Katrina Munsell
Recent posts
July 2, 2008
Skyrocketing gas prices, rising food costs, house foreclosures, unemployment…it’s hard to find a silver lining these days, and we are all eager to point fingers at somebody, including the “affluent suburbanites and their cars” who, as Lynne Varner further points out, are stereotypically “gas guzzlers commuting to McMansions,” which, not coincidentally, are the most recent fodder of public debate.
The suburbs aren’t dead. They’re more vibrant than ever. Technology has pushed the work-at home concept and large employers such as Microsoft have turned the burbs into employment centers. City dwellers aren’t the only ones interested in doing errands on foot. Planning for suburban communities includes retail, employment and entertainment options that operate as mini-Seattles.
More creativity, less blame, can give us four-day work weeks, telecommutes, and a viable school option across the street rather than across town.
In Puget Sound, we are blessed with employers that make more efficient work options feasible for many of us, wherever we live. Nearly 250 area employers made the most recent (2006) EPA national list of Best Workplaces for Commuters including Microsoft, which allows telecommuting, flexible work hours, and now offers its Connector bus service, Amgen, which offers incentives to employees for leaving the car at home, and more. With its high tech backbone, Seattle certainly has the infrastructure and the determination to be an example for the rest of the country.
So, which is the right way to live? I can’t tell you, just as you can’t tell me. However, I can say that wherever you live, there are choices in how you decide to live that can make it right for all of us:
Plant a garden.
Compost.
Recycle.
Carpool.
Ride a bike.
Use public transit.
Telecommute.
Modify your work week.
Consolidate errands.
Turn off a light.
Add a timer.
Take a shorter shower.
Reuse grocery bags.
Adopt a dog.
Eat leftovers.
Call your mother.
July 1, 2008
Having just returned from a three week trek through China (and with the Beijing Summer Olympics on the horizon), I thought it might be timely to deviate from Seattle real estate for a moment and share some reflections (and vacation pictures!) from my trip with you.
First off, I can wholeheartedly say that you won’t hear me complaining about the weather, traffic, or housing in Seattle anymore (or at least as much). In fact, after getting a first hand view of how the Chinese people live, I would be hard pressed to complain about much of anything again.
Case in point, in this distant land where the culture is so glaringly different than our own, the sprawling metropolis of Beijing struggles each day to handle its population of 15 million inhabitants, which is roughly four times the size of the Seattle metropolitan area. The cityscape is different than what we know, for it is far more dense, far more crowded, and far less personal than our beloved city. The work commute starts very early in the morning, though
this is mostly due to the struggle to get through traffic. Businesses open late in the morning, but they also stay open much later, as the coolness of the evening seems to draw more people out for shopping and eating late into the night.
Another noticeable difference–no real suburbs as far as I could tell. Beijing appears to be densely filled with row after row of identical high-rise housing units, each equipped with individual air conditioner and laundry dangling out from each window. As you travel further and further away from the city center, these high rise residences continue on, until suddenly it stops and you find yourself on rural farmland. In fact, the shiny, new Olympic stadium (aka the “Bird’s Nest”), appears to outsiders as a wholey integrated portion of Beijing, but in fact, it actually lies on what was pre-construction farmland. My guide personally knew at least one farmer who received $1 million in exchange for his land.
In Beijing, the hustle and bustle of the Olympics is everywhere you look. The c
ity is crazed with getting in shape for the ultimate world event. Construction is every direction you turn, with bamboo scaffolding covering everything from massive skyscrapers to historical treasures like the Forbidden City. With the Olympics within spitting distance, it looks precarious if it will all be finished in time, but knowing the unparalleled discipline of the Chinese, I’m certain it will.
In addition, traffic takes on a whole new meaning in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. In a place where the auto industry has been growing in recent years due to the lower of price to encourage car sales, paradoxically, at the same time citizens are discouraged from driving these cars by placing tolls on roads which far exceed the low cost of public transportation. For example, on one route alone, I calculated the toll road costs of driving a private car to be six times more than the required bus fare, and this didn’t even take fuel costs into consideration.
And of course, there’s the weather…never again will I complain about Seattle rain. I was warned beforehand to bring an umbrella, but being the overconfident Seattlite that I am, I thought I was rainproof–after all, who carries an umbrella around here?? However, rainproof I may be, but monsoonproof, I am not! Within seconds, I was crushed by tumultuous sheets of rain. In Beijing, it’s duck and cover, or drown.
On the other hand, rents in Beijing are on the rise, mainly because of the Olympics. Homeowners who were even considering selling earlier on decided to hang onto their properties and rent them out during the Olympics, though the actual sales prices of properties has been on the decline. This decline is expected to continue after the Olympics have come and gone, making Beijing no different than any other major city right now. However, long after the camera’s fade into the distance, one thing is for sure, the 2008 Olympics will have changed Beijing for the better.
More food for thought:
$466,00 can get you this 2 bedroom, 1,500 square foot apartment in Beijing or this 3 bedroom, 1,500 square foot house in Bellevue or this What’s the difference (besides 6,000+ miles)? Per capita income in Beijing is roughly $3,600/year, compared to $29,000/year in Bellevue.
June 28, 2008
The 4th of July is headed our way, and the local celebrations planned are a-plenty! You can see public fireworks displays at:
Or, if you live in unincorporated King County, you also have the option of celebrating at home and tormenting your neighbors. King County regulates:
- Fireworks may be discharged only on July 4 from 9 a.m. to midnight.
- Fireworks sales are legal beginning at noon on June 28 until 11 p.m. and then daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. through July 4. No sales can occur after July 4.
- To purchase fireworks you must be at least 16 years of age with picture identification.
Specific discharge regulations by area are:
Auburn - 4th of July only
Bellevue - Banned
Black Diamond - 4th of July only
Bothell - 4th of July only
Burien - Banned
Carnation - Banned
Clyde Hill - Banned
Covington - 4th of July only
Des Moines - Banned
Duvall - 4th of July only
Enumclaw - 4th of July only
Federal Way - Banned
Hunts Point - Banned
Issaquah - Banned
Kenmore - Banned
Kent - 4th of July only
Kirkland - Banned
Lake Forest Park - Banned
Maple Valley - 4th of July only
Medina - Banned
Mercer Island - 4th of July only
Newcastle - 4th of July only
Normandy Park - June 28 to July 4
North Bend - 4th of July only
Pacific - 4th of July only
Redmond - Banned
Renton - Banned
Sammamish - Banned
SeaTac - Banned
Seattle - Banned
Shoreline - Banned
Skykomish - 4th of July only
Snoqualmie - 4th of July only
Tukwila - Banned
Woodinville - Banned
Yarrow Point - Banned
However you decide to celebrate, plan to play it safe this 4th of July!
June 25, 2008
Last week I wrote about how the traditional emotional model of grief might apply to the housing market in general. If you recall, the model is depicted by:
- Shock - Is this real?
- Denial - This isn’t happening to me!
- Anger - Why is this happening to me?
- Bargaining - I promise I’ll be a better person if…
- Depression - I don’t care anymore.
- Acceptance - I’m ready for whatever comes.
As I reviewed this entry, I noticed that it suspiciously applies to so much more. For example, I just went through all of these steps during the course of my 5 minute stop at the gas pump this morning, as I watched the numbers whirl by on the gas pump meter. Then, another flashback, which brought me back to the sale of my last house. That’s why this looks so familiar! This is the exact mental process that I went through when we listed our house for sale:
- Shock - It’s been 30 days and no offers?
- Denial - This isn’t happening to me!
- Anger - Why is this happening to me?
- Bargaining - I guess I need to lower the price.
- Depression - I don’t care anymore.
- Acceptance - …until another 30 days pass. Then it’s either return to step 1 and begin again, or accept the next offer that comes along…sigh…
June 22, 2008
(Shown above: The same bonus room before and after makeover)
Bonus rooms are common in larger homes, and agents out on the Eastside tell me homes with bonus rooms sell faster. They are ambigously named “bonus” because there is no pre-determined use for them, nor do they come with closets, which would make them a bedroom, according to permitting regulations. They are usually in houses that also have the traditional family and living room spaces, though they are much more useful than living rooms simply because they are a blank page, waiting to be transformed into whatever your imagination will allow. If you happen to have a home with one of these rooms in the rough, open your mind and consider all that the room could be. Either as is, or possibly with the simple and cheap addition of some partioning walls, you could turn the space into one (or more) of these ideas:
- Bedroom. Add a closet or purchase an armoire and use the space as an additional bedroom.
- Playroom. Decorate with Fisher Price and Little Tikes and be the envy of every parent on the block! With a large bonus room, plastic outdoor Little Tikes playhouses can be kept indoors for the little ones to climb on with friends on rainy days. What better place to store all your toys than one toy heaven!
- Teen haven. Along the same lines as above, add game tables, lounging furniture and a TV so that your teens have a place to invite their friends, all within close supervisory distance–and no driving involved!
- Theater room. Convert your room into the theater room of your dreams, complete with surround sound and drop down screen.
- Exercise room. For the fitness junkie, save on your dues and create your own in-home gym.
- Hobby/study area. Desks, cabinets, shelves and more can be added to create a workspace of your dreams.
- Home office. If you’re a telecommuter, this could be the perfect place to set up office space.
June 20, 2008
If you’re up in our greater Seattle area, to join the notorious Microsoft family, and you’re looking for a place to settle down, you’ll be interested in a few facts that I’ve run across. Data from late 2007 shows that Microsoft employees live in the following areas:
- Redmond (21%)
- Seattle (17%)
- Bellevue (8%)
- Sammamish (8%)
- Kirkland (7%)
- Bothell/Kenmore/Woodinville (7%)
- Issaquah (4%)
- Other (22%)
(Source: Microsoft from the Seattle P-I)
It’s interesting that about one-fifth of Seattle area employees live and work in the Redmond area, which is probably about a 15 minute commute in from most parts of Redmond. Almost as many make the great commute over the 520 bridge, which is about a 30 minute commute in no traffic (like on a Sunday morning), or closer to an hour or significantly longer, if you’re very unlucky. Slightly more than one third (36%) live in surrounding Eastside areas, including Bellevue, Sammamish, Kirkland, Woodinville, and Issaquah, which are all about 30 minutes out.
In the fall of 2007, Microsoft gave birth to the Connector bus, its own bus service to provide employees with transportation from these various population hubs into the Redmond campus. Surely you must have seen one of these cushy, Wi-Fi enabled buses whiz past you on the road! Though the program started with 14 shuttle buses running, the program has been so successsful that Microsoft just extended its service, now providing transportation to even more areas. According to Microsoft:
- Of the 1,900 unique riders in November 2007, 61 percent said their previous commuting method was single-occupancy vehicle (SOV). That’s 1,159 SOVs off the road!
- Each employee riding the Connector will reduce about 30 pounds of carbon emissions each day and nearly 5.5 tons annually.
- Greenhouse-gas emissions are reduced as a result of employees taking 800 fewer car trips and driving 32,200 fewer miles each day, or 200,000 fewer car trips and more than eight million vehicle miles annually.
It’s a brilliant idea, I think! Aside from the green benefits of the Connector bus, Microsoft has figured out a way to get an extra 2 hours of work time out of its employees!
June 18, 2008
Healthcare practitioners, counselors, psychologists, and clergy often use an emotional framework to explain the emotions that people go through after experiencing a traumatic event. While there are a couple of derivatives of this model, one of the most common is listed below….
- Shock - Is this real?
- Denial - This isn’t happening to me!
- Anger - Why is this happening to me?
- Bargaining - I promise I’ll be a better person if…
- Depression - I don’t care anymore.
- Acceptance - I’m ready for whatever comes.
How does this apply to real estate, you ask? Well, frankly for many homeowners, the recent severe downturn in the housing market is traumatic. For some, the pain may be immediate and life changing, such as a forced home sale or foreclosure. For others, the decline in real estate values may mean a delayed retirement. Yet for others, the current situation may be the lost dream of moving closer to family or obtaining a better job because they can’t sell their current home. There is no question that for many, the real estate market is a traumatic event and, with any trauma there will be some amount of grief.
If the U.S. housing market is the subject, where would you put us in the stages of grief?
- Shock. It seems that sometime in the first quarter of 2008 we watched in collective horror as events began to unfold. Major institutions were failing on Wall Street, northwest stewards such as Washington Mutual Bank lost 80% of their stock value, and potential home buyers were turned away by lenders.
- Denial. Fast on the heels of this bad news, cable news pundits started predicting a second half recovery for the market.
- Anger. By April, the US Senate is holding public hearings with major mortgage lenders.
- Bargaining. As summer is upon us, legislation is being proposed in the US Senate to help bail out many homeowners stuck in high risk loans.
- Depression. Consumer confidence was just rated at a 16 year low.
- Acceptance…
June 15, 2008
Staging tips and advice on how to get your home ready for a sale are everywhere. Pressure wash, refinish, recarpet—these are the pricey fixes that most people associate with getting your place ready for show. But, what if you don’t have the big bucks to spend on a home that hopefully won’t be yours in the next few months? If that’s the case, or if you just want to tidy up your home a bit, this blog’s for you! Here are some quick and easy spruce-up tips that will help perk your place up for $20 bucks or less.
- Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Clean up your walls, folks, with these miraculous wall sponges which I found at Home Depot for less than $5 bucks. They are two sided sponges which miraculously wipe away scuff marks, pencil marks, crayon marks, and other general signs of wear and tear on your walls, without having to repaint!. You dampen the white side of the sponge, scrub the marks lightly and they will disappear! I’ve personally only used them on white or light colored walls so I’m not sure how well they will work on darkly painted walls, but I do know they work great on the light colored walls. Be sure and test on a small portion of your wall first, as the performance may differ with respect to color or finish of wall.
- Natchez Solution. This stuff adds new life to your wood cabinetry by restoring shine and glow. I’ve seen this stuff used on some pretty trashed cabinets and short of refinishing the entire cabinet, it did quite the job!
- Oxiclean. Maybe you already know about this one, but I haven’t found anything better for carpet stains. Dilute a little Oxiclean in warm water and scrub it into carpet stain. It might take some elbow grease and some rinsing as well, but it seems to work on most things. Again, always good to test on a small, non-obvious part of your carpet first.
- Pastels. Yup, that’s right, pastels, from any old art store. When I first moved into my house, the downstairs bathroom had dark wallpaper in it. Beautiful, but apparently the previous owners had decided to lock their cat in the wallpapered bathroom, hence, the claw marks. A well-matched pastel was just the trick to make the cat claw tears much less noticeable.
- Hagerty Chandelier Cleaner. I think there are a couple of different brands around, but this is one that I picked up from Home Depot. If you have a difficult to reach, difficult to clean, chandelier light fixture, try one of these spray cleaners to make it sparkle without meticulous cleaning. To use this stuff, you’ll need to spread out tarps below the chandelier to protect your floors. Then climb up on a ladder to get as close to the fixture as you can and spray liberally on. The dust and dirt just sheets off as the cleaner drips to the floor, so there is no rubbing or polishing involved! You will notice a big difference right away, but be sure and leave your light off for at least 24 hours for the fixture to completely dry.
- Easy Off Oven Cleaner. To remove high temperature cooking stains on stainless steel appliances, try applying Easy Off Oven Cleaner to the stain. Use according to package directions, but be sure and apply a small amount to a nonobvious area to test before use.
Do you know of any other amazing products or quick fix-up tips to share with other homeowners? If so, please comment below and add your tip below.
June 12, 2008
Fixer-upper, handyman’s special…whatever you call it, these homes are in need of some serious work, and these sellers know it! The really cool part about these listings is that the Zillow, eppraisal and CyberHome value ranges are all listed right on the page, along with current comps and recent solds. Check ‘em out and see if there’s a deal in here for you!
3309 166 Pl SE
3 br/2 ba, 2,300 sq.ft.
Price: $469,900
MLS 28098183
3419 166th Ave SE
3 br/1.75 ba, 1,900 sq.ft.
Price: $464,950
MLS 27172755
6507 126th Ave SE
3 br.2.5 ba, 1,810 sq.ft.
Price: $445,000
MLS 28061935
15543 SE 24 St
3 br/1.5 ba, 1,280 sq.ft.
Price: $425,000
MLS 28042676
321 Bellevue Way SE #104
2 br/2 ba, 973 sq.ft.
Price: $279,000
MLS 28088181
June 9, 2008
The May statistics were just released a couple of days ago from the NWMLS, and there weren’t too many surprises here. Seattle Bubble gives an in-depth analysis on King County stats, along with the following King County SFH market summary:
May 2008
Active Listings: up 42% YOY
Pending Sales: down 39% YOY (new record)
Median Closed Price*: $440,000 - down 6.2% YOY (new record)
On the Eastside, active listings of SFHs are up 54% from last year, with pending sales down 40%. Median price also closed down by 6%. The strongest Eastside SFH area reporting in during May was area 550 (Redmond/Carnation), where number of closed sales and median price were neck in neck with the same time, last year. Also consistently a strong performer, area 520 (Bellevue, west of 405 ) reported a 19% increase in median sales price, though the % change in number of closed sales was significantly down as well. The largest decline in median price of SFH occured in area 500 (Issaquah/South Bellevue), where median price slipped by over 23%, and the number of closed sales was down by half.
Eastside condos weren’t exempt from the downfall either, with the May median price 10% below last May’s median price. The total number of condo sales closing during May were down 37%, and inventory remains nearly twice as high (+93%) over last year. However, only three Eastside regions submitted price declines compared to last year, including area 20 (Bellevue, west of 405), area 540 (Sammamish), and area 550 (Redmond/Carnation).
No suprise, we’re gonna have to hang on longer for any sign of a recovery.
