RECENT BLOG POSTS
< One of my clients is buying a home in an older neighborhood off Mukilteo Blvd. in Everett. Her title report records the CCR (also known as CC&R), which stands for Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions. CCRs are intended for the home buyer, who reads through the covenants and decides whether t...
03/12/2012
What goes around comes around. There is nothing new under the sun. Been there, done that. Yada, yada, yada. Housing trends (like most trends) tend to wax and wane over the years, but they often retain something from previous generations. It’s like . . . deja vu all over again. Which is exactly wh...
04/11/2011
Last week we dabbled in curlicues, asymmetrical porches, and textured shingles. In short, we traveled back in time to the Victorian era of homes in our study of the evolution of style. This week we’ve shuffled a little bit further into the 1900s and are looking into the back-story of The Craftsma...
04/05/2011
Last week we discussed housing trends, how they evolve and are influenced by culture and economy. The financial atmosphere today greatly impacts home trends of tomorrow. For example, in response to the current recession, we should expect to see more architectural practicality than extravagance in...
04/05/2011
Do we influence culture or does culture influence us? What came first, the chicken or the egg? How much wood would a wood chuck chuck. . . er, never mind. While I doubt we’ll truly answer these questions, it’s interesting to look into the sociology of home building over the last 100 years and tra...
04/05/2011
It seems everyone’s going green these days; let’s acknowledge our Seattle roots (pun intended) and take a look at today’s version of the prefab home and their emphasis on sustainable living. Prefabricated homes aren’t new – they’ve been around since the early 1900s, thanks to Mr. Richard W. Sears...
01/17/2011
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With the calendar turning over to a new year, it’s an excellent time to step back and reflect on 2010. Lest you think I want to know about your diet successes (or failures), let me clarify by pointing you in the direction of the U.S. housing market. Because in order to move forward with our housi...
01/11/2011
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As we begin a new year, it’s time to take a look at taxes—particularly the impact on homeowners. You’ve probably heard the old adage: In order to make money, you have to spend money. Looking at it from a homeowner’s perspective, we’ll tweak it a bit: If you’re planning on spending money on a hous...
01/03/2011
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As we learned in my previous post, “Understanding Your Credit Score,“ your credit score reflects how well you borrow and pay back money. It’s essentially your debt reputation in the world of finance. Friends, family, neighbors, co-workers couldn’t care less about the nitty gritty details of you...
12/27/2010
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When it comes to this topic, the volume of industry lingo abounds. For example, you’ve probably heard terms bandied about such as: credit history, credit report, credit score, credit rating, FICO score. For the most part, these mean the same thing: “A statistically derived numeric expression of ...
12/20/2010