I have been a busy boy in October. We traveled to California to check on my Aunt Georgia in California for a week after spending a week on the Oregon Coast, home for a few days and then off to North Carolina to see my son, Jamie’s family which includes my three grandchildren and his wonderful wife Kim. What a fun time.
On the real estate side, new home sales in Walla Walla have been very active this past year with the major company being Hayden Homes. I think they have closed over 35 sales so far this year. Some closing which are direct are not in our MLS, but they are the big builder in town. We have several custom builds going on with several of our high end contractors but that is very hard to track. Nationally the inventory of new homes is up by 30% over 2015 numbers with about a 4.8 inventory. The national average new home sale price is $377,700 and the median is $313,500 which is much higher than our valley.
We have a builder who was very successful in Walla Walla and moved away (but is going to be back) as well as Todd Rowell who had great success is starting some new lots. Both builders will bring a product families will love to call their own.
Breaking news on the property management front in our State. A Property manager is being sued by the Washington State Attorney General for discriminating a rental applicant who had a felony conviction. I cannot believe as an owner, that our representatives have to eliminate in their approval process that the applicant has a criminal background. What about sex offenders? Where are we going with the rights of property owners? It is really scary for me as a property manager and owner of several rental units.
Thanksgiving is at hand and daylight savings this weekend. Over Thanksgiving, please think of the gifts you are given each and every day that others suffer pain and loss. It is not perfect for us but we are so lucky to be living in Walla Walla and the United States. God Bless us all.
Regards
Dennis M Ledford, Owner/Broker
Coldwell Banker First Realtors®
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