Thanks For Helping to End Summer Hunger

The Food Drive for Hopelink's End Summer Hunger was a success! Thanks to all of you who helped donate food and money at QFC last Saturday. The Kirkland Group of Windermere Yarrow Bay was able to collect 805 pounds of food and $885 in cash, $600 at the drive and $285 on line.

If you were not able to make it that day to donate, you can still donate on line to www.firstgiving.com/windermere.

We did not make our goal of $1100 in cash and we would love to be able to provide lots of lunches to Eastside children this summer. You can still help.

Thanks so much!

Traffic, traffic everywhere!

One of our favorite topics, traffic!

With the good, there is the bad. A previous posting talks about the "Gold of Seattle Real Estate". The good: our great job market and great real estate appreciation. Our bad: the traffic!

Everywhere you go on the Eastside right now roads are being torn up. It’s all for a good cause and will improve our commuting over the long run.

Quite a bit is being done to mitigate our woeful traffic issues.

Here is some of what is going to be new, exciting, and different. Some of this is ongoing and some is planned for the future.


For all you plateau home owners relief is in sight!

Highway 520 from 202, Redmond-Fall City Road, flyover is being built by Fred Meyer to take traffic from 202 over to 520. Traffic will no longer have to stop at the lights and wait to get onto 520.

Highway 202 will be widened from East Lake Sammamish Parkway to Sahalee Way with a new lane in each direction.

Both changes should help cut commute time by 15-20 minutes from the plateau.


For the downtown Bellevue crunch:

Trying to get from 405 North in Bellevue to 520?

The off ramp from 405 to 520 is going to be widened to make the transition faster and smoother.

There will be new overpass on NE 10th over 405. Group Health will have a new facility on one side of the street and Overlake Hospital will be on the other side.

Beginning now: New lanes will be added to 405 between SE 8th and 112th Ave.

SEhttp://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=glance17e&date=20070517.

Ground breaking ceremonies happened last week and the 405 expansion north will be open in 2008.


Light Rail:
For all you Microsofties, the train should be by to pick you up around 2026.

Seattle Gold

Less new construction + job growth=higher real estate appreciation.


Seattle is still one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. This is no big surprise to me as I see this on a daily basis. In my monthly market update postings, you can see which areas on the Eastside are hotter than hot. Of course, we still have months or areas that perform better or worse. But the overall message of the article from Inman News attached below is we are still on a real estate rise in values. When we end 2007, homes will be worth more than now. This article mirrors what I have seen and predict for this year in Seattle/Eastside real estate. Furthermore, when you look at other parts of the country as described in this article, you can see the strength of our real estate market.


The attached article mentions the all important reasons for our booming market: the economy and the growth management policies in the area. Thanks to Microsoft (the gift that keeps on giving) and all the other companies that are growing and hiring in the area, our job market is one of the best in the country.


The growth management act, which has some very good points, has placed lots of controls on development. It is harder and harder for developers to build in this area. The Eastside runs into water and mountains, so our supply of good land is very limited. Wetlands, native growth protection, salmon streams, traffic flow, etc all contribute to the cost of development and translate to higher mitigation fees for builders. Ever wonder why building lots have become smaller and smaller? The cost of construction has much to do with the diminishing lot sizes.


The good news for current home owners: we do not have the runaway development found in places like Las Vegas or Phoenix.


Read the attached article to find out more about the gold and the cold areas in real estate. It will be no surprise that some of the areas with the greatest declines are those that recently had huge spikes in appreciation, such as Sarasota, Florida.


http://www.inman.com/hstory.aspx?ID=63271

What were the chances of selling a home in Kirkland in April, 2007?

A seller had a 30% chance of selling a home in April of 2007, similar to March’s chance of 29%. In Kirkland, the absorption rate has stayed fairly constant for the last few months. Sellers still did a lot better than the start of the year when only 17% of the listings sold.

We saw sales of 93 properties in April. Eighty-seven sold in April of 2006 and 82 sold in March, 2007. The amount of sales has changed slightly. However, the inventory has increased this year, so the percentage of homes selling is slightly lower.

Last year at this time, the market was a bit stronger. There was a 34% chance of selling a home or condo in Kirkland. In the previous statistics blog, I mentioned March is traditionally one of our best times to sell. In fact, spring is usually more of a seller’s market. In Kirkland, the number of sales has remained fairly constant, but this April there is more competition for sellers because of the higher inventory.

Bottom line for April: Inventory continues to increase. Inventory is at the high so far for the year, with 305 homes on the market. The number of sales is similar to last year having only increased by 6 sales, but there was a 4% less chance of selling a home because of increased competition.


http://debrasinick.com/docs/2007_Year_to_Date.pdf

Hot Happenings in the Highlands This Week

Help End Summer Hunger Campaign for Hopelink

11,000 children need us to help with summer lunches.

$1100 for 11,000 children. We need your help!

You can donate food or money.

May 19th from 10-4 PM at the QFC, Kirkland Parkplace

Sponsored by The Kirkland Group of Windermere Real Estate East, Inc, the Yarrow Bay office.

Not able to come by that day?

You can donate online at www.firstgiving.com/windermere

Thanks!
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Highlands Neighborhood Meeting at the Kirkland Maintenance Center

Thursday, May 17th at 7 PM, 915 8th St.

Do you know about the CERT program, neighborhood mapping, what three things you need nearby in a disaster?

Come learn about Kirkland's plans for disaster preparedness.

http://www.kirklandhighlands.org

www.citizencorps.org

www.3days3ways.org

You will hear from me about disaster preparedness quite a lot this year. I think my new part time career is in disaster preparedness! I have attended a Greater Kirkland Citizen Corps meeting and the Zone1 Disaster Preparedness meeting held at Evergreen Hospital last week? Don't know what Zone 1 is? Neither did I until last week. I will fill you in on it in a later posting.

Also, as a member of the Kirkland Senior Council, I am in charge of "The Good Neighbor" project which we are working on to help identify and assist seniors who are isolated in their homes. Disaster preparedness is a big part of our concerns.
http://kirkland.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=9&clip_id=195

Garage sale May 12th, 2007

Multi-Family Garage Sale

Saturday May 12, 2007

ONE DAY ONLY 9am-5pm

11212 NE 95th St.

Furniture, Appliances, Clothes, Hardware, Toys
Come and find your treasure!

Multigenerational Living, a New Way for the Future?

I have some clients right now that have a need that is hard to fill on the Eastside. I'm looking for a home for them which would accommodate 2 adults with 3 young children, plus grandma. Their hope is to find a home with 4 bedrooms for themselves with a separate 2 bedroom mother -in- law suite.

This is very difficult to find on the Eastside. But it should not be. With our aging population and a desire for many to maintain independence with some family ties, it's a style of living that will become more and more important in the future. So many boomers are taking care of aging parents or having to change their living arrangements to include parents. Our homes need to offer options to accommodate these different generational and family needs.

If you check on this link below, you will find that many architects see the multigenerational style of living as an important change for the future. The demand will be for housing with multiple master suites and more flexible floor plans.

I have been involved with these issues myself over the last couple of years, both personally and professionally. There is a whole host of information which speaks to some of the above issues. As time goes on, I will comment on some of these issues in this blog. My goal is to keep you informed with some of the changes and trends we may see in housing in the future.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2003684239_generations29.html

Wednesday Market and other good things for May

The Wednesday market is back! Think fresh flowers, fresh raspberries, strawberries, and those wonderful veggies.

The market brings fresh food and thoughts of all the wonderful bounty the Northwest brings in the summer.

Other great events coming this month:

May 5th- Opening Day for the Boating Season. This is particularly meaningful for me as I have never gone before and I am going to be on the Windermere boat. ( I will let you know how it goes!)

May 12-13 (Mother's Day weekend) Kirkland Studio Tour

May 13- Kirkland 1/2 marathon Walk-Run

May 17- Kirkland Highlands Association meeting. Let's talk about Disaster Preparedness, the CERT program and neighborhood mapping. Not sure what neighborhood mapping is? Come and find out!

May 19th- Food Drive to End Summer Hunger at QFC Kirkland/Parkplace

sponsored by the Kirkland Group at Windermere Real Estate/East, Inc.

Donate to feed 11,000 school children this summer.

Not able to come by and donate?

Give to Hopelink on line to End Summer Hunger
http://www.firstgiving.com/windermere

May 28th- Seven Hills of Kirkland

For other happenings in Kirkland this month, click on

http://www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/dynamic/Page273.aspx?PageMode=Hybrid

The Hottest Trends in Outdoor Spaces

Gorgeous stuff! Dream a little with these choices:

Outdoor TV's to watch all your favorite things

Outdoor kitchens

Meditation spaces

Privacy benches

Perennial borders

Outdoor showers (this one could be interesting in the Northwest!)



http://www.realtor.org/rmo/landscape_slideshow/landscape_slideshow_may07.html

Now is the time to take photos of your yard

If you were a buyer......





....which yard would you rather have?


The pink flowers of the plum trees are already gone. Some tulips are still here. The rhodies are about to pop. Don't miss out on the rest of the spring flowers. Take photos of your yard and garden as the season progresses. These great photos can be used whenever you sell your home, even if it is during our darkest and dreariest months.

Buyers will be buying a home and a lifestyle, not just a house. You should use the best photos of your home when selling and include great spring photos. Emotional selling, marketing the benefits and beauty of your home, is so important. With great spring photos you can let potential buyers know how great your home looks, even if you decide to sell in November!