Tag Archives: Seattle

Bedtime Stories…

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What I enjoy most about our home are the many places where our family gathers to share stories. Some of the places include our the kitchen table, our computer room, and our deck. But the place that I’ll always associate most closely with epic stories is our living room.

Taken by itself, our living room is nothing unusual. It is not too big, not too small… It includes two couches, a rocking chair, and a fishtank that takes up way too much space. What makes our living room is not the stuff or the size, but rather the time that our family spends here almost every evening reading stories.

Sasha's Book Shelf

We’ve spent countless hours observing Harry Potter (barely) make it through the 5th year of school… We’ve helped and been helped by Aslan in the land of Narnia an numerous occasions… We’ve been fortunate to travel along with Laura and her family from Wisconsin to the Oklahoma Territories to Minnesota to the Dakota Territories…

I only have to think of the many enjoyable nights we’ve spent sharing stories with a roaring fire in the fireplace and the rain pouring outside to remind myself why I love our living room!

Please feel free to join us on the day’s leading up to Valentine’s Day as we romance our homes by discussing some of the many ways we love our homes and neighborhoods.

Romancing the (City) Home

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In September, my wife and I bought a condo/townhouse across the street from the Pike Place Market. There’s lots to love — the beautifully landscaped interior courtyard (it’s in Market Place North), the great neighbors, the not-so-grueling commute (a 7 minute walk). However, best of all is living by the Market. Last night on Rick Steves’s travel show, he featured Paris in the springtime. Accompanied by a Parisian guide, he walked around the Rue Clare neighborhood to the many food merchants (the butcher, the fromagier, etc. etc. etc.). The Parisian talked at length about the superiority of such merchants in comparison to a supermarket. “Hey!” we said, “it’s just like our house!” Now if only my cooking skills approached the food resources at my doorstep…

We love you, Home! Happy Valentine’s Day! xxoo
Tiff and Craig

Fruit at Pike Place Market

Healthier Living Involves an Urban Home

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A recent study was just released that concludes that living in a walkable neighborhood is healthier than living in the suburbs! Another good reason to live in Seattle!

The Seattlest nominated this article for the “No Shit Sherlock” department in that it does not take a study to conclude that people who walk more will be healthier. However, to the study’s benefit, this kind of data gets used in the most obscure (yet important) ways. For example, I found the data to be extremely useful for a transportation demand management (TDM) tool I recently built for the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT). It can be so darn hard to quantify the benefits that make neighborhoods special that sometimes us engineers, (yes, I am an engineer by training) latch onto relatively obscure concepts like “walkability” in order to differentiate good neighborhoods from bad! Besides just letting us know that a walkable neighborhood is a healthier place to live, the study also helped to define what it means for a neighborhood to be walkable!

Bonus: One piece of my involvement in the TDM study involved creating a map that displayed the walkability of every single neighborhood in King County. My memory of the map was that the most walkable neighborhoods were almost all located in Seattle (surprise) with only a few located in the Eastside. If you’re really interested in learning more about what makes a neighborhood “walkable”, let me know!

The moral of this long-winded post? Living in a walkable neighborhood is not only more pleasant, but better for you!

Walking at the Ballard Locks

Seattle's jogging routes

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I like this site, although I really wish I could hit a “show all routes in my area” button. Still, if you’re looking for a new jogging route, take a look. Furthermore, if you’re wondering how to follow through on your “exercise more” resolution, this might be a good starting point.

Here are Seattle’s routes. Add your own if you are so inclined.

Galen
ShackPrices.com

Seattle running routes

Introduction, The CanterHole and other reasons you shouldn't live near a bar

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Howdy folks, I’ll be guest blogging here for a while. Like Dustin said, I’m the co-creator of ShackPrices.com. I’m not much for introductions, so I’ll jump right in.

Since Washington’s smoking ban went into effect, I have been happily wearing my nice-ish clothes to bars and generally enjoying the dank, non-smoky smells of the bars near my house. I tell you this because if you live near a bar or are considering buying a place near one, you might soon be savoring the sweet smell (and noise) of smokers hanging out at the door. In densely populated Capitol Hill, the complaints have already begun, as supra-bar apartment dwellers have found that just enough air gets through the cracks in their windows for them to reconsider their hip living quarters. The Stranger reports:

Maybe a case can be made for the enforcement of the laughable 25-foot rule that comes with the smoking ban. Just ask those on the first floor of the apartment building above Canterbury Ale & Eats on 15th Avenue. On Friday night they felt like a chimney for the pack of smokers who gathered outside the bar’s entrance. The Seattle police told one apartment dweller that they weren’t enforcing the 25-foot rule but that the public health department was. Naturally, the health department said the police were enforcing it. Which is it? In practice, none of the above.

I will definitely keep this in mind when I next move. If it’s bad in the middle of December, imagine smoke sneaking into your sealed condo at 7 P.M. on a 90-degree summer day.

On a side note, I went to check out the “smoke-free” Canterbury last night (it wasn’t after 9:30) and met the “Rosa Parks of smoking.” I guess I have no idea what a hard life smokers live.

ShackPrices Gets an Upgrade

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It looks like ShackPrices just had their first major update.

ShackPrices is a Seattle-based outfit that focuses on helping sellers value (or “appraise”) their homes.

The new layout is clean and very straightforward. If you’re a King County resident curious to find out what homes in your area are selling for, then using their site will be a breeze. In addition, they have some nice goodies like a direct link from each home to King County Records (and bus stops!).

ShackPrices Screenshot

For what they are trying to do (provide information for home sellers), they do it really well… But it seems pretty obvious that ShackPrices will need to expand into helping home buyers at some point. The obvious missing ingredient is real-time MLS data.

With that in mind, I think the hardest part for them will be creating something that is not easily duplicable. Their interface is easy to use, but at it’s current state, a similar functionality is available to King County residents through Redfin. (and even more data is available without the mapping interface through Property Shark). In addition, Redfin is a few steps ahead in that they already have the infrastructure to display MLS data and to incorporate user/agent data.

Belltown to get community center

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[photopress:walking_along_the_waterfront.JPG,thumb,alignright]While it won’t make Belltown the most family-friendly area of Seattle, it is nice to know that this area is getting a new community center.

The first thing that came to my mind when I read the article was that the couple that run the UptownSeattle blog are leaving a little too soon… I can tell that they really like the area and it would have been a great sign for the neighborhood if they would have felt better about raising a kid in Belltown.

Meet a Realtor Who Doesn't Sell Houses…

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The NY Times ran an article a few weeks ago on how hard it is for new real estate agents to break into the market (I’d like to the article but it is now behind a password-protected wall, so instead I’ll just link to the Property Grunt’s excellent summary and analysis). This article got me thinking of a way that I could still be very useful to my clients without actually buying or selling any homes.

What’s that? A Realtor who doesn’t buy or sell any homes?

For the next six-months or so, I really won’t be in a position where I can dedicate a significant amount of time to helping clients. (higher priorities! ) But what I would really enjoy doing over the next few months is staying connected to the business by helping buyers and sellers find appropriate agents.

Say that again?

Mariel Kicking a Soccer BallIn my office alone, there are almost 100 real estate agents who would love to have your business (assuming you’re buying or selling a home) and while I don’t know all of these agents, I do know the successful ones . What I would like to do is use my inside knowledge of successful Seattle agents to connect individuals with the right agents.

For example:

  • Are you looking for a condo in Downtown? I know an agent who specializes there!
  • Are you looking to buy land in Woodinville? I know a different agent who specializes there!
  • How about a modern-style home in Seattle? I know a different agent who specializes in modern homes.

Regardless if you’re trying to sell a home, condo, boathouse, townhome, etc., I’ve come into contact with a highly successful agent who specializes in that field. Talk with me, and I’ll connect you with the right person.

Why would I do this?

It is really a win-win-win situation. You get the best representation possible, a successful real estate agent gets one more client, and I can continue to help people in a small but important way. (I’ll also get a small referral fee from the agent…)

By the way, my recommendations are not limited to just people moving to Seattle. I know a few listings agents who go out of their way to please, so if you are currently a Seattle-area homeowner looking to list your house, talk with me before you list. I’m confident that no matter how good your realtor is, I can get you a better one!