North Sound Property News

Several big stories this week in the North Sound area, as well as the real estate world.  Here are a few of the stories I’m following this week:

American Home Mortgage is closing up shop, as of today.  This has been a huge story all over the blog world as well as the financial community, because American Home was an “Alt-A” lender, not a subprime.  This basically nullifies the argument that the mortgage market meltdown is limited to the sub-prime market.  This is also hitting many buyers right in the pocketbook, as AHM may have had as many as 7,500 transactions set to close in coming weeks, now those buyers are forced to look elsewhere for funding.

Locally, the Lummi and Tulalip tribes commemorated the 150 year anniversary of the signing of the Point Elliot treaty with a canoe journey to Lummi.  They stopped for one day on July 26th at Mukilteo Lighthouse beach.  Point Elliot is now called Mukilteo, so the city celebrated its role in that historic occasion by playing host to the tribes, sharing food and helping the canoe pullers pull the sometimes 1,000 lb. canoes out of the water.

 The captain of the ferry that crashed into the Mukilteo dock last month was fired this week for negligent conduct.  The accident put one ferry out of service with about $138K worth of damage, and over $1 million dollars in damage to the Mukilteo dock itself.  According to the Seattle PI:

An investigation report on the incident said Tracy did not follow normal procedures when preparing to dock the 328-foot vessel and did not “slow the vessel at an appropriate distance from the dock.”

The report said Tracy didn’t sound a danger signal or give any warning before the ferry hit the wing wall. The report said he did not notify the engine room before trying to slow the ferry, did not use any backup control systems or obtained verbal confirmation that the bow propeller, which would slow the vessel, was operating before the crash occurred.

 I hear from people who were on the ferry at the time that the ferry basically didn’t slow down at all–it just crashed into the dock at full speed.  From my experience living in this area for most of my 38 years, the ferry is usually good for one good crash per decade.  There were few injuries, so hopefully this was it!

The Minneapolis bridge collapse reminds those of us here in North Sound that you can’t “cheap out” on transportation.  We have several heavily-trafficked bridges and raised roadways here in the King county and Snohomish area that are as old or older than the span that fell into the Mississippi River.  Several, such as Highway 520, the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the Aurora Bridge, are known to have structural defects yet remain in operation with no plan for replacement.  Governor Gregoire is reviewing the most recent bridge checks.  All bridges remain in operation.

The fight over light rail continues, with detractors claiming that the carbon footprint to build it outweighs any environmental benefits of using it.  Supporters claim the data that supports that position is flawed.  Close in Seattleites may not see as much benefit from light rail but for suburban areas like Mukilteo, Everett and Edmonds that would eventually be served by the light rail line, the benefits could be enormous.  And, if light rail can attract enough ridership to reduce congestion on I-5 and 405, then the benefits will be felt by closer-in residents as well. Bus service and Sounder train service from the North end to Seattle and the Eastside is inconvenient and infrequent, which does not promote ridership.  Therefore, most residents of this area continue to commute to work in single-passenger vehicles.  We will not see traffic congestion (and all its attendant ills–pollution for one) improve until there is a better way to get people who have chosen to live outside the city–often for economic reasons, such as housing prices–to and from their places of work more effectively.

In other transit related news, Community Transit has introduced double decker buses onto one of its more popular routes.  The buses handle better than the articulated buses that were formerly in use, and take up less space on roadways, reducing congestion.

This one combines real estate and local news: House Values has laid off 60 people from its Kirkland office, and has shut down its Yakima facility, which employed over 100 people.  The real estate lead generation industry is suffering both as the real estate market cools and also as online consumers become more savvy about how they gather information about their homes and the real estate market.   The popularity of Zillow and other automated valuation tools most likely also contributed to House Value’s demise.

About the Author: Sandy Kaduce is Associate Broker of Gallery Homes Real Estate. She serves buyers and sellers in North King and South Snohomish counties. She is 2009 Board President of the Mukilteo Chamber of Commerce, as well as Vice President of Site Selection for Habitat for Humanity of Snohomish County. For more information, visit Sandy on the web at www.sandykaduce.com! Read more from this author