windermere tri-cities

As Superbowl weekend approaches Windermere Tri-Cities thinks it is fitting to share some thoughts about the team we believe we have in our business.  Although the Quarterback is key to a winning team,  the other players are just as important in our line of business as they are on a football field.  Windermere Tri-Cities has a great team of people to work with when helping people with all stages of the home buying or home selling process.  Whether it is an investment buyer, a first time home buyer, or our move up buyers, Windermere relies on the expertise of the whole team to make the process smooth and hassle free for our clients. Our team is made up of lenders, appraisers, home staging, title companies, fellow agents, the go-to repair man, and of course the entire office staff. 

Windermere Tri-Cities looks to many resources to stay up to date on the latest trends and knowledge that the world of technology has to offer.  One of those resources is the team at The KCM Blog,  the KCM crew posts daily blogs that are informative, sometimes humorous, and always informational.  The blog below is certainly fitting for our big weekend of football.  So, take a few minutes and see what our “teams” look like in the real estate industry. 

windermere tri-cities

Once again Windermere Tri-Cities is excited to announce the latest Community Enrichment program that will benefit the  Tri-Cities area Crime Stoppers.  Windermere Tri-Cities prides itself on helping keep our area a safe place to live and raise families and we are proud to partner with other area organizations who feel so strongly about keeping the Tri-Cities safe for generations to come.  Below is the official Press Release.

Press Release

Richland, WA – January 30th, 2012

HAPO Community Credit Union and Windermere Tri-Cities through their Community Enrichment Foundation donates $5,000 to Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers.

Community Enrichment Foundation will hold a press conference to announce a $5,000 donation to Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers on Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 1:30 pm at the Kennewick Police Department.

“HAPO and Windermere Tri-Cities share the same values when it comes to supporting tangible and meaningful efforts to improve the quality of life in the Tri-Cities. Together we believe strongly in a focused and balanced approach to supporting our community’, said Schulz.

“We have been a proud supporter of local law enforcement for the past few years. It’s an honor for us to participate and help out with such a great program that helps the entire Tri-Cities”, said Retter.

The Board of the foundation is comprised of Retter and Schulz along with key members from both of their organizations. “The Foundation board will consider what opportunities exist to make targeted, impact oriented, contributions during the months ahead in support of our community”, said Retter.

Tri Cities Crime Stoppers has been working with local  law enforcement agencies since 1985 providing a way for the community to help solve crimes and apprehend wanted felons. Crime Stoppers program worldwide provide means for community members to anonymously report informaiton which helps apprehended wanted felons and solving crimes.

Tri Cities Crime Stoppers receives no local government funds.  All expenses for the program, from phone lines to rewards, are paid by the local Crime Stoppers Board, a 501c 3 organization.

Ken Williams, President for Tri Cities Crime Stoppers said, “This donation by HAPO Community Credit Union and Windermere Tri Cities through the Community Enrichment Foundation helps Tri Cities Crime Stoppers continue its work with local law enforcement in helping to make the Tri-Cities and surrounding area an even safer place to live, work and play.” Monies will be used for all phases of the local program.

Since 1985 Tri Cities Crime Stoppers has assisted law enforcement agencies in Benton and Franklin counties as well as other agencies in the region.

5,093 arrests have been made.

5,986 cases have been cleared.

$1,985,455 in property and narcotics have been recovered.

$70,000 in rewards paid.

Solved crimes and apprehensions have ranged homicide suspects to car prowlers and everything in between.

Persons interested in learning more about Tri Cities Crime Stoppers can visit www.tricitiescrimestoppers.org or contact the Law Enforcement Coordinator at (509) 582-1351.

For More Information Contact:

Crystal Scharnhorst, HAPO

Direct (509)943-7102

crystal.scharnhorst@hapo.org

windermere tri-cities

The new Southridge Sports and Events Complex is 52 acres that include four baseball fields, two multi-use fields, room for four soccer fields and space to play everything from basketball to lacrosse.

The complex, at the the corner of Highway 395 and Hildebrand Road is exceptional because of its size and its combination of indoor and outdoor space.

The complex features four full-size baseball fields and two multi-use fields that can be used for everything from football to lacrosse.

The baseball outfields can be transformed into two full-sized soccer fields and two smaller soccer fields. The indoor sports pavilion offers 30,000 square feet of space, with 21,000 sq. ft. of playing surface. The remaining 9,000 sq. ft. offers  a stage, lobby, conference center and room for a food vendor.

The indoor facility is suited for everything from recreation programs and sport practices and games to weddings and smaller concerts.  The two other buildings at the complex include the plaza, which is located just outside of the pavilion. The smaller building houses a box office, restrooms and will have large outdoor screens to feature live sporting events and tournament brackets.

The other building is the hub, which is located in the center of the baseball fields.  The Hub includes an umpire changing room, concession stand and a coach’s meeting room.

Work on the $9 million complex started in the mid 1990′s when a sports field facility study was conducted by the city.

The large pavilion building will open to the public in January with a grand opening for the entire complex scheduled to take place in April. The facility is being paid for with help from a sales tax credit the city recently received through the state’s local revitalization financing program.

The Southridge complex will offer the area’s sports teams a place to play all year, without having to stop practicing when the weather gets bad. Instead, they can simply move their practices inside.

For more information on the Southridge Sports and Events Complex contact Brandon Lange at 585-4279 or visit the complex’s website at www.playSouthridge.com.

Article By: Mary Hopkin, Tri-City Area Journal of Business, December 2011

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tricityherald.com / News / Mid-Columbia News
reprint or license  Print  Email Story
Published Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012
Modified Wed, Jan 18, 2012 11:04 AM 11 Comments

Carousel project looks to be back on
By John Trumbo, Tri-City Herald
   
 Kennewick City Council heard a proposal Tuesday night by The Three Rivers Carousel Foundation to put the 1910 restored Charles Carmel carousel into a building near the Southridge Sports Complex in south Kennewick. Private donors would complete the project on property owned by the city. See story below.
KENNEWICK — The Kennewick City Council has agreed to let a group of influential business owners and community leaders have the reins in resurrecting its 44-horse carousel project.
“The goal is to complete the project without cost to taxpayers. … We will build a home for the carousel,” said Eric Van Winkle, chairman of the newly reconstituted board of directors of the Three Rivers Carousel Foundation, at a Tuesday special council workshop.
That home would place the 100-year-old carousel in a facility to be built near the Southridge Sports Complex in Kennewick.
The foundation committee’s preferred site is on city-owned land.
“We’d be hard-pressed to find a site that makes more sense,” Van Winkle said.
Kennewick council members asked a few questions, but generally were positive, then quickly nodded and voiced their approval.
“I appreciate your enthusiasm, but will it be self supporting?” asked Councilman Don Britain.
Dwight Marquart, owner of Tri-Cities Toyota and who worked quietly for nearly a year to pull together the new team effort, said the plan is to have a carousel facility and a separate building as an events center. Contractors and suppliers will donate toward the project.
But details about the operation aren’t yet sorted out, said City Manager Marie Mosley. “The foundation will be involved,” she said.
Mayor Steve Young said he was glad to see so many community leaders participating.
“This is citizens coming together to make this happen,” he said.
Councilman Bob Parks said he still wants Kennewick to get back the $830,000 it has put toward the carousel.
“It is good to see all this horsepower coming together, but I’d like to see some community support, not just this one group. This is five years too late,” he said.
Hubbard said he was still interested, if possible, in seeing the carousel go-round in Columbia Park, where it would be close to other community facilities such as the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center and an outdoor performing arts center, if both are built.
Councilman Bob Olson, who has urged the city to force a sale of the carousel so it can be reimbursed, changed his position after hearing the proposal.
“I threw as much cold water on this as anybody. But with (Councilman) Paul Parish in there, I say let’s go.”
Parish announced six months ago that he was going to try to keep the carousel project from grinding to a full stop.
“Now it has got a home and that’s what we need to raise the money,” he said.
Britain also asked how much money needed to be raised.
That is still an unknown, Van Winkle replied.
“In 90 to 120 days we can bring back some answers,” he said.
The carousel, created in 1910 by Charles Carmel, was purchased in 2003 by the foundation, largely with the city’s financial help.
Its 44 horses have been restored, but the mechanical system still is in pieces. The entire carousel is in storage in a city building.
Fundraising efforts during the past five years didn’t go well, and there were disagreements over where the carousel should be located — in Columbia Park or on the west side of the city near the Three Rivers Convention Center.
Mayor Pro Tem Sharon Brown called for setting deadlines on the new committee’s efforts.
But Young insisted that the group have some leeway to “do what they need to do.”
Van Winkle suggested a three- to four-month window of time, which all the council members indicated was acceptable.
The foundation committee listed several businesses willing to provide labor donations: Conner Construction, Brashear Electric, Bruce Inc. Heating and Air, Murley Floor Covering, Nichols Drywall, Creative Concrete, J & E Meza Plastering, Bagley Landscaping and Evergreen Plumbing.
Community leaders, who Olson had described as “heavy hitters,” willing to help the cause include: Van Winkle of Townsquare Media; Marquart; Dave Retter of Windermere Realty; Carlos Martinez of Dura-Shine Clean; Bill Lampson of Lampson International; and Barb Johnson of Columbia Center mall.
– On the net: www.facebook.com/carouselproject
– John Trumbo: 582-1529; jtrumbo@tricityherald.com

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/01/18/1791086/carousel-project-looks-to-be-back.html#storylink=cpy

windermere tri-cities

Economic Rebound – Tri-City Home Market Shows Promise

Sales picked up in fall after poor showing during summer

Kristi Pihl – Herald Staff Writer

It’s early, but 2012 is looking like a great year for the Tri-Cities home market.

The economy appears solid, interest rates are at historic lows and the area has many signs of a healthy market, according to local real estate agents.

Dave Retter, Windermere Real Estate/Tri-Cities owner and broker, said he is hearing from his real estate agents that buyers and sellers “are feeling pretty good about the Tri-Cities.”

The housing market picked up in the fall after what some called a dismal summer. 

There was exactly the same number of sales in December as there was in December 2010, Retter said. But the average sales price was nearly $207,000 for the 242 homes sold in December compared to about $205,000 in December of 2010.

“We’ve had a good finish to the fall,”he said.

And foreclosures were the lowest they have been in eight years, with 355 foreclosures in 2011 compared to 755 in 2010, according to a report by Benton-Franklin Title Company.

Last year, total sales were down from 2009 and 2010, but Tri-City real estate agents say those years were an anomaly because the federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers artificially inflated the number of sales.

A total of 2,856 homes were sold in the Tri-City area, including Benton City, Burbank and Finley, Retter said. That compares to 3,267 in 2010.

Last year, the average sale price increased form $196,833 in 2010 to $200,291, he said.

A 3 percent to 5 percent appreciation in home prices from year to year lends itself to a healthy market, Retter said.

As of Monday, there were 1,111 home listed on the market, which Retter said is normal for this time of year.

The Tri-Cities didn’t see an increase in home listings after Hanford layoffs were announced, he said.

“I’m very optimistic about what I am seeing in the marketplace and people’s attitudes,” Retter said.

Paul Roy, president of the Tri-City Association of Realtors, said he is excited about 2012 and happy with what he is seeing in the market.

The major difference is consumer confidence, Roy said.

during the summer, people heard about the national debt crisis and worried about the effect of upcoming Hanford layoffs. Confidence was low.

Now, Roy said, confidence is up.

“The better people feel about their lives and their jobs, the more likely they are to make a move,” he said.

Some of the decrease in sales can be attributed to families buying homes to take advantage of the first-time homebuyer tax credit, Roy said.

The number of homes sales alone doesn’t indicate the strength of the local market, Roy said.

Prices increased slightly, and the area had fewer foreclosures than 2010. Last year, the rate of foreclosures was less than half of the 862 foreclosures in 2008, which was the most in eight years, the report said.

Meanwhile, homebuilders have described the number of new homes being built in the Tri-cities as sustainable.

More building permits were issued for new single-family homes in 2011 than in either 2008 or 2009, according to the Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities.

A total of 1,332 permits were issued last year compared to 1,513 in 2010, according to the report.

But the number of permits in 2011 was higher than in 2008 or 2009.

People who bought homes now will discover they have made a wise decision, Retter said, because as the economy improves, interest rates will escalate.

Roy said he is seeing a growing number of investors buyong oup and homes and turning them into rentals.

Many families can afford to buy a home for about the same cost as renting one, Roy said, adding that Tri-City rental prices have increased with the demand for apartments.

“We’ve just kind of settled back to where we were before the boom, and bust started,” he said. ” We are calling it the new norm.”

Kristi Pihl: 582.1312 : kpihl@tricityherald.com

windermere tri-cities

Community Enrichment Foundation

-A Partnership of Windermere Tri-Cities and HAPO Community Credit Union

Giving Back to Our Community

HAPO and Windermere Tri-Cities, through their “Community Enrichment Foundation”, are proud to announce their contribution of 90 brand new computers to be distributed amongst the school districts of Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, Finley, Burbank and Kiona-Benton.

A Partnership for Results.

windermere tri-cities

Santa is Coming…Just a few more days to finish your wish list!!

Santa will be visiting our Windermere Tri-Cities office this Saturday, December 3rd from 11:30am ~ 2:00pm

Pictures with Santa will be taken inside this year due to the colder winter weather. Juice & cookies will be served and we have lots of gift bags for the kids.  Come join our Windermere Tri-Cities family for a day of fun with Santa!

WHERE:  Windermere Tri-Cities Office, 329 N. Kellogg, Kennewick

TIME:  11:30am ~ 2:00 pm

***DUE TO THE COLDER WEATHER WE HAVE MOVED SANTA INSIDE**

Don’t forget to bring your Christmas Wish List for Santa!

windermere tri-cities

FOOD DRIVE – CALLING ALL MEMBERS AND PARTICIPAINTS

The Tri-City Association of Realtors and KNDU Family Food Drive is on December 3rd.  We will caravan to KNDU that morning at 10:30am with vehicles loaded with boxes of food and envelopes of checks to be donated! Pick up your donation bags starting November 16^th, 2011 the Association Office or you can create and use your own bag designed to promote yourself and your efforts to help the less fortunate.

How can you help?

It’s really easy to participate and will take only about an hour or so of your time.  This is a grass roots approach which is the key to this year’s success. We are involving REALTORS and Volunteers to reach out to our neighborhoods, spheres, families, and individuals to join in our effort. This year TCAR wants to involve as many Tri-City REALTORS as possible to raise 15,000 pounds and as many dollars as we can for this important effort. Can we reach this goal? Together, yes we can!

Here’s how:

Tell everyone you know what you are doing and ask if they will join you!

The Tri-City Association of REALTORS has purchased 3000 Donation Food Drive Bags to be handed out to Members and Offices that want to participate. We will notify you when the offices and individuals can pick up donation bags. 

You simply attach a donation bag letter for Donation Request (see attached example) – which we encourage you to personalize with your contact information – (If you want you can print the donation bag letter and use your own bags). Pick a day to drop the donation bags on doorsteps in Tri-Cities neighborhoods and return the next day to pick up donations.  It’s that simple.  

 Drop bags on your neighbors doorsteps. (The more houses the better!)

Pick a day before Dec 3, 2011 – Drop the donation bag and letter off in your neighborhoods the day before and then pick up donations the next day before 10:00 am.

 We will caravan to KNDU to deliver our collections the morning of Dec 3, 2011 from the parking lot of the TCAR ASSOCIATION Office at 10:30am

Have your vehicle loaded with boxes of food and envelopes of checks ready to roll!

 How else can you Help?

Monetary donations – If you want to help but can’t be a part of the food collection, cash donations are always welcome. Cash gives the flexibility to acquire perishable items like fresh produce, meat and dairy products. If you are interested in making monetary donations please have the checks (made payable to Second Harvest) in an envelope with the total clearly marked on the front. 

Promotion

Do you have any events you or your office has planned for the campaign?  If so…we want to know so KNDU can help publicize it!

Questions? 

Please contact:

Paul Roy

509-737-3096

proy@cbtabs.com

windermere tri-cities

Americans Still Believe in the Value of Homeownership

Posted: 09 Nov 2011

By: The KCM Blog

Last week, Fannie Mae released their National Housing Survey for the third quarter of 2011. They survey the American public on a multitude of questions concerning today’s housing market. Each quarter, we like to pull out some of the findings we deem most interesting.  Here they are for the most recent report:

Most Important Reasons to Buy a Home

The study shows that the four major reasons a person buys a home have nothing to do with money. The four reasons, in order, are:

• It means having a good place to raise children and provide them with good education.
• You have a physical structure where you and your family feel safe.
• It allows you to have more space for your family
• It gives you control of what you do with your living space (renovations and updates)

When we talk about homeownership today, it seems that the financial aspects always jump to the front of the discussion. There is no doubt that families must justify a home purchase from a financial point of view today. However, the reasons they actually buy are the same reasons our parents and grandparents purchased their home – to create a better lifestyle for their families.

The Home as an Investment

Though most people purchase a home for non-financial reasons, everyone realizes there is a money component to homeownership. Here is what they said on this issue:

• 64% of the general population (and 69% of homeowners) believe that homeownership is a “safe” investment.
• 55% believe that homeownership has more potential as an investment than any other traditional asset class.
• 68% think that now is a good time to buy a home.

Rent vs. Buy

We are always interested in the difference people see in renting vs. owning.

• 63% of renters have aspirations to someday own their own home
• 70% of renters think that owning is superior to renting
• 96% of homeowners see homeownership as a positive experience (4% see it as a negative experience) while 83% of renters see renting as a positive experience (15% see it as a negative experience).
• 97% of homeowners live in a single family residence while 53% of renters live in a multi-unit building.

Bottom Line

Even in these difficult times, American still realize the value of homeownership both from a financial and social standpoint.

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Community Enrichment

Money to go toward building planetarium on campus

Jacques Von Lunen – Herald Staff Writer

Columbia Basin College today is $50,000 closer to building a planetarium on its Pasco campus.

The college today will announce the large donation for its latest building project.  It is the first money paid out by the recently formed HAPO/Windermere Tri-Cities Community Enrichment Foundation.

The planetarioum is expected to cost $1.2 million, which will come from donations and loans.

Once completed, which could be as early as one year from now, the planetarium will be used to draw more students into science and engineering fields, said Mike Durst, who will be the director of the new facility.  He also heads up the Moore Observatory on campus.

The planetarium also will be a key component for CBC’s new astronomy program, a collaboration with Heritage University.  And it will feature entertainment for the general public, from 3-D shark documentations to laser shows, Durst said.

At the heart of the planetarium is a 30-foot dome that acts as a projection screen.  The dome will rise above the current N building, which is near the north end of the Pasco campus, by Argent Road.

The projector inside the dome will be connected to computers that can capture images from- and even remotely move-the Moore Observatory’s telescope, Durst said.  This means students can watch and analyze live images of the night sky from inside the planetarium.

They also can examine how the stars aligned in the sky from computer images when cloudy weather would not allow them to do so through a telescope.

And the planetarium will offer students a chance to see the night sky as its seen from other points on Earth, or as it looked at a certain time in the past.

The new facility will fill the gap between CBC’s two other star gazing devices- the Moore Observatory and the former Rattlesnake Mountain telescope, which is getting a new home near Wallula Gap, Durst said.

The observatory on campus is designed to teach the first steps of using a telescope and the new facility in Walla Walla County will be used for research by students in their last year of the astronomy program.

“The planetarium allows us to do a little bit of both,” Durst said.

The hope is that a multimedia center showing films on a 30-foot screen will help “gets kids excited about science before they’re entering college,” he said.

High school students taking Running Start courses on campus might visit the planetarium and decide to pursue the new bachelor’s program in astronomy, for example.

A degree in astronomy can lead to jobs in the aerospace industry.  But almost more importantly, the program lead to a “really strong, broad-based science degree,” Durst said.

And that’s in line with CBC’s mission to further education in science, technology, engineering and math – or STEM-in the Mid Columbia, he said.

That’s why spending $1.2 million on the project is worthwhile, said Bob Rosselli, head of the CBC foundation, which is paying half of the costs.

Including today’s donation, the foundation has collected half of the $600,000 it will contribute to the planetarium, Rosselli said.  It hopes to have the rest of its contribution by the end of this year.

For the remaining project costs, CBC will take out a $500,000 loan from the state, and the Associated Student Body will contribute $100,000, Rosselli said.

The $50,000 donation marks the first significant pay-out by the HAPO/Windermere Tri Cities Community Enrichment Foundation, said Dave Schulz, president and CEO of HAPO.

The foundation he co-founded is only a month old, he said.  Its purpose is to support “tangible projects in the community” related to health care and education, he said.

“We think (the planetarium) is a great project and a terrific addition to the college,” Schulz said.

Jacques Von Lunen: 582-1402  ;   jvonlunen@tricityherald.com