Living DIY: Giving Our Fireplace a Facelift A story of a DIY project… While we were willing to do some major updates to the bathroom, plumbing and electrical, we decided to pick a few areas of our 1940s fixer to do some smaller, mostly cosmetic updates. One of these projects included giving the fireplace a little facelift to bring it into this […]
Living Seven Phases of Home Renovations The 7 Phases of Home Renovations: Phase 1: Get super pumped about an idea. Pin, pin, pin on Pinterest until you’re bursting with excitement. Tell everyone about your amazing project. Phase 2: Collect materials. Realize things cost a lot. Begin project fueled by coffee, nervous anticipation and adrenaline. Phase 3: Get halfway through the project. It doesn’t look exactly like your Pinterest board but it’s still […]
Living New Home Construction Trends to Watch Out For So what’s in? Bringing the outdoors inside. Do this with larger glass windows or folding glass doors. Minerals as hardware. Large geometric tiles on floors. Mixing metals, such as brass and gold. Interior paint color – Grey still has a heavy influence, but it is warming up a bit and getting softened with a stone color. Of course, […]
Buying & Selling Find your Real Estate Agent You have many tough choices to make as you start looking for the home of your dreams and prepare to make one of the largest financial decisions of your life. Finding the right agent to represent you shouldn’t add to your worries. I’ve met a few real estate agents over the years and here are […]
Buying & Selling Top five words of advice for a seller today As a seller today you are faced with a challenge when it comes to selling your home for a fair price and getting it done in a reasonable amount of time. Even though inventory is lower than it was five months ago, we are still looking at about 9 months of inventory in many areas. […]
Buying & Selling Questions to ask your home inspector To get a quality home inspection, ask the right questions before you put your inspector to work. Here are some of the basics. What does your inspection cover?  Insist that you get it in writing. Then make sure that it’s in compliance with state requirements and includes the items you want inspected. How long have […]
Buying & Selling Going from homeowner to home seller How do we transition from the mindset of a homeowner to a home seller?  Homes bring us shelter, comfort and are a place to express our individuality. But when it’s time to move on, that same home will now be the financial springboard to the next chapter in our lives. We start by letting go […]
Buying & Selling Sellers: Making the Most of your First Impressions As the old saying goes, you only have one chance to make a first impression. If you’re selling your home, it’s true, except that there are several impressions to be made, and each one might have its own effect on the unique tastes of a prospective buyer. I’ve worked with scores of buyers, witnessed hundreds […]
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Buying & Selling Considering becoming a landlord? How to evaluate whether to rent or sell your property Over the last few years, we have seen an increase in homeowners choosing to become landlords rather than placing their homes on the market.  In deciding whether or not becoming a Landlord is right for you, there are a number of factors to consider, but primarily they fall into the following three categories:  Financial Analysis, […]
Buying & Selling Deciding to sell – Home Resolutions Choosing to put your house on the market is rarely easy, but if you must sell to move onto the next phase of your life, then you want to make sure your house is purchase-ready to get the most out of your investment. If you aren’t sure if you are ready to sell, you can […]
Buying & Selling Investing in home: building a foundation for memories “Of course, thanks to the house, a great many of our memories are housed, and if the house is a bit elaborate, if it has a cellar and a garret, nooks and corridors, our memories have refuges that are all the more clearly delineated. All our lives we come back to them in our daydreams.” […]
Buying & Selling The Reality of Home Improvement: HGTV installment On any given weekend in my house, at least a couple of hours will be spent watching the designers, craftspeople and entertainers on HGTV or its spunky sister station, the DIY Network.  The premise of these home-centered television networks is that somewhere, sandwiched between long commercial breaks for paint, faucets, flooring warehouses and something called “Slab Jacking”, you’ll […]
Buying & Selling Does the Home of Your Dreams Really Exist? Agent: “So, what kind of a house are you looking for?” Client: “Anything with 3 bedrooms and a couple baths. Oh, and a big yard would be cool, too.” Agent: “I know of several that we can show you.” Client: “Just pick three that you think I’ll like, and I’ll buy one of them.” If […]
Buying & Selling Preparing to buy – Home resolutions If you are ready to make the move towards purchasing your first home or upgrading to a new home, there are some considerations you should keep in mind to make the process easier. The housing inventory is up in most markets with the start of the new year, giving you more options. Whether you are […]
Buying & Selling How an Investment in Green Technology Can Pay off for Today’s Homeowner Studies continue to show that real estate buyers are willing to pay a substantial premium for homes that feature highly efficient, environmentally friendly “green energy” technology. While the added value depends on the location of the home, its age, and whether it’s certified or not, three separate studies all found that newly constructed, Energy Star- […]
Living Moving on up! Moving is stressful, whether it is across town or cross-country.  Once you have closed on your house, the reality of packing, moving, and setting up a new home can become overwhelming. While no list can make a move “stress-free”, planning ahead and staying organized can help make your move a little smoother.  Here is our […]
Living 13 Appliance Tips & Hacks for Household Chores Modern home appliances make our lives so much easier: They tackle dreaded household chores, saving us time and effort. There are lots of ways to use them, however, that you may not have thought of before. From cleaning your ceiling fixtures in the dishwasher to vacuuming your pet, here are 13 little-known tricks for getting […]
Living Keep Herbs Alive and Well in Winter With These 5 Tactics Temperatures may be dropping, but that doesn’t mean we have to bid farewell to our herb gardens. Cold-hardy herbs, such as chives, mint, oregano, parsley, sage and thyme, can often survive cold-winter temperatures while continuing to produce flavorful foliage, as long as they are provided with some protection or grown indoors. Even herbs like rosemary […]
Buying & Selling Empty Nesters: Remodel or Sell? Your kids have moved out and now you’re living in a big house with way more space than you need. You have two choices – remodel your existing home or move. Here are some things to consider about each option. Choice No. 1: Remodel your existing home to better fit your current needs. Remodeling gives […]
Living What Millennials are Looking for in an Apartment or Condo LinkedIn recently told us that 4,279 new apartments were added to Seattle’s local inventory last year, and based on the number of cranes you constantly see around the city, we believe them. With so many choices, Millennials are getting really specific about what they want in a living space and the lifestyle it provides them. Here are […]