Spoken Gently's Blog: Washington State

In Alejandre v. Bull the Washington Supreme Court (March, 2007) sided with the seller and did not allow the buyer to sue for damages for the seller's misrepresentation of the seller's disclosure statement. In this case, the seller knowingly gave the buyer a faulty septic tank. To read more about the case, Attorney Russell G. Cofano does a great job of summarizing Alejandre v. Bull. What I want to do is discuss the implication of Alejandre v. Bull on the new forms coming out in October for Washington REALTORS®.

In the August 2007 edition of Washington REALTOR® News, I quote from page 11:

...there will be a provision in the new form to address the significant changes to law caused by the case of Alejandre v. Bull, decided by our state Supreme Court on…

Yes, you have read it correctly, cities in Washington state are among the cities in the United States with the fastest growing home prices. Our Wenatchee is the #1 city in the country with the fastest growing home prices. Among the top twenty markets in the country are Washington's Longview real estate market (6th), Seattle metro area real estate market (17th), Tacoma real estate market (19th), and the Spokane real estate market (20th).

From the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, page 2:

The Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with the greatest appreciation between the second quarter of 2006 and the second quarter of 2007 were: Wenatchee, Washington (23.5%), Provo-Orem, Utah (18.2%), and Salt Lake City, Utah (16.0%). The MSAs with the…

Tri City Herald writes:

Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., would like to open public access to Rattlesnake Mountain and the Hanford Reach to bring more tourists to the Mid-Columbia. Hastings spoke to a sold-out crowd of about 240 people at the Tri-Cities Regional Chamber of Commerce's annual state of the congressional district luncheon Wednesday at the Shilo Inn in Richland.

Thumbs up for Doc Hastings for supporting Tri-Cities Eco Tourism. As a Tri City Wa REALTOR® this can only mean a boom for an already thriving housing market. A Michigan State University eco-tourism study shows eco-tourism having a significant effect on a region's economy and industry.

Related Reading: Heritage and Eco Tourism | Environmental Tourism | Hanford Reach | Bateman…

Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage, part of the Ragnar Relay series which is the nation's largest series, of overnight relay races, is being presented by Nordic Track. The relay will push teams of 12 through 185 miles starting July 27 in the town of Blaine and ending on the south­ern tip of Whidbey Island in the town of Langley. The Ragnar Relay series includes relay races in Utah, Minnesota, Arizona and most recently the Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage in Washington. Registration for the Northwest Passage has been open since March I. Registration is $840 per team until April 15, when the price will increase.

Related Resources:

• Western Washington State
• Western United States

Tri Cities area businesses are represented at the state level.  The 2007 Washington State Technology Summit will take place April 12 in Bellevue. The Tri-Cities area businesses that will be participating include: Surgical Implant Generation Network, Apollo Inc., InnovaTek and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The summit brings more than 450 industry, academic and government leaders to discuss four key growth industries in Washington state: Energy, Life Sciences, Nanotechnology, Wireless and Telecommunications.

Related Resources:

• Tri Cities Washington
• Kennewick Industry
• Richland Industry
• Pasco Industry
  

Haler, Hankins say problems include handling of surplus revenue.  The mishandling of the state's surplus revenue is one of the reasons State Reps. Larry Haler and Shirley Hankins today voted against the $33.4 billion operating budget put forth by the House of Representatives.

"It's bad enough that this budget would wipe out a huge revenue surplus now estimated at more than two billion dollars, and leave a budget deficit for the 2009 Legislature to address. But to spend this one-time money on programs that would be ongoing, without knowing how those programs will be funded down the line -- that's not responsible," said Haler, R-Richland.

"The idea that the state has a two-billion-dollar surplus is fantasy, especially when you take into account that our…