This weekend, Shannon took a moment to talk to our president, Joseph Irons of Irons Brothers Construction, at the Membership Appreciation Picnic at Remlinger Farms.

See more of our member benefits

By MBAKS Senior Policy Analyst Allison Butcher

Home Prices Continue Upward Climb

Median single family home prices surged nearly 14 percent in King and Snohomish counties in June compared to a year ago, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The median price was $653,000 in King County and $450,000 in Snohomish County. In Seattle the median single family home price rose 12.53 percent to $750,000.  Meanwhile, with 0.84 months’ supply of housing inventory, King County continued to have the tightest inventory of the 23 counties in the Northwest MLS market area. 

The Builders’ Bulletin is intended to provide a convenient way to track housing in our market and includes information from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, U.S. Census Bureau, Office of Financial Management and the Washington State Employment Security Department.

Download this month's report:

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.”