We want to warmly welcome two agents to our Distinctive family! Dina Mendoza has been a Realtor in the Tri-Cities area for 10 years. Susan Bond is a new agent and has been working in the Kennewick School District for many years. We are so happy to have both these talented ladies working with us and wish them many years of success!
Higher education, health care, entertainment and recreational activities have increased in the Tri Cities area since the turn of the century. WSU Tri Cities, a new convention center, completion of the Sacajawea Trail, growth of all three local hospitals are just a tip of changes that we’ve seen here in the Tri Cities.
Education has seen changes with the expanded programs at Columbia Basin College in Pasco and in 2007 WSU Tri Cities began offering 4-year degrees, which allows students to live at home and still earn a degree. Enrollment for both facilities has risen dramatically over the last 10 years.
Recreation and entertainment saw lots of growth in the past decade, thus being the addition of the Tri Cities Convention Center, the Fairchild movie theatre in Pasco, lots of new and exciting restaurants, new shopping additions to the Columbia Center Mall in Kennewick, and many new small businesses throughout the Tri Cities.
History of our region’s development and of the indigenous peoples who first explored our area have been highlighted by the completion of Sacajawea Heritage Trail which connects all three cities, plus the acknowledgment of the Ice Age Floods Trail which carved our region into its particular landscape and will soon become a national monument with scenic overlooks, interpretive centers and displays depicting the story. Additionally a proposed Hanford Reach Center project is in the works so that visitor can learn about the cultural history of the Hanford Reach National Monument.
Each month we compile market statistics for residential homes sales here in the Tri-Cities area, and a PowerPoint presentation is created for folks to view on our webpage, www.distinctiveprop.com. We invite you to take a look and see what active, under contract and sold listings are doing in the cities of Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, West Richland and outlying areas.
Follow this link and find out loads of information about home sales in the Tri-Cities.
The Fiserv’s Report came out recently and indicated that Kennewick topped the nations growth of housing prices over the past 3 years, with values by 8.9 percent and are expected to continue growth by approximately 3.4 percent by next summer.
Jobs in our Tri City area are strong and steady which acquaint to more homes being sold to accommodate those folks coming into the area for the jobs, particularly those in the Hanford area or associated businesses.
Homes in Kennewick, Pasco, Richland and our neighboring towns, are selling quickly, with the market under $200,000 being the fastest sellers. New homes are being built very slowly due to the restrictions being placed by lenders, but some of the more established builders are still building new homes.
Unemployment in our Tri Cities area is among the state’s lowest and this has also contributed to the steady growth of home sales. Home values have increased, however, the inventory of homes for sale is shrinking because of the influx of new families to our area and the first-time homebuyer credit has afforded new buyers the opportunity to get into a home with the $8,000 tax credit.
If you are looking to relocate to the wonderful, fun and affordable Tri Cities, we’d be more than happy to assist your in your real estate needs. Please take a look at our website, where you can view any home currently listed in the MLS or you can input the parameters you seek in a home and have automated listings sent to your email address, the moment a home fitting your needs comes on the market.
We at Distinctive Properties, Inc., are here to serve you and help you find the home of your dreams. www.distinctiveprop.com
The three ports in the Tri-Cities area reported on the projects they have undertaken to help boost the economy of the Tri-City area recently.
Officials from the Port of Kennewick, Port of Pasco, and the Port of Benton, who comprise the Tri-Ports, spoke to about 200 individuals about their parts in promotion of economic development and adding to the growing job market in the area.
Discussion about the revamping of the Clover Island area, plus improvements at the Richland Manufacturing Mall, the Prosser Food and Wine Park, and the Benton City Industrial Park were also covered. There will be efforts to update the Benton City area as well, by the Port of Benton and with that, the hope that other businesses will fall in line to spruce up their appearances and keep the efforts flowing.
The Port of Pasco has several projects underway, including the current construction of a potato processing plant at the Pasco industrial park, as well as Parsons expanding its footprint in the Big Pasco center, and the port’s Riverfront Business Park project.
Our Tri-Cities area is growing with more and more businesses moving in, expanding, or investing here, we are looking at a brighter and stronger future for our Tri-Citians for many, many years to come. The real estate market is strong and jobs continue to materialize for skilled workers. These are the reasons that the Tri-Cities, and Benton and Franklin counties have become at the top of list for best places to live and work continually. Come join us in our beautiful corner of southeastern Washington State!
Planning fastpitch tournaments for April in Western Washington can be risky business because of wet weather. So Steve Jensen, state director for National Softball Association’s girls fastpitch, decided to bring some of his games to the Tri-Cities.
“I wanted to go to a place that could accommodate me for the fields and the weather,” he said. “It’s a great venue.”
About 110 teams played on 24 fields in April, and an additional 125 teams descended on the area at the end of June for the NSA Fastpitch State Tournament, the events were here for the third and second years, respectively, Jensen said, adding that both will be back next year.
Sporting events such as the NSA Tournaments and convention groups are important pieces of the tourism pie in the Tri-Cities area. And while the down economy continues to leave its negative footprint on local hotels and event spaces, officials say the effect isn’t as bad as it is in other parts of the country.
Bookings for conventions and sporting events were down slightly during the first six months of the year, said Kim Shugart, vice president of operations for the Tri-Cities Visitor & Convention Bureau. The bureau tracks the number of group events booked each month, not necessarily when the event is happening.
Through June, 53 conventions had been booked this year, compared with 57 during the same time last year, Shugart said. And 19 sporting events had been scheduled through June, compared with 23 during the first six months of 2008.
Convention planners are scaling back and often have a “wait-and-see” attitude, Shugart said. Overall hotel occupancy is down just more than 3 percent through April, the latest information available.
Kris Watkins, president and CEO of the bureau, added, “Where we’re feeling the bite of the economy is you may have the same number of conventions, but you have less delegates.”
At the Courtyard by Marriott in Richland, general manager Kathy Moore said her hotel’s group business travel is down “pretty significantly” from last year. “I think groups are smaller and I think more and more companies, they’re just not traveling this year,” she said.
The hotel has had a good returning business from sports groups, though, a category that’s holding strong for the year along with tour travel, she said.
But 2008 was a banner year and a tough one to measure up to, Moore said. Overall the hotel has seen less business than it did last year, but “it’s not significant,” Moore said.
Corporate events, which make up 20 percent to 25 percent of business at TRAC, are down dramatically this year at the Pasco facility, said Troy Woody, general manager.
“The corporate meeting market has fallen off the face of the earth,” he said, adding the facility has half the amount of corporate business scheduled for the rest of the year that it had at the same time last year.
Much to Woody’s surprise, events such as the Home & Garden Show, Hanford’s Health and Safety Expo and other audience-based events have held steady, he said.
New events at the facility, such as a series of community garage sales, are one way TRAC officials have tried to bolster business, Woody said. About 1,200 people came to the June 27 sales, which featured more than 70 booths.
“It was pretty successful,” Woody said. “That’s definitely going to grow.” Another sale was schedule for Saturday July 25, and the final one is set for August 15.
TRAC is likely to see a 20 percent drop in revenue this year, Woody said, following four years of 10 percent growth or more. He also had to lay off eight staff members, mostly superiors, at the beginning of July.
The hope is to bring them back when business picks up again, Woody said.
Compounding the challenges of bringing group travelers to the Tri-Cities in a slumping economy is an increase in competition. More cities are vying for a shrinking amount of business, Watkins said.
Cities such as Seattle and Bellevue are more “cost conscious”, and therefore have become competitors of the Tri-Cities, she said.
On top of that, an increasing number of venue have become available in recent years.
A new sports venue in Wenatchee and a bigger convention center in Spokane are just a few examples, Watkins said. “So you have more competition in a down market,” Watkins said.
To stay competitive, the bureau has focused on maintaining relationships with clients. “There’s no business like repeat business,” Watkins said.
The bureau has recently implemented a program called MeetingMax, which allows convention delegates to book rooms at the hotel of their choice after meeting planners have reserved blocks.
It’s designed for bigger groups that require rooms at more than one hotel, Shugart said. The Public School Employees of Washington, in town this weekend, is the first group to use the service.
Competition isn’t likely to lessen anytime soon, so tourism officials say they’ll continue to recruit new and returning groups to hold their events in the Tri-Cities.
“It’s a united industry in the Tri-Cities,” Watkins said.
Source: Tri-City Herald
