Richland Real Estate Blog » Richland Real Estate

New Richland Law About Garages

Cari McGee — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:48:22 +0000

Here in the Tri-Cities, the shop (outside garage or oversized storage shed or mammoth building) is KING. Shops add value and are considered a very desirable commodity.

Now, the city of Richland has passed a law banning “monster” garages, actually, any garage that is taller than the house. It shouldn’t have a significant effect. Richland does not have a lot of wide open space left where people could build houses and accompanying huge garages. Now, if this law was enacted in Pasco, Kennewick or any of the other cities nearby, I’m sure there would a major uproar. Those other cities do have subdivisions or areas with enough space to add a huge shop next to the houses already standing.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

New Richland Law About Garages

Going Green in Richland

Solid Real Estate Stats So Far in 2010

Matt McGee — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:41:55 +0000

The City of Richland has shared some good news about development around town — numbers that seem to provide some more evidence that the economy (which was never really bad here in the first place) is stronger now than during the slowdown.

First, real estate development: The city says it’s already collected 58% of its projected revenue from building permit sources for 2010, and that’s just in the first five months of the year. By the end of May, 2009, the city had only collected 28% of its projected permit revenue. Here’s more:

New housing starts totaled 37 last month and 164 year-to-date, the highest year-to-date total since May 2002. The value of new commercial construction for May was 55% higher than May 2009. Plan reviews through May jumped 31% above the first five months of 2009, and inspections climbed about 22% over a year ago.

Second, utilities: The city says it has installed 201 new residential electrical services so far in 2010 (by the end of May), compared to only 115 through the first five months of 2009. That’s a 75% increase in 2010.

Very positive signs for the local real estate market and economy in general.

Postscript from Cari: Another good sign which corresponds with what you wrote above is the fact that so far, through May, there have been 164 single-family building permits issued in Richland. In all of 2009 there were 217, in ‘08 there were 229 and in ‘07 there were 292. If the trend seen so far this year continues, we might look at a final number closer to that of 2001. 383 total single-family permits for the city of Richland were issued that year, and 2001 was a great year for local real estate.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Solid Real Estate Stats So Far in 2010

New Apartments Coming to Richland?

Matt McGee — Fri, 21 May 2010 05:33:24 +0000

With apartment occupancy pushing almost 100% across the Tri-Cities, it’s pretty big news anytime there’s word of new apartments that may be on the way. KEPR-TV recently reported on two possible apartment projects coming to Richland — one in the Queensgate area behind Target, and one along Columbia Park Trail near Kimo’s Restaurant.

Here’s the KEPR story; it’s short, less than a minute long.

I should add, too, that homes for rent are also hot property in the Tri-Cities these days. Cari recently wrote a blog post on her main real estate blog about that: Renting in the Tri-Cities.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

New Apartments Coming to Richland?

Richland Planning ‘Small City’ Off Badger Mountain

Matt McGee — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:02:24 +0000

The city of Richland and a real estate developer have big plans for nearly 2,000 acres of land on the south side of Badger Mountain. According to the Herald, Councilman David Rose described the area becoming a “small city” as it’s developed over the next 20 years — with as many as 12,000 people living in the area.

The plan lays out the map of land-use designations for the nearly 2,000 acres — much of which will end up being zoned for medium-density residential development that allows five to 10 housing units per acre.

Loren Combs, a Tacoma attorney representing the developer, said the concept will include a mix of higher-density multi-family housing that will cost less than $200,000 per unit, single-family homes and estate homes that cost upwards of $500,000.

He said the plan is to include housing at every pricing level.

The developer also says about 150 acres will be used for commercial development.

The planning commission will review this plan in May, and the Richland city council could vote on it over the summer.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Richland Planning ‘Small City’ Off Badger Mountain

Are you following Cari on Facebook?

Matt McGee — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:51:06 +0000

Quick note for all Richland Facebook users: If you’d like to be able to quickly get in touch with Cari about any real estate questions or needs you may have, you can connect with her at this facebook page:

Cari McGee Real Estate

She’s on Facebook quite a bit more often than she’s blogging here, so that’s the best place to keep up with what’s going on the Richland real estate market.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Are you following Cari on Facebook?

Richland Real Estate Market Showing Good Signs

Cari McGee — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:34:16 +0000

Here’s good news about new real estate construction in Richland. It comes from the latest weekly update:

Building permit revenues for the first month of 2010 were 55% higher than in January 2009. All construction permits totaled 110, compared to 71 in 2009.

Last month, the city issued 26 permits for single-family dwellings, the highest number and highest valuation since 2006 and approximately a 76% increase over 2009 numbers and valuation.

Despite the residential increase, the city issued no new commercial permits in January. Staff completed 66 plan reviews, the second highest total since 2003. January inspections also topped 2009 numbers.

Most of this new construction is taking place in south Richland. The new home count in north Richland, in the Horn Rapids area, is about half that of the new home count in south Richland.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Richland Real Estate Market Showing Good Signs

Going Green in Richland

Cari McGee — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:40:08 +0000

There’s an interesting new development on the table in Richland. They’re considering a new community, within the city limits, wherein all the houses are run on solar energy and the businesses are built green, too. Houses, shops, schools, everything you’d find in a non-green area, would be there. The difference? Everything built in an eco-friendly way. Hmmmm…I’m not even a huge nature lover (I’m still burned about the government making us use the new light bulbs, I hate those, as good as they are for the planet), but I could really get behind this plan. Be sure to watch the accompanying video.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Going Green in Richland

Richland Real Estate Snapshot: Housing Starts Up

Matt McGee — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:11:50 +0000

A sign of improving times? The City of Richland says housing starts in October numbered 25, which is almost double the 13 housing starts in Richland in October, 2008. It’s also in line with housing starts between 2005 and 2007.

Commercial construction in October was consistent with the past couple years. The city says it reviewed six new projects with an estimated total value of $2.78 million.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Richland Real Estate Snapshot: Housing Starts Up

Retire on the River in Richland

Cari McGee — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:59:38 +0000

Why not? All the kids are doing it.

Okay, maybe not the KIDS, but retirees are.

U.S. News and World Report recently named Richland, WA as one of the Top 10 Affordable Places to Retire. Woo-hoo!!!!

Just last night, I had dinner with some friends who live in a house that sits on the banks of the Columbia River. The view out the windows was sparkling and restful and beautiful. I asked the homeowner if there was ever a time when they had a poor view. Was it less than stellar at say, dawn? He replied that it’s great at all hours of the day.

Combine our waterfront with the fact that that we have the lowest cost of living of all the metro area’s in the state of Washington, and you have a perfect recipe for gracious retirement living!

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

Retire on the River in Richland

A Tough Rental Market Just Got Tougher

Cari McGee — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:49:26 +0000

Apartments are at close to 100% ocupancy, and rental houses are few and far between all over the Tri-Cities. Richland seems to hard hit especially because people want to live close to work, and most renters are here to work out at the Hanford area or at one of the associated business, all of which are located in Richland.

Word came today that the Richland Housing Authority’s Section 8 funding, provided by the federal government, is being pulled, as are the HUD-supplied vouchers.

What this can mean is detailed more here. The basic point is that money usually provided to the city of Richland to help house people, has been removed. That’s not good news.

This is a post from the Richland Real Estate Blog.

A Tough Rental Market Just Got Tougher