Kent Anderson

Kent Anderson is a Realtor®, sales associate with Coldwell Banker Resort Realty in Sandpoint, Idaho.

If you are considering buying or selling a home in Idaho, you deserve local expertise and advice to be provided by a professional in real estate. Kent Anderson, is a full-time Idaho REALTOR® providing full time, professional real estate services to home buyers and sellers in the cities of Sandpoint, Sagle, Ponderay, Kootenai, Priest River, Priest Lake, Hope, Bonners Ferry, SCHWEITZER MOUNTAIN RESORT and all surrounding cities in the Bonner County / Boundary County North Idaho area.

TRINITY AT WILLOW BAY (formerly called Cafe Trinity), located between Sandpoint and the town of Priest River and on the shores of the Pend Oreille River is a REAL culinary pleasure!

TRINITY AT WILLOW BAY was formerly located right in Downtown Sandpoint, Idaho and loved by all. They took the "Divide and Conquer" concept to the extreme and created 3 distinct Trinity-inspired restaurants: TRINITY AT WILLOW BAY, TRINITY ON THE BEACH & 41 SOUTH. All three have become Sandpoint destinations.

TRINITY AT WILLOW BAY offers the same Southern Cuisine we have come to love at the original Cafe Trinity. Now we get to sit right on the Pend Oreille River while enjoying their great food! ...and best of all...TRINITY AT WILLOW BAY is located just under 1 mile from Salishan Point by car or boat. What a fantastic addition to the Salishan Community! In the words of TRINITY AT WILLOW BAY:

"Nothing beats sitting on the deck enjoying a Damn Good Burger, a cup of Spunky Crawfish Chowder or a succulent filet mignon with friends while taking in fresh Idaho air and watching the sunset over the lake. Trying to get out the sun for a while? Treat yourself to a scrumptious meal in the shade on our covered patio before getting back to your marvelous summer tan. After a long, tedious day of fishing, water skiing, wakeboarding, and swimming, you can boat on over and finish the day off with Northern Idaho’s finest cuisine. In addition to the fine cuisine, Trinity at Willow Bay has two fully stocked bars to satisfy our spirit thirsty patrons. Whether indulging in wine, beer or mixed drinks, Trinity at Willow Bay has the selection and staff that are second to none.

Save time and headaches as Willow Bay Marina can take care of all your gas and ice needs. Our dockhands will assist you with filling your tank and get you ice without you even having to step foot on dry land.

Trinity at Willow Bay is located at 520 Willow Bay Road and is accessible by car via Hwy 95 south of Sandpoint and heading west on Dufort Road for approximately 9.5 miles. Trinity at Willow Bay is open seasonally from mid-June to mid-September . We are open seven days a week from 11:00am to 9:00pm."

At last week's Salishan Point Sales Event, TRINITY AT WILLOW BAY provided us with two $50.00 gift certificates to give away to customers as part of our free drawings. What a great addition to our celebration! We are very grateful to Trinity and look forward to a long association with them!

If you are considering buying or selling a home in Idaho, you deserve local expertise and advice to be provided by a professional in real estate. Kent Anderson, is a full-time Idaho REALTOR® providing full time, professional real estate services to home buyers and sellers in the cities of Sandpoint, Ponderay, Kootenai, Priest River, Priest Lake, Hope, Bonners Ferry, SCHWEITZER MOUNTAIN RESORT and all surrounding cities in the Bonner County / Boundary County North Idaho area.

You may be relocating to or from Sandpoint, Idaho due to any number of reasons... whatever the case, when searching for a real estate professional outside the state of Idaho, please feel free to Contact Me or call me at 208-610-1201. I have associations with fantastic agents throughout the U.S. and I would be happy to help you get connected.

41 SOUTH in Sandpoint, Idaho REALLY came through for us helping make our Summer Sales Event Party a huge success!

"At one end of the long bridge lies Sandpoint, Idaho. But at the other end...."

When planning for our Salishan Point Summer Sales Event, we wanted to have something special to draw potential clients to the event. We knew the beach, marina and all the other amenities were cool,

but it always helps if there is that "wild card" that people can gravitate to. So...who better to approach than 41 South Restaurant and Lounge! This is simply the best spot to enjoy a meal in all of North Idaho. 41 South is located on the water directly across the bay from Sandpoint. Their outdoor tiered dining cascades down to the water's edge and the ambiance is absolutely perfect! Too many superlatives? Sorry, but it is true.

THANK YOU TO MEL AND CLAUDIA DICK owners of 41 South! They graciously offered two free meals for us to use as drawings for our visitors. (and I never even told them I would blog about their place and "juice up" their google presence!). The drawing winners were thrilled.

The following is how Mel & Claudia describe their restaurant...

"Welcome to the finest dining experience you will have in the Pacific Northwest: Forty-One South. With Executive Chef Jeremy Heidel and his top-notch staff we have the finest in seafood, poultry and vegetarian cusine to offer. Add to that our full bar, extensive wine list and delicious dessert selections and we think you will find no finer dining experience in this part of the country. Situated on gorgeous Lake Pend Oreille, Forty-One South is the new heading for your unforgetttable dining destination."

Their Sunday brunch is already the most popular brunch in Sandpoint. Here is what they have to say...

"Our oppulent buffet features fresh fruit, fresh baked goods, bacon and sausage, breakfast potatoes, a fresh vegetable of the day, roasted meats, the omlette station, the crepe station and fresh desserts.

We also have a very nice menu of smaller portioned items for lighter appetites as well as a selection of lunch entrees.

The buffet brunch includes your choice of beverage and the bar is open for Mimosas or Bloody Marys.

The Buffet is $14.95 per person ($5.95 for children 10 and under).

Make a reservation today or just drop on by.

The Sunday Brunch is from 10 am to 2 pm every Sunday."

Thanks again to Mel and Claudia and congratulations on bringing such a superb dining experience to Sandpoint!

SANDPOINT, IDAHO TENNIS

Sandpoint has a great tennis community! Last week we hosted the 3rd annual Sandpoint Tennis Camp and it was the best yet! Jane Rockwell (USPTA teaching pro and former Sandpoint High School coach) and Mary Jo Lambert (current Clark Fork High School coach) once again put together a 1st-class Camp.

The Sandpoint Tennis Camp started out with a Monday rainout...a rare event in the middle of July in Sandpoint. I was the scheduled guest coach for Monday along with my good friends Tom Boulay (USPTA teaching pro from Minnesota) and Kent Stadum (USPTA teaching pro from Minnesota and 5.0 National champion). As the current Sandpoint High School coach, it was my reponsibility to make sure the first two days of the camp were high impact, fun and INTENSE. This year's Camp had the strongest group of players yet...we were REALLY looking forward to some tough tennis.

Our typical sunny, warm weather returned on Tuesday and remained the entire week. The three of us "attacked" the kids with 4 1/2 hours of drills. We had five pros on four courts (Boulay, Stadum, Mary Jo, Stadum's son Peter and myself) feeding balls and relentlessly working on tennis mechanics. I thought it went very well, but I was told following the day's drills that it may have been the best day of tennis any of the kids had ever experienced. Not bad.

On Wednesday we brought in Kai Fong, Lewis & Clark College tennis coach along with three of his players to feed balls and work with the kids. ...Another four hours of high intensity tennis. This was Kai's third year here in Sandpoint and he runs a GREAT WORKOUT. The last two days consisted of match play along with singles and doubles strategy.

Sandpoint currently has no indoor courts (but they are coming) and the high school must use the City public courts for practices and matches. Given these impediments to putting together a strong tennis program here, one would think that Sandpoint would have a huge hurdle to overcome to be competitive on the State level. Not true! The incredibly strong tennis community in Sandpoint along with the commitment extended by the many pros, recreational players and high school players themselves have created one of Idaho's strongest programs. Sandpoint earned 4th place at the State Tournament in Boise in 2009 and we are looking forward to improving on that in 2010. As my old coach use to tell me, "We don't rebuild, we RELOAD!"

If you are a tennis enthusiast, you WILL NOT be disappointed with a move to Sandpoint. We have every level of player here and we have fun!

If you are a buyer or a seller in the SANDPOINT area, please send me an email at ski7b@coldwellbanker.com. I would be happy to assist you!

This is like FIGHT CLUB. I NEED to let go!

I just got done showing a property that happens to be situated next door to another great Lake Pend Oreile waterfront property that I was actually very knowledgable about. When I was done with my customer, a new potential buyer drove up and started asking me questions about that adjacent waterfront. A gift from God perhaps?

We are not setting real estate sales records here in SANDPOINT, IDAHO and suddenly I've got customers flagging me down.

I answered all of his questions and was pretty proud of my ability to really speak with authority. There are some engineering issues with the property that need to be addressed to complete a successful build and I even knew the engineers the potential client should contact. We spoke for a half hour, I met his little kid and was even able to get the little guy to stop crying. There was a definite positive energy happening.

It eventually got to the point where I suggested we write an offer and see if we could make a DEAL on the lot. $700,000 is nothing to sneeze at and, in this market, we could probably make something work. The customer was pretty savvy and said he would enjoy working with me but, in this case, he felt he should go directly to the listing agent in the hopes of negotiating the "selling commission" out of the sale price. It could save him as much as $20,000.00.

My first reaction was..."That makes sense...how do I talk him out of that thinking?" I gave him some feeble response like, "Oh, I don't think the broker would accept a 3% total commission when his agency has both sides of the sale". Then I explained that commissions are negotiable and he shouldn't worry about that too much and that he would be in great hands if I were representing him through the sale. Plus, I know the listing agent well and we could make this happen!

He eventually walked away and said he might get back to me. I'm such an IDIOT! What a weak sales pitch.

While I am beating myself up I keep berating myself with, "Don't worry about commisssions Mr. Buyer! We'll just offer a price you can live with and let the agents worry about commissions!!!" LET THE AGENTS NEGOTIATE. I CAN GET YOU THIS PROPERTY!

He could show up again. He has my card. I'm pretty experienced with this stuff, I can't believe I was so far off my mark.

LIFE GOES ON ...