The mortgage market is a different place in 2009 than it was in 2007 or even 2008. 5 mortgage professionals and real estate insiders give us their thoughts on the state of the mortgage world. (Including Rhonda Porter, Tom Vanderwell, Darel Ansley and David Gibbons from Zillow.) Come visit the discussion on the Leavenworth real estate blog.  02/14/2009

Leavenworth WA now has a new real estate website. After months of hard work we have combined the Real Estate Search function of www.GeordieRomer.com and the news and opinion of www.MyLeavenworth into one great real estate site. We worked with the folks over at the Real Estate Tomato to create a custom WordPress Blog that had all of our old posts - 4 years worth along with the improved search capabilities of IDX Pro. Please come vist our new Leavenworth Real Estate site, www.IcicleCreekRealEstate.com We have lots of neighborhood pages, from Lake Wenatchee to Ponderosa Estates to Fish Lake. We also have some great search pages which allow you to search for very specific places like Cashmere or condos in Leavenworth. There are still a few glitches, but we'd love to hear what you think. We ... 02/01/2009

Bad decisions by developers in Leavenworth have led us to our first auction. It wasn't a foreclosure, but there were some bargain basement prices. Here are what the local sources said. The Wenatchee World (yes that's me in the hat - the Jack Abramoff looking character):  NCW Real Estate Blog The Leavenworth Real Estate Blog (That's my main blog) It would be nice if that was our last auction, but I don't suppose it will be.  Developers have overbuilt the condo market and aren't smart enough to list their products at market pricing. 12/16/2008

Looking for Leavenworth Real Estate News? I have been pretty active over at www.myleavenworth.com, the Leavenworth real estate blog. Most recently I wrote a post about the ban on vacation rentals in the Chiwawa River Pines neighborhood. This is a pretty contentious issue - you can read another opinion about it at www.ncwrealestateblog.com The week before I did an outline of Leavenworth's Fall festivals including last weeks Autumn Leaf and Leavenworth's Oktoberfest which started last night and runs for the next two weekends. Darel Ansley also wrote an article sharing his opinion on the Big Bailout aka the Paulson Plan . It's been approved since then, but it's still worth the read. Lastly, I wrote an post about increasing bear activity around Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee. A lack of berr... 10/04/2008

www.myleavenworth.com the real estate news source for Leavenworth, WA has a few more posts this week. You can read about online "home values" and sales prices in Leavenworth and Chelan County. You can read tips on Seller Financing in 1031 Exchanges. or you can read about USFS Leases and similar leases on NPS Land. Is there a topic you want to learn more about? I'm happy to blog on request. Just email me your question about Leavenworth or Lake Wenatchee.   08/05/2008

The Leavenworth Real Estate Blog - MyLeavenworth.com has a few new posts. Allyson wrote a piece about " What $200,000 buys you in Leavenworth " . (The answer, of course, is not much.) I also wrote an update on Leavenworth's Condo Market which has been struggling as of late. I have a few ideas in the hopper and probably need to share a post with the Seattle PI too.   07/26/2008

The Leavenworth market has finally succumbed to outside pressures and we saw our first real signs of a slowdown in the second quarter of 2008. Unlike other parts of the country, our is less effected by the difficulty to secure lending, but rather by the general sense of economic uncertainty that hangs over all of our heads. I wrote a more detailed post on the Leavenworth Real Estate Blog, Myleavenworth.com. Click here to read the current state of the Leavenworth Real Estate Market. Prices appreciation seems to have flattened and the inventory has really soared. Most devastating is that the number of homes sold is 1/2 that of the 2nd quarter of 2007. We are seeing the same sorts of numbers for land sales as well. Condos are a very different story, which I hope to have posted soon. 07/20/2008

Okay, so here I am at my lap top trying to think of my first Blog to write and I am stuck on the title. Aside from rhyming, the words have nothing in common and are not about me or real estate, but hey, I'm Clogging-Flogging-Blogging! I am very fortunate to be able to live, work and play in the famous Bavarian town of Leavenworth.  We moved here about 2 years ago and I went to work for Windermere Real Estate/NCW here in town.  Our office is located at the west end of town, across from the Forest Service, but I myself like to use McDonalds as a land mark, because even when my boys were toddlers and couldn't speak, they  knew McDonalds and excitedly pointed at the arches, a universal symbol known to all.  We are a destination tourist town, and prior to moving here, we ourselves spent many... 05/31/2008

Are you considering selling your home in Leavenworth, Fish Lake or Lake Wenatchee? Are you in the process of hiring an agent to help you with this important task? My resume says that I am one of a dozen Certfied Residential Specialists in Central Washington and the only Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist in all of Chelan County (including Leavenworth, Wenatchee and Chelan). I was nominated for the Tech Savvy Business of the Year in 2007 for the Wenatchee Valley. I have been interviewed by the New York Times about Leavenworth real estate. But you want to know why I should be the one to help you sell your home. The answer is quite simple... 05/24/2008

Buying a Leavenworth vacation home, a Kahler Glen condo, or a home on Lake Wenatchee? Disappointed with the information you get from a few listing photos on the internet? Come visit Leavenworth WA's ONLY source for real estate video. I have set up a channel on YouTube  - Icicle Creek Homes to host video clips of current listings, interviews, and neighborhoods so you can learn more about Leavenworth and current offerings from your own computer. The selection is small right now, but will continue to grow. Some of the videos are responses to consumers questions. How close is the train track? What does the rest of the property look like? etc. Do you have a question best answered by video? email me and we'll try and answer with a video. 05/23/2008

p>This is my only second video with the new Flip video camera. I enjoyed shooting, but found the editing a little tiresome. I am excited about all the possibilities once I get the details worked out.I hope you enjoyed the views from Sauer Mountain in Leavenworth and all the great wildflowers. 05/08/2008

The Leavenworth Real Estate Blog, myleavenworth.com has a number of recent articles that are really worth checking out.I wrote updates for Leavenworth market stats for both houses in Leavenworth (single family homes) and for Leavenworth condos.I also posted part 1 of a two part series by home inspector, John Griffith of Cascade Site Services.  John's article talks about 5 common issues Leavenworth home buyers might typically find while doing a home inspection.Look for part 2 coming soon.. 04/30/2008

Luxury Homes in Leavenworth WA range from log cabins on the Wenatchee River or Lake Wenatchee to large horse properties with 5000 square foot homes.In 2007 there were 34 homes listed for sale in the Leavenworth Real Estate market above $700,000. As of April 2008, 10 of these homes have sold while another 2 are currently under contract.  The sales prices in the past year have ranged from $725,000 to $950,000.  In 2007, no Leavenworth home was able to sell for more than $1 Million. The average luxury home in Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee was about 2600 square feet and located on the water. 4 homes in this price range were on Lake Wenatchee or Fish Lake and another 3 were on a river - the Wenatchee River, Icicle Creek or the Chiwawa River.As of April 4 2008, there are 16 luxury homes on t... 04/04/2008

Blue Roof is the most recent host of the real estate blog carnival. I submitted a recent article about Leavenworth condo development that had been in my head for a while and was lucky enough to have it included.Blue Roof writes:Geordie Romer of  Leavenworth Washington Real Estate Blog presents  his "Top 5 Ways to Shoot Your Leavenworth Condo Project in the Foot." He actually goes the extra mile and gives six, including "Don't dismiss the internet as a fad." Good advice. Thanks for the plug and thanks to everyone who participated. 03/17/2008

Leavenworth real estate news seems to be popping up everywhere except on ActiveRain. In the last few weeks I have written about:Vacation Rentals at Chiwawa River Pines near Lake WenatcheeSecret Tips on How to Sell a Leavenworth Condo DevelopmentThe Truth about Real EstateAnd I have accepted an invite from Al Lorenzo to join him over at the NCW Real Estate Blog. 03/04/2008

The Kahler Glen home destroyed by an avalanche earlier this month was built under the assumption that an older geo-hazard study was still valid according to a recent Wenatchee World article.  After the study was completed a forest fire razed the slopes above the home removing the trees and vegetation that might have prevented an avalanche.  My educated guess is that this loss of vegetation is also the likely the cause of a large mudslide on Pelton Place last Spring. 02/25/2008

Leavenworth Real Estate News can be found on my main blog www.myLeavenworth.comI have been pretty productive over there in the past few days.Recent articles include:Kahler Glen Avalanche - Leavenworth Home DestroyedEagle Creek Road - Time to Widen?Leavenworth - Time to CaucusYou can get all the Leavenworth news delivered to your feed reader by subscribing to MyLeavenworth.com  02/08/2008

Leavenworth Washington's First Luxury Home Specialist - Many of you know that Allyson and I travelled to Denver a few weeks ago to take part in the Luxury Home Marketing class put on by Laurie Moore - Moore of the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing.  We learned quite a bit of new info on the luxury home market and were able to network with agents from luxury markets in Vail, Boulder, and Bend, OR among other places.Although I have been working over the past few years to differentiate myself as the luxury home expert in the Leavenworth area, it became "official" this week. I have been named a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist by the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. In addition to the required classwork, I also needed to demonstrate success in the luxury market - defined as ... 01/29/2008

All the years I have lived here in Washington, I have never made it to the town of Leavenworth - until now.Leavenworth is a small mountain resort town 2 hours east of Seattle. The town is modeled after a Bavarian village theme. When people learn that I'm German, they invariably ask if I've ever been to Leavenworth and then proceed to rave " It's just like Germany there". The reason I never had a desire to take the drive to Leavenworth was my fear that I would just be too repulsed by the "Kitsch" (cheap imitation) effect.                                Well, I finally took the plunge over Thanksgiving weekend and was very pleasantly surprised. Leavenworth turned out to be a charming town with an alpine mountain backdrop. The food in the local German restaurant (Andreas Keller) tasted aut... 11/29/2007

Leavenworth is famous for being a Christmas town. A + E network awarded us the "Holiday Town USA" award a few years back. This year we are hosting ABC's Good Morning America for our Lighting Festival. On November 29th from 4-6 AM they will be broadcasting live. (Yep 4 AM - they have to be live to NY afterall!) If you want to be on national TV give me a ring and we'll join them for the festivities. 11/06/2007