Categoriesevents, Seattle, Windermere

Windermere Cup and Opening Day of Boating Season – May 1st

This weekend is the opening day of boating season and the Windermere Cup crew races.  We are proud of Windermere’s sponsorship of this event and thought we’d share with you a bit about it.

Windermere Cup

The Opening Day regatta has been a part of the opening day of boating season since 1970. In 1987, the race’s sponsorship by Windermere Real Estate, Inc. started the Windermere Cup Regatta. Since 1987, teams from China, Australia, Russia, South Africa, and the Czech Republic, among others, have come to race against the men’s and women’s rowing teams from the University of Washington on the Montlake Cut  (excerpt from UW site).

For more information about many of the events surrounding the Opening day of boating season, check out this Seattle Times article.
One day we’d love to be out on a boat during opening day festivities, so let us know if you need additional crew members-we’ll bring yummy food and drink!

If you happen to be down at the lake on Saturday be sure to cheer for our very own Windermere Dragon Boat team as they paddle by!

Warm Regards,

Domenica
Windermere Real Estate

Categoriesquarterly report, Seattle neigborhoods

First Quarter 2010

The first quarter of 2010 has been a good one for the Seattle real estate market, overall.  Interest rates are still hovering around 5% and there are great houses listed at value prices for buyers.  Sellers are getting offers from qualified buyers that are decent and loans are closing!

As always, it is valuable to evaluate the current market in contrast to past market conditions.  Here is a chart that compares Q1 2010 to every year back to 2006 (4 years ago) for perspective.

The average Days on Market (DOM) has gone down in most neighborhoods by about 10-20 days since last year at this time, although it is still up 10-20 days from 4 years ago.

The number of sales this quarter has almost doubled in most neighborhoods compared to last year, although there are significantly less sales this quarter than in 2006.

The values in the current market seem to be homes <$350,000.  There are a lot of homes for sale and less buyer demand in the lowest price ranges than the upper price ranges, which are finally seeing good activity.  This is an opportunity for investor buyers, so if you have considered buying a rental property, please call us to discuss your options.

Here is some more interesting data we got from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.  It shows the % change year over year of the median home price in King County.  It is helpful to see the recent cycle and compare the last 20 years.  2009 was a tough year, as many of you know, but 2010 should shape up to be much more stable.  Stay tuned…

Warm Regards,

Domenica
Windermere Real Estate

Categoriesevents, info for buyers, info for home owners, Windermere

Spring Clean Event

When:     April 24th, 10am – 12pm

Where:    Windermere Parking Lot

               4526 California Ave SW

               (Entrance on 42nd)
What:      Safe document shredding
It’s that time of year again…Tax Time!
 

One of the questions that seems to come to mind every year is what documents and receipts we need to keep, and for how long?  Then, when it’s finally time to purge, there is concern about identity theft and proper disposal.  It’s enough to make us throw everything in a box and bury it in the backyard!

After giving it a little thought we decided to team up with other agents in our office to put on an event to help our clients safely dispose of their unwanted documents. You are invited to join us April 24th from 10am -12pm.  Bring all those boxes of old statements and receipts.  We will have an industrial shredder set-up and plenty of space for everyone’s stuff to go safely and securely to the recycling plant as confetti!

In preparation for the event, here’s what the IRS has to say about what you should keep and in what format you should keep it.  And we found a good chart  of this information at Bankrate.com.   As always, we recommend you consult your accountant to verify what you can safely dispose of.

We look forward to seeing you at the Windermere Spring Clean!
 
Warm Regards,

Domenica
Windermere Real Estate