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Attack of the Killer Assessments August 23, 2008

It was a warm & lovely summer evening… Our hapless hero goes through his nightly ritual of sorting the junk mail from the bills when stumbles upon his annual “Official property value notice” post card from the King County Assessor.
Before I actually looked at the card, I thought, this shouldn’t be too bad. The local [...]

Do It Yourself Home Staging October 7, 2007

This is a good example of what a homeowner can do by themselves to get their property ready for market. There are really only three things that will help a property sell. Location, Condition and Price. The only thing you can do anything about are condition and price. So make sure you do your best [...]

The Flip Side of the Sub-Prime Story September 17, 2007

Who will suffer most from all of this? Will the people who honored their commitments, and who valued and appreciated the chance the lender took on them, get hurt by all of the “reform”?
No one was more surprised than I, when I got the mortgage and closed on my home. In the end, [...]

To Foreclose or Not to Foreclose… June 30, 2007

I had dinner the other night with someone who is in a pretty tough situation (can you say “rock and a hard place”?). I walked away from the conversation with no good advice for him, so I’m hoping someone at RCG can help guide some next steps he might take…
About three years [...]

Snapshots For Sandy May 16, 2007

The before picture below is the actual picture of the dining room that was in the mls when I purchased the house.

Below is the dining room now, with different furniture and paint. The stained glass piece in the landing window was made by my sister as a house warming gift.

Before:

After

Before:

After:

Before:

After

After:

The only things purchased, and installed [...]

Feeding the Shack… April 4, 2007

Galen of Shackprices (and a frequent RCG contributor!) just announced some new features on Shackprices, including feeds for your saved homes and/or saved searches…

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.raincityguide.com%2F2007%2F04%2F04%2Ffeeding-the-shack%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Feeding+the+Shack%26%238230%3B’;
addthis_pub = ”;

What does a money-nerd think about when buying his first home? January 13, 2007

My Money Blog is letting you peak into a money-nerd’s head before he buys a home with his wife. Seems like a great specialty for an agent - Money Nerd Adviser.
See him worry about losing money, consider the merits of renting versus owning, and debate how much house he can afford. The last one is [...]

Zillow your life - it’s quite interesting November 3, 2006

I grew up at 4950 Lancaster Avenue My parents purchased it for $7,000 in 1957 or so. They made nothing on it and it is now the hole that you see between the buildings. But they raised seven children there. I lived there from age 3 to age 20 or so when [...]

Do the Banks Own Seattle? October 10, 2006

The photo is of the Bank I worked in for twenty years. Lots of memories in there and lots of pranks pulled up on that balcony
I was perusing The Tim’s blog while writing something on my blog earlier today, and ran into the comments regarding King County median income and median home [...]

Beginning the Home Buying Process - Part 2 September 21, 2006

The next step in the Home Buying Process is determining how much home you can afford and how much you actually want to spend. When buying your very first property, it is important to note that while a lender may tell you that you can afford a property priced at $350,000, lenders [...]

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