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Olympia, WA is for the birds!

02-12-12

Francine Viola, Realtor - Homes for Sale in Olympia WA Expert

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Office: (360) 352-7651

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Olympia, WA is for the birds!

If you are like me, you may have a few bird feeders with different kinds of Birds in Olympia WA feed in your yard to attract all different kinds of birds. Here in Olympia, WA, we are fortunate to have a very diverse bird population, and it’s interesting to see who visits your backyard feeders!

This weekend, the Audubon Society needs your help in the Great Backyard Bird Count to assess the bird population. It’s easy to do. Look out your window for at least 15 minutes on any day from Friday, February 17^th to Monday, February 20^th, and count the number of birds you see. Then log in your results at www.birdcount.org/gbbc.

You’ll need to be able to identify the birds as well and write the highest number of that species you saw at one time. This website also has a helpful identifier download.

In the Olympia area, past volunteer bird counters counter 105 species! That is a lot of birds compared to surrounding areas that only counted 48-65 species. Not only do the birds like living in Olympia, but you just may like it, too!

If you’d like to learn more about living in the capitol city of Washington, call me today! I’d love to give you a bird’s eye view of the great neighborhoods in Olympia, WA.

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Percival Landing Park in Olympia

02-11-12

Nancy Conner - Olympia/Thurston County WA

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Office: (360) 350-0251

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Percival Landing Park in Olympia is a wonderful destination for children who want to play at a playground or adults who want to stroll along the waterfront or relax as they gaze at Budd Inlet.

Percival Landing Park Olympia

There are climbing toys, slides, and spinning toys, with separate areas for the younger kids and the older. The climbing toys at Percival Landing Park give kids the chance to get pretty creative about how they move from bar to bar or along the footstool type portions, enticing both the preschoolers and the older, daring kids.

Percival Landing Park Olympia

And Percival Landing Park's boardwalk and little bridge let you get up close and personal with the Budd Inlet scene, admiring boats or watching the seagulls beg for bread.

Percival Landing Park Olympia

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Indian Summer Golf & Country Club in Olympia, WA – January 2012 Market Update

02-08-12

Francine Viola, Realtor - Homes for Sale in Olympia WA Expert

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Office: (360) 352-7651

Mobile: (360) 359-0689

Indian Summer Golf & Country Club in Olympia, WA – January 2012 Market Update

January 2012 Real Estate Market Update

The Indian Summer Golf & Country Club neighborhood in Olympia, WA typically sees on average two sales per month, however there were no sales that happened in January 2012 but there is one pending sale. December 2011, though, did have 3 homes sales.

The good news about the real estate market in Indian Summer is the average home price has remained steady the last three years. The average prices from 2010 to 2011 only dropped 1.8%. This chart includes all home sales – single family homes, townhomes, and new construction.

Indian Summer home sales

2011 saw an increase in the number of home sales from 2010. This is attributed that homes were priced correctly, as well as an increase in buyer confidence. (The surge in home sales in 2005 was due to new construction sales.)

About Indian Summer Golf & Country Club in Olympia, WA

Indian Summer Golf & Country Club located in southeast Olympia, WA is a premier gated neighborhood that surrounds the private Indian Summer Golf Course.

Indian Summer golf and country club Indian Summer is still experiencing growth with new construction being built in The Links, part of Indian Summer located off of Rainier Road and is in the southeast section of Indian Summer. When fully built out, Indian Summer will have approximately 500 single family homes, townhomes and condos – most with sweeping views of the golf course.

You don’t need to be a golfer to enjoy the beautiful design of Indian Summer. Several unique and appealing features Indian Summer residents enjoy are:

A 33-acre nature preserve with walking trails open to the residents of Indian Summer.
Sidewalks throughout with wide streets and underground utilities that capitalize on the golf course views.
Indian Summer is a gated community with a gate guard on staff.
Indian Summer residents and the public can enjoy The Embers restaurant. You can sit in the bar, sit outside on the elevated deck overlooking the greens or enjoy the views from inside the restaurant. Residents like they can walk to a great restaurant and dine in or order take out.
The clubhouse also has banquet and meeting areas – perfect for weddings and other events.
And who has a salon and spa in their neighborhood?! Indian Summer does and it is Antidote Spa & Salon, where you can take a spa-cation, all within the gates of Indian Summer!

(All data compiled from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Data is deemed accurate but not guaranteed.)

If you’d like more information about Indian Summer, please visit these links:

Overview of the Indian Summer neighborhood

Where is the Best Place on the Golf Course to Live?

Indian Summer Nature Preserve

Indian Summer Chehalis-Western Trail

Indian Summer Andrew Jackson Chambers Homestead

Indian Summer Local Business Spotlight – Thrive Fitness Center

Indian Summer Home Insurance with Douglas Allan, State Farm

Interested in making this premier neighborhood your home? Call me today to find your next home. In the meantime, check out the current homes for sale.

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Snow storm in Olympia WA 2012 (exposed the Jerks and Knuckleheads)

01-21-12

Francine Viola, Realtor - Homes for Sale in Olympia WA Expert

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Office: (360) 352-7651

Mobile: (360) 359-0689

Earlier this week, Olympia, WA saw some snow….then we saw A LOT of snow (about 15”). I thought it would be good to document the snow fall in my neighborhood, Indian Summer. At the time I created this video, I had no idea things were going to get worse.

Snow is bad enough in Olympia because we usually have mild winters and if we do get snow, it’s only a couple of inches and doesn’t last for more than a day or two.

But the biggest problem came when we had an ice storm right after getting record snow levels. This ice storm coated everything with a thick layer of heavy ice. Trees and limbs cracked, snapped and fell over power lines, which left many in Western Washington without power for days. For us, we were out of power for two days, and we feel lucky.

Tree damage snow storm 2012 This is our backyard. These are limbs from fir trees in our yard that are about 100 feet tall, so these limbs are about 15 feet long with diameters of about six inches. Because these limbs are so heavy, they fell flat to the ground, missing our house thankfully. But we have days of clean-up ahead of us.

For now, we have rain showers with a few sun breaks, and all of this is making the snow and ice a mushy mess. But the next storm on the way is now a wind storm, which could knock out power again. I hope that doesn’t happen but we are prepared.

This makes me think about what will happen when we have a real crisis or natural disaster. What I’ve learned is most people don’t react well. I witnessed a lot of bad behavior this week, which leads me to believe that along with our survival instinct, I think we humans also have a Jerk DNA sequence along with a Knucklehead DNA strand.

My advice if we lose power again…

Be prepared
Be self-reliant, and
Help those with high amounts of Jerk and Knucklehead DNA. They will need your help the most. Don’t worry - you’ll be able to spot them easily. They are the ones who think BBQ-ing in their living room is a good source of heat; wearing flip flops in the snow while putting tire chains on their car (in the middle of the road, blocking traffic) is a good idea; and speeding past those shoveling out a storm drain and spraying them is fun.

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Indian Summer neighborhood, Olympia WA - Snow-mageddon 2012!

01-18-12

Francine Viola, Realtor - Homes for Sale in Olympia WA Expert

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Office: (360) 352-7651

Mobile: (360) 359-0689

Indian Summer neighborhood, Olympia WA - Snow-mageddon 2012!

Here is what it looked like in Indian Summer on January 18, 2012. Indian Summer saw about 15+ inches of snow, which is unusual.

Note: After editing this video, a John Deere tractor came through to push the snow from the roads - so I guess we will all live and survive SNOW-MAGEDDON 2012!

Check out the current homes for sale in Indian Summer.

If you’d like more information about Indian Summer, please visit these links:

Overview of the Indian Summer neighborhood

Where is the Best Place on the Golf Course to Live?

Indian Summer Nature Preserve

Indian Summer Chehalis-Western Trail

Indian Summer Andrew Jackson Chambers Homestead

Indian Summer Local Business Spotlight – Thrive Fitness Center

Indian Summer Home Insurance with Douglas Allan, State Farm

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