Kenmore Undressed

Fabulous Cleaners is, well….Fabulous! Drycleaning in Kenmore with a BIG Smile

Her smile is infectious and her enthusiasm is inspiring. As a customer, you always leave her dry-cleaners feeling as if your day is only going to get better. Meet Ki Suk Lim, the Owner of Fabulous Cleaners in Kenmore, WA. I’ve been bringing my dry-cleaning to her shop even before she took over ownership of the business on August 24, 2006. She remembers that day well because she only had $57 of sales. Mrs. Lim is philosophical about owning her business: “Someone up there is looking out for me!”

 

As an immigrant from Seoul, S. Korea Mrs. Lim’s story is quintessentially American. Having arrived in America 40 years ago, she first lived in Kentucky and then moved to Oklahoma. As a city girl from Seoul, S. Korea moving to KY was a major transition. It was a totally different world: cows, farms, outhouses….. From Oklahoma her family moved to Los Angeles having heard about more opportunities there and the large Korean community. Unfortunately, they didn’t find LA to their liking. After only two weeks, they picked-up and headed for Utah because a friend told them it was a nice place to live. Fate had a different plan for them. They just happened to drive into a little place called Las Vegas and ended up purchasing a dry-cleaning business there. Knowing nothing about the business, they quickly discovered how difficult running a dry-cleaners can be: aging equipment, bills, employees, cash flow problems. Mrs. Lim said that one of the cleaning machines actually blew up and almost killed her husband: “It was in the papers it was so big!” Fortunately, they managed to become very successful in the dry-cleaning business. After her son came to the University of Washington, they decided to move to the Seattle area.

Today, Fabulous Cleaners is doing much better than that first day last August but Mrs. Lim says there are always challenges. Recently, the construction on SR522 has slowed traffic to her shop. It took a lot of hard work to rebuild a clientele after taking over the business last year. She now has many accounts with local schools cleaning their uniforms (Inglemoor HS, Bothell HS, etc.). She now has four employees and things are going well. Please support this great local business!

You can find Mrs. Lim and Fabulous Cleaners at 7818 NE Bothell Way, Kenmore, WA 98028. (425) 483-6100.

Home Inspections Series - Stephan Cancler, Owner of Full House Inspections

I have had a long professional relationship with Stephan Cancler who is the Owner of Full House Inspections. He is well a well-respected inspector among many real estate agents (and realtors) in the King and Snohomish County areas. Over the years my clients have been impressed with his professionalism, knowledge and thoughtfullness when he inspects a house. As I mentioned in an earlier post about Uncle Fred doing your inspection, it’s imperative that you hire a professional inspector with a proven track record to examine your future home. What’s unique about Stephan is that he offers more than simple inspection services. Stephan will also conduct energy, pest and environmental evaluations on your current or future home. Stephan also sends me his on-line newsletter, Home Savy, which is a wonderful publication.

If you’re interested in learning more about your home, check this out.

In the future, Stephan will share some of his experiences about home inspections and give you a whole new perspective of a very interesting business.

Real Estate 101 - One Thing ALL Agents Must Do

Imagine the following scenario: You’re in the market to buy a home. One sunny Saturday afternoon you’re driving through one of your favorite neighborhoods and you see an “open house” sign. You walk into the open house. Nice place. Gourmet kitchen. Oh my, it has a spacious master bath! My gosh, the place even has a media room. Wow!!!!!!! There’s a view of the Cascade Mountains. PERFECT………………………………..but then, from the darkest corner of the family room he emerges: THE REAL ESTATE AGENT…….you start to turn and run….

 

But as he smiles and introduces himself, you realize that he’s friendly, articulate and has a good sense of humor. In fact, after you take a real careful look at him you realize that he’s well-dressed. You like him. Really, who wouldn’t trust this guy?

So you chat with “Mr. Agent” and discover that he’s not the listing agent. He’s holding the house open and is acting as a buyer’s agent. He asks you if you’re working with an agent. (Oh my, what do I tell him? I really don’t have an agent. I haven’t even thought about using an agent.) You tell him you’re not working with an agent. He then politely asks if you’re serious about finding a home and if he can work with you. After a short discussion about what you’re looking for, you agree to give him your email address and telephone number. He promises to start sending you listings and provide you with information about the market. You even set up an appointment to meet with him to create a plan. Wow, that was easy! Gosh he didn’t even ask me to sign a contract or anything. Is he really my agent? Hmmmm.

Let me give you a simple answer to this question: In this circumstance, yes, in Washington state, an agency relationship has been established between you and this agent. As a result the agent must adhere to “The Law of Real Estate Agency.” One thing all agents must do when dealing with clients is provide them with a copy of the agency law at the time they begin providing services. Expect your new agent to give you a copy of this document:

You can review the whole document by clicking on this picture. In future posts, I’ll discuss various aspects of this ageny law. Believe it or not, this document is vital in understanding the role of your agent.   

Mid-July Statistics for Kenmore, King & Snohomish Counties: The Market Picked-Up a Bit!!

 

The market experiened a humble increase in pending and sold homes in June throughout the area. As I mentioned in my blog on July 11th, this increase is a positive sign for a year that has seen little sign of picking up. The charts below illustrate the absorption rates for both King and Snohomish Counties. If you want to see larger charts, just click on them:

June shows a slight drop in the King County inventory and a slight increase in the absorption of homes. Last month there were 16,435 active listings and 2414 net pending sales (vs. 15,831 actives in June and 2549 pending sales). The absorption rate of 16.1% is 2% higher than May. Snohomish County wasn’t much different:

I was encouraged by figures offered by Rainier Title, which showed that Kenmore held it’s own as compared to last June. Below I’ve compressed a report which shows sales and price figures for a number of communities close by Kenmore. You can see the larger version of this report by simply clicking on it:

Basically, we had an OK month in June. Just remember that what this market place needs right now is confidence.

The Craftsman-Style Home: Alive and Well

I live in a modern version of the Craftsman-Style home in Kenmore. Here in the Northwest, this particular architectural style was and still is popular in both its new and old forms. What’s a Craftsman home? First, a short history lesson. The modern craftsman-style home is a descendent of the bungalow or bangala, a one-story house from India with a low, extended roof that created a shady, well-ventilated veranda for outdoor living. When the British occupied India, they often summered in bangalas, but it wasn’t until early in the next century that the bungalow caught on. Then there evolved what is known as the Arts and Crafts movement in England and America at the turn of the 19th Century. The movement focused on the notion of “craftsmen” taking pride in personal handiwork. Here’s a wonderful example of a classic Seattle Bungalow: 

The Craftsman-style home really took off during the early 1900’s in the United States when a huge number of new communities exploded in California, Texas and Florida. Because of it’s practical design, architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Harvey Ellis, Gustav Stickley and the Greens created a huge number of craftsman plans. Some of these plans were used by Sears and Montgomery Ward for mail order homes that could be shipped by rail to the the building location. So here’s a beautiful Craftsman in the Wallingford Neighborhood of Seattle:

I have to say, the Craftsman-Style home is one of the most versatile and durable of home styles. I’ve seen them all over the United States, from New Jersey to small mid-west towns. There are a huge number of them here in the Seattle area. In fact, many of the new homes constructed in the Northwest in the last decade take their inspiration from craftsman features. Yes, even Kenmore has craftsman homes. Just take a look at this beauty:

Yes, this is my house right after it was built in 2005. Bridlepath, my neighborhood, is comprised of similar homes. So what characterizes a Craftsman home?

As a realtor, I love previewing Craftsman homes. They are always homes with personality both inside and out. They populate many classic Seattle area neighborhoods, and they were usually well-built. If I were in the market for an older home, my first choice would be a Craftsman.

A Perfect Day in the Northwest!

Today was one of those perfect days in the Seattle Area. Sunny, temperature in the low 80’s, a slight breeze: bellissima! Anyone who has lived here knows that there are few places more wonderful than Seattle from mid-July to the end of September. Oh, by the way, I looked out into the night sky and guess what I see:

Statistics: From the Puget Sound to Kenmore, WA - Some good news

Local real estate leaders have tried to put a positive spin on the current sales figures in the NWMLS. They have chosen their words carefully by indicating that the market has become more “balanced” and that sales have “climbed” to their highest level in 10 months. Basically, the market remains lethargic.

An analysis of the Northwest MLS database for June activity shows a 5.9 month supply in King County, a 6.7 month supply in the 4-county Puget Sound region (King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties), and a 7.4 month supply system-wide (19 counties).

One thing to keep in mind is that the Puget Sound has not experienced the hard landing that so many other urban areas have. Our local economics are still strong and people keep moving here.

Let’s be clear about the numbers: yes, homes are selling, but if you take an honest look at the chart above it’s sobering to see how the “climb” suggested by the MLS is more like a crawl.

On a brighter note there has been some good activity in Kenmore:

The charts above show that Kenmore is moving some inventory. 50 pending sales is good news. Sales aren’t exactly brisk but they are selling. If you’d like more information regarding Kenmore, please call me at 20.713.2102 or email me at jlupori@comcast.net.

  

Kenmore, WA - Open houses 7/12 & 7/3

Here are the open houses advertised in the MLS for this weekend. Just click on the map (above) for more details. Please note that there are more homes than depicted in the map as several of these homes are part of larger, new construction sites. As a result you may find more choices. Please let me know if you have questions regarding these homes or any other homes in Kenmore.  

Kenmore Washington Basics - Map & Population

Sometimes it’s the simple things that matter. For example: Visualize Kenmore. If you weren’t looking at the map above, would you know where the city limits are? You can enlarge the map by clicking on it.

Some interesting numbers came out of the State Office of Financial Management  regarding city populations in Washington State. Take a look at these numbers. Very intersting:

Kenmore currently has a little over 20,000 people. If you’d like to look at the whole report, simply click on the report above.

Rural Land Restrictions and the Fifth Ammendment

On July 7th, the State Court of Appeals overturned the 2004 King County Critical -Areas Ordinance. One of the most far-reaching laws of its kind, the ordinance prohibits landowners from removing vegetation from more than half of a property larger than 1-¼ acres or more. It is no secret that this ordinance has been extremely controversial. It has been the classic battle between those who want to preserve our environment (particularly watersheds) and those who feel that a land owner cannot be unduly restricted by governmental regulations. The court called the ordinance an indirect but illegal “tax, fee, or charge” on development. Basically, the court ruled that when property owners are restricted by government from the use of their property, they must be duly compensated. To be perfectly honest with you, I must agree with the court on this issue. As a community we certainly don’t want our neighbors turning their property into meth labs or toxic waste sites; however, we have an equal obligation as stewards of our own land to protect it and preserve its value.  

This whole issue has been a wake-up call to all of us. We have an obligation to understand our rights and, when we feel they are being violated, we need to fight for them. Nothing speaks more loudly than the Fifth Ammendment to the constitution: