Property Situation in Camas & Washougal

[182pilot]

I can't speak for Washougal since I don't live there and have no experience other than driving through. Fern Prairie however, I can speak to since I live here and bought 2.5 years ago. I honestly have no idea what you are referring to in calling Fern Prairie ”commercial.” Yes, there is the Fern Prairie market with the gas station. There's also a few farms but that's it. The rest is houses on large lots in a semi-rural to rural setting. Now if you are referring to the general plan that calls for commercial and industrial zoning between the airport and the north end of Lacamas Lake, well that's just open field right now. Maybe someday that gets developed but you can just go over to the Parklands at Camas Meadows and see how far along the ”mixed use” portion is coming to get an idea of what the market interest is in commercial right now.

If your definition of ”gentrification” means timberland/farmland getting cleared and large expensive houses going up in large lot subdivisions, then it's already happening. There are plenty of open parcels that come on the market and parcels with older houses/trailers. Your problem is going to be that pretty much everyone knows these parcels command a pretty penny. For one acre parcels I think NE 22nd and 19th is a fantastic little subdivision (albeit without any views). The problem is that there have been almost no sales in two years and the few that went up on the market were gone in hours. Anything 2+ acres that is not surrounded by junky stuff is going to get scooped up in a heartbeat and take top dollar.

Aside from scouring the MLS or Stealth hooking you up, your best bet might be talking with some of the local developers (Cascade West, Adair, etc.). They are constantly looking at stuff and pass on things that are either too small or too awkward. Developers are in the business to make money not build their dream house. A wonderful piece of land for a SFR could be a terrible development play.

Best advice I can give is that if Camas schools aren't a big driver, look outside the district. The bottom line is that people move to Camas for the schools and a lot of the people coming now have orders of magnitude higher incomes and net worth than the median for Camas.


EDIT: Just looked at the listing for the Washougal property. Looks like a nice area but that's a really weird lot. It looks like the adjacent landowner just subdivided and kept all the nice land and then made a parcel that's 80% easements. I'd consider yourself lucky on that one.

[cyberous]

Have you looked at SE 195th and SE196th Ave in Camas, 1mm in cash should you get you to the front of the line if anything pops up.