Broadview
$2,000,000 for Our Neighborhoods
The City of Seattle wants us—you, me, and our neighbors—to decide how to spend $2,000,000 on small-scale neighborhood improvements. Does your community need a new crosswalk? How about a median? Or a flashing beacon, repaired sidewalk, curb ramps, park benches, or trail improvements? That’s what this project, “Your Voice, Your Choice,” aims to accomplish. As real estate…
Read MoreHow Far Do Your Real Estate Dollars Go?
Home prices keeps rising. In fact, Washington State home prices are rising faster than in any other state in the Union—Washington now ranks among the top five states for priciest homes overall. We sit right below Hawaii and California. Of course, price and price-rise differs wildly across the state. Take San Juan Island, for instance.…
Read MorePeople on People on People
Seattle is now the #10 U.S. city for density. Density isn’t what usually comes to mind when most people think of our city. I know I used to picture the waterfront, the comfortably impressive skyline, and the charming village-esque neighborhoods. But I’ve watched more and more people move into those charming neighborhoods, and I’ve noticing…
Read MoreNoisy Neighbors
Quiet neighbors and a peaceful environment often influence our clients’ home-buying decisions. At some point or another, we’ve all experienced living near that obnoxious house of college kids who party wayyy too late every weekend. Some of us might have even been those obnoxious college kids back in the day! When you buy a house…
Read MoreWalkable Seattle
Traffic is terrible. One solution? Walk. Walk Score ranked Seattle as the 8th most walkable major U.S. city this year, with an overall rating of 70.8. They also provided specific ratings for each Seattle neighborhood, so you can find out exactly how walkable an area is. Savvy homebuyers often ask us walkability questions when shopping for real…
Read MoreRental Registration and Inspection Ordinance
Do you know the new rental licensing requirement, SMC 22.214 (Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance)? The Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance (RRIO) requires landlords to register ALL rental housing units in Seattle, from single-family houses to large apartment buildings. ALL properties must be registered from 2015 to 2016, with specific deadlines based on the ZIP code where…
Read MorePhoto Contest: Seattle Bloomin’
It’s springtime in Seattle! For May’s photo contest, send us pictures of nature in bloom. Step 1: Take 1-3 photos of blossoms. A flower, a tree, a blooming onion. They’re all fair game. Step 2: Email your photo(s) to josh.realestategals@gmail.com with: • Your name • A brief caption Step 3: We’ll post your photos on our Facebook page. The photos…
Read MoreWhat does your zip code say about you?
Age? Check. Income? Check. Neighborhood? Check. Overall lifestyle? Check. It’s creepy, but once you get past the creepiness, it’s actually a useful tool for house-hunting and neighborhood-shopping, and, in a spying-on-the-Jonses way… it’s fun. Esri released an interactive map that analyzes your zip code information. You can zoom into Seattle and see…
Read MoreBeat the Seattle Commute
The commute, the dreaded commute! Bumper-to-bumper for miles, moving down I-5 slower than you backed out of your driveway. Wait, wait, wait—move forward ten feet and wait some more. Watch the minutes pile up. You should think about this when you pick a house. Map potential routes and test them. Imagine driving from that potential…
Read MoreOf Parks and Pianos
Seattle is known for many things. Music, coffee, rain. Good scenery and great parks. And this summer, you can combine all of it. How? Pianos in the Parks. From July 17 to August 17, twenty pianos will occupy twenty King County parks. Anyone can play them. It doesn’t matter if you’re tone-deaf or classically trained,…
Read MoreWorld Travelers & Impossible Obstacles (continued)
Part 1: Lose the Shackles Part 2: The Buyers With a Secret “We owned for ten years,” Brian said. “It’s time to be unshackled.” Brian and Kim owned a house in Broadview, but the travel bug had bit them. Hard. After a long attempt to have it all (home ownership and long, exotic journeys) they realized they…
Read MoreWorld Travelers & Impossible Obstacles
Part 1: Lose the Shackles Kim and Brian have traveled the world. We’ll admit it—we’re jealous. They work in cancer research and software engineering, respectively, but back when they first started traveling, Kim and Brian were fresh UW grads on a ten-week backpacking trip. They fell further in love with each other during that trip, and they also fell…
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