Is Spokane, WA the LEAST BIKE-FRIENDLY City in the US?

If you are considering the move to Spokane, you might be wondering, especially if you're coming from somewhere like Portland or Seattle, if you can continue that biking lifestyle here in Spokane if you're used to kind of living in the downtown area or you're coming from a place that's relatively flat, all those things.         1. Centennial Trail In terms of bike-ability, the first thing that we want to look at is what is already here. What do we already have? The number one thing that we already have here in Spokane is the Centennial Trail.   So the Centennial Trail, it's a 63-mile trail that stretches all from one side, the farthest side, as West Spokane as you can get, all the way to the far East, where it crosses over the Idaho border. And actually, it just continues for another 25 miles or something like that into Idaho. So you can start up in Riverside State Park near the Nine-Mile Falls Dam and then work your way down along the Spokane River, right through downtown, all the way through the Spokane Valley, over the Idaho border. This makes it great for people that live kind of along the trail. And then maybe, especially if you're somewhere like where I live.   So I live in the Logan neighborhood, just north of Gonzaga. The Centennial Trail goes right through Gonzaga. So I can take the side streets from my house for maybe less than half a mile, get on the Centennial Trail, and then follow the Centennial Trail along the Spokane River until I get right into the middle of downtown. So I'm able to go from my house to the middle of downtown by just four or five blocks of side streets and then using the trail. So it's super convenient and it's been great for where I currently live right now.   If you live somewhere like on the South Hill where you have to go where there's a large Hill, no matter what, coming down would be fun, but going back up is not going to be so fun if you're biking. So the Centennial Trail is already some massive infrastructure that we have for biking here in Spokane, Washington. So the big complaint we get is that's kind of the only place that there are bike trails. There are bike trails or bike lanes. When you get down by the Gonzaga campus, if you're off of Hamilton and Sharp, especially if you have bike lanes just around the college campus, because there are so many kids biking around there, to and from class, and their apartments, and all that kind of stuff.   But other than that, we have a handful of bike lanes downtown. But for the most part, it's pretty barren here in Spokane in terms of bike lanes. And that's kind of been a complaint about some people.     As reported by the Spokesman Review, our newspaper here, just about a week ago or a couple of weeks ago, they announced this cool project that's going on in Riverside. Riverside is kind of a road downtown that has needed some updates for a little while because it's pretty bumpy. And so it's good that we're just going to get a brand new road in there anyway. But taking a look at this, we're going to its four lanes right now. We're going to go down to three lanes.   Two, one in each direction with a turn lane. And then you're going to have parking next to that, and then you're going to have bike lanes next to the sidewalk. So I think this is going to be awesome because this is the kind of layout you see in some of those bigger cities, like Portland. This is a very popular layout around there. And then I even lived in Missoula for five or so years.   And so this is kind of the layout they have on their main strip because it's a very bike-friendly community. So I think it's awesome because the parked cars are going to protect the bikers from the traffic. They even have it set up. And so they've put the bike lanes on the outside of the bus stop so that the bikes can just keep going through.   And the stop for buses isn't going to need to go into the bike lanes or anything like that and cause disruption either. So I think this is going to be awesome for kind of one of the main streets in downtown Spokane to be able to have this because this road kind of goes into the University District as well. So like I said, now I would be able to go to the Centennial Trail, work my way into the University District very easily, and then work my way to Riverside fairly safely. For the most part, I think this is going to be an awesome addition to downtown Spokane.   Link to related article: CLICK HERE     2. Trent Avenue The next major project that we have going on is the Trent Avenue Bridge, which is currently not there because it's completely gone. It was a bridge that was over 100 years old. And we have quite a few of those here in Spokane. But this one just wasn't holding up as well as some of the others. And so they have completely taken it out. They're rebuilding it.   It started in 2020. The plan was for it to take about four years. This bridge is probably not going to open up for about another two years. But the plan is to completely rebuild it with wide crosswalks, wide bike lanes, and then traffic that can go either way. And so this will be a great connector from Sprague and the University District as well as into downtown because this will again be easy access to connect to the Centennial Trail from this area.   And then you'll be able to work your way downtown and then easily make your way to Riverside. So the city is working on trying to build more bike paths and bike systems. And all these kinds of construction projects that are going on right now are all going to work together to kind of bridge that gap that we're missing right now. I also think this will be a huge benefit because the Sprague District has gone through and is still going through those huge changes. And some great businesses are going in there.   Many of the homes that are being renovated constantly in that neighborhood are constantly turning over and becoming better and better. And so I think having this walkable, bikeable access from that Sprague neighborhood to downtown is going to bring in new life to that neighborhood. And I think this is just one of those neighborhoods that if you buy now, in five or six years from now when you go to sell, you're going to be very happy you did, because it's just going to feel like a whole new neighborhood around you and it's going to make your house worth way more than what you bought it for.   Link to related article: CLICK HERE     3. Incoming/On Going Trail Projects Speaking of bridges that are going on, we're going to talk about what's going on in the Centennial Trail. Let's talk about what's going on in the Centennial Trail because there are some other massive projects that I didn't even realize how big they were until recently.   Right now, down by that Centennial Trail, let's say it follows the river, then it works its way through Gonzaga, and then it works its way to Mission Park. And at that point right now, what it was doing was you had to actually stop at a stoplight across the Mission, which is a very busy street, and then come down a bridge, and then you continue down on the Centennial Trail. So there's kind of a stop, a break in the Centennial Trail. And it was just kind of that area is just so busy and gets kind of sketchy. And then what's kind of odd right now is that the Centennial Trail, kind of just ended for a minute and there was no connection.   You had to go around Avista and then work your way back to the trail and everything. So they're building a park in this area of the Centennial Trail in Avista. And I've driven past it a couple of times. We'll have some Broll here, but it's just going to be a little park. It'll be nice to have another access point to the river because there are only a few beaches along the river where people can go swimming in the summer.   So it'll be nice to have another one. But yeah, so far, just driving past it, it looks nice and it's going to allow for an easier connection on the near side of the Vista rather than having to go all this long way around it. So after that park is finished, it looks like we are working more on that Mission Gap that I was talking about because it's been an issue for a long time. That road has just gotten busier and busier. And so, phase one of that Mission Gap was that they just created an island in the middle of the street so that there was at least a halfway point to get across the street, and it just felt a little bit safer.   So now they're talking about putting a Centennial Trail bridge over Mission Avenue, which would be crazy. So, I mean, you would come out of Mission Park and then into a busy street. So we're just going to build a pedestrian bridge over the top so traffic won't have to stop. Because the other crazy thing that's right there is a train track just right in the middle of this busy intersection. And it stops everything, like bikers can't go, cars can't go. And so it's just when the train goes through there, it's just chaos. And so that could help a lot of things. At least the foot traffic now has to stop doing that. And then, like I just said, there's the train that goes through this.   They're looking at putting a tunnel underneath the tracks so that you wouldn't have to stop and could just go straight across. So basically, can we go over? Can we go under? That's kind of what they're trying to figure out right now. So that huge stop and annoyance in the Centennial Trail can go away.   I think in terms of Spokane being a bike-able city, we're getting there. We have some huge projects underway that I think are putting us in the right direction. Neighborhoods like Kendall Yards are super bike-able, and they have that Portland vibe where you kind of live, work, and play in the same neighborhood. And so it's very easy to go anywhere on your bike. The Green Stone, a big construction company here in Spokane, is building a replica of that over in Liberty Lake.   There will be another neighborhood option for that. But in terms of trying to connect neighborhood to neighborhood with bikes, we're slowly but surely getting there. And hopefully, by the time you're making that move or if you're making that move here in the next nine days or 90 days, you'll be looking in the near future for a more bike-able option.   Link to related article: CLICK HERE   Ready to Take the Next Step? If you wanna visit or feel like moving in here, I'll be more than happy to assist you.

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The Truth About The Spokane, WA Housing Bubble

The housing market crash of 2022. It seems like it’s every buyer's dream right now for that to happen so that prices will go down and homes will be more affordable. Well, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but here’s three reasons why you shouldn’t care if we’re in a bubble or not and a couple bonus reasons why you’re probably going to be disappointment with the outcome of the crash and why you won’t actually buy when it does.       1. Fixed Rate Mortgage The first reason you shouldn’t care if the market crashes is because of something called a fixed rate mortgage. Now in this video I’ll be speaking about my generation who watched our parents and family members struggle through the 2008 recession and we are fearful that will happen again. So, as your fellow millennial, I hope to provide you with some comfort on why we don’t have to fear that happening again.    I don’t know about you, but my parents definitely had no business buying their first home. They’ve told me that the banks barely verified their income, they had little credit, and not only did they qualify for a house that was $80,000 at the time, but they had to get another loan to cover the down payment on that house. Now, that house worked out well for them in the long term because they held onto it, which you’ll notice becomes a theme throughout this video, and they owed so little on it that the recession didn’t impact them so they were able to refinance a few times, make upgrades to the house, and ultimately sell it twenty years later for a solid profit.    But the point I’m trying to make is that one of the big issues with that time was adjustable rate mortgages. This means that the interest rate that you get when you first buy the home can change throughout your ownership. This was a huge issue for people during the recession because as home prices dropped, interest rates increased and made many people who were losing their jobs, struggle even more to make their payments on their homes because those payments kept going up.    That why we basically only do fixed rate mortgages now. The mortgage you lock in when you buy your home will not change over the life of the loan unless you refinance. This is great because you know that if you can afford your mortgage today, it’s pretty likely that you’ll be able to afford your mortgage down the road, especially if you plan on getting pay increases over time. This is why it’s important to keep your monthly payments less than a third of your income so that in the event that you do lose some income, you most likely will have a buffer to continue making that payment. So, if you are buying a home today and you can confidently say that you will be able to afford your mortgage payment forever, then there’s no reason to worry if the market drops because your payment is not going to change.    The big fear most people run into is that will get stuck in their home and not be able to sell it. Here’s two questions for you. Do you plan on staying in your home more than 5 years and could you rent out your home and be able to cover your mortgage? If the answer is yes to one or both of those questions, then you should buy the house.    If you bought at the height of the market in 2007, you would have had to hold on to your home for 10 years before you could break even on it. That would suck. But, I talk to many people who chose to put a renter in that house and bought again when prices were lower. The tenant paid down the mortgage for them so once they did come to sell, everything they made on it was pure profit because the tenant paid down the loan. You might not have made as much as you wanted to, but you could have still come out ahead by just holding onto the property and dealing with just one tenant.     2. Home Prices Going Up So Much Now, I’m like you, and if you’ve even bought a home in the last 6 months, you’re pretty stoked about how much equity you’ve made in that short period of time. We as a society are getting use to making a lot of money from our investments and it's putting a lot of us in a gambling mentality. A 24% increase in home prices is huge and not normal, but are we in a bubble or are we dealing with supply and demand issue?    Looking at 2007, our average sales price had hit an all time high of $211,317 which man that does sound nice when you say it. Today our average sales price is nearly double and we finished 2021 at $400,612. The vast difference between these two times is that there were 6 months of inventory on the market at that time and today we have 14 days worth of inventory on the market. What does that mean? You take the number of active listings in any given month and divide by the number of sold listings that month. If this number is below 3 months, your are in a sellers market and some would even say an extreme sellers market so when I say that we’ve hit as low as 10 days supply in the last year, we are experience a huge issue in the supply and demand area. In 2007, there was plenty of supply for everyone. There was no competition in the market to get these homes, people were just buying them because it was easy to get the money to do so and when the big banks went under, that caused everyone else to go under as well. So, we are not experiencing the same issue that we had in 2007 and 2008 which would lead us to believe that we’re not going to have the same catastrophic result, but let’s just pretend that we do.      3. Repeat of 2008 Recession in Spokane Well between 2007 and 2011, prices dropped a total of 22.1% falling to $167,000 at the bottom. This 22.1% drop made a difference of $40,000 in your homes value over a four year period of when the prices were falling. That’s right folks, market shifts and drops take a long time to happen. Everyone is waiting for the market to crash, but when it was crashing, there was no one that was able to predict that it would take 4 years for us to bottom out so there was no way anyone could have timed the market. But that’s besides the point.    We said that prices dropped 22.1% over that four year time period resulting in a drop of $40,000 to people's homes. Well I see homes selling for $80,000 over the asking price on a daily basis, so if we saw prices drop by $40000, none of us would blink an eye. That wouldn’t even bring us back to our 2020 average price of $322,000 when all of us were convinced we were in a bubble that year and the prices had to drop. What if prices dropped 22% from where they are today? Well like we said earlier, we saw a price increase of 24% from 2020 to 2021. So if prices dropped exactly like they did in 2008 you would get your 2020 prices back.    Let’s include inflation in this metric to make it a little more realistic to what would potentially happen. Inflation between 2007 and 2021 has been a total of 23%.  So adding an additional 23% of our 22% would push us to 27% decrease in property values. If the market crashes by 27% that wouldn’t even push us back to our 2019 prices of $284,000 on average.    My big question for most people when I talk with them about this is what is an affordable price? What is the price that you are waiting for? It seems like many people think the average home in Spokane should still be around $250,000 which would be amazing, but there are two issues. I’m willing to bet that there were tons of people in 2018 saying that the prices were too high when they had increased nearly 12% that year. Secondly, prices would have to drop nearly 60% for us to get back there which I won’t say is impossible, but I will say that if home prices drop that much, there will be far larger issues in our society than trying to buy your first home.    So, with all that information, I hope you're starting to see that it’s unlikely for us to experience a correction like we did in 2008 and before this video gets too long, I want to make one more quick point.    Everyone says that they will buy when home prices drop but that is statistically just not true and I’m sorry but most of us, unless you’re a confident real estate investor are not going to risk catching a falling knife. In 2011, when prices hit their low after the market crash, we saw the least amount of home sales in the past 30 years. This means, that the majority of people were fearful of the market at that time and did not purchase a home. It took us almost another 4 to 5 years after 2011 to really pick back up on the number of homes sold.    So with all that, if you can lock in a mortgage payment that you can afford, you plan on staying in your home for more than 5 years, and if worst comes to worst, you can rent out your home and at least cover the mortgage payment, there’s no reason to continue waiting to see a drastic drop in home prices because none of us are really going to even notice when it does happen.    Interested in visiting or moving to Spokane? Please don't hesitate to reach out and I will be happy to help any way I can. 

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How To Buy Your First Home In Spokane, WA

Are you looking to get your home search started but don't know where to start? You've come to the right place. In this blog, we will go over nine steps to go from not knowing anything about buying a home to getting the keys handed to you on closing day. Let's get into it!         1. Contacting a Lender  All right. First step of the process to contact a lender. Now, if you don't know any lenders, you can reach out to me and I can recommend you to one of my preferred lender partners. But I believe that if you need a loan in order to buy your first house, which I would say 90% of people probably do, then you're going to want to start here. I can ask you the basic questions like how much are you making?   What's your credit score? How much debt do you have? And then I can kind of guess what price range we're going to be in. But there are so many unknowns for a lot of people in terms of their finances that it's best to have a lender pull your credit, verify your employment and look at your finances from their lenders instead of just guessing and trying to figure it out. Now here's two concerns I hear a lot when it comes to meeting with the lender.   The first one is that people don't want their credits to go down when the lender pulls it. Well, I can assure you that the majority of the time when the lender pulls your credit, it will only impact your score a few points. It will not make a drastic difference in your ability to get approved. Additionally, if you have multiple lenders for your credit in a 30 to 45 day window, you only get dinged one time. The credit Bureau actually encourages you to shop multiple brokers and get the best rate.   I also hear a lot of people, they don't want to talk to the lender until they pay off a bill, their credit score goes up. People are concerned that if they meet with a lender, they want their finances to be in perfect condition. But I want to assure you that lenders are there to help put you in the best position possible and teach you how to get there. They might have a shortcut or a loophole that can accelerate whatever it is that you're working on. I never think it's a bad idea to have a conversation with a lender no matter where you're at in the process of getting approved for a home.     2. Talk to a Realtor  All right, now that we have lending in place, time to talk to your Realtor. Your Realtor can now actually help you because you have a budget in place and you know exactly how much cash you have to work with when it comes to structuring your offer. You want to set up what's called a buyer's consultation with your Realtor. This is where your Realtor with you will meet up for coffee or in their office and talk about the home buying process similar to what you and I are doing right now. But you're going to set up a search criteria to find your perfect home.   After you leave this meeting, you should feel very comfortable with the steps ahead of you. You should have a basic understanding of the steps of the real estate transaction and feel like you and your Realtor on the same page with them, knowing what you want, but also having a realistic expectation of the current market.     3. Viewing Homes  The third step of the process is looking at homes. This is the fun part. You get to wake up most days to an email with a new home that hit the market that fits your criteria. You want to reach out to your agent and set up an appointment as soon as possible. This is your chance to show up early to the showing, ride around the neighborhood and make sure you like the surrounding area, because even the perfect house isn't so perfect, if you have crappy neighbors. Then you'll get to explore a bunch of houses that other people live in and sometimes see some very questionable things.   But during this process, you should be aimed to be as open and honest as you can. Whether you love it or you hate it, do your best to explain why and so that it will help your Realtor kind of narrow down exactly what you're looking for. Some clients feel bad that they don't love the first two few homes, but just realize that this is a trial run for most people. You and your agent are just trying to get on the same page for what you're looking for. You're going to learn a lot about yourself as well as the Realtor.     4. Making an Offer  All right, assuming you found the perfect home, at least the one you feel comfortable with, it would make or make good investment. It's Time to Write an Offer now. There are a lot of minute details when it comes to writing an offer, and we won't get into all of them today. But assuming the market is still hot when you're watching this video, you should be focusing on a few things, mostly assuring the seller that the deal is going to get to the closing table. In the current market, things are crazy, and most buyers are having to give a lot to get the winning offer.   I encourage you to take a deep breath during this time, meditate for like ten minutes and make sure you're super happy with the house. Plan for everything. Like the inspection could reveal some really messed up stuff and you should walk away from that. But in today's moving market, you're going to write an offer. It's going to be strong one and you just want to make sure you're not going to regret it.   This is February 2022 right now, and nearly 40% of homes are going back on the market because buyers are writing intense offers and then they get cold feet and walk away and then they have to do the whole process over again. So, as I said, slow down, make sure you're stoked about the house and can see yourself living there for five or more years. And if that's the case, then write a strong offer. Make sure you're working on finding out the seller's needs, what the other offers are so you can be competitive and how you can stand out from the crowd. And then after that, keep your fingers crossed. Have your realtor stay in communication with the listing agent until you have a final yes or no.     5. Home Inspection  All right, so once you've locked down your dream house, we'll assume and it's highly encouraged that you get a home inspection. Some buyers are choosing to waive their home inspection, but this can be very dangerous, especially if you're somebody that does not have a background in understanding the inner workings of a home. Get the bells and whistles. This could run you up to $800, but this investment could save you thousands down the road when you're avoiding something major that could come up. When it comes to getting things repaired, only focus on major health and safety issues.   Many things are going to come up that are easy for the average person to repair themselves for less than a couple of $100 maximum and paying the additional cost to hire professional can not only throw off a deal, but many times it's unnecessary expense for either party.     6. Earnest Money  Next or potentially before the inspection is delivering your earnest money. Your earnest money is your legal interest in the property and the amount of money you're willing to put on the table to ensure the sellers that you're not going to back out of the deal. The state of Washington is very difficult to lose your earnest money. There are so many contingencies on the buyer side. Even when you waive a lot of your contingencies, majority of the time you're going to get your earnest money back.   As long as you stay in line with the contract, you'll be safe and be able to get it back if things go south.     7. Appraisal The 7th step of the process is the appraisal. Now there isn't a whole lot you as a buyer are going to do during this process. Your lender will have you make your deposit for the appraisal, which can run anywhere from $600 to $1400 depending on how Busy the Appraisers are and then your agent will often meet the appraiser at the house To Discuss the contract with them. If there are multiple offers on the house, what kind of improvements have been made? Provide them with a list of comparable properties.   This helps get the appraiser on the same side as us, basically because they're walking into the transaction blind and they don't know the competition or what happened for us to Get Where we are today. But they're an advocate of you. They're determining the True value of the properties that you're not overpaying.     8. Clear to Close Once the appraisal is over, Your lender will send in your file to underwriting and we'll get the clear to close, which means Exactly What It Sounds like you and your realtor will schedule a final walk through in order to double check that all Items On The Inspection Report Were Taken Care of and the sellers didn't decide To Punch Any Holes In The walls. But The House is Exactly as You Want It to be. So once that's done, you'll be soon heading to the Closing Table to sign a huge stack of papers. You'll bring your checks for the funds. I know that was like four steps all in one, but the last few days will just feel like a blur.     9. Possession Day The final day is here, the day you get your keys to your new home. In Spokane most likely you'll go to the Closing Table to Sign your documents the day before or the morning of and then you'll wait until the afternoon of The Closing date To Actually Receive your keys. You don't get them Right there at The Closing table. The property sale has to be recorded at the courthouse and then once that's done, Closing Company will call the realtor To Let Them Know it's officially closed.   At that time, your realtor will call you to schedule a time to get your keys.   Ready to Take the Next Step? If you wanna visit or feel like moving in here, I'll be more than happy to assist you.

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