feet was just a little too small. 

I looked at another house just tonight that is almost finished.  It is built by two brothers who have experience in the construction trades but have never built a complete house before.  I was very impressed.  For $229,000 you get a 1,400+ sq ft ranch, granite counters, stainless appliances, vaulted ceilings, upgraded trim, tile and travertine flooring, fireplace with stone hearth, blow-you-away master suite, and quite a few more extras that I can’t mention. 

So for about the same price as a  production builder’s home you get thousands and thousands of dollars in upgrades.  You won’t find either of these homes on the MLS, so if you are interested in an appointment to view them give me a call.  I have permission to show both of these homes.

I am about to list a Fonov Electric and Construction house in Heritage Farms Estates.  The top photo and bottom one are examples of his work.  He does not build very many homes a year and buyers always rave about the quality. 

Related article:

New Construction in the Mat-Su Valley

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An important guage of housing prices in any area is a comparison of the average sales price to the average income in the area.

The closest figure I could find was $56,084 as a median income for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough as a whole in 2004. So I am making a couple of assumptions to come up with a working figure.  First, I assume that the household income is higher now than in 2004 and, second, that it is higher in Wasilla and Palmer than in the whole borough. 

Let’s use $60,000 for an average household income, I think that it is a reasonable number…plus, it’s nice and round.  For you in the Mensa Society, I do realize that median and average are two different things. 

$60,000 divides nicely into $5000 of income per month.  If we use the old standard that your monthly housing payments, (PITI), should be 30% of your monthly income or less, that leaves $1,500 per month to pay your Principle, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance, (PITI).  This 30% standard has been stretched in recent years but it is a good safe standard to use.  Pushing beyond that amount often puts people into financial difficulty.

Taxes are running at about 13 mils which equates to $1,300 for every $100,000 of assessed value, or about $2,990 for the average Wasilla-Palmer home.  You can check out the taxes on any particular house on the Mat-Su Borough website. 

As you can see from the following two charts, (click on them to expand), the average sales price for Wasilla and Palmer is about $230,000

.

You should be able to get insurance for about $900 per year for an average house in Wasilla or Palmer. 

That equals $3,890 for taxes and insurance…plug it in to the mortgage calculator in the right column.  You need to put the total amount for taxes and insurance in the tax slot.

The default on the calculator is 6.5% interest on a 30 year fixed loan.  Don’t choose anything but a fixed loan unless your have very good reasons for doing so.  You might be able to get a little better than 6.5% if you shop around.  I mentioned an attractive quote just the other day in this post.

That equals a monthly PITI of $1770.93…oops…a little high.  If you get 6% interest you can get it down to $1703.14 but you are still high.  Play around with the mortgage calculator and you can find a price that equates to our magic 30% of monthly income figure of $1,500 per month.

Depending on how you play with the numbers the average price for the average household should be between $190,000–$200,000.  Hmmm…no wonder most of the sales are under $200,000.  But we certainly aren’t as high on the affordability scale as many parts of the country are.  A starter home in Los Angeles for example is higher than $500,000 with an average household income of only $75,000.  No wonder their prices are coming down to reality so quickly.

Can you get a house in Palmer or Wasilla for $200,000?  You certainly can.  Jay and I recently did a final walk-through on a just completed brand new three bedroom, two car garage home that we recently helped someone buy in Palmer for only $175,000.  We both commented on how nice a home it was for the price.

Here’s a nice one on one acre for $179,900.  You can get a lot of house for less than $200,000. 

Give me a call on my cell (907) 232–7900 if you need help finding a home.

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This is a real nice floor plan, nice enough that when my parents saw it they had one built for themselves.  It has vinyl siding, a covered porch, vaulted ceiling, beautiful kitchen and an extra-large garage that is actually finished.

I do not represent Byler Contracting, he is represented by IEC Realty, but I really like this particular plan. I would love to help you with this home, I know of several options that can add to it’s functionality.  My parents really enjoy their home, they like the open floor plan in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. 

Byler Contracting has a lot in Amberwood Subdivision on which he can build this home for $209,900.  He really can build it in 90 days.  You won’t see any down time on these homes once the framing starts.  They are scheduled very tightly all the way from the floor joists to the final walk-through.

Click on this map to see the location in Amberwood.  If you don’t like this location, Byler can build on any lot in the valley.  Just let me know and I can help you find a good lot on which to build this house.  If you would like a walk-through of this model give me a call.

I enjoy helping buyers with new construction.  We can pick and choose among a large group of builders in the valley.

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Homes in Wasilla and almost everywhere else in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough did not receive building inspections until 1992 when the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation required them for financing. Since that date, most homes are inspected during construction. The city of Palmer required building inspections and permits previous to 1992.

During the real estate boom of the early 1980’s , Wasilla was one of the fastest growing cities in the country.  Builders were selling houses as fast as they could put them up. As a result, they tried to to find ways to build homes faster.  One bottle-neck in the process was the lack of concrete workers to put in the foundations. Contractors found a way around this  by building wood foundations.  About 1/3 of the homes built between 1980–1985 had wood foundations. 

These foundations generally have a concrete footer on the very bottom.  Almost any experienced construction worker can build a concrete footer, but a concrete block foundation wall requires special skills.  These wood foundations used treated wood so that it doesn’t rot.  I suppose it may eventually disintegrate but I have never witnessed this. 

It is completely legal to use this type of foundation and it can also be structurally sound as long as the work is done correctly.  However, most of the foundations erected during the early 1980s have since been modified to make them more structurally sound.  Hardly any new homes are built this way today and there is a reason for that.

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I work with several small builders that build just a few homes a year in the Wasilla and Palmer areas.  These builders take pride in their work and spend a lot of their own time, sweat, and even blood on these homes. 

Often, a buyer will ask who is the best home builder in the Mat-Su Valley.  They are expecting the answer to be one of the big builders in the area.  They are surprised to find that the best builders are people whose names they have never heard.  There are many small builders in the area.  In fact, last fall I counted over 138 different builders that had homes for sale in the Mat-Su Valley. 

I recently worked with three different builders who build one home at a time and do it all with cash.  They spend their own money without resorting to banks.  Because of that, they are not under a time crunch and can spend the time to get the trim right, and fix little things that would normally be covered up.  They can also pass savings on to the buyer because they did not have to pay for loan closing costs and interest rates.  However, some small builders are under-capitalized and hanging on by a thread.  Those are not the ones you want to choose to build your new home. 

When one builder asked where he should build his next home and what he should build, I told him that he should build a home under $300,000 or even preferably under $250,000 in an area not already saturated with new homes.  Most people want to buy in the core area, this is between Church Road and Palmer and south of the Little Susitna River. 

The map above, (click to enlarge), shows that most of the new homes under $250,000 are outside of the core area. All the little blue dots are new homes under $250,000.  One savvy local builder, Jess Hall, pretty much sticks to this core area.  He knows the three laws of real estate.  Many others build outside the core because they found less expensive land.  That will work as long as they pass that savings on, but often, it will take longer to sell the home. 

Interested in new construction?  Give me a call, 907 232–7900.  I can put you in touch with a builder you will really enjoy.  We work with all the big builders, and a whole bunch of smaller builders.

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It’s 17 degrees below zero at my house right now, and I’m in Palmer, the banana belt of Alaska.  I just checked  weather underground and the forecast for Fairbanks is a low of -40 tomorrow.  This is coming off about 2 weeks of snow every day.  I think Anchorage currently is ahead of their record snowfall.  At least the sky is clear and the mountains are pretty

At this temperature you don’t need an infrared camera to tell where your house is losing heat.  Just go outside and take a good look.  Do you see collections of frost in different areas?  Those are causes by either air leakage from inside your house, or by warmth leaking out of the house because of insufficient insulation.  Either way you are contributing to global warming by warming the outside rather than the inside of your home. 

Take a good look at those frosty spots.  If they are just under an eave of a cathedral ceiling, or just around the outside of a door or window that means air is leaking at those spots.  You need to seal those areas with insulation, foam, or caulk.  If you use foam around a door or a window make sure it’s not expandable foam or it could cause the frame to deform.  All that warmth going to the outside can be quantified in dollars spent on your heating bills.  Air leakage can also cause moisture to collect inside your walls since it usually starts condensing before actually hitting the cold outside air. 

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