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A peek at Westlake in Seattle

07-02-09
Seattle Realtor Courtney Cooper Seattle Real Estate, Seattle Washington
Seattle Realtor Courtney Cooper Seattle Real Estate, Seattle Washington: Real Estate Agent in Seattle, WA
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We like to go out and get lots of pictures of Seattle whenever we are showing homes - here is a great shot from a recent Seattle floating homes tour we did for a wonderful couple. It is a picture of Westlake towards the houseboat community there (Westlake is the floating home community that the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat is in) with Queen Anne in the background. The picture was taken from Eastlake on the banks of Lake Union looking through some houseboats on the East side of the lake.

Seattle floating homes

Interested in Seattle real estate? Westlake Real Estate? Queen Anne Real Estate? Eastlake Real Estate?

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Seattle on Colbert: Gas Works Park 4th of July Attack on Colbert Report

07-02-09
Seattle Realtor Courtney Cooper Seattle Real Estate, Seattle Washington
Seattle Realtor Courtney Cooper Seattle Real Estate, Seattle Washington: Real Estate Agent in Seattle, WA
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This is pretty funny - Gas Works Park was mentioned on the Colbert Report surrounding the 4th of July fireworks...

Gas Works Park is located on the South end of Wallingford on the banks of North Lake Union.  It is a wonderful place to visit and was also featured in the movie Ten Things I Hate About You among others...

Are you interested in Seattle real estate?  Wallingford real estate is also a great place to start for wonderful Seattle Neighborhood homes!

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I live under a log----now GO AWAY!

07-02-09
Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector
Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector: Inspector in Seattle, WA
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Home Inspector Licensing has happened to Washington State.

Logs I for one am excited about it. I see it as a starting point for turning what, up until now, would best be described as a, “rag-tag band of alpha-wolves roaming the local real estate” into an ACTUAL profession.

Some of these wolves were (and are) very good inspectors and do their best to provide the best of service to the consumer. There have even been home inspector associations that attempted to raise the bar by creating their own Standards of Practice and minimum requirements for membership. The problem is that there were (and are) many associations with very different qualification protocols, and agendas---not to mention that they only affected whomever chose to join them----which left the majority of inspectors outside of anyone’s oversight.

The process of bringing Licensing to Washington State has been going on for many years, but very specifically, the last five years. The whole process of licensing involved years of hearings and public meetings that were well publicized, televised and made unbelievably accessible on the internet. The pros and cons have been argued on all the major home inspector internet forums until most inspectors’ monitors could have resulted in the “blue-screen-of-death.” The result has been a licensing law that, while not perfect, is a good start by establishing minimum educational requirements (including testing) for all inspectors in the state, providing a common Standards of Practice, providing a common Code of Ethics, and requiring continuing inspection education.

Some of the “old guard” are being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century of Home Inspection.

And this brings me to the real topic of this post.

What can you see from under a log? HOW CAN THERE BE ANYONE IN WASHINGTON STATE THAT DOES NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS LAW???

And yet, this is apparently the case as the state has had to set up some special meetings to give inspectors that may have literally been living under a log for the last five years a chance to understand what they must do to become licensed. To have not heard about licensing would mean that they never heard about it on the news;

Never read about it in the papers;

Never heard about it from the WSDA (where it was discussed at most continuing education sessions----leading one to conclude that perhaps they are not Licensed Structural Pest Inspectors as required by law);

Did not hear about it as a member of any of the National Inspection Associations (again begging the question if they are operating under anyone’s Standards of Practice and continuing education);

Did not hear about it on the Internet (begging the question of how much they access internet inspector forums etc);

Did not hear about it from other more involved inspectors (making one wonder if they ever consult with, or have communications with other inspectors); or,

Are pretending to not have ever heard about it, with the hope that it won’t be true (and we all know that hope is frosting on a turd).

I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT OTHER OPTIONS I AM MISSING!!

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

Click on the Rose A Group by any other name. to check out: AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)sunsmileall pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.Just quack on me to subscribe


Raven DeCroeDeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

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Seattle in Top 10 Family-Friendly Cities - Forbes

07-02-09
Sam DeBord - Seattle Real Estate Broker- Agent-Realtor http://SeattleHome.com
Sam DeBord - Seattle Real Estate Broker- Agent-Realtor http://SeattleHome.com: Real Estate Agent in Seattle, WA
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Seattle was ranked as the #7 most-family-friendly city by Forbes this week. Although housing prices in Seattle are relatively high, incomes are commensurately high, according to Forbes' study.

Forbes analyzed taxes, incomes, and total expenses to figure a family's ability to live a good lifestyle in a major U.S. city. Seattle came out in the top 10, mainly thanks to a strong job market and high wages, from aerospace, biotech, software, and other entrepreneurial Seattle companies.

Seattle #7 Family Friendly City - Forbes

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June '09 Seattle Waterfront Home Sales - The Month of the Houseboat

07-02-09
Sam DeBord - Seattle Real Estate Broker- Agent-Realtor http://SeattleHome.com
Sam DeBord - Seattle Real Estate Broker- Agent-Realtor http://SeattleHome.com: Real Estate Agent in Seattle, WA
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Floating Homes and Houseboats dominated the Seattle waterfront home sales for the month of June. Looks like summer has started.

There were 11 total waterfront homes reported sold on the NWMLS in June, with five being houseboats and floating homes. Two houseboats on Lake Union sold at under $300,000, while the floating homes sales started at $500,000 and moved all the way up to $1,400,000.

The two highest-end homes on the waterfront were in Laurelhurst in N. Seattle and Fauntleroy in W. Seattle. The Fauntleroy home sold for over $1.7 million, with 85 feet of no-bank waterfront on the Puget Sound. The Laurelhurst home, which had 16 feet of Lake Union waterfront footage and a shared 50 foot dock, sold at just under $2 million.

Seattle Waterfront Homes For Sale

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