What Should I Look For When I Buy A House?

What should I look for when I buy a house? Everyone including a realtor has an opinion. The age old adage is "location, location, location!" For you however maybe this may not be the primary criteria.

For a family with a dog it maybe be a pet friendly yard. For a family with children it may be a room for each child or all bedrooms on one floor. For a nature lover it might be a great garden area. If you're a biker maybe it's a great bike to work path. The desires and needs are endless.

To begin, start with a list. Make columns for items that are must haves, needs or wants , or just plain Oh I would love to have that in my house. Some items that you might not consider at first would be the size of the closets. Will they hold all your clothes? Another might be what is the neighborhood like on the evenings and weekends? How does it feel, will I like living here? Maybe even things like cosmetic appeal both inside and outside? Are the major systems like plumbing, sewer and furnace up to date or will I need to make improvements sooner than later? How is the commute? Is there public transportation available?

You can always solicit ideas from friends and family but in the end, you will be living in the house so choose a home that you can see yourself living in and remember, that you  will make compromises and maybe even be willing to compromise on details that you didn't think were flexible. Let your realtor show you homes that she may think are a good fit for you and don't make judgements before you even get in the home. You may be surprised.

How Should I Decorate My House?

Whenever I sell and stage a home or think about making changes in my own home, I wonder what kind of furnishings I should use. It's sometimes hard to know just what to use, what will look good or if I'm really confident that I'm making a good choice. I think I've just discovered a solution that can help me or help my clients. There is a new design service available that will let you "try on" furniture before you buy it. Modsy was created after Shanna Tellerman and her husband moved into a new home three years ago. She found many ideas on Pinterest of things she liked and rooms she like but was uncertain how to go about creating the rooms and the feelings that she liked. So she created Modsy. It's a virtual design service that provides 3D visualizations of a fully decorated room in your home that is created according to your taste. Each furniture piece and decor item has been sourced from several hundred retailers and is scaled to your room. You just take a style quiz and upload a photo of your room and several days later you get two virtually styled versions of your room You have options to change furnishings or decor and then make your purchase knowing what it's going to look like in your room.

This is such an interesting idea and I'd love to try it out or talk with folks who have used it and learn what they think. If you want to read more about it and see examples of how it works, you can read more about it here. Decorating with Modsy

Seattle Real Estate Market Update

The Seattle real estate market has been in the news for the past year. Prices have been escalating and we've had bidding wars that have been reported in the media for their sheer volume. It's not unusual to hear tales of homes selling for more than $100,000 over their listed price. Finally we're starting to see a bit of a change in the pace. Homes are still selling quickly if they are priced right but we are not seeing as many multiple offers on homes. Now there are only one or two offers instead of 10 or 12 or even more. I talked to one agent who had over 30 offers on a starter home priced in the high $300's.

Every month Windermere summarizes these trends and provides them for us to use in an easy to share format. Here is what they say about the month of August for both the residential and the condominium market.

If you're thinking about buying or selling a home and would like more information, please feel free to contact me.

Art Installation and Ice Cubes

Art can take all forms and shapes and what we consider art can certainly be a personal preference.

I've just read about a new art installation of a giant ice cube! Did you know that the shape of an ice cube can impact how quickly it melts?

"ICE CUBE is a 10-ton sculpture designed by Seattle architecture firm Olson Kundig and assembled from 64 smaller blocks of ice delivered to the park.

It's time to go to Occidental Park and watch ice melt. Ice Cube Melting In Occidental Park

Mood Ring House

                                          photo credit - Suzanne De Vita

I remember having a mood ring. How I loved the fact that it changed color with the temperature of my hands. That part wasn't in the notes however, it simply said that the color reflected your mood.

Well now the mood ring feature has progressed to a mood ring house. This a pretty cool idea. The house has been fitted with LED lamps that represent the owners disposition at night.

This particular home in Fayetteville, Ark.  was conceived by SILO AR+D as an “exploration of how architecture can have different day and night presences with distinct experiential and spatial qualities.”

At night the colors are determined by the temperature of the house as well as what the owners choose. It also sounds like this is not the only color changing house on the block. 

What do you think? Would you like to live in a color changing "mood ring" house?

Honey for my honey

As a child I loved it when my mother served us honey. As an adult I'm learning more about honey and like what I see and really appreciate the fact that you increase many vitamins and minerals when you add honey to your diet. According to the USDA Agricultural Research Service, one tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories, 17 grams of carbohydrates, plus trace amounts of vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, iron, zinc and selenium. It's also a benefit to the plants because the bees pollinate the plants when they collect nectar from the flowers.

Raw honey can contain pollen which may not be good for folks with pollen allergies but when honey is processed a team of researchers from Utah found that in the processing, nutrients were not removed from the honey but it actually increased the mineral content and the antioxidant qualities of the honey. 

Now honey can have a regional flavor and that flavor will depend on the flowers that have been used for the nectar collection. It never occurred to me however that honey is an animal product and is not considered vegan. 

I think I'm going to buy some different types of honey the next time I venture out to the local farmers market. I wonder which one will be my favorite kind? If you have a favorite, let me know and I'll try to find it also. 

Seattle Real Estate

Seattle has a very "hot" real estate market right now. In fact, one of the current trends is buying older homes, tearing them down and building new larger homes. For some this is a good thing. New inventory and expensive houses that are current and up to date. For many however this is a problem. The older homes are usually more affordable and in a city where the prices are increasing monthly this is a huge concern. Where are all the smaller starter homes going? It's been reported that developers are tearing down a house a day.  What are the people with new jobs and young families going to do if they want to live in a house but not move to the suburbs. City living is getting to be an unattainable goal for these people. Many are left with few choices and have to more farther away from jobs so the commute is longer. I certainly have mixed feelings and always try to help my clients find the best possible value for the money they can spend. There is no easy solution.
And then developers are doing this.. would you want this home built in front of you?