User profile

Status:
Name: Galen
Nickname: Galen
Member since: 2005-12-22 20:13:03
Website URL: http://www.estately.com/
About me: Galen runs Estately.com, a real estate search website with homes for sale from the MLS in Seattle, Portland, and all of California.
 

User comments

Remember When There Was No Bubble?

March 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 pm

The Tim – check the (now fixed) link! My bad!

Remember When There Was No Bubble?

March 22nd, 2009 at 10:48 pm

the tim – 4 years since Rain City Guide started, not since I posted that. Click the link!

Photo Synth will change real estate

September 2nd, 2008 at 3:15 pm

Hip hop video watchers want to virtually tour homes too, Doris.

Avoid Seattle's nasty traffic jams

April 21st, 2008 at 3:15 pm

srini@inrix: I’ve heard of Inrix, but I don’t see where I can access better maps on your site. Looks like Inrix is more of a B2B company.

I also imagine that both of them will improve with time.

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

April 7th, 2008 at 9:22 am

I lived in Cambridge for a year when I was young and I remember my Seattle-habituated parents remarking on how incredibly dark the winter there was. Even London definitely gets less sun; it’s 51 degrees latitude versus 47. That means we have longer winter days here even if they are filtered through the clouds.

Last chance for Space Needle happy hour

March 28th, 2008 at 9:32 am

John – no real happy hour, but it is 2 small glasses of wine or a beer for “normal” prices.

And you don’t have to buy a drink to head to the top. I’ll be there tonight, sipping on wine and watching the rain/snow fall to the ground.

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

March 25th, 2008 at 7:49 am

Seattle is a city: there are drugs of all flavors if you are looking for them. Otherwise, there is crack in a few parts of Belltown, downtown and directly up from downtown (”pill hill”). Outside of that area, you really have to be looking for it to find it.

Meth is a rural thing – the farther into nowhere you are around here, the more meth there is. As a city boy, I’ve only heard about how pervasive it is in the rural areas.

There is also a minimum of one homeless person on every bus between downtown and Capitol HIll. They are not necessarily “shady” looking, but they stand out.

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

March 24th, 2008 at 4:17 pm

K&T. You’re set – Alki is a much better choice than Renton.

I think you’ve picked a great neighborhood – the water taxi will be really fun in the summer. Not sure about the weekend parties, but it can’t be as bad as Golden Gardens.

Good luck! Report back with your findings!

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

March 4th, 2008 at 2:08 pm

Heather – Gig Harbor and Tacoma residents drive to Seattle – it’s much faster. If you’re thinking of a job in the city, I’d look for a place in Federal Way / Kent / Des Moines / South Seattle.

I’d agree with others: you should rent, but you should rent in an area you’re likely to buy in so you have a good idea if it’s a fit and you’ll know the micro-neighborhoods that suit you.

Shameless plug: you can look at house prices all the way up the I-5 corridor on our site Estately.com.

And yes, if the boat is full, you wait 45 minutes+. If you arrive at departure time by car during rush hour, you will not be able to get on most boats.

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

March 4th, 2008 at 11:21 am

Heather: yes.

I took the ferry from Capitol Hill to Bainbridge Island for a year. It’s $5 to walk on or $15-$20 to drive. If you drive, you often need to be there much earlier in order to get on the boat unless you’re biking or motorcycling. I biked and my work was under 10 minutes from the ferry.

My minimum commute was:

20 minute bike to ferry
10 minutes: pay and get on ferry (except when I missed it – then it was a lot longer.
35 minutes on ferry
5 minutes: get off ferry / get out of lot.
10 minutes: go to work
Total: 1 hour 20 minutes.

If you drive, the getting on and off is a lot longer and you risk missing the boat during rush hour.

The first local information site to do it right

February 27th, 2008 at 9:01 am

Ardell – that’s sweet. I’m sure Seattle has the information online, but I don’t think it’s very user-friendly.

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

February 23rd, 2008 at 3:19 pm

Ardell is right – wander around. The UW housing board is pretty decent source of information and Craigslist is always great.

If you want something decent for under 600-700 in the city, you’ll need to lo going to find a room in a house. You may be able to find a 250 sqft space with a trundle bed for 600 or something on the fringes of town, but there are some decent 3-4 bedroom places in the U-District / Wallingford area that rent for $2,000 a month or so. It’s more work and you might have to wait to find them, but they’re there.

Don’t plan on living within walking distance unless you are cool paying more or slumming it. North of 65th, at least 5 blocks from Greenlake might be a good area to look. Lake City has some cheaper spots. Homes within a few blocks of Aurora are often less expensive and seem to house a disproportionate number of students.

Good luck!

There Oughta Be a Law...

February 11th, 2008 at 12:41 pm

Nice photo title – “bad.” I love it.

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

January 21st, 2008 at 5:24 pm

Ms. Doc – I am very partial to the core of Seattle for living near amenities. Capitol Hill, Fremont, Queen Anne, and the University District all have lots of stuff (groceries, shopping, restaurants) nearby housing. Parts of West Seattle, the Central Area, and Columbia City are also good. Kirkland is also a very walkable city.

(shameless plug) Estately.com has a “nearby” button for every property, so you can see what is nearby in terms of schools, parks, and restaurants. For an even more thorough look at what is nearby, you can type any address into walkscore.com.

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

January 21st, 2008 at 12:32 pm

Keva – you could try Parker Professional Services (I think that’s what they’re called). They seem to place a lot of temps around town.

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

January 10th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

Alyssa, we hate visitors and we all wear fleece. Or at least we used to all wear fleece. And tevas with socks. Now Seattle is only a little behind the times, and parts like Capitol Hill are downright hipsterish. I’m holding out on the tapered look for another year though.

I don’t think there is much in the way of fashion jobs, but there are a lot of second hand clothing stores. And there are some art galleries.

Here's to a shimmering '08

December 31st, 2007 at 8:07 pm

Oh yeah. You’re cold and mean. Or initially superficially nice, then cold and mean. I can tell already.

Here's to a shimmering '08

December 31st, 2007 at 7:46 pm

You should tell you mom that there is a word for how you behaved: The Seattle FREEZE. :)

Reliving 1999 in 2008

December 31st, 2007 at 7:41 pm

Does the delivered milk come in reusable glass bottles?

There was a slough of delivery services in 1999 – HomeGrocer, etc – that went belly up when the boom busted.

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

December 31st, 2007 at 4:00 pm

No poker in Seattle, but there is poker in bars just outside the city limits. You can play poker with the most eclectic group of people I’ve ever seen together in a bar in White Center, just South of the city.

Casinos are “card rooms” and are also just outside the city. They don’t have slots. You have to drive 20-30 minutes to get to a reservation to go to a “real” casino. Yee-haw!

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

December 28th, 2007 at 3:58 pm

Kary is right – what do you mean by reasonably priced, Cory? We are talking Seattle real estate, so nothing is reasonable when you compare it to the $95,000 homes in Detroit.