Great deals to be had at Wapato Point

Deals can be had all over Wapato Point right now. For the first time Short Sales are actually popping up on this wealthy private resort. Two houses on Chelan View Drive, for sale for nearly two years, are now prominiently advertised as Short Sales. For those not familiar, a Short Sale occurs when a property is for sale for less money than what the person owes to the bank. For example, if I want to sell my house and I have a $1,000,000 mortgage but my house is only worth $700,000, I will have to get the bank's approval to enter into a real estate contract with a buyer. These houses are also commonly referred to as "upside down on their mortgage" or "underwater".

At any rate, there are many houses to choose from on spendy Wapato Point. With over 116 acres of fun filled resort amenities, the point is considered the best place to vacation in the Lake Chelan valley. It also carries a price tag to accompany its reputation. In addition to the timeshares, the resort has over 100 lots devoted to private residences as well as 24 duplexes in the Halmalka Highlands quarter.

The private houses on the tip of the point are available for record low prices. Wapato Point is legally native land, and is currently on a 99 year lease from the Wapato tribe. This means banks will not lend money on these houses. If you want to buy one, you have to buy it with cash. Coming up with $700,000 to $2,500,000 in today's liquidity-challanged economy is as easy as it was five years ago. But if you can do it, you may have a once in a lifetime opportunity to grab some of Chelan's most sought after real estate. The best part? There are no property taxes on Wapato Point-- remember, it's native land! The rental market on Wapato is still booming with rents in the $3,000 to $5,000 per week range in the summer months. With rental income like that, why would you ever want to sell?

More easily attainable is the Halmalka Highlands, starting at around $500,000. You still have to have the cash to nab one of these luxury vacation villas.

Houses of Hyacinth Road -- Lake Chelan's Gold Coast

Hyacinth Road in Manson does not seem to know that the rest of the country is deep in the middle of a recession. Maybe this mile long stretch of road never got the memo. The quiet road has always been home to higher-end waterfront homes since pre-war days. But over the past 10 years the size and quality of homes has increased exponentially.

Jeremy Jaeke, founder of Visio and a former Vice President at Microsoft is currently building what may be the most impressive home on Lake Chelan. The software industry maverick paid nearly $3 million dollars for his 3 acre spread on Hyacinth, only to bulldoze the existing home for what is reportedly a $4 million dollar new construction. The former CEO of Visio sold his company to Microsoft for a staggering $1.3 billion dollars in 1999. (see article: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-103251.html?legacy=zdnn&chkpt=hpqs014), reportedly netting the CEO several hundred million dollars at the time. Jaeke seems to be building a trend with his mega mansions. Several years ago he purchased his Capitol Hill home in Seattle for $3 million dollars, which soon underwent a multi-million dollar renovation.

Do his Manson neighbors mind? Not at all. Property values seem to only be increasing with the Bloxom estate two doors down currently being offered at a whopping $3.9 million dollars. If you can shell out this kind of dough for a few acres of waterfront orchard, you'll probably want to wreck the existing home too for your mega mansion. The current house is a modest 2500 square foot rambler built in the 1960s, but the land is one of the largest and most level bulkheaded lots on the lake.

Other houses of grand proportions are cropping up at the south end of Hyacinth. Other wealthy 206ers are seeing the value of this unique stretch of land on Lake Chelan's north shore.