Tag Archives: real-estate

Raising the Bar

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Since Real Estate Sales is a unique beast and over the years has gotten more and more complicated and litigious, I thought it would be interesting to follow up on Robert’s post about the education needed to become a real estate agent. There are so many fields of knowledge that are needed to practice adequately, and requirements to get a license don’t even skim the surface. I’ve never understood why the standards for entering this profession are so low given the magnitude of the effect an agent’s knowledge has on a customer.

Every real estate contract I’ve ever written has had potential to blow up into a legal battle. None have so far, but that’s probably because my errors mostly went unnoticed, were negotiated away or didn’t do any financial damage. Agents can get in trouble when first opening their mouths to talk to a client about buying or selling real estate and I know that the average agent doesn’t even know what he or she doesn’t know. Despite the many years as I’ve been in the business, I learn something scary on nearly every deal.

When I wrote my first contracts in 1978, I didn’t even know what title insurance was and yet I was HANDWRITING a title insurance contingency (I had language that I copied). Things have changed, the contracts are now boilerplate, but most agents still don’t understand that boilerplate well. Experienced agents understand a whole lot more than the newbies since most of us learned it by doing it wrong at one time or another.

For instance, my buyers were under contract on a vacant house last year and I brought in a heating contractor to get a bid for replacing the furnace. Oh oh, the CO level was at 92%, according to the technician and guess what, he had to decommission the furnace (a state law, apparently) in the middle of a very cold January. The seller was livid, my broker was stumped, the other broker was stumped, but we negotiated our way out of it. The seller (an attorney by the way) paid for the furnace and my buyers refunded him at closing since they wanted to install a new furnace anyway. I got lucky.

That’s just one of hundreds of stories. The scope of a real estate transactions is so broad, that experience in construction, architecture, inspections, repairs, real estate contract law, title and escrow issues, Fair Housing, underground storage tanks, septic systems, well water, lead paint, mold, radon, multi-cultures, finance, accounting, a working knowledge of condominium law and association lawsuits, and all the lawsuits relating to OSB siding, Cadet heaters, etc etc almost seems to mandatory..

Before you think I’m being dramatic here, these issues all come up during a normal realtors practice on one level or another. If an agent isn’t scared of saying or doing the wrong thing, then they’re not aware enough of what can go wrong. Since attorneys aren’t in the showing and listing business, it’s not practical to have one tag along with the agent all day to make sure that every written and spoken word is legally correct.

The only cure for at least raising the odds of being competent is to require a higher level of education. To sell real estate, I don’t think you need English grammer (would be nice) or calculus or History of the World, but you do need to know how to compute fractions, percentages, and know how to qualify a buyer for a home or at least understand how the lender does it. You need to understand the accounting basics of the normal transaction, some basic understanding of 1031 exchanges and for sure, understand all of the multiple forms, what they mean and how to fill them out legally. We’re supposed to say “I’m not an accountant (attorney, etc) and I can’t give you advice in that matter

If you must flip, flip responsibly!

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(Editor’s Note: I’m extremely excited to announce a new contributor to Rain City Guide. Eileen Tefft is a Managing Partner with Ltd Real Estate and has over two decades of experience in the real estate industry.)

Hello Rain City Guide community,

This is a first for me. First post, first time ‘published’. I’m excited and feel it’s about time I got into blogging as a way to share information to readers interested in real estate. As a kid, my parents bought and held real estate as an investment. My uncle was a contractor, my grandfather a carpenter… In fact, my dear 82 year-old mother was still hanging off rafters, pounding in 2X4’s in her 60’s (she still would be if someone needed a rafter built! Today she’s cutting down trees with her new chainsaw!). I bought my first property when I was 22 and subdivided it at 32. It was fun and it felt natural.

I got 3 calls this week from past clients wanting to begin buying real estate as an investment. After several hours of discussions, I decided to write about the nuts and bolts of my experiences, the mistakes I’ve made and where I found the most success.

There seem to be two types of investment buyers. One that wants to ‘flip’ real estate (turn a quick profit by buying low and selling high) and one that wants to purchase and hold for the long term. I will address the first question here and save the second for another post which will include buying for cash accumulation vs. buying for a positive cash flow, buying using 1031’s and buying using Self-Directed IRA’s.

So, let me start first with the question I get asked most… “How can I buy a house, fix it up, make a profit, quit my job and live off the real estate returns like I’ve seen on T.V.?

Corporate Personalities on Display at the MIT Forum…

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Brief overview of the event…

Moderator:

Panelists:

Jim did an excellent job leading the discussion. I didn’t take notes, but in general the questions were all pretty predictable and the answers were spot on… With an exception of a “woman-related” comment by Nikesh, no one made any major gaffs, and there were no real surprises… But that is not to say the event wasn’t informative…

My initial reaction is that the four panelists did a wonderful job and all represented their companies well. I’d even be willing to go further to say that they personified their respective companies. As in:

Nikesh had a hard time sounding real and often ended up sounding like he was recording an infomercial, which is (for better of worse) my picture of HouseValues.

David made some great points, but came off at times like he hadn’t completely thought through his business model. I wish Jim had pushed him to answer the question: What if a listing agent refuses to show one of your buyers a property? Or better yet, what happens when that listing agent who DOES show a Redfin buyer a property and then sues Redfin claiming they were the procuring cause of the sale. Talking about this issue, I wish someone had pushed either Gordon or Jim to answer if they would knowingly show one of their listings to a buyer who openly said they were going to use Redfin. Agents out there: Would you?

Spencer played the role of beta tech guy. He obviously understands the real estate industry and no one really forced him on any issues so he kept from saying too much of interest (like: What comes next?).

Gordon played the role of elder experienced broker really well. He obviously knows the industry inside-and-out, and considering his interest in technology (he is also a Director at Zillow), he came off as someone willing to explore new business models.

If you were there, what was your take on the MIT Forum? Did you learn anything new?

UPDATE 1:
Niki from HouseValues has a collection of interesting reflections on the forum…

UPDATE 2:
Spencer added his thoughts on the MIT forum (and a few other conferences he’s been to recently) on the Zillow Blog.

Lots More than Just the Sexiest Real Estate Agents

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It’s been a while since I had a real “ramble” post, but considering the occasion, hopefully people will forgive me for trying to cover a lot of ground in one post.

Happy Birthday to Rain City Guide!!!
It’s been one year since I wrote my first post (Hello World, of course) on Rain City Guide. I probably would have taken down the first post since it was just a test except we got a comment right off the bat and I’ve never been very good at deleting comments…

I have no (clear) idea where RCG will go over the next year, but considering the real estate industry is clearly in a pivotal position and I’m extremely excited to have front row seats.

New Broker For Anna
LTD Real EstateWe’re excited to announce that, as of today, Anna has officially switched her broker to LTD Real Estate. This major change for Anna began when I struck up a conversation with a broker at LTD, Jon Ribary, after noticing that we were both developing tools to map Seattle listings this past summer (who wasn’t???). Just like my gHomes tool, his search tool hasn’t kept up with some of the amazing tools that have been released recently (including ours!). However, our similar interests led to many conversations and ultimately a much stronger bond between Rain City Guide and LTD. Anna and I look forward to working closer with Jon and his staff in the days, weeks, months and years to come. If you’re wondering, don’t expect much to change here at Rain City Guide based on Anna’s move to LTD (besides the logo on our sidepanel!). Anna’s move is really related to the fact that she was searching out a broker who understands that the real power of marketing on the internet is when you use the tools to communicate with potential clients as oppose to talking at them. About the only thing you can expect to change is that Jon and I have some ideas for side-projects that will allow RCG to continue innovating so that we can achieve our mission of being the best resource for real estate information in Seattle.

Ride Home from the MIT Forum
The MIT forum is tonight and it is sold out in a major way. I definitely plan to attend, but I have a minor issue in that we’re a one-car family and Anna has something else that she must attend. Getting between my work in Downtown Seattle and Downtown Bellevue tomorrow afternoon without a car will be easy. The part of the trip that I’m not sure I can handle is the trip to my home in Crown Hill this evening. Is there someone attending who wouldn’t mind giving me a lift home after the forum is over? Found a ride home! Feel free to email me directly.

Sexiest Real Estate Agents
I was checking my log files earlier today when I noticed that someone came to Rain City Guide based on the Google Search: [sexiest+real+estate+agents]. I was deeply saddened to find out that we are ranked a dismal #2 on this all-important search. So, if you are a blogger interested in helping us celebrate our birthday in a zany way, consider linking to this post with the phrase “sexiest real estate agents”. I’ll bet it won’t even take a full week for us to be rated #1! Okay, it is obviously getting late, so I’m going to go to bed and try to sleep off the celebratory Champaign that Anna and I cracked open tonight!

What do real estate industry people talk about?

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My 10-12 weeks of “blogging” have been quite interesting for me, in that for 15 years I mostly have talked about the real estate industry with other industry people, and talked about local real estate with my own clients and local agents. Blogging opens up talking to consumers generally about the industry, which is in and of itself, quite a revelation.

Given I will be attending the MIT dinner event tomorrow, I am contrasting the speakers of that event with the participant theories of my normal industry discussions. Tomorrow’s event will be “the newbies” Zillow and Redfin plus HouseValues, whom I wouldn’t call a “newbie”.

I am “lifting” this discussion of the past few days from the forum that has been around since 1995 or so, and I have participated in since 1998. I thought this particular discussion was a huge complement to whatever I may hear tomorrow night. For the benefit of those attending tomorrow night, you might want to read this beforehand for “balance”. I have removed the names, except mine, since I am “lifting” it out. I think at least Robbie’s interest will be peaked by that part of the discussion that suggests that the MLS may cease to exist as an end result to all of this.

*******************

Agent A says:

I would guess that there is not a large brokerage in the country that doesn’t have plans to withdraw from MLS depending on the outcome of the DOJ suit. I believe that many large brokers are considering withdrawing from MLS REGARDLESS of the outcome of the DOJ suit…

All across America, in every major city there are 3 or 4 large brokers who control around 80% of the inventory. If COURT mandated MLS rules don’t make competitive sense to those brokers MLS will END.

Even if you and Attorney Barry and the rest of the majority of the NAEBA are victorious your victory will be pyrrhic– MLS will be run YOUR way but it won’t contain enough listings to be a market force.

“Ardell” wrote:

What I am asking everyone one to focus in on is what “should be” as opposed to what “has been” since before buyer agency existed.

and

My major beef with the industry is that buyer agency was set into a system, parts of which should have been revised accordingly, and still need to be revised.

Agent B says…

Could it be that buyer agency will be given as the justification for the large brokers pulling out of the MLS? As Ardell notes, the whole system is a carry-over from a time before buyer agency. Does it really make sense to “cooperate” with other brokers in an adversarial relationship in the same way as when it was a subagency relationship?

One could argue that a listing agent is not truly acting in their seller’s best interest by making the property available to buyers working with their own agents until they have made every effort to find a buyer themselves. If a buyer agent is really going to save their buyer money, help them get more concessions, etc, isn’t it in the seller’s best interests for their agent to find an unrepresented buyer?

Consider this hypothetical situation:

Large brokerage with a state-of-the-art website and large advertising budget decides that they will take all of their listings as exclusive, non-MLS, non-cooperating listings for 45 days. No lockbox, the listing agency will conduct every showing, and there will be no showings to buyers who have not gotten a mortgage pre-approval. During this period, they will not do dual agency, and will attempt to find buyer customers for their listings. If they do not sell in 45 days, the listing will then be entered into the MLS. Their justification for this is that they believe that this maximizes the chances that the seller will get an offer that is in their best interests. Is there anything that would be illegal or unethical about this?

I think it is very easy to come up with scenarios in which the MLS becomes the dumping ground for the bottom of the barrel properties and over-priced dogs. It’s also easy to see scenarios in which MLS entries are very bare bones affairs with just enough info to generate a lead from Realtor.com, but not enough to be useful for other agents anymore. I find it very hard, though, to picture a scenario in which the large brokerages will just happily keep providing data-rich, picture-laden MLS entries for all of their listings, if they lose control over how and where these listings will be used and displayed.

I thought this might be food for thought for those who have not considered how the industry might change in order to counteract the events currently taking place with regard to mls access.

Interview with Noah Rosenblatt of UrbanDigs

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Back in December I ran a series of interviews with the real estate bloggers who most inspired me. Seeing as how I missed a few great bloggers that round, I thought I would revisit this topic and interview a few more great real estate bloggers! As with the previous interviews, I’ll keep my own opinions out and let the bloggers speak for themselves! Keep coming back for a post each day this week featuring an interview with a great real estate blogger!

[photopress:noah.jpg,full,alignright]In less than a year of covering NY real estate, Noah Rosenblatt has turned his blog, UrbanDigs, into a must read for quality real estate content as he tends to leave out the fluff and focus on in depth analysis and advice while still providing plenty of color on his site. Even though his focus is on New York, there’s enough meat in each of his posts that even us west coasters are likely to see a jump in our IQ after a visit to UrbanDigs.

What inspired you to start blogging?

To educate New Yorkers on the most important aspects of profiting from NYC real estate. It’s really targeted to buyers/sellers of this very different market.

Are there any special topics or issues that you enjoy covering?

Yes. I love covering Interest Rate’s and some of the macro signs that the fed looks at when deciding where to go with monetary policy. It’s such an important aspect of the real estate industry, especially in this city where premium existing apartments are selling for over $1,000/ sq. ft..

What have you done to personalize your blog?

I really gave it a facelift to make it visually appeasing to my readers. I also added a Live Chat session every MON – FRI from 10:00 – 12:00PM for anyone to stop by and ask their questions; first time buyers seem to love it.

Do you have any favorite posts?

Sure do. I love my post on Maintenance Charges: The Hidden Devil.

I like the little formula that is at the end of the post that every buyer should look at and calculate the #’s for a property they may be. It allows them to see how the total monthlies should affect the asking price as they review comps and currently active listings in the same building.

I also like my posts on A Buyer Broker and How To Find Good Value In A Sellers Market.

The latter talks about what to pay for and what NOT to pay for when the inventory is tight! Good advice to use in general when looking to buy a new apartment in NYC.

What are some of your favorite blogs (real estate or otherwise)?

Besides RCG? I love:

Last one is not a blog but a must in my mind.

What tools/websites do you find most helpful in putting together your blog?

I like Movable Type software and would recommend them to any future blogger. Its very easy to use and pretty advanced. I like Feedburner for feeds, and Technorati for exposure. Also submit to Yahoo Directory and all the major blog search engines; too many to name.

How does blogging fit into the overall marketing of your business?

I devote about 3-4 hours a day to blogging; which includes the 2 hour chat session. Its difficult sometimes to do really in depth analysis and post on it, but overall, I expect my time devoted to UrbanDigs to compliment my residential sales business model that I am building for myself in NYC. Buyers/Sellers here love honesty and passion. UrbanDigs is an expression of me to that respect and my clients love it. I do NOT market my exclusives on UrbanDigs though.

What plans do you have to improve your blog over this next year?

I have plans to introduce a number of virtual calculators with my own formulas (I love math!) that I think will be very useful for buyers/sellers of NYC real estate. They will each have its own focused application; such as a RENT vs. BUY calculator that is far better than bankrate.com’s or any other one I’ve used. These tools are vital for this fast paced market and should be very helpful. A few should be live by the end of March.

What is the one tool or feature that you wish your site had?

I would say Virtual Calculators. Since we don’t have them yet, I wish I had them now! I’m not really interested in putting any sales system into the site as I don’t think that is the point of UrbanDigs.

What do you think real estate blogging will look like 3 years from now?

I think it will be a integral part of buying a home; not so much selling a home. I think there are tons of people out there that use the internet to educate themselves about everything. Real Estate is no different. I think real estate blogging will grow, more brokers will launch sites, topics will be expanded, and that only a few will really make it to their pre-determined goals. On the flip side, the general public will be rewarded with a virtual encyclopedia on many cities real estate markets that offer street level information. Thats pretty useful.

Finding the "right" house to buy

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[photopress:Atticus_1_2.jpg,full,alignright]I was watching the Oscars the other night. There was a brief clip of “To Kill a Mockingbird” where Atticus is telling Scout that you have to step into another man’s shoes/skin and walk around in them a bit, before you can know…(paraphrased). It reminded me of the many people I have helped find the “right” home over the years. I try to remember when I stopped “showing” houses and started “finding” them.

I remember sitting in my office one day noticing all of the agents who were listing homes of people whom they sold the same homes to a short time before, and wondering why my clients were content with the homes I sold to them. My sister is still in the same house I sold to her in 1992. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law are still in the same home I sold to them around the same time. Every once in a while I do an owner search and find that the people are still there, living in that same house I sold to them, many years later.

Finding the “right” house to buy has a whole lot more to do with “where” than “which house”. People buy a “lifestyle”. The absolutely perfect house in the wrong place for you, does not seem to make someone as happy as finding the right house in the right place.

I was meeting a man last night in a dark parking lot to show him a property that is “not for sale”. I met him back in May or June of last year. Since that time I have told him not to buy several properties and last night I took him to “the” property he should buy. It was what is known as a “pocket” listing and involved two other agents and no written agreements to pay any of us. For him it was more about the right property and the right circumstances. The right property for him unfortunately is the kind that gets multiple offers. His demeanor and need to process the info, just doesn’t lend itself to a competitive environment, so I had to find something that wasn’t for sale. No other buyers vying for the same property.

I have three or four buyer clients right now in the same price range, but they all have different profiles. My partner brings me properties for sale and says “How about this one for X & X?” I say no…wrong lifestyle. They need a newer house built in 1995 or 1998 in this neighborhood and that elementary school… He checks with the buyer. They agree with me. He comes back with a condo and says this one is perfect for X! I look at him and wonder why he thinks that, it is obvious to me that X does NOT want to live there. He checks with X and X doesn’t even respond.

The X and X couple needs a house in a newer neighborhood where a large percentage of the neighborhood has younger children. Where there are pavements to walk all over with a stroller and maybe a tot lot. A remodeled home in an older neighborhood with no sidewalks and mostly “empty-nesters” for neighbors, won’t do. I have pinpointed the exact neighborhood and am sending letters to all of the homes that would likely sell in their price range. I target the homes based on year built and assessed value using the tax records.

Mr. X needs a condo in a lively area, not too close to work. He is a workaholic and needs to go “home”. If his “home” is too close to work he will be tempted to drop by the office nights and weekends. He has to look out of his window and see something relaxing. He needs a territorial view or a lake view and not a lot of business and traffic and yet at the same time, he needs to be able to walk out of his front door and window shop or stop by the coffee house and mingle with people.

Ms. X works from home and needs to be close to downtown Kirkland, but also needs enough space not to be “confined” while working from home. She needs to be close to her friends and church and yet her price range and space needs predict that she needs to be just outside of where she would most like to be.

I first take people to property to get into their skin…not to find a property. I look into their eyes and watch their body language like a profiler. I take them to properties I pick that are not alike at all. It’s like the optometrist who keeps putting lenses with slight differences and saying “is this better than that?” “How about this?” Once I find what they like and don’t like, usually after showing them 3-6 properties. I go out and get “that”. Usually it’s not for sale, yet. I watch for it to come on market or I actively seek it out by writing people who own “it”. I don’t tell people they can’t have what they want because it is not for sale, but I do tell them they can’t have it if it doesn’t exist or is not in their price range. Agents have in their brains and via the tax records, a fairly good handle on the “realm of possibilities”. Getting access to the mls does not empower the consumer, it limits them to what is for sale.

Don’t sit at a computer screen looking at property until you have first identified “where” you will be happy. Think more about what makes you happy. I like to walk down a street with lots of houses and look at the architecture and flowers in people’s gardens and say “hey” to the neighbors. Put me in a great house on an acre lot out in the middle of nowhere, and I may love my house, but hate my lifestyle. Conversely, some people hate to walk outside of their home and have someone look over at them and say “hey, neighbor!” They are like, “Oh God, I just want to read my morning paper in peace!”

So spend at least as much time knowing where you will be happy as you do calculating monthly payments and number of bedrooms and “to thine own self be true”. First find your lifestyle match and then your house. You will be much happier in the long run if you do.

The Impact of Cooperation

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Most of you have (or should have) read the recent article by STEPHEN J. DUBNER and STEVEN D. LEVITT (Freakonomics) in the NY Times. As may be expected, there were plenty comments on the Freakonomics Blog. As I was reading the comments, one struck me. It was from a very sincere sounding broker who, in defending the broker’s role in the transaction, said:

“As an agent on the buyer side or the seller side, I have a fiduciary responsibility to prosecute the interests and goals of my clients……If you want to succeed in this business, become a fierce advocate for your clients, give them all the data they can handle, use your sales, negotiating, and analysis skills to their advantage.”

I pondered this a bit as it sounded like a legitimate strategy for success. I then recalled an article on Inman the other day about a company called RealtyLegacy. The company promotes a program where it will connect buyers and sellers with agents from other companies and those agents will agree to rebate a portion of their commission to their client after closing. The story was interesting from several angles but it surprised me that one such agent did not want to disclose her name because of fear of reprisal to her and to her clients (i.e. other agents would not show her listings if they knew she was discounting).

I then thought back to the NY Times story and the analogy of the real estate brokerage world to stock brokers and travel agents and the author’s forecast of the impending doom to the industry. The real estate brokerage industry has a major advantage that the stock traders and travel agents did not have. To buy a stock for a client or to purchase an airline ticket, there is no need to cooperate with another stock broker or travel agent. Those brokers deal with the principal to put the deal together. In real estate, cooperation is at the heart of the industry (some (the DOJ?) would say that this cooperation has artificially upheld commission rates and traditional business models).

I then remembered the above quote from the broker. He believes that diligent representation of his buyer will preserve his relevance. What happens, however, when he comes to a home that he knows his buyer client will love and he looks at the SOC (selling office commission) in the MLS and sees 1%. If I understand the theory, do what is best for your client and you will have value. It is without argument that this buyer client will value this “perfect” home over and above the amount of commission that the broker will receive? However, it is commonly understood in the industry that if a seller wants their home shown, they will pay the “going rate.” They are told that if they don’t, other agents will not show it. If this was not an issue, why did the RealtyLegacy agent have to hide her identity? Why was she so scared to let people know that she was discounting? If buyer agents in fact act this way, what does this have to do with “prosecuting the interests and goals of the client.” Why should a buyer get short-changed on seeing available inventory when the seller has refused to pay the standard SOC?

It then hit me like a brick upside the head: A major strength of the real estate brokerage industry is at its core a major weakness.

10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Seattle

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Where do you find inspiration?

Out of all the places to find inspiration for a blog post, my current favorite is deep within the RCG stats where I can find the search terms that people use to reach this site. Today, someone came to RCG looking for: [things+you+should+know+before+moving+to+Seattle], and while we likely disappointed that particular visitor, I would like to make amends by offering up this list of ten things you should know before moving to Seattle:

rain in Seattle1) It rains.

2) No really, it rains a lot here. Despite what they say about it raining more in Atlanta, Boston, or D.C., the rain in Seattle can be like a slow trickle that never turns off. But the rain is okay… really… because one day… some day… it stops. And on those first few warm, sunny spring days, all of life is good in a way that Californians will never understand (unless they move to Seattle).

3) Seattle isn’t always comfortable being a high-tech town. Sure we design operating systems, sell stuff online, try to appraise every home in America and stream lots of music and movies, but a substantial portion of the population relates much more to the art of building airplanes.

4) Consensus Rules. Just agree with me on this one or I’ll never be able to get to #5.

5) Traffic Rules. People in Seattle talk a lot more about traffic than the weather. Depending on where you are moving from, traffic will either be horrible or a non-issue. Most blue-state people will laugh at Seattle traffic because you can normally get between any two points in the City in under a half-hour at all times of the day. Red-state people see the parking lot known as SR 520 and wonder why we haven’t build another bridge yet (see #4 for a hint at the answer).

6) Seattle is not that big. We have all the stuff associated with life in a major city: Theaters, traffic, ballets, sports teams, traffic, skyscrapers, music, etc., but you really don’t have to travel far to feel like you are in rural America.

7) Seattle is closer to Asia than Mexico. If one of the staples of your diet consists of cheap and tasty Mexican food, then you will eventually replace that staple with Pho. The sooner you accept this (and the sooner you stop saying “The Mexican food is so much better in California”), the sooner Seattleites will let you know about the good Asian restaurants. (And by the way, since we’re talking about good food, I feel obliged to mention that the Mexican food I remember growing up with in California was so much better than anything you can find in Seattle…)

8) The intersection of NE 50th St and 40th Ave NE is about a mile away from 50th Ave NE and NE 40th St. In the Seattle area, all the street names are numbered and given one of nine directions (NW, N, NE, SW, S, SE, E, W or blank). The numbers begin at 1 in downtown Seattle and radiate out wards. The directions also radiate out, but are city specific, unless, of course, they aren’t… Like at the intersection of 244th St SW, 100th Ave W, N 205th St and 8th Ave NW. There is logic to the entire street system and if you live here long enough, you will understand. Until then, you will be confused and miss appointments, meetings, birthdays, etc.. On a related real estate note, if you are new to Seattle, do not attempt to search for a home without a real estate agent. The street system was designed by a committee of real estate agents who wanted to ensure that you need their help to locate a home. 😉 Also on a related note, Redfin has proposed new street names (featuring real names) for all streets in a effort to ensure the viability of their business model, but at this point, they are still very far from getting consensus on their proposed naming convention.

9) Paul Allen.

10) Despite what you might have read in Wired, Fremont is the Center of the Universe.

Have I covered everything?