Break These Bad Homeowner Habits

Bad homeowner habits could be undermining your house. Here's how to nip serial "oopses" in the bud—and how to make them right!

Your home means the world to you—of course you intend to do right by it, from the front door to the wood floors to the walls, the roof, the porch, and yes, the septic system. But sometimes you may (unwittingly) get it wrong, and then compound any potential damage you inflict by repeating your mistake again…and again. Luckily, we're here to help. Coming up: our list of common ways even the most well-intentioned homeowners habitually hurt their houses, with advice on how to do better from here on.

1 | Maxing out Closet Rods
Hanging…

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City of Issaquah Enacst a Six-Month Moratorium on New Development

City Enacts Development Moratorium

The Issaquah City Council voted Sept. 6, 2016, to enact a six-month moratorium on certain types of development.

In 2012 — to protect Issaquah's existing neighborhoods and natural environment — the City adopted the Central Issaquah Plan (CIP), which guides the long-term evolution of Issaquah’s existing commercial core into an urban center.

Since the plan was adopted, several developments have been built, approved or are currently under review.

During a City Council work session in July 2016, the City assessed whether those projects met the community's vision for the CIP.

Several issues were identified, including:

• Architectural fit with the community
• Urban design elements
• Vertical…

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Area Home Sales Notch Best August Since 2005!

Housing market still active, with overall direction “positive” 

KIRKLAND, Washington (Sept. 7, 2016) – Home sales in Western Washington continued to outpace year-ago activity, but member-brokers at Northwest Multiple Listing Service say persistent inventory shortages are constraining activity. 

Despite a sparse selection in many areas, an expected summer slowdown, and “appraisal conundrums,” Northwest MLS members notched 11,898 pending sales during August, eclipsing the same month a year ago by 1,295 transactions for a 12.2 percent gain. There were 8,628 pending sales in the four-county Puget Sound region -- the best August for mutually accepted offers since 2005 when members tallied 8,874 sales.

Brokers added 11,411 new listings to the…

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5 Home Buying Myths: Get The Real Story

Home buyers get a lot of advice from friends and family – some good, some bad. A lot of myths can pop up and negatively guide their home purchasing experience. Make sure you don’t fall for one of these common buying falsehoods.

1. The only upfront cost is the down payment.

Buyers need to be prepared for several expenses – everything from fees, taxes, costs for inspections, credit reports, insurance, and others. Closing costs can be anywhere from 3 percent to 6 percent of the purchase price. Those costs can fluctuate greatly depending on the state you live in too.

Read more: Questions for Prospective Homeowners

2. Just looking for a house casually is not a big deal.

Some people may want to just start looking at homes to get a feel…

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Has The Local Real Estate Market Stabilized?

This year has brought steady improvements in the real estate market. Prices rose driven by lower inventory in many markets, and consumers remained relatively optimistic about the economy and its direction—an encouraging indicator for real estate. While the long-anticipated increase in interest rates will likely occur in late 2016 or early 2017, a number of positive signs point to a balanced market with benefits for both homebuyers and sellers in the next year. For example, an increased supply of inventory and slightly more transactions are expected in late 2016 and on into 2017. Home prices are forecasted to see more modest increases, with some markets still facing bidding wars while other see slight price drops or fairly flat prices.

What is a…

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What You Need to Know About Comps When Selling Your Home

The sales price of neighboring homes is only one part of the equation. Be sure that sellers understand the other factors that affect how their home compares to their neighbors'.

Location within the neighborhood.

If your seller’s home is in a part of the neighborhood that borders a highway, train tracks, or an industrial area, it’ll likely fetch a lower price. Make sure you pull comps of other homes in similar locations to compare and explain pricing differences to sellers.

The home’s lot.

Take into account that hilly terrain can affect the usability of each home’s lot and bring your seller’s price down. You can have two one-acre lots next to each other, and one can be fully usable while the other is only half usable because of steep…

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Fantastic Issaquah Highlands Days Celebration

Thank you to everyone who turned out for this year’s annual Issaquah Highlands Days Celebration. There were tons on kids all dressed in costumes, and many adults too! Matt as Batman and Janet as Deadpool really did a wonderful job and the kids loved getting their pictures taken. Janet can barely walk today after squatting down probably 500 times to take pictures with the “Little Ones”.

Also a special “Thank You!” to Tiffany Ciambrone, Kelly Azzarello, Allison Connor, Victor Lozada, Dave Reynolds (From our Spokane office who came out), Jennifer Strach, Diego Vitelli, and Richard Whaley who all came out and helped set-up and make the event such a success!

Here are some of the pictures from the day!

Thank you again to everyone!

Local…

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A Super Hero Themed Issaquah Highlands Day Saturday, August 27th with The Cascade Team!

Saturday, August 27th!

Join The Cascade Team for the Issaquah Highlands Day Festival!

This annual summer celebration is Saturday, August 27th from 12PM-4PM. 

Located at Blakely Hall and Village Green Park: 2550 NE Park Drive, Issaquah WA 98029

Be sure to check out our booth!  Meet Batman and Deadpool and get your picture taken with them!  Download our Comic Book HERE and read the action packed story of Batman and Deadpool VS "The Commission Creeps"!

Batman And Deadpool VS. The Commission Creeps!

Download our Comic Book HERE to read the story!

We will also be giving away FREE beach balls and Frisbees!
 
Other highlights of the event include carnival rides, giant inflatables, food trucks and the always popular market place of…

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While We're All Distracted With Politics Did You Ever Wonder: How Much Is the White House Worth?

Now that the presidential race is hurtling forward at a breakneck pace, we got to pondering one of the many prizes at the finish line: the chance to live in the White House!

Because let’s face it, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is not only the seat of power for the free world, it’s also a pretty nice place. Sitting on 18 acres of prime Washington, DC, real estate, its 55,000 square feet featuring 132 rooms, 28 fireplaces, and more than 750 historic artifacts.

All of which got us wondering: How much is the White House actually worth? In cold, hard cash?

Some, of course, might argue that you can’t put a price tag on this symbolic structure any more than you could price the pyramids in Egypt or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. But the Royal Institution of…

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Today's Move-In Ready Homes = Smart Home Technology

Out with the old and in with the high-tech. A new survey found that Americans are thinking differently about “move-in ready” homes; they now want it to be “smart ready” too. The survey of 1,250 U.S. adults who have broadband Internet access at home found that 71 percent of all respondents want a move-in ready home. But the poll uncovered an interesting twist. Of the respondents who opted for a move-in ready home, 44 percent said that smart home technology should already be installed. Another 57 percent would consider an older home updated if it had smart home technology.   Move-in ready is being redefined by home technology.  

• 71 percent of all U.S. Broadband Households if they were to buy a house today, they would want it to be…

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