A Visit To The Annual Cowlitz County Unique Tin Car Show and Swap Meet 2008

  

What a unique experience! I had not attended the car show in few years and was surprised of how much has change and grown. According to organizers this show attracts over 3,000 spectators each year and listening to the announcers over the microphone the attendance on Saturday was a record breaker.  This yearly event has marked the end of Cowlitz County Summer fun events for the last of 34 years.

 

 The event opened the doors at 8:00 a.m. to hundreds of classic and custom-built cars, trucks and some motorcycles, swap meet, vendors and early eager spectators. Then was followed by exciting events throughout the day like some line dance performance, some contests with up to $300 prices, award and parade of winners presentation and ended with the 9:00 p.m. Longview Downtown controlled Cruise, were according to The Daily News there were over 600 permits issued to participate in this event.

 

So, if you miss it this year, you are invited to experience how amazing it is to see some of the incredible beefed-up engines, flashy chrome and paint jobs on some of these hot rods and in the way contribute to a good cause, according to event organizers part of the profits are donated to local charities throughout Cowlitz County.

 

Cowlitz County real estate agent, Venancio Gonzalez a GRI, E-PRO Realtor®, with Windermere Real Estate Allen & Associates, 360 751 4001.

Longview Washington, Highlands Neighborhood Home This Highlands area home is big one level in great condition in a newer subdivision at an affordable price. This wonderful 4 bedroom, 2 full baths home offers 1425 SF of living space, living room, dining room, master bedroom with a full bath and walk-in closet, fully fenced back yard, big covered patio and a double car garage.

Contact Cowlitz County real estate agent, Venancio Gonzalez a GRI, E-PRO Realtor®, with Windermere Real Estate Allen & Associates, 360 751 4001 to list your home or purchase a home in Longview, Kelso, Woodland, Kalama, Castle Rock, Toutle, Silver Lake or Cathlamet.

The challenge of pricing and selling a home in today's Cowlitz County real estate market

Today's Cowlitz County real estate market is the weakest I ever experience since I started in the business over five years ago. For the last four years the market was great, homes were selling as fast as they came on the market, sometimes getting multiple offers, everyone was happy. In the last year or so the market slowly started turning now we have a huge listing inventory a home time on the market has increase drastically and there are still many sellers who don't want to faced reality and are asking thing like; why this price? (The house across the street sold for xxx amount of dollars last year), why isn't my home selling? Or why do I have to reduce the price? I don't want to give my home away!

Long gone are the days when sellers use to set the price and homes sold with no problem. Sellers should always be educated on local market conditions but in today's real estate market the need for sellers to know where their home fits on the market equation is even greater. It not about just having a market analysis and agree on the price. The whole picture needs to be look at besides of a market analysis many other key elements have to be taking into consideration; market trends, market absorption rates, percentage of recently homes sold, homes you going to be competing with and seller's level of motivation.

Placing a listing into the Multiple Listing Services in not enough in today's challenging market it takes more than that to successfully sell a home. It takes the ability to correctly price a home, knowledge and understanding of the local market and follow through on the appropriate marketing strategies. It's extremely important for sellers to have the correct information to be able to make the best educated decision possible.

For more information on how to correctly price your home or for a through market analysis of your home, feel free contact Cowlitz County real estate agent Venancio Gonzalez at gonzalezq@windermere.com or  at 360 751 4001. You can also visit my website to see my marketing strategies to see what I do to sell your home or one of my post for some seller tips.

Cowlitz County foreclosure homes and other bank own properties

 This is an update on the Cowlitz County foreclosure homes and other bank own properties including some multi-family units and manufacture homes. Even though these homes are selling fast, the numbers of Cowlitz County foreclosure properties on the market have increased from 36 to 48 since my last update back on February 2008, here is a link to that article.

 There are currently 45 foreclosure home on the market, 32 of them are active (available for sale) the other 16 are already under contract (pending or pending inspection), one active multi-family unit (4-plex) and one manufacture home. As the foreclosure homes inventory increases so as the opportunities for all those looking to build some quick equity. To see all available foreclosure home and other properties in Cowlitz County visit our Cowlitz County Foreclosure page.

 Contact Cowlitz County real estate agent, Venancio Gonzalez a GRI, E-PRO Realtor®, with Windermere Real Estate Allen & Associates, 360 751 4001 with any questions or to view any Cowlitz County foreclosure listings or to list your home or purchase a home in Longview, Kelso, Woodland, Kalama, Castle Rock, Toutle, Silver Lake or Cathlamet.

Cowlitz County real estate market numbers for July 2008.

This report will give you an insight of how the Cowlitz County real estate market is doing and may be helpful to those considering selling, buying or relocating to the Cowlitz County area. It will show you the numbers of current available homes for sale, homes under contract, and homes sold in the month of July 2008. It will also give an inside look at average and medium prices, average days on the market and what price range is more competitive and what price range is moving (selling) faster. To see the reports for the previous months of June and May.

Cowlitz County real estate numbers for Single Family Residential homes - July 2008                              

Cowlitz County homes - Active July 2008Number - 818

Medium Price - $240,000

Average Price - $288,347

Average Days on Market - 130 

Cowlitz County Homes - Under Contract (Pending) July 2008

Number - 93

Medium Price - $195,000

Average Price - $211,775

Average Days on Market - 117

Cowlitz County Homes - Sold July 2008

Number - 60

Medium Price - $199,425

Average Price - $214,930

Average Day on Market - 111

Most Competitive Price Range - $200,000 thru $249,999

Actives Listings - 151

Most Active Price Range - $250,000 thru $299,999

Actives - 121

Pending - 14

Sold - 12

Contact Cowlitz County real estate agent, Venancio Gonzalez a GRI, E-PRO Realtor®, with Windermere Real Estate Allen & Associates, 360 751 4001, to list your home or purchase a home in Longview, Kelso, Woodland, Kalama, Castle Rock, Toutle, Silver Lake or Cathlamet.

The Cowlitz County fair and rodeo 2008 is here, come and join the fun from Wednesday July 30^th to Saturday August 2^nd. Four days of pure fun and excitement awaiting kids, adults and everyone else in between willing to come and join the fun. The fair will begin with the kid's day parade on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. and will be open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. with the usual variety of stands, games and rides for kids, teenagers and all daring parents. Then there is the variety of special schedule events like the Thunder Mountain Pro Rodeo, Demolition Derby, Cruise to the Fair-Open Car Show, Road Warrior paintball, Rodeo Queen Coronation and many, many more. To see all schedule events, the dates and times, visit the Cowlitz County website here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Venancio Gonzalez a GRI, E-PRO Realtor®, Windermere Real Estate Allen & Associates, 360 751 4001, Servicing the Cowlitz County real rstate market.

Will Upgrading Your Cowlitz County Home Will Help To Sell It Faster?

Researches have showed that making targeted improvements according to the age of your home will help to sale faster and for more money. A good starting point is to have a pre-sale home inspection that will show the defects of your home and have a contractor or handy man fix them, document the work and have it ready for potential buyers. The cost of inspection varies depending on the inspector and size of home, here in Cowlitz County a full home inspection will cost from $270 to $350.

Homes built before the 1960 usually have many great appeals but have only 60 or 90-amp electrical service which is not adequate to work with most modern appliances. It is a good idea to upgrade to a minimum of 100 amp and make sure the wiring meets code. Many of these homes often are hiding hardwood floors (most likely in a great conditions) under that old wore down carpet.

If your home was build during the 1960 more than likely will have those old dated Single-pane windows that should be upgraded, just by doing that you should see about 25% savings on your heating/cooling bills. Other easy and inexpensive thing to do is to replace dated cabinet hardware with stainless or nickel knobs, pulls and hinges and if cabinets are still in good condition; clean, sand, stain or paint them.

Homes built during the 1970's era are well known for those pink or green bathtubs, showers, kitchen appliances and those lose wild colors that with out a doubt give these homes a feeling of old age. Modern color appliances and fresh coat of paint will do wonders for these homes.

Popular trends during the 1980's were wall paper and laminate counter tops which are consider old fashion today. To give your home some charm, replace wall paper, switch plates, and repaint flaking paint. Hard surfaces counter tops is what you will find in today's new homes if you are going to replace them, visit new construction open houses to see what the new trend is.

One would expect that homes built during the 1990's would require fewer upgrades than homes from the 1980's or older. But the truth is that most of these homes often require more upgrades than older homes for the following reason; 10 to 15 years is the life expectancy of home appliances like stove/oven, washer/dryer, refrigerator, dishwasher and big-ticket items like furnace, air-condition, water heater and is likely that one or more of these items will have to be replace.

Always clean or replace carpet if necessary, nothing welcomes you more to a home than a clean carpet. And whatever the age of the home a home warranty always a great idea it will give a peace of mind and can be inexpensive way to make your home more appealing to home buyers. Visit the following links more sellers tips and sellers real estate information.

Contact Cowlitz County real estate agent, Venancio Gonzalez a GRI, E-PRO Realtor®, with Windermere Real Estate Allen & Associates, 360 751 4001 for more upgrading tips, list your home or to purchase a home in Longview, Kelso, Woodland, Kalama, Castle Rock, Toutle, Silver Lake and Cathlamet.

Looking for lodging in the Castle Rock / Silver Lake area?

One of my favorites is the Blue Heron Inn at Silver Lake Washington. Come and experience a true feeling of the Pacific Northwest, treat your self to a friendly service, a full country breakfast, relax in front of a fire place or your own private balcony with wonderful panoramic view of the Historic Mount St. Helens, Silver Lake and surrounding forested valleys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This beautiful one of a kind place sits at the edge of Silver Lake and offers 7 beautiful rooms to choose from a Jacuzzi Suit, a king size, two queen size, two double and a ADA accessible room all with private balconies and magnificent views, two common T.V. sitting areas with fire place and Wi-Fi Hot Spot. It also offers hosting for weddings receptions, birthdays, baby showers and business meetings. For more information and reservations visit their website here.

Directions: From I-5 take Exit 49 East on Hwy 504 five miles, directly across from the Mt. Helens National Monument

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information about the local area visit our Silver Lake / Toutle web page Here.

Do you know the reasons?

Believe it or not at this time and age where there is a ton of all kind of available information all over the net, books, and news papers just to mention some sources, here in Cowlitz County for one reason or another, we still have some sellers that trust the first agent they run in to instead of interviewing more than one to compare services and unfortunately some of them are being mislead about how much their home is worth.

I got a call from a seller about meeting with him to possibly list his home, after few questions he revealed to me that his home was previously listed but had expired and wanted me to get it back on the market. I did my research and a market analysis on the home and came to find out that the home was previously way over priced. I was nervous about how to approach the seller with the bad news without offending him. I decided to just be honest show him the numbers and go from there. After doing my listing presentation he looked a me, smile, and said if my other agent had explain all this to me my house may have been sold by now. Phew! What a relief. I listed the home and had it sold with in seven weeks.

Came to find out that the real estate agent never presented a market analysis or any other information explaining the price, he just told the home owner, "I think your home should sell for this much" and the seller trusted the agent. A real estate agent should be professional enough and have the knowledge to do his or her job right. By not doing a market analysis and explain in detail why or how the home is price the way it is, they are doing a disservice to their clients, local market and the real estate profession. For what ever reason this agent never took the time to do his/her job and mislead the seller about how much the home was really worth.  

If you are one of those unfortunate Cowlitz County home owners that had your home previously listed and never were explained the pricing process and how your home compared to the recently sold and competing listing give me a call or e-mail me, I will give you my honest opinion and let you know what can be done to get it sold in this tough market. Request a market analysis here.

Contact Cowlitz County real estate agent, Venancio Gonzalez a GRI, E-PRO Realtor®, with Windermere Real Estate Allen & Associates, 360 751 4001, list your home or to purchase a home in Longview, Kelso, Woodland, Kalama, Castle Rock, Toutle, Silver Lake and Cathlamet.

A couple days ago, I received a request from a potential client about getting information on high end homes in the Cowlitz County area. While doing my research, I was some what amazed to see how many luxury homes are currently available for sale in the County price for well over a million dollars, I know many of you are going to think is not a lot but I'm talking about Cowlitz County here, not Portland or Seattle, where five years ago (when I started in the business of selling real estate) you rarely saw homes price over half a million. Currently there are 9 luxury homes for sale in Cowlitz County priced at over a million dollars, ranging from $1,189,000 to 1,600,000, amazing is in it?

It has been very interesting to say the least to watch how the real estate market has been changing over the last five years to what we are experiencing today. I though some of you may enjoy looking at these beautiful homes.

Click this link and enjoy!

Contact Cowlitz County real estate agent, Venancio Gonzalez a GRI, E-PRO Realtor®, with Windermere Real Estate Allen & Associates, 360 751 4001to list or purchase a home in any of the Cowlitz County communities.