What is the economy doing in the Tri cities now? (Starbuck: for sale, foreclosure)

[ButterflyUK]

I am trying to gauge how the economy is doing in the Tri-ciites now. How are things looking? Is this recession that we keep hearing about hitting there? How hard? Have house prices dropped?

Mostly just checking in. Really curious to know.

Thanks.

[suzannewright]

Supposedly house prices have dropped 5% in the last year. I think it's worse because I had my house appraised/listed last spring for 199k and then the market crashed so we rented it. I just recently heard that a similar house up the street just sold for 162k. So, we are still keeping it rented for now. It's defoinitely a buyers market here, but then the buyers are having a hard time getting financed, so we don't really have much selling around here. I have also heard that Tricities is THE cheapest place to live in WA, so we are "expected" to start picking up. But, I've heard that before so we'll see

[GameHog9]

Things have defiantly slowed down, but appearently still crawling. The economy is bad everywhere. Were lucky enough that no big box stores are closing here.

I was surprised, and delighted, to hear that all the Starbucks in the TC will stay open

Hurrah. What would the world be without Starbucks?

[tcres]

Originally Posted by GameHog9

Things have defiantly slowed down, but appearently still crawling. The economy is bad everywhere. Were lucky enough that no big box stores are closing here.

I was surprised, and delighted, to hear that all the Starbucks in the TC will stay open

Hurrah. What would the world be without Starbucks?

We didn't lose Circuit City either. Things must not be that bad here.

[kernel korn]

I think the whole nation is feeling the pinch. I don't see the foreclosure problem here but, I do see empty houses and they still keep building. I don't know who is taking the hit for that.

[GameHog9]

I know. Why are they still building so many houses? I suppose they are selling, but the demand is not high.

[ButterflyUK]

Originally Posted by GameHog9

I know. Why are they still building so many houses? I suppose they are selling, but the demand is not high.

We have been watching one estate being built and sold on their website. They are still selling. Slowly. That is good though.

[Moon Waffle]

The economy in Tri-Cities could be described as very stagnant. It's not really moving much at all.

Homes for sale are staying on the market for months and months.

New homes continue to be built in small quantities. This is because buyers know they have the upper hand and can get a deal on a brand new home from desperate builders - sometimes an even better deal than they can get from desperate homeowners trying to sell.

It's a buyers market. No, we haven't dropped like Phoenix or Vegas or California. But we are feeling the pinch.

[Stevenml155]

I would agree with the posters at this point. The economy has slowed quite a bit. New homes are now offering incentives to entice buyers - one is giving away a car with a particular model sold or take $15,500 off the price of the home -- pretty aggressive or the homes were way overpricec to begin with! We have found a piece of land that we would like to build on and we have had our home on the market for over 6 months with not one offer and we are right around the street from the model homes. People seem to still go for the brand new home even though ours is only 1 year old and the former model -- we're offering all appliances, full landscaping water softner, etc and just lots of flyers being taken with nothing solid. Oh well - I've lived in the Tri before and reselling a home here is a tough task as they keep on building new homes. I would drive a hard bargain if I was purchasing now and be prepared to just walk away until you get what you want -- buyers are in the drivers seat more than ever.

[tcres]

Jobs seem to be safe:

STILL GROWING: Tri-Cities gain 3,400 jobs over last year - Breaking News | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news