Issaquah, WA

A local organization called Seattle Tilth is having a workshop this coming weekend in Issaquah to teach the public how to raise and keep chickens, they call it "City Chickens". I love the idea of it because then you can have fresh eggs, composting material for your gardens, and chickens naturally want to eat all manner of bugs and slugs. Thankfully, the majority of bugs they eat (and slugs) are non-beneficial to a garden so it's a great way to organically treat a yard for pests. For years I have grown organic vegetables so when I saw that most municipalities will allow up to 3 chickens, even in the city, I thought this could be a great way to expand that practice. Plus, Michael eats eggs all the time for breakfast. I loved the idea of having more local food sources for us and our neighbors to share.

I'm thinking about going to the workshop because I have a desire to keep chickens but I'm not sure I can convince my partner, Michael, that it will be a reasonable thing to do. The first time I brought it up we had 4 pets, and now we have 7, no thanks to a guy we helped out by fostering his cat whom he gave to us pregnant without telling us. So, now we have 3 dogs and 4 cats. The cats are all indoor animals so they won't attack chickens but our neighbors do have roaming outside cats so I'd be more leery of them and would need to make sure a coop was well closed up at night and also set up to keep other critters at bay during the daytime.

Be sure before buying any chickens for yourself that you check with your local city ordinances about whether chickens are allowed, and how many, in your area. Plus, for those of you who live in HOA developments, you'll want to make sure there aren't restrictions in your covenants.

Check out Seattle Tilth's website for many other gardening classes!

Man, it is tough out there...I just closed the hardest transaction (listing) ever. I had a willing and motivated seller and we dropped the sale price by $100K to make the market. Bang! Two offers in as many days. We snagged a qualified Buyer and set for a 30 day close.

Then came the inspection. Sometimes the inspection just has to be the defining moment in the sale Water in the crawl space and mice in the attic...ridge caps on the roof and a difficult Jacuzzi tub. Sounds simple enough, but not so fast. How about those failed window seals (4) and that defective water heater?

Finally, we defined what would be perfection in this home and it looks like $7K would cover it. The Seller says "we will do it all". (whataguy). The handyman fills the Jacuzzi to check it out and when he is done he walks away and leaves water in the tub. Bad idea. The next day there is water dripping from the kitchen ceiling below...the Jacuzzi leaks. $1500 and two plumber trips later we have to remove tile from the tub surround and there it is; a failed glue joint on the tub. No problem, rush everything here and we can get it done by closing. We never counted on 16 inches of snow, closed roads and a Christmas/New Years holiday.

Perserverance and pressure resulted in everything to be done to the Buyer's satisfaction (inspection #3) and we finally closed, sans the windows and the tile is still not here for the Jacuzzi. It seems the house was 10 years old and there was no matching tile to be found without a special order. Murphy's Law was at work.

Oh, I have never met my Seller (client) he moved away in January of 08 and I have had the pleasure of listing, fixing and selling the house.

We finally closed. Who said we don't earn our commission?

During the month of December 2008, REO in King County sold for an average 86.95% of the banks foreclosure amount or previous loan amount.

Which banks closed with the biggest losses on individual properties?

Here's the top 5 "Biggest Losers" of the month.

#1. Jp Morgan Chase Bank Na (A WAMU asset) @ ..................................39.33%
#2. Saxon Mortgage Services Inc sold a home for ..................................56.31%
#3. Lasalle Bank National Association (A First Franklin asst) @ .................61.64%
#4. Citigroup Mtg Series 2006-Amc1 (An Argent Mortgage asset) @ .........66.01%
#5. First Franklin Mtg 2007-1 sold one of their homes for ........................66.83%

Who were the biggest sellers of the month?

#1. Countrywide with ...............8 units, ...................average sale price @ 84.42%
#2. Deutsche Bank with ...........7 units ................................................. 82.99%
#3. US Bank with.....................6 units ................................................. 93.28%
#4. WAMU (via Chase, etc) ......6 units ..................................................81.34%
#5. First Franklin with ..............5 units ..................................................84.25%

This information about Seattle area bank owned homes for sale was compiled by several sources, deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed by any stretch. Just my own personal research.

I hope it may help you a little when considering making an offer on a bank owned home. Be it help with fear of "coming in to low", sniffing out the banks bottom line or increasing your odds of getting the deal by beating their average. It's not much, but a little insight. Consider it a dart in your quiver of arrows.

Congratulations to those buyers/agents who secured those top 5 deals, trimming 20% more fat then the average bank owned property sale price. The one bank owned Property I closed in December was at 76.78% of the foreclosure amount. Not bad, but I still came in 19th place for the month. The house was in a premier Newcastle neighborhood though, so there's gotta be something to be said for that, right?

Welcome to 2009.

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Issaquah is an anglicized word for a local Native American name, meaning "the sound of birds". Another version of the name is said to have come from the pioneers, who, being impressed with the multitude of wetland birds, called the area Squak Valley. When the next wave of settlers came and asked for the name of area the Natives told them, "Is Squak."

The city was officially incorporated on April 29, 1892 Initially a small mining town, this town has changed noticeably both in its appearance and economic focus. Issaquah was originally developed to service the mining industry on nearby Tiger Mountain, and began as the town of Gilman, Washington. As the mining deposits neared depletion in the late 1890s, other companies started to realize Issaquah's potential to support a lucrative lumber business. These companies exported timber from Issaquah and other small, local towns to Seattle and larger, rapidly growing communities throughout western Washington. These early boom industries, however, faded into a period of relative quiet by the time of the Great Depression. The town remained fairly placid through the succeeding decades, with The Boeing Company providing the majority of employment in the area. Microsoft and other technological industries moved into Redmond, Washington and other cities in the area, and later established operations in Issaquah itself. Both Boeing and Microsoft have significantly affected Issaquah's history, cultural development, and diverse population through their active community participation and attraction of outside residents. In June 1996, Costco moved its global headquarters to Issaquah from neighboring Kirkland, Washington