Anacortes Old Town Strategy: Take Their Property Rights!

I just read the Potential Strategies for Old Town as prepared by Mark Hinshaw of LMS Architects and am concerned that these strategies are taking of property rights and will suffocate homeowner’s abilities to do simple upgrades to their homes.  These strategies will decrease property values because as a home buyer you will have to be happy with what you are purchasing and know that you will be unable to do a kitchen renovation, or install new landscaping, and that nice 10,000 square foot lot you have will no longer be able to accept a tri-plex on it; you’re now limited to a duplex and there goes $75,000 in a hurry!

 

Let’s start with the Renovation and Expansion strategies. Any construction in excess of 10% of the homes assessed valuation would require compliance with the standards and guidelines. So let’s say you have a home with an assessed value of $300,000.00. If you want to remodel your kitchen and install new landscaping and re-roof your home and detached garage, you can easily exceed this $30,000.00 mark – trust me, I just did. So now you’ve exceeded the 10% mark and the only change the neighbors will see is a much improved yard and a new roof, however the Old Town Strategy being put forth would require you to then meet the design guidelines for that roof. Rather than put on new roofing do you instead have to tear off your existing roof if it isn’t a minimum pitch of 3:12? And do you have to move that garage if it isn’t within 20 feet of the alley?

 

If you do a full gut and remodel, you can easily exceed the $150,000 mark and trigger a complete compliance with the standards and guidelines which would mean you have to add a porch if one doesn’t exist, tear off and install a new roof if it isn’t a minimum 3:12, move that garage if it isn’t within 20 feet of the alley, keep those heritage trees, shorten the length of that house because you can’t have a wall length greater than 40 feet, take a few rooms out of the second floor and smoosh it down a bit, new height limit will be 25’, oh, and raise the first floor a few feet.

 

Sure, these examples assume a lot, and may be a bit extreme, but so are these strategies. We should work to encourage remolding of these homes, not put up road blocks. I don’t think its fair to go into a neighborhood without restrictive covenants and retroactively bind the homeowners with new ones; which is essentially what these are. The City trying to regulate what a select group of homeowners can and can’t do with their homes, and in doing so devaluing them or at least causing home buyers to think twice when looking at that Old Town charmer that needs a little TLC.

City of Anacortes Retail Market Study

So I’ve read the City of Anacortes Retail Market Study published April 22 2008 and am basically disappointed with the return on the this $20,000 investment. This new study reveals little more than the old study did. Seriously, a day on the computer, and a $200 bar tab sitting with those listed on the back page with a stenographer taking notes would have gotten Anacortes the same information and saved us quite a bit of dough. Alright, taking a second look at those names lets up the tab to $400 and a couple taxi rides. All the same, this study reveals little that we didn’t already know. One thing it doesn’t do, and should have, is give solid recommendations.  I’m particularly disappointed in the lack of a Highway 20 recommendation as this is something that has bugged me for a while; that aside, there are no other solid directions given for Anacortes to take into consideration on any other topic.

And as you might guess, given a study with no “thou shalt’s” the City of course set’s a course of wait-and-see rather than a proactive approach to solving our upcoming revenue pinch.  I guess I think leaders ought to lead, and sometimes that means taking chances and going directions that though unpopular by some, are good for the many. Right now the City won’t open Hwy 20 to retail/commercial development because it may impact existing businesses in town, and that’s true; it probably will. I’ve been told by City leaders that no use will be approved that competes with existing businesses  in the CBD and I can only wonder why they didn’t take this stance 6 years ago with all existing businesses, CBD and uptown, because mine would be doing quite well without a few new competitors in town.

However, this is America and the ability to compete is every person’s right. It also, by the way, makes each business either better – or obsolete; both are good for the consumer. My business has improved because of competition, and so will others – it’s what you do when faced with it.

Your thoughts on the study and in particular Hwy 20 zoning?????

-Nate

Those Pesky Details

Headlines are remembered, articles are not.  It’s pretty simple math, really.  Headlines are in large print, only a few words in length, and are designed to grab you.  Articles are in small print, full of words and numbers, and have all the pesky little details that can sometimes bore you.  If you agree with that, you might also agree with my next point.  Lots of people get their news from the headlines only, and that can lead to confusion.  Let’s look at some examples of headlines from last week:

CBS News:  “U.S. Market Battling”

Washington Post:  “Home Sales Post April Increase”

LA Times:  “U.S. Home Prices Record Steep Fall in 1^st Quarter”

Fox News:  “Home Prices Post Unexpected Rise”

ABC News:  “Home Prices See Steepest Drop in 20 Years”

Chicago Sun-Times:  “Home Sales Post Unexpected April Increase”

Wall Street Journal:  “The Housing Crisis Is Over”

CNN Money:  “Home Sales Rise – Still Near 17-year Low”

 

So, how’s the real estate market????

 

Obviously, you need to dig a bit deeper.  The Census Bureau released their housing report for the first quarter of 2008 last week, and the headline writers went to work.  I won’t dive into all the stats here, but the basic points are fairly straight-forward.  Nationally, more homes sold in April than in March, however, April of 2008 was slower than April of 2007.  According to the Census Bureau, the median home sales price increased year over year.  Let’s add another layer, shall we?  Standards and Poor/Case-Shiller released their numbers last week as well, adding to the headline writer’s fodder.    The drastic differences in the headlines above highlight the need to dig deeper.  If I only read ABC News, my Fox News friends are going to wonder why I’m so sour about real estate.

If you only read headlines, where you get your news is the most important factor in shaping your opinion of the real estate market.  Take the time to look at a few different news sites next time you read that well-crafted headline, and GET LOCAL.  National headlines about real estate are sometimes interesting, but rarely useful.  Real estate is local.  Finally, if you can put up with all the facts and details, read the article.  You might be surprised by what you learn. 

 

-Josh

 

 

Best Crab Cakes

Random post of the week… I’m on a search for the best crab cakes around and have tried about a dozen places, most in Skagit County but also a few in Seattle most notably Dahlia Lounge. I’ve been told, and have read, that Tom Douglas makes the best crab cakes in the world. Those that believe that have not yet tried the crab cakes at Cafe Adrift in Anacortes.

The crab cakes at Adrift are simply amazing. Perfect thickness, not a bunch of mayo, cooked to perfection, great Thai Chili sauce to accompany it and a cool friendly atmosphere to eat it in. If you haven’t been; go. If you know of another crab cake that ought to get some recognition, please leave a comment so we know.

-nate

Anacortes Community Shelter Project

After several years of fund raising and work with the comunity the Anacortes Community Shelter  Project has broken ground and building has begun. The project, lead by Eric Johnson, has raised 2.2 million and has another $200,000 to go. While I think it’s an outstanding project, and a much needed one for Anacortes, I don’t understand the need to build. There are currently two 13 unit apartment buildings for sale in Anacortes, both in the mid to upper 1.4’s, meaning the project could have been up and running long ago, with no builiding needed and they’d end up with more units than their current design allows. But that’s just my Realtor mind at work. And yes, this was pitched to either the board, or memebers of the board more than once.

In any case, the project has started and I think it’s a great thing for our community. Homes are being torn down on 27th street just off Commercial and work will begin soon, Nels of Strandberg Construction has been contracted to build. Eric has done a great job getting this going and our suprising amount of homeless here in the community will benefit. One of the draws to this project is that they do not just house homeless, they have to subscribe to a program to get themselves back on thier feet if they want to live in the Shelter and I think that treating the cause rather than just solving the problem is important. This is just one of the reasons I’ve joined with those in my companty to donate over $5,000 to the project over the last few years, with more to come.
Well done Eric and crew!

-Nate