La’Cee Looks at Real Privacy

There is a couple that lives in this house at Hallig Habel, an island off the coast of Germany. The photo shows the home at high tide. They may be private, but I cannot imagine them being very relaxed.
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Paul Looks at the Best Building in the World

The self-proclaimed ‘Best Building’, according to the 2015 World Architectural Festival, is in Singapore, has 1,000 rental units and is named The Interlace. It was designed by a Belgian architect. The Interlace features include huge open courtyards, rooftop gardens and...
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Stacy Recaps the Third Quarter According to Metrostudy

Todd Britsch of Metrostudy gave an upbeat third quarter market report to an attentive crowd on Thursday evening. Prices in Puget Sound (Metrostudy includes six counties) show median house prices increasing from $307,049 in 2009 to $427,990 year to date....
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Bill Talks About Ringing The Bell… Again

Last week I wrote about Kurt Triplett, the City Manager of Kirkland,giving a presentation at KW Eastside about a proposed Bus Rapid Transit system, possibly coming in 2016. The emails from our educated, articulate and incredibly wise readers came fast and  furious....
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Bill Listens to Bus Rapid Transit Pitch

A very affable Kurt Triplett, the City Manager of Kirkland, and a very able staff member whose name I didn’t catch, presented an ambitious plan for expanding Kirkland by adding fancy, new buses and creating a ‘Bus Rapid Transit’ corridor...
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Stacy Looks at October in 4-County Puget Sound

In four-county Puget Sound, October pending sales were the strongest numbers since 2010. “We will experience a hot housing market over the winter months,” predicts J. Lennox Scott, Chairman and CEO of John L. Scott, who also expects 2016 to...
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Paul Congratulates the Tribute Winners

The Tribute Awards this year were sensational, with close to 400 in attendance at this ‘must see’ event. Congrats to all the winners, with a special mention to Steve Gilpatrick & Laura Cunningham from TeamBuilder, representing Lungren Homes at Spring...
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Stacy Looks at a Good Number

The World Bank has said that for the first time, less than 10 percent of the world’s population will be living in extreme poverty by the end of 2015. The bank is using a new income figure of $1.90 per...
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Stacy Looks at September in 4-County Puget Sound

Everyone keeps talking about a marketplace slowdown, but it was not reflected in September. Pending sales in the four-county, Central Puget Sound region were the highest since 2005, second highest since 2000. Other issues? Huge drop in inventory and increased...
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Bill Regards Likes and Dislikes

Things I currently like: Alaska Airlines nonstop from Seattle to New York; downtown Seattle real estate guy Matt Goyer’s blog; the 13 Coins restaurant, renewed!; my new Amazon Echo; traveling to Italy; Washington State’s low unemployment numbers; TeamBuilder clients; all...
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Stacy Looks at the Impact of Student Loans

According to this chart from Zillow, student loans may keep younger prospects off the market for a while, but not for long. Also, people holding highest degrees are the most likely to own a home. The bottom line? Home ownership...
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La’Cee Looks at a Backyard Office!?

With smaller lots and denser housing, how about this idea for some privacy for the work-at-home executive? It’s a backyard office module. There are literally dozens of examples online, just google ‘backyard office’ or a similar term.
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Bill Looks at Gasoline Taxes

Federal taxes for gasoline are 18.4 cents per gallon. Washington State taxes are currently 44.5 cents per gallon, for a total of 62.9 cents per gallon. That’s for now. Two increases from the State totaling another 7-cent-per-gallon increase are right around...
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Stacy Looks at King County Home Prices

Home values continue to rise in King County, to nobody’s surprise. South King county (NWMLS areas 100 – 130 & 300 – 360) show prices still under the topmost prices of 2007; Seattle/North King/Vashon has inched above the peak of...
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Bill Looks at Clever Marketing

Winningham sent me this photo from 60 years ago (probably because it reflects upon his age). Anyway, I thought it very clever that that the gas station owner showed where the money went for each gallon. Especially good was the...
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Stacy Looks at World Population Growth

Real estate people like the population to grow. More homes, right?  Well, according to United Nations projections, world population will increase from a current number of 7.3 billion to 11.2 billion in the year 2100. Much of the growth comes...
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Stacy Looks at a Surprisingly Good August

Many real estate people we know – – including us! – – had a slower August in terms of sales. OB Jacobi of Windermere echoed a sentiment felt by many when he commented that “Given the seasonality of real estate...
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Bill Bill Groans About Traffic

It’s getting worse and worse. Look at the study from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. This is a list to not be on. And our State’s reponse? 3-person carpool lanes! Egads.
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