Seattle's Urban Villages is undergoing some major remodeling right now....and should be unveiling very soon, so please check back!
My new and still improving Seattle's Urban Villages site has moved to:
This year I went twice to the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, Friday I went as a guest blogger for the show, and again Saturday so I could go with a friend.
My 5 favorites Display Gardens for this year were....
As you walked into the lobby of the Washington State Convention Center the first display: Eat Your Vegetables! - Garden to Table was a warm, sheltered patio with a salad garden planted in the beds surrounding it.
There were several displays that featured a fire pit (or free standing fire "pit") and my favorite was this one: Sommarstuga: Summer Living, Simply and Sustainably
This display had two nice water features, an Art Waterfall feature, and a small pond, all in a small space designed for the entire family called "From Sippy Cups to Wine Stems ".
There were several very sophisitcated patio designs....
The first, Garden Getaway , was a calm, tone on tone retreat, very northwest coloration with the cool, evergreen forest colors.
The second, Up in the Roof, was more festive with warm oranges and reds for it's rooftop patio
For more photos and commentary on the Northwest Flower & Garden Show (the Marketplace and Container Display Gardens) please see my posts at:
Northwest Flower & Garden Show - Guest Blog
If you would like ideas for your home, be it a condo balcony, townhome patio, or you single family home's front or backyard then plan on going to next years' Northwest Flower & Garden Show which will be February 4th to 8th, 2009. This is a wonderful way to welcome Spring!
Late last week I got another phone call from a Buyer's Agent asking me, the Seller's Agent, if my Pending listing is solid, or if there is a chance that the transaction could fall apart?
*Sigh*
So I have to wonder where were these interested buyers all the months my seller clients' home was on the market? I mean I know that the Seattle Real Estate Market is picking up for spring, but still, I have gotten 3 of these calls in the past two weeks. In all three cases the buyers had been on the fence about making the decision to make an offer...then they lost the opportunity when someone did and beat them to it.
It is hard to make the decision to make an offer on a house, but think how you will feel if someone makes an accepted offer on what could have been YOUR home?
If you want some fabulous garden ideas for your Seattle Home or Seattle Con
do....
***Be sure to come to this years Northwest Flower & Garden Show , there you will find an amazing array of ideas for your yard, patio, and balcony. If you are thinking of selling your Seattle home this year, then you might want to get some ideas for improving your home's curb appeal. Of course you could just go to enjoy yourself and start dreaming of Spring!
Today I picked up the Seattle Times Weekend edition so I can get a head-start on getting the scoop on this years Northwest Flower & Garden Show which opens this Wednesday, February 20th and runs through Sunday the 24th, and I can't wait!
To get you in the mood, here is what I saw at last years show .
If you are moving to Seattle, or recently arrived, then here is a tip for YOU!
A few months before I moved to Seattle from Southern California in 1994, I found a very helpful book called "Seattle Survival Guide II". Since I did not know anyone who lived in Seattle I found this to be a great resource (pre-Internet!) to help me get to know Seattle before making my Big Move.
*
A few weeks ago I was browsing a bookstore and found a book called "Seattle Survival Guide. 4th edition". My curiosity made me pick up the book to check it out because it reminded me of my old book with all the highlights, and notes on the margins. I decided to buy it and see if it was the updated version of my old helpful book. As it turns out, it is the newest edition of a series of books on Seattle, now with web addresses as well as street addresses. Great resource if you are relocating to Seattle, the Eastside or the other surrounding areas.
It was fun to see the changes between the my older version and the newest edition which is subtitled "The Essential Handbook for Seattle and Eastside Living". The older version did not have any web addresses since the Internet had not really arrived yet. The new book includes many more areas like Bellevue , South Seattle areas and cities, as well as the Islands; Mercer , Bainbridge , and Vashon.
One of the topics is employment in Seattle, and both editions list the top 10 companies. There have been some major changes there too. Microsoft did not make the top 5 in the older edition. Amazon had only just come into existence and was just a little start up no one had heard of.
If you are thinking of moving to Seattle, or your job is causing you to relocate to Seattle, this might be a good resource for you...it was for me!
Happy New Year Seattle!
We had a wonderful, clear evening (no rain!) to welcome the New Year, and there was a crowd surrounding the Space Needle waiting to watch the fireworks launch the New Year. The surrounding neighboring hills allowed great vantage points to take in the sight. Lucky are those that live in parts of Queen Anne, Magnolia, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Belltown, West Seattle, and Wallingford where they have views of the Space Needle from their homes!
This year's theme was a Tribute to Hollywood with well known music from the Movies. Star 101.5 was broadcasting the music so anyone watching either on TV or in person with radios could enjoy the fireworks synchronized to dramatic film scores. The clock struck midnight and the New Year...showtime!
The fireworks and music began, the music played on and the fireworks...fizzeled...whoops...no fireworks! The fireworks computer had a glitch and had to be re-booted twice, when that did not work, the techs manually triggered the fireworks to ....>>>> Burst<<<< and flash. The music had marched on to it's own drummer leaving behind the fireworks. While is wasn't the elegant show that was planned, fireworks are spectacular and the crowds enjoyed what they saw.
The rockets roared, and the fireworks dazzled, whoooooshed, sparkled, twinkled, flashed, glowed, burst, and gloried in their "Aurora Seattlalis"!
The Space Needle glowed and sparked in the darkness, looking even more Spaceship-like with the light show!
So while the show did not go as planned...it was an explosion of exuberant welcome to the New Year and wonderful way to celebrate 2008!
Happy New Year Seattle!
You can never get enough Christmas Lights and now that Christmas in Seattle is over until next year I am sending Christmas 2007 off with a BLAZE of Lights!
Here is a Georgetown Home all aglow....
Lastly...a Wallingford Home alight with Christmas Cheer!
Hoping your Christmas and Holidays were bright...and to all a good night!
Last Saturday on the first full day of Winter Solstice, a friend and I went on one of our Christmas Light tours. This year we decided to follow KOMO TV's (channel 4) Parade of Lights list for finding spectacular Christmas Lights.
While it was rainy during the day, by evening it cleared up enough to see an almost full moon while driving around the Seattle Area. We covered a wide area to find these amazing displays, and while traveling from home to home, we spotted other beautiful electric expressions of the season to enjoy!
The journey began in Normandy Park....
Then over to West Seattle where to keep up our strength for the journey we stopped at Tully's in West Seattle to pick up some Eggnog Shakes with extra nutmeg and then to Beach Drive.
Up to Queen Anne, then over the bridge to Wallingford...Santa was on the porch at this home greeting the visitors..."Hello Santa!"
Then across Lake Washington to Bellevue to see more, at this house there was a limo doing a tour of lights.
It was a wonderful, electrical extravaganza of creative Christmas Lights expression! Try and take a drive in your Seattle Neighborhood to see what your neighbors have done, it can be absolutely magical!
Last week for Friday Photo I wrote that it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... Well, the next day on Saturday, December 1st we had snow! Not our average December weather.
Since I did not have an Open House that Saturday, I decided to take the day off to go shopping with a friend for Christmas decorations. We had snow flurries at University Village, and when we went to the West Seattle Target there was lots more snow.
Afterwards we drove along Beach Dr, then Alki and back to Seattle, the snow was lovely!
Tomorrow is December first and we are off to a great start for the Holiday, the weather this past November has been wonderful with many sunny days (Thanksgiving was glorious!) and the weatherman is predicting a bit of snow for the first day of December! So it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Seattle...
*****
I'll be looking for all my favorite places in Seattle for Christmas lights in the weeks to come!
This Autumn is the best season for Seattle Home Buyers since 2001. There are several reasons for this.
The Mortgage Meltdown caused many loan programs to disappear, and lending standards became tighter (good things in the long run) so that some buyers who were planning on buying a Seattle home this fall are now finding themselves having to put it off until later (spring?). These buyers may have to look for different loan programs because theirs became unavailable, or may find themselves having to improve their credit scores since the standards have tightened, or may have to save for a higher down payment or for closing costs.
Some buyers may have been influenced by the national media and its' reporting of home prices declining in many areas of the US, and are waiting (hoping) that home prices will decline here in Seattle. Fall usually has a higher ratio of inventory (homes for sale on the market) to buyers when compared to spring, resulting in slightly lower prices and this year we have about 1/3 higher inventory than usual which is causing some extra downward pressure on home prices. These buyers may be deciding to wait until spring to see if the prices on Seattle real estate will continue to go down as it becomes a balenced market.
Now we have two groups of buyers waiting until spring to buy. This means that home buyers who are looking to buy now have less competition than in the past, and have an increase of inventory to chose from. Next spring this will change. Spring typically has a higher ratio of buyers to inventory which causes upward pressure on prices for Seattle homes. This coming spring may have the additional buyers (as outlined above) who have decided to wait until spring to buy a home, added together with the typical number of buyers in the spring causing additional upward pressure on home prices.
Even with the tightened mortgage standards, I believe this spring will have a lot of buyers looking to buy homes because of our strong Seattle economy, and continued growth with more people moving to Washington and the Seattle area. While I believe that while we won't have the kind of sellers market the past few springs have seen, it will still favor sellers (in the close in Urban areas) and the buyers who decided to wait out the buyers market this Autumn will have lost their advantage.
So here's a tip for some Seattle Home Buyers: this Autumn could be a very favorable time to "Harvest" the opportunity to buy a Seattle Home!
UPDATE: Dec. 7 2007 Seattle Times article "Home Prices Slip..." on recent trends in Seattle area home prices.
On Wednesday, Halloween late afternoon, I was leaving one of the houses I have listed for sale, after re-stocking it with flyers, and came upon this Scary, Haunted House nearby....
This home was really decked out with a lot of imaginative touches (the mailbox reads "City Morgue") there were three witches out in the front yard with a smoking cauldron, the garage was set up like this....
and the music playing was Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, very dramatic! The couple who live here even had posted by the front door, photos of past Trick or Treaters in costume so everyone who stopped by for the "funeral" fun could see the cute and scary Trick or Treaters from Halloweens past.
You gotta love Seattle Homeowners who really get into the "Spirit" and create such imaginative displays for their neighborhood's children (and their escorting parents) who go out Trick or Treating!
The gray days we've been having vanish and a sparkling Sunny October Day appears, and this red sailboat takes advantage....
Driving with a friend on Alki Point in West Seattle we spotted this red sailboat sailing Elliott Bay with Magnolia (and a large red bottomed container ship) in the backgorund. It's days like this that make living in Seattle a joy.
Last Sunday was a mostly sunny day, so late in the afternoon after my Open House in Montlake, I went for a drive through Seattle's Washington Park Arboretum to see some fall color and Wow...did I see color!
The Japanese Maples were glowing with color beneath the dark evergreens, just beautiful....
Today in the Sunday Seattle Times Pacific Magazine there was a terrific article called "Bay Watch" about the wetlands that are bordered by Montlake , Madison Park, and the University of Washington.
As Tom Reese writes in the article, that the park really is an amazing natural area in the midst of such an urban setting. My favorite juxtaposition is the 520 freeway overpass system that sweeps over the water. The fact that there is a beaver lodge in middle of it all and visible from the freeway is truly a bit of wildness that always surprises me.
After my Montlake open house had ended for the day, I decided to walk around the Montlake Waterfront Park , to relax and take some photos. It was the last in a series of sunny days that we have been having recently and even though it was later in the day, there were people out kayaking and walking on the trails, the bridges and relaxing on the decks.
The park is a great place to get away and in such a close in location. One more wonderful reason to enjoy living in Seattle!
This week I stopped by the Interbay (the low point between Queen Anne and Magnolia) P-Patch to check out this year's bounty and spend a quiet moment before heading back to my office. It was glorious with flowers, fruits and vegetables with a heavy, sweet, earthy scent all around.
These flaming orange dahlias with their companion cannas are in the foreground with Queen Anne condos rising up in the background.
Today I met with a couple who have a wonderful home in Magnolia with views of Puget Sound, Elliott Bay, The Space Needle , Downtown Seattle and Mt Rainier... this is their view.....
Unfortunately, the online photos of the views were of gray, overcast skies, not the sun drenched, bright, open concept rooms and their stunning views. Their home had been listed on the market for awhile earlier this year with another real estate agent and had not sold, even with price reductions. This house is ideal for a couple who are downsizing from a larger home, and want to live a more urban Seattle experience, but want more privacy, parking and square footage than they would find living in a high rise Seattle condo.
Last spring I sent the listing to a couple who live out of state who were thinking of retiring and moving to Seattle where they moor their 40 foot boat. I previewed the house and strongly encouraged my clients to see the house next time they were in town, because the view really needed to be experienced in person, and the online photos did not do it justice. Unfortunately my clients plans have changed and are putting off moving for awhile.
Later, when the house was no longer listed on the market, I called and left a message with the homeowners saying that I had some ideas about improving the marketing for their home. Last week I received a call from the owners that resulted in our meeting this afternoon. We talked for quite awhile after I toured their home. They had questions, and we talked about my ideas for marketing their home if they decide to hire me as their real estate agent to list and market their Magnolia home next spring.
Now that we are in the slower, fall market I feel waiting until next spring will be a better time to list and present their home to potential buyers, because the views are shown off to their best advantage in the spring and summer. Wouldn't you love to enjoy views like this?
Seattle's skyline is beautiful, and a classic place to enjoy it is from Queen Anne's Kerry Park. From the park you look south to the Space Needle, Downtown Seattle and beyond to Mt Rainier (when the mountain is out!). Looking the southwest, you see Elliott Bay and West Seattle's Alki Point. If you watch long enough you can watch the Washington State Ferries crossing Puget Sound from Bainbridge Island and Bremerton to Seattle, as well as passing container ships, and sometimes even large cruise ships.
Boots, part of Hat n' Boots in Georgetown's Oxbow Park.
Originally these boots were the restrooms for a gas station a few blocks away at the corner of Corson Ave. S and E. Marginal Way. The gas station eventually closed down and soon neglect took it's toll. The residents of Georgetown began a campaign to save this kitschy, retro piece of Americana. Eventually both the Hat n' Boots were moved to the new park with a P-patch and playground. The Boots have been restored and the Hat is awaiting its return to glory.
Today I am beginning a new feature I am calling Friday Photo. I enjoy taking photos of Seattle when I am out and about, and would like to share them with you. Sometimes there may be a post that goes along with the photo, but most of them will just have a caption.
My debuting Friday Photo does have a story behind it. When leaving my office late last Friday night I was driving past a play-field near my office. As it was neat 9PM and dark the field lights were on and I saw an amazing sight glowing in the darkness...a field of Pink Tents!
The Pink Tents were for the Breast Cancer 3-Day, and were for the Walkers to overnight in during their 3-Day walk. I realized as I drove by what the tents represented, and what made it even more meaningful was that the last thing I did before leaving my office was to address a card to an Internet associate who is hospitalized for complications for her Breast Cancer.
I turned around to take a few photos, and just after I finished, the field lights went out for the night! The lights had lasted just long enough for me to see and photograph this extraordinary sight. I posted a photo and a note where my Internet associate would see it and know I was thinking of her, and to share with her this wonderful sight and all the people out there that are supporting her and all others fighting Breast Cancer.
Karen...I am thinking of you!
100 years ago tomorrow, Friday August 17th, the Pike Place Market 
opened to begin a tradition of offering fresh produce and eventually all the glorious fruits, flowers, fish
and other vendor products; crafts, cafes, confections, coffee, collectibles and so on that can be found strolling the market. Of course, back in 1907 it was just a few farmers selling produce off the back of their wagons, and there were no fishmongers tossing fish over the heads tourists! 
To Celebrate the Markets' Centennial , there are lots of events scheduled to celebrate the Markets' 100th birthday, and we are now just a day away from wishing the Pike Place Market Happy Birthday! The festivities began in May when the Market put its' "Pigs on Parade" . 
The pigs are now scattered all over Downtown Seattle, so when you are Downtown keep an eye out for the splendid pigs. 
Of course Rachel the Pike Place Market Pig is still in her spot ready to pose for a photo with anyone who wishes.
The Pike Place Market is the oldest continuously open farmers market in the US, that is quite an accomplishment for a City that is well more than a 100 years younger than cities on the east coast! While the market has had challenges over the decades fighting off developers and neglect, it has become one of the unique places that defines Seattle and makes it such a wonderful place to live and visit.
So come out and wish Happy 100th Birthday our Pike Place Market!
A great way to find a good Seattle real estate agent when you are thinking about selling your Seattle home is by attending open houses in your neighborhood. 
You get to see an agent "in action" at an open house! While you are there you can gauge their professionalism by the way they greet you, engage you in conversation and talk about the house they are hosting the open house at. Ask questions about the neighborhood, the Seattle real estate market both in general and specifically homes in the neighborhood and comparable homes. While talking to the agent, do you find them knowledgeable, and a good "fit" to work with you?
Check out the agents' marketing materials (flyer's etc.) are they informative and interesting to look at? Ask the agent what they did to help their client get the house "market ready" and their philosophy for marketing and selling homes. Later when you get home, look the house up online to see the quality of the online photos, and the marketing remarks for that house, do you find them to present the home well?
A good agent will be happy to answer all your questions, but be careful not to monopolize their time after-all, they are working to sell their clients home! The agent is there to show their clients' house to potential buyers so they will need to greet and talk with other visitors at the open house too.
Sometimes the agent hosting the open house is not the listing agent, so that is something to find out while talking to the agent. The hosting agent is still a good potential agent for you even if they are not the listing agent. Sometimes a listing agent is not available to host that week's open house for one of several reasons, and another agent is hosting it. Even if the agent you meet and talk to is not the listing agent, that hosting agent may be a good fit for you if they impress you with their professionalism, knowledge and marketing savvy.
Be sure to get the agents' business card and a flyer too so that you can follow up and call them later to talk about what they can do for you to market and sell your home. A little time and effort spent doing this will help you to find the best Seattle agent for you when the time comes to sell your home.
Strolling along on Seattle's 24th Avenue East in the little retail core of Montlake, you come to
