About Grant County, WA

So today the Commissioner announced some changes that are in the pipeline for FHA mortgages. Since I would say today in our area 3 out of every 5 mortgages are FHA this will impact a lot of us in this area.

The FHA has decided to raise up front mortgage insurance costs from the borrower from 1.75% to 2.25%. They are also requesting permission to increase the maximum MIP that they can charge. Does it suprise you that an insurance company wants to increase rates? Doesn't suprise me a bit!

For new borrowers to qualify for a loan if they have a 580 credit score they must now put 3.5% down on the transaction. For someone with a lower score they will have to come up 10% down on the home.

The bigger change is that sellers can now only contribute 3 % on an FHA sale which is down 3% from what we've normally used at 6%. It seems they want buyers to have a bigger financial stake in their home by them having to actually put money into it upfront.

FHA loans have gone from a low of 3% of all totals loans to now a high of 40% of all loans. Here in Grant County that is now probably a estimated of about 75% of all loans so this will impact a majority of our loans in some way.

The biggest impact we will see in our area from this is the loss of 3% of seller contributions. Some people to qualify for a loan need the full 6% to actually qualify for the loan as they don't have all the needed cash to close. This will affect how many buyers are out there buying homes here in Moses Lake.

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Moses Lake boasts a fantastic opportunity for artists around the basin as well as families interested in being involved in the community. Aptly referred to as MAC the museum is home to the Adam East collection of Native American artifacts from the Columbia Basin Region. They also frequently change out the subsequent art on the walls with ever evolving Columbia Basin Artists and traveling exhibitions. The best part is that the museum is always FREE

As well as offering you those opportunities of learning the history of the Columbia Basin they also offer weekly classes for you or your family on ever revolving topics that may interest you. Just two weeks ago I was able to take my kids to a Family Free Saturday where they made igloos out of marshmallows! Coming up on January 23 they are offering a class on Origami.

Within the quarterly brochure that goes out to all families in Moses Lake from the Moses Lake Parks and Rec Department you will find a full schedule of all the classes offered by the museum for you and family. Once a month they offer a Family Free day for you and your family to enjoy. Don't miss out on the opportunity to fully take advantage of all the community has to offer!

On December 14th, Quincy was host to a Rural Economic Development Summit. The event featured 10 speakers and included some of the state and region's top economists, educators, tech industry leaders and others. The experts agreed that Quincy, which is one of the few bright spots in the State of Washington's economy right now, has done things right. Quincy provided key infrastructure to lure high-tech industries and the resulting payoff is millions of dollars in tax revenues.

Providing key infrastructure is different than burdening commercial development with impact fees, complex permitting processes and uncertainty. Which do you think generates more revenue for a city?

• A development burdened by impact fees, complex permitting and high upfront development costs that never gets built.
• A thriving commercial venture that is generating huge revenues, sales and providing high paying jobs.

The answer is pretty obvious, isn't it? Tax it, hit it with impact fees and restrict to death and it dies. Provide infrastructure inexpensively and revenues skyrocket. Imagine that! Mike Irwin at the Wenatchee World wrote about the summit in yesterday's paper.

"Five years ago, we were in the same situation as everyone else," Quincy Mayor Jim Hemberry told summit attendees. "We were looking at our economy and wondering: ‘What can we do?' "

The answer, he said, was to invest early in improving power, water, streets, sewer and - important to tech industries - fiber-optic computer connections. Companies building datacenters would be drawn by low electrical rates, he added, but other amenities - including improved city services such as police and fire protection - would seal the deal.

Hemberry said the payoff, compared to city revenues in 2001, was an eight-fold increase in sales taxes by 2007 and a tripling of property tax revenues by 2009. "No question, those datacenters had an impact," said the mayor. - Wenatchee World

Moses Lake Real Estate Agent Heather Adkinson

With a lesser amount of listings on the market at this time then last year there is a much better chance that your house will be shown.

Pendings have stayed about the same but the solds were dramatically increased over last year at this time.

Look for a lot of new listings in the next couple weeks as sellers gear up for a new season and a new more positive outlook on the market

I don't know about what you did for Christmas but I spent mine with clients. It's not because I was trying to show you up or anything. It's not because I wanted to be able to say "hey I work harder then you." Nope none of those are the reasons. It was just plain because I wanted to!

We closed on this cute little house of my single mother client on the 18th of this month. Her children were then going to spend winter break with their Father. I was going to be without my children as well, so instead of mourning that fact we had a "girls day." Wine flowed freely and friendships were made that day. I would have to say that it was probably the best Christmas I had. No Drama, no cooking, no gifts! I loved it!