HIGH-END EASTSIDE HOME BUILDERS

Terrene Homes is a family-owned, Bellevue-based company specializing in residential building, specifically single-family and multifamily construction. Most of the 13-employee firm’s projects are on the Eastside and include both spec and design/build projects, at the higher end of quality and price. Terrene designs homes that “emphasize livability without sacrificing style, power, luxury, or comfort.” Danielle wears lots of financial and administrative hats at Terrene. “I’ve been with the company for eight years. My official title is accountant, but I also handle HR and I’m the liaison between employees and EPK Benefits, which administers our MBA Health Trust plan.”

THE MBA HEALTH TRUST PROVIDES AFFORDABLE RATES FOR SMALL FIRMS

Danielle says that it is tough for small businesses to maintain affordable health insurance. “As a company with a small number of employees, it’s hard to find coverage with affordable rates. We joined the MBA Health Trust eight years ago,” says Danielle. “We had just four employees when we first got health insurance and we now have 13 who are currently enrolled. And while remaining a relatively small firm, we’ve been able to keep insurance affordable during that whole period.”

Terrene is now enrolled in a Regence BlueShield PPO plan that provides competitive premiums. “We looked at other options,” Danielle says, “but it was most affordable through the MBA. Our monthly premium is significantly lower—around 10% savings.”

REGENCE BLUE SHIELD EXCELLENT FOR PREVENTIVE CARE

Terrene’s coverage includes Delta Dental of Washington, along with Regence, and Danielle says employees couldn’t be more pleased. “They are very happy with the Regence coverage and the flexibility and ability to see doctors they need to see, particularly in the preventive care area. We’ve had instances where employees were pleasantly surprised at what they had initially thought would be expensive out-of-pocket fees for preventive care, but they didn’t have to pay much at all.”

RESPONSIVE ADMINISTRATORS

EPK is the third-party organization that administers the plans for the MBA Health Trust. “They are extremely helpful and responsive,” says Danielle. “If there is a question of coverage, they are very quick to solve the issue.They are a great middleman for us and our employees to use as a resource.”

TERRENE ALSO PARTICIPATES IN THE MBA GRIP PROGRAM

The MBA also provides access to the GRIP program, which helps improve safety and reduces the overall cost of workers’ compensation for MBA members. “It’s a great program for loss prevention,” says Danielle. “And the GRIP safety team was just out here to do an overhaul of our current safety procedures. It’s a fantastic resource for safety and injuries, though we have never had to make that call.”

King County home prices hit their lowest point for July since 2012

Is that faint rumbling we hear in the distance carryover from Seafair Weekend and its barrage of air and sea entertainment? Or could it be that ever-elusive housing bubble finally popping and coming back down to normal levels of absurdity?

After all, even the Blue Angels have left town.

Maybe they saw the inevitable spin back down to earth. Or perhaps we’re all just blowing this housing cooldown out of proportion. Whatever stance you take, one thing’s certain: the Seattle-area real estate market has fallen to its lowest point in four years, shedding a crevice of light for homebuyers and inducing a fleeting shock of panic for owners sitting on their plots of gold-laden land.

The number of homes for sale throughout King County rose a staggering 48 percent in July as compared to a year ago, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which means inventory now exceeds 2015 levels. The 48 percent jump is the biggest we’ve seen in a decade and is mostly due to homes that have been waiting patiently for owners on the market. All signs point to a noteworthy dip in demand, as July home sales reached their lowest prince since July of 2012, when the market was at a low point.

How big was the decrease? King County’s July median home price of $699,000 is down $27,000 from the record highs we saw earlier this year. Last year, July was the most expensive month of the year.

In Seattle, home prices were down $25,000, making the median $805,000. Eastside prices also saw a dip, falling $30,000 in just a month to a median price of $947,000. Snohomish County, not one to be left out, also saw an increase in active listings, up almost 16 percent from this time last year.

Have we finally hit the ceiling? If we have, it’s not just regional; the national trend at the moment is one of a long-awaited inventory uptick just as hotspots like Seattle, Silicon Valley, and Austin are finally cooling off—metaphorically, of course (enjoy 90 degrees this week). Seattle is unique in the fact that its home sales saw the second-biggest jump in the country, according to info gathered from realtor.com, right on the heels of our neighbors down south in Silicon Valley.

Why is this happening?

Those in the know point to stabilized rents, high mortgage rates, slightly less frenetic population and job growth, and waning interest from Chinese buyers.

Many are already shouting, “I told you so!” at the top of their lungs but, as always, time will tell if we’ll continue this down-surge or if we’re all just suffering from a curable case of “buyer fatigue.” In the meantime, inventory levels are still an issue; while King County has doubled its March inventory, we’re still significantly below a healthy four-to-five months of inventory, according to Robert Wassa of the Northwest MLS board of directors. And people still need a place to live in some capacity.

We’ll be hearing a lot more about our region’s housing trends, whichever way they end up going, in the weeks and months ahead. Stay tuned.

Originally reported by Mike Rosenberg in the Seattle Times, “More Seattle-area home sellers lower list prices as market cools way down,” August 6

Data gathered from realtor.com and the Northwest Multiple Listing Service

By Marc Stiles, Puget Sound Business Journal (subscription required)

The size of new houses on Mercer Island will be limited more than anywhere else in the region starting Nov. 1, when new restrictions that the city council approved on Tuesday take effect.

The council voted 5-1 to update the city's residential design standards and approved a new rule to protect mature trees.

The code update affects all of the 6,950 single-family lots on the island, which is a choice market for builders of new homes. The island's average household income of $183,200 is the Puget Sound region's second-highest behind Medina, according to Puget Sound Business Journal research.

New construction and remodeling projects can still be vested under the old code until the end of October, city spokesman Ross Freeman said.

After that, new homes won't be able to cover more than 40 percent of a lot, down from 45 percent. Maximum heights have been cut from 35 to 30 feet, and at least 30 percent of large trees must be kept when a lot under goes major construction. The rules also limit the amount of "hardscape" surfaces, such as decks and patios, to 9 percent of a lot.

Residents who pushed for the change raised concerns about how quickly the character of their neighborhoods have been changing, with old houses being replaced by larger ones.

While the city has been working on the update for about a year, critics say the city rolled out the new rules hither and yon, discussing different changes at different times. They were not discussed as a comprehensive package, according to the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, which asked council members to slow down the process and consider their recommendations.

"This is a lose-lose. The (homebuilding industry) was not heard and the community's primary concerns were not addressed," David Hoffman, a government affairs staff member for the homebuilders, said after Tuesday's council vote.

People are still going to build big houses that will upset some neighbors, he said.