More pictures of the new place

It's been a long day - I had to crank out my tax return (not an easy feat since I am self-employed) to provide more documentation for our pending loan application (not yet approved!). I should be getting a signed off contract tomorrow and we will have mutual acceptance. I expect everything to come together nicely. And I have people coming this weekend taking a look at our place. Steve's painting the bathroom and I have flowers to plant out front.


So I had to go up to the sales office and drop off an envelope, I took Sophia and chatted up the sales people - since we are all in the same business we have a lot to talk about.


I found out which building looks like what ours will look like, color-wise. I also took a picture of the pocket park with two preserved Red Oak trees that will be across from our front door.

Remember to click on photos to get a larger version

View of downtown and the building where we got married nearly 10 years ago from the corner of our block.
Pocket park across the street.
View of our building under construction. We are the 2nd door from the right.

A better view of downtown from the viewpoint at the park down the street. I can't wait for a sunny day to take pictures.
Our townhome under construction. It is in the center of the photo. The bottom floor is under ground here - the garage is accessible from the other side of the building.

This is what our building will look like when it is complete. The square residence in the middle of the two peaks is where we will be (in a different building). We are purchasing the largest floorplan in the community.

A view of the Space Needle from the view point down the street.

$415,000 Attention Nature Lovers, Developers, and Investors

Rare opportunity to own a slice of country in the city - or developer opportunity to short plat into two lots - or investor to rent current residence and subdivide and develop in the future.

Vital Stats for 7120 18th Avenue SW / Seattle
10,082 square foot lot (according to KCR) is divisible due to current residence perfect site location and City regulations for SF5000. Buyer to verify and perform due diligence. Current owner has purchased new construction to be completed at the end of July and would like buyer to consider a "rent back" for that time period. But this is not mandatory.

Current Residence Information
This is the original home on what formerly was a 10 acre chicken farm in the Puget Ridge neighborhood. In 1929 it was constructed as a Craftsman and remodeled in 1967 to its current configuration. Current square feet is about 1,800, as some of the basement remains unfinished as laundry and storage space. Additional square footage could be gained by finishing the attic (master suite?).

3 bedroom, 1.75 bath / There is a "great room", kitchen, 2 bedrooms and 1 full bath up, 1 bedroom and a three-quarter bath down along with a family room, laundry and storage rooms.

When remodeled in 1967 the front six feet of the house was added to include a fireplace. Interior updates include the kitchen flooring, and designer-painted the three bedrooms and downstairs bathroom. There is fir in one upstairs bedroom, and oak under the living room carpets. I think some original linoleum is under the hallway and 2nd bedroom carpets.

Additional added exterior features since we bought the property include a 120 square foot outbuilding (2006), am approx 5,000 sq ft fully fenced back yard (2005), and a newly installed garden on the south side of the house. There are lots of trees and garden space.

Interior features: a certified wood stove fireplace insert with cooktop (3 months ago), updated windows on the entire top floor (2003), all new appliances (refrigerator 2001, deluxe dual range 2004, Bosch super quiet dishwasher 2005 – washer and dryer are going with us), 65 gallon hot water heater (2005).

The property provides off-street parking for 6+ vehicles, even a 30' RV and towable vehicle (without unhitching)

Close to:
Sanislo Elementary School (two blocks)
Home Depot and Southwest Police Precinct (4 blocks)
South Seattle Community College and Arboretum (1/2 mile)
Westwood Village (1 mile)
Alaska Junction (2 miles)
West Seattle Bridge (2.5 miles)
SeaTac Airport (15 minutes)

OWNER IS LICENSED REAL ESTATE AGENT. I am willing to offer a 1.5% buyer bonus towards closing costs if buyer will agree to dual agency/private sale.

Drive by and take a look! Call or email me if you are interested in seeing the inside of the home. 206.686.4663, wendy.hughes-jelen@laneassoc.biz

You can see the full posting and photos at:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/rfs/303341888.html

Things are a-changin

Boy, I have been so busy trying to get everything together and organized I haven't had a chance to post in awhile. We put in an offer Tuesday night for the new townhome at City View in High Point - I sort of expect to hear that offer has been accepted today. Then there is the matter of financing - the lender told me to go ahead and write up the purchase contract but our loan has not been approved yet - they haven't completed the application yet and we haven't chosen a loan program yet. And meanwhile, we are getting rid of things now (needed to even if I wasn't moving) and cleaning up, getting ready to put our house on the market. That's if it even makes it to market. A developer came out and walked the property yesterday and called me and asked to see this house this morning...and now is bringing his real estate advisor tomorrow. Meanwhile another lender/developer borrowed my keys today to go and take a look at it as well (we're friends). Since our property is so large it appears to be dividable into two lots - which we always sort of knew was possible but hadn't the foresight to do it ourselves. It takes too long, I don't have time now to do it. It could take 6-9 months for the city process to divide the property and I need to sell my home ASAP so I can waive both my sale and financing contingecies. But I have priced m,y property accordingly, it is worth more since it is dividable into two lots. A developer/builder can get a pretty good deal really and then make a lot of money selling two new houses. Anyway, a lot of stuff is hanging out there and we're not sure which way to jump. But we do have options! If we can't rent our house back from the buyer for a few months while the townhome is completed (current date now is July 18th), then my lender friend has a rental house he just bought (another large lot he wants to develop) that he is going to demolish in August to build new construction, so we might go hunker down in Lakeridge (SE Seattle). OR if we want to have fun, we also found two highrise apartment buildings downtown that do short-term leases and will accept 4 pets (sort of a tough thing to find). We are tempted to put what we're keeping into storage and then rent minimal furniture - that way it gets delivered and picked up!! But it will be harded for Sophia with no yard (altho one apartment highrise as a pet relief station indoors). If we stay at our house or go to our friend's rental house she will still have a big yard. But she will need to get used to not having a yard! We will be getting a LOT more walks instead.

I had a tree service out yesterday to clean up our yard from the December storm damage. There's a bunch of wood to be chopped up but other than that it looks great! We finally got the English hawthorne trees down (I called them "Scary Halloween trees" because every August they would get blight and lose all their leave and they were so UGLY). So the front looks great!!

Front of house now (without the English hawthorne). I should find a before picture to post.

View of back of house, patio and garden

Cedar tree that blew apart in the big storm - more than half of the top portion is gone. We also had to have the two plum trees removed they were so heavily damaged.

How the patio and Italian fireplace/barbecue is looking these days.

Circle garden and Western hemlock plated two years ago is getting big!

Imp sunbathing in the window of the downstairs studio this morning.

City View at High Point

We're considering buying a townhome in the new master planned community of High Point. This is a view of downtown Seattle from a pocket park above a pond and just down the street from where we are considering buying.

The old High Point was the "ghetto" of old World War II housing on the hill above our place (about 3/4 mile to the west) full of unemployed low-income families. Well, since receiving a federal Hope VI grant in 2003 Seattle Housing Authority has been busy demolishing all those old buildings and building a new master-planned community. There are 5 different developers building in different parts of the community. It's to Built Green standards, and extremely environmentally sensitive in development.

Altho it would be a huge change in lifestyle, we think we like the idea of less obligation to home repairs and yard work and more time to do the fun things we love. Steve will get to view a vacant unit Saturday morning and I am very excited for a decision to be made. I've been up since 4:30 this morning and I can't take much more of this! I am losing sleep over it!

Even if we make a decision now there's a lot that needs to happen before we can move. We need to sell this place, but we also need to arrange to stay here until the end of July, when our new home is expected to be completed.

Here is a picture of "our" building currently under construction.

Steve asked me what I would do about my love for gardening. Our current place has always been overwhelming and I always feel guilty about not doing enough. I told him I would get two massive pots for the front porch and change them every couple of months - and that may end up being more gardening than I do now since rheumatoid arthritis has really crimpled my style the last few years. He loves the idea of the 2-car garage and no work of course. I love the idea of a laundry room down the hall from the bedroom and not having to haul clothes up and downstairs. I also like the idea of the safety of sidewalks and street lights for dog walking purposes. The community has a retail area planned, with a grocery store (don't know who...), coffee shop and other services, and several parks. A new library is already open.

Be sure to check out this information and the floor plan!!

about the home:

@home : In bloom

The evergreen clematis has survived and is nicely in bloom! I just wish there was more of it.

Off and Running

Yesterday I wrote up my first sale – and today I make my first listing presentation.

How did that happen?

On March 2nd Linda sent me out to preview a bunch of mobile homes for someone she is working with who has to relocate from Tyee Village in SeaTac, the current mobile home park the Port has purchased (they’re working on the next one now…). I drove around Tacoma, Puyallup and Auburn looking at listed mobiles for sale (in the pouring rain, ALL DAY). I returned to the office and typed up nice information sheets with photo tours that will go in the book at the airport so everyone has access to the information. At the end of the day I find out they have made an offer on a FSBO unit in Auburn. Which I thought was silly since he worked in Tacoma and I saw some really nice places. Oh well!

Well, yesterday he came in to talk to Linda. The FSBO deal fell thru cuz the seller upped the price. Linda had given the buyer my info sheets the previous week and they had driven by and peeked in the windows. In Puyallup I had toured a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom, nearly 1,800 square foot mobile in a quiet family park pretty convenient to 512. Well, they want to buy it! Who wouldn’t? It was HUGE. Linda had me do up the paperwork and is going to split the commission with me (not very much money really, but we also get paid by the hour by the Port).

Also yesterday while I was at the eye doctor having my eyes dilated a woman was leaving me a message about wanting a market analysis for her brother’s mobile home in Auburn. He has had a recent series of strokes and they are considering moving him to an assisted living facility. I called her back quite late last night (once I could see paper and pen and take notes). They want a fast sale if they go that route. Fortunately for her she called ME, since last week I toured 8 assisted living facilities for a report for the Port and am quite up on them. I’ll be putting some information together this morning and have a meeting at 3 PM today with her. Oh – she got my number from another home owner in the park there I met in September when touring FSBOs for more Port buyers. I was assigned the FSBOs since I didn’t have my key and no one else likes dealing with them. Hah! Who’s laughing now?

Now, if I could just get out of the darn trailer parks and into REAL houses…

It's actually my 4th sale and would be my 2nd listing if you consider my previous incarnation as a Windermere sales agent (1999-2001).

Special to CityDog Magazine

This is an unsolicited submission I wrote to CityDog Magazine.

"What It's Like Organizing the Largest IG Meetup in the World"
by Wendy Hughes-Jelen

I'll let you know if they decide to publish it!

http://files.meetup.com/234738/Special%20to%20CityDog%20Magazine.pdf

The Best Radio on Radio (TM)

We've been SIRIUS satellite radio listeners/fans since we subscribed in December 2003 (the MINI - we added Steve's car and the house a year later). I hadn't listened to commercial radio in 3 years until I was stuck in a rental car this last December when my car got swamped in the flash flood and was at the shop waiting for its new engine. I moaned almost every night about missing my SIRIUS!!

We chose SIRIUS over XM because we heard XM still had some advertising. I've always been happy with Sirius, and admittedly, even with over 100 channels to choose from, I have my Top 5 that I stick with (altho as I type this I am trying out the new "Seriously Sinatra" channel 75)

I saw on the news last week that Sirius and XM have filed with the SEC to merge their two companies. Whenever these kinds of things happen, as a customer I get nervous and wonder if they're going to screw up a good thing I love (sort of how we were worried the Seattle's Best Coffee would get ruined after Starbucks bought it). On the Sirius web site, tho, is a great (and humorous) FAQ that I thought I would share.

SIRIUS and XM Announce Merger: Customer FAQs

On February 19th , 2007, SIRIUS and XM announced a merger. (Read the press release.) So, we thought we'd take this opportunity to answer your questions.

What if SIRIUS and XM merge and my satellite radio gets even better than it already is?
This is what we like to call a win-win. If you sign up for SIRIUS now, you're getting The Best Radio on Radio™ - see the trademark there, it's official. Now if we merge, well my goodness, you'll have yourself something with even more great stuff. It's hard to imagine having so much to listen to, but that's the goal here – your happiness.

Okay, so I sign up, you merge, and then you cancel all my favorite shows, right?
No. We'll change some things that overlap when we combine, surely, but the truly unique programming you love – that stays. We'll also continue to bring in new celebs and shows and music and more.

Will my current SIRIUS radio continue to work after the merger, or are you guys going to make me mad?
We would NEVER upset our 12 million listeners like that. We GUARANTEE that NO SIRIUS radio will become obsolete after a merger with XM. Sure, we'll always come out with new radios, but we also won't leave our listeners out in the cold.

Should I wait until after the merger to get SIRIUS? Just tell me.
Are you kidding? Well, if you like commercials, and you like listening to the same CDs for a week, and you like fiddling with your mp3 player while driving…..yeah. NO! You'd be crazy to wait. It will only get better on SIRIUS, every single day. We guarantee that existing radios will not become obsolete in a post-merger world, and you'll be able to pick up a mix of programming from both services.

Oh I get it, so you're going to merge and then jack up the price, right? Sneaky.
There are plenty of sources of entertainment that compete for your attention out there, so our price has to continue to attract and keep listeners. Any plan you sign up for now will be honored by the merged company.

So which service should I go with now, pre-merger? And don't just say SIRIUS because you're SIRIUS.
Well, we certainly have an opinion, but we'll let consumers speak for us: SIRIUS programming has made us the first choice in satellite radio. There's a reason we are the best radio on radio. We create the best programming and new programming all the time.

Wendy's Final Thought
If you ever get tired of all the damn talk on radio -
and believe you should get actual MUSIC on your radio - sign up for satellite
radio. It's relatively cheap, you will positively LOVE it, and YOU WILL
NEVER GO BACK.

You can even try it for free. Go to www.sirius.com