Meadowwood Homes Sell Well

Bought a new house last year in the Valley?

If so, there’s a one-in-three chance you found it in MeadowWood.

Last year marked an important milestone for the huge Liberty Lake area development, which snakes around three public golf courses and now surrounds the newly-opened Liberty Lake Elementary School.

Now 918 homes strong, MeadowWood is just over half full. If sales continue at the current pace, it will reach 90 percent of its 1,700 unit capacity in about five years. Located just north of Liberty Lake, MeadowWood is part of the reason the Valley has had a strong showing in new home sales in recent years. Forty-two percent of all new home sales in the county last year were in the Spokane Valley, according to the Spokane Association of Realtors. When it came to overall sales, though, the Valley accounted for just 27 percent of the market.

MeadowWood has been selling roughly 100 new homes a year since the late 1980s. Despite its size, it’s designed to be a walking community with trails that lead residents to nearby parks, shops, offices and business parks.

MeadowWood developer Jim Frank has been working with residents to expand the trail system and to build and improve neighborhood parks within the development. A Liberty Lake resident himself, Frank has two daughters and three grandchildren living in MeadowWood.

“I have good reasons to make sure everything works,” he said.

The development’s hottest selling community last year was The Meadows, which features homes selling for $110,000 to about $140,000 - the least expensive in MeadowWood. One step up is The Gardens, an executive community with homes ranging from $160,000 to about $200,000.

The Garden Ridge is a small niche community designed for empty nesters. Homes there start at about $125,000.

MeadowWood’s priciest community is The Estates, which overlooks MeadowWood Golf Course. Homes in The Estates range from $300,000 to over $1 million. About 30 of the 80 available lots have been filled so far.

Although some MeadowWood residents have their home custom-built, most choose from a variety of plans available for their given community. Eventually, MeadowWood will include 400-600 multi-family units along with the single family homes.

“We always wanted a community that was diverse,” said Frank, who likes the idea of people being able to remain in a community as their family and housing needs change.

Frank defends MeadowWood’s small lot sizes - some as small as 45 feet - saying they’re the trend of the future and help prevent urban sprawl.

“By and large, the days of having 80-100 foot lots are gone,” he said.

And with parks nearby, private yards are less of a necessity, he said.