Rain City Guide

As with any blog, this is not legal advice. If you want legal advice, consult an attorney in your area.
Escala. 1521 second avenue. Olive 8. Just a few of the many luxury, high-end condominiums going up in the Emerald City. Needless to say, when its “designed exclusively for the confident few,” you can [...]

In Seattle, the real estate technology scene is pretty crowded. There’s the big 3: Zillow, Redfin, HouseValues. And then, there’s the cool 3: ActiveRain, Estately, and RealTech. Well, there’s another company in town, which will soon be joining the party.
Bellevue based, SecondSpace, was founded by Classmates.com executive Anil Pereira and former Microsoftie Alok Sinha, SecondSpace [...]

Well, we’d heard about it before but we weren’t sure if it would get approved.  Seattle’s Smith Tower, an icon of the city with its copper elevators, is going condo.  The landmark will have the zoning for it change from office building to condominium and chances are good they won’t be your typical condo conversion since [...]

I’m constantly amazed at how many people don’t get renter’s insurance when they are renting a house or apartment. Did you realize that if a major catastrophe happens to the property you’re renting that the landlord is not responsible for your belongings?  You should.
Renter’s insurance is relatively inexpensive for the peace of mind that it [...]

As always, this post is not legal advice.  For a specific legal question, consult an attorney.
Buying a condo can make a lot of sense, particularly if you can purchase a unit close to work (e.g. downtown) and if your “lifestyle” is conducive to apartment-style living (e.g. no kids, no pets).  If you’ve decided to take [...]

Events
Last Tuesday the POWHat Neighborhood Association hosted the developers of Pine and Belmont so the community could find out more about the controversial project. I was unable to attend though Carl Goodman did and contributed an excellent article to Urbnlivn, Pine + Belmont Condo Development: More Details Revealed. Unfortunately the details are not too promising. [...]

(Editor’s Note: Today is another great day as I get to introduce Matt Goyer as the newest contributor to RCG. I’ve been following Matt’s Urbnlivn website for quite a while and I’ve always been impressed. With urbnlivn, Matt has managed to collect, organize and republish an incredible amount of local condo [...]

I’d like to open this thread up to a conversation on the health of the Seattle market…
but there is a catch. I will not allow it to dissolve into a conversation about racism, liberals, RCG, or faith. If you’d like to have a reasonable intellectual conversation, you are more than welcome to participate. If [...]

A lot of people worry about George Bush and political issues. Many more worry about saving the trees and global warming. I worry about condo owners and their hot water tanks.
I am buying a new hot water tank for the seller and buyer of the condo I have in escrow. When I [...]

As a longtime resident, I’m used to watching the Puget Sound area go through continual growth spurts as development and demographics change. I get lost in my hometown of Port Orchard spurting for the last 45 years as steady as the whales in Sinclair Inlet.
In spite of economic ups and downs, the NW is never [...]