Living Weekend Warrior: Quick projects to upgrade your home Memorial Day traditionally represents the kick-off of summer. Kids are getting out of school, families are making summer vacation plans, and backyard barbecues are on everyone’s minds. This is also a great time of the year to get your house in order and ready for the summer season. The following is a handful of ideas and tips to help you with this process.
Market News How a Federal Interest Rate Hike Impacts Mortgage Rates When the Federal Reserve announces a change in interest rates, it makes headlines. But does the federal interest rate directly impact your mortgage rate? See what Windermere’s Chief Economist, Matthew Gardner has to say.
More Summer camps provide invaluable learning and socialization opportunities for youth Summer camps and summer programs for youth not only keep them occupied while on break from school, it provides them with a safe place to be while their parents are at work, and gives them learning experiences that will help them throughout their lives.
Market News Historically low inventory levels, how we got here, and what to expect in the coming year The housing market is performing remarkably well, with the exception of incredibly low inventory levels in many areas throughout the country. Why is this happening? Windermere’s Chief Economist, Matthew Gardner, explains why and offers his predictions for what we can expect in the future.
Living What Millennials are Looking for in an Apartment or Condo LinkedIn recently told us that 4,279 new apartments were added to Seattle’s local inventory last year, and based on the number of cranes you constantly see around the city, we believe them. With so many choices, Millennials are getting really specific about what they want in a living space and the lifestyle it provides them.
More Community Service Day: Henry’s Story For the past 31 years, Windermere offices have closed their doors to dedicate a day of service to provide support for members of our communities and nonprofit organizations that help our neighbors in need. A few years ago, a group of Windermere agents and owners were hit personally when a boy in their community, Henry, was diagnosed with Birkins Lymphoma at the age of 13...
Market News Nevada Real Estate Market Update After losing over 134,000 jobs during the Great Recession, the Las Vegas metropolitan area has recovered all of those jobs and employment is now at an all-time high of 934,600. Year-over-year, the market added 24,600 new jobs. This is up from the annual pace of 21,300 jobs seen at the end of last year, but below the average annual rate of 32,700 seen through the whole of 2015.
Market News Southern California Real Estate Market Update Southern California continues to add jobs but the rate of increase has started to taper. Through the end of the first quarter of 2016, the counties that make up this report added 71,100 new jobs, and year-over-year, employment is up by 196,100 total jobs for a growth rate of 2.1%. Regional unemployment remains steady or is dropping modestly, and most counties are at or approaching full employment.
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Market News Oregon and South West Washington Real Estate Market Update Growth in the Oregon economy is impressive and unlikely to slow down in the foreseeable future. This bodes well for the housing market.
More Join Us This Weekend at the 30th Annual Windermere Cup We hope to see you along the shores of the Montlake Cut on Saturday, May 7 for this free, family-friendly community event. Races start at 10:20 ending with the Windermere Cup around noon, and followed by the Opening Day boat parade. There will also be food vendors, booths to purchase UW and Windermere Cup gear, as well as a bouncy house. More information can be found at www.windermerecup.com.
More #YourStoryIsOurStory: It’s Never too Late to Fall in Love In November 2015, Windermere Real Estate agent, Vivian Peterson met some new friends that would teach her an invaluable lesson. At an open house, Richard approached Vivian about selling his current home. After almost 40 years in his place, a home he shared with his first wife until she passed away, Richard was looking to sell. This is a move uncharacteristic of Richard, but he had recently met...
Living Keeping Up with The Joneses: Seven Yard Tools a First-Time Homeowner Needs Did you know that gardening tools are really expensive? I didn’t. We even priced out what it would cost to have a landscaper come every two weeks just to mow and edge our front and back yard (which would leave us to the weeding, sweeping, etc.) but alas… that is also expensive (about $100 per month). So… Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to Home Depot we go…
Market News An Incoming Tide Raises All Ships: How the Growth in Homeowner Equity Continues to Stabilize the U.S. Housing Market With home prices rising and consumers not taking on additional mortgage debt, equity levels have grown substantially. The country went through a very painful period of negative equity during the housing recession, but the growth started returning in 2012, and we moved back into a period of positive equity again by the summer of 2013. In 2015, equity levels increased by an impressive 10.2 percent
Living New Home Construction Trends to Watch Out For Earlier this week, at the Windermere Builder Solutions Breakfast, more than 100 Windermere brokers came together to listen to Windermere President OB Jacobi lead a panel discussion on new home construction trends in the greater Seattle area.
Market News Western Washington Real Estate Market Update Washington State has seen very robust growth over the past 12 months with the addition of 102,600 new jobs, which is 224,000 more jobs than seen at the previous peak in 2008. With this robust growth, it is unsurprising to see the unemployment rate trend down to 5.8%—well below the long-term average of 6.4%. As pleasing as it is to see the unemployment rate drop, it is equally pleasing to see...
More Windermere Foundation Quarterly Report Thanks to you and the wonderful support that the Windermere Foundation has received so far this year, we have disbursed nearly $470,000 to non-profit organizations dedicated to providing services to low-income and homeless families throughout the Western U.S.
More Windermere Foundation Quarterly Report Thanks to you and the wonderful support that the Windermere Foundation has received so far this year, we have disbursed nearly $470,000 to non-profit organizations dedicated to providing services to low-income and homeless families throughout the Western U.S.
More #YourStoryIsOurStory: How Windermere Cup Changed Jenni Hogan’s Life Since 1987, Windermere Real Estate has partnered with the University of Washington to put on a one-of-a-kind rowing event called the Windermere Cup. For the last thirty years, Windermere and UW have brought some of the best rowers from around the world to Seattle to compete in this premier sporting event, and in the process, changed the course of some of the athlete’s lives.
Market News What’s the Deal with Condos? The Greater-Seattle region continues to grow its population base but not its land base. As such, density needs to be embraced. Condominiums play an important part of the equation, but until this segment of the market regains its footing, there will be further pressure on housing of all types to accommodate the region’s growth, and this will continue to put upward pressure on prices.
Living 8 DIY Fire Pits to Get Your Yard Ready for Summer If you’re thinking about the changing seasons, think about making your own fire pit. This popular backyard feature is surprisingly easy to construct, and will bring your outdoor living to the next level. Make a quick trip to the hardware store, grab the kids to help out, and you can have one of these gorgeous backyard features by this weekend!