REALiTY BiTES
REALiTY BiTESi turn REALTY into REALiTY
For the fun of it... Category
The 5 Most Expensive Homes Sold in 2011
Who said that the real estate market in the greater Seattle area is slow? In King County alone, there were 734 homes that sold for over $1 million! Of those, 135 homes were over $2 million, and 45 were priced over $3 million. Here are the top 5 most expensive homes sold in King County last year.
#5 – 9740 SE 35th Place, Mercer Island WA – $6,750,000
#4 – 9627 Lake Washington Blvd. NE, Bellevue WA – $7,030,000
#3 – 3248 78th Place NE, Medina WA – $7,250,000
#2 – 6301 NE Windermere Rd., Seattle WA – $7,999,999
#1 – Undisclosed Address in Seattle, WA – $9,000,000
Would you like to see your home on this list? If so, just give me a call and we’ll get it sold right away!
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 »
