REALiTY BiTES
REALiTY BiTESi turn REALTY into REALiTY
For the fun of it... Category
Happy New Year!
Today marks the beginning of the Year Of The Dragon in the Chinese lunar calendar. Actually, this year is considered the Year of The Water Dragon which happens only once every 60 years. In Chinese culture, the dragon is considered to be the most powerful symbol in the Chinese zodiac. Read the rest of this entry »
Top 10 Real Estate Websites
Disclaimer: The websites presented are my own opinions, and not the results of some analytic gobbledygook. The determination and ranking of these sites is completely random (with the exception of #1). I will share the links to each of these sites along with my reason for inclusion in the list. With no further ado, let’s take a look, shall we? Read the rest of this entry »
I Blame Starbucks For My Composting Addiction
Addiction – Part II
It all began one winter day back in 1996. I remember it all so vividly. You never forget your first time, do you? You can read about my first time [read here] if you really want… From that day forward, I’ve been downing mochas on a regular basis. The byproduct of making coffee is of course coffee grounds, and being the naturally inquisitive person that I am, I started reading about how coffee grounds could be used as compost in the garden for acidic plants. I’m never one to just dabble, because when the addiction hits, it hits hard. Read the rest of this entry »
The Road To Addiction Has An Innocent Start
From Candy To Coffee
Like nearly every other Seattle-ite, (Or Woodinville-ite), I’ve become addicted to that syrupy brown goodness we call coffee. In my case, it’s espresso, and it all started about 15 years ago during one of my very long meeting sessions at Microsoft. Up until that point, I had never, ever, ever had a cup of coffee. Never. That’s 33 years of living without drinking the brown liquor. So I was standing outside the conference room, and there happened to be an espresso bar. The gentleman barista coaxed me over to talk to him because he was bored. Read the rest of this entry »
The Changing Role Of A Real Estate Agent: A Historical Perspective
The Old Days
The Old Days
Realtors as Gatekeepers
Prior to entering real estate as a career back in the mid 90’s, I spent nearly ten years working in the computer industry, using the most advanced PCs at the time. When I first saw the tools available to real estate agents, I felt like I was stepping back in time. If you were a buyer looking for a home, you couldn’t just log on to the internet and search. Real estate agents were the gatekeepers of the data, and that made them an integral part of the process. Back then, all of the homes for sale were listed in paperback books that came out every couple of weeks. The photo to the left shows what the books looked like. Depending on what area you worked in, you could have 3 or 4 of these books in your possession at any one time. Read the rest of this entry »
Daylight Savings Time Is Over
Did you remember to turn your clocks back by one hour? It’s a beautiful, crisp, sunny day here in Woodinville, WA and you should take advantage of what little sunlight remains. Go out and enjoy the day!
Food Waste In America
Today is Blog Action Day for 2011. It is the one day of the year that this organization attempts to get bloggers all over the world to blog about one particular topic that affects everyone. This year’s topic is FOOD.
While some bloggers may choose to blog about their favorite restaurant or their favorite food, I’m choosing to blog about food waste. While thinking about my topic for today, I came across a previous blog post that cited some statistics about food waste in America. I didn’t research the authenticity of the data cited, but on the surface, the numbers are staggering. Here are just a few statistics:
- A report completed in 1997 cited a statistic of 91 Billion pounds of food waste in 1995 by consumers and food service.
- Food disposal costs the US about $1 Billion each year.
- Households waste approximately 14% of their food purchases each year; 15% of this waste is still within the expiration but never opened.
- An average family of 4 tosses out $590 of food each year in meat, fruits, vegetables and grains. This doesn’t even include packaged food that gets thrown out! Read the rest of this entry »
Seattle’s Own Green Monster
One of the best things about being self employed is that I can choose where my office will be on any particular day. Lately, I’ve been making my rounds to the various coffee shops that are so abundant in the area. With free Wi-Fi at nearly every place I go, I’m no longer tied down to sitting in my Woodinville office. I have met some really interesting people and had some great conversations, all under the premise of “work”. Read the rest of this entry »
Anatomy of a Short Sale Transaction
This past week, I had the pleasure of gaining mutual acceptance on a condominium for a client. It was a bank owned property. The following day, I received a nice flowchart from the listing agent, explaining what my clients and I should expect and the time frames involved. I thought to myself that this was a very professional agent and I appreciated getting a “heads up” on what to expect. Here is what I received. Read the rest of this entry »
I Should Be An Architect!
The Big “L”
After 15 years in the real estate business, I was beginning to feel that all new construction looked alike. I mean, there was no freshness in the floorplans. I kept seeing the same typical layouts over and over again. Back in the 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s when homes were built a bit larger than they are now, builders didn’t even try to get creative. Here was a typical “L” shape layout that was (and still is) very popular:
You walk in the front door, the living, dining, kitchen, and family room are always in the same places with little variation. Sometimes the layout is flipped so the garage is on the right and everything else is on the left. If the square footage is a bit larger, then you get a den on the main floor. If the home is a bit smaller, you lose a room or the rooms get smaller. It’s really kind of boring after you’ve seen so many of them. Split level homes are the same way. I understand that it’s tough for architects to change things up dramatically, but I appreciate it when I see something original every now and again.
Design For The Site
Upstairs, the builders are starting to listen to buyers’ feedback by putting the laundry room where the dirty clothes are, although I wish that they would take the site plan into consideration when designing the bedroom layouts. In a typical home, the master bedroom is still located at the rear of the home in either the left or right corner. When you’re on a quiet street it’s not a problem, but when you back to a major road with lots of road noise, that is a huge downside. I say let the kids have the noisy side of the house!
A Fresh Design?
I was invited to a Brokers Open House recently to preview some new homes in Bothell, WA. The only reason I stopped by was because I was in the area looking at another home nearby, and I remembered that the site agent had called me earlier in the week with the invite and a promise of a free lunch! I was pleasantly surprised when I entered the three model homes. Two of them had the typical layouts on the main floor, but the upstairs room configurations were much different than what I had expected. In one of the homes, the 2nd story landing area was actually a large open loft which felt oddly appropriate for that home. I especially liked that the laundry room was centrally located upstairs, yet away from the bedrooms. I also appreciated that the master bedroom in this home faced the front of the house, away from the noisy backyard and busy road that runs behind the lot.
My One Complaint
In Lot 1 of the plat, I saw a most unique layout on the main level. The design was still an “L” shape, but the rooms were flopped around, such that the dining room was placed at the back of the home in the corner, and the kitchen was situated in-between it and the family room. I think the layout works very well for the home, except for two glaring problems. The builder installed a large granite island in the center of the kitchen which is really nice but the island is nothing more than a large granite table. There are no cabinets installed underneath! Such a waste of space in a smaller home where storage is a premium. The second issue is that the island (or should I say table?) abuts the great room (seen in the diagram to the left). This is fine if you have hardwood flooring throughout the two rooms, but if you have carpeting in the great room (as is the case in the model home) and you wanted to sit around the large gathering space, you have several chairs on the carpet, and several on the hardwood flooring. Not too practical if you plan to entertain in that space and end up spilling food on the floor. I think the builder will probably get some negative feedback from potential buyers on this design element.
A Plug For The Builders
If you’re in the market for a new home, or would just like to see what the latest and greatest designers are putting into the homes, you should definitely check out these homes in Bothell. The neighborhood is called Brookfield, and it is located east of Bothell-Everett Highway, on 180th St. SE. If you don’t have a Realtor, and you’d like to take a look at these homes, give me a call!
When REALiTY BiTES, bite back!
