Here is the North Olympia WA real estate market update for September 2014.   Why live in North Olympia? North Olympia beckons home-dwellers who are inspired by vintage homes, some of which are on the Historic Registry. This area includes the Capitol Campus, downtown Olympia, Bigelow, East Bay and East Olympia Hill. Homes in this area range from the majestic homes of Olympia's original pioneers to the more modest homes built for the pioneering sawmill and port workers. Some homes offer water and Capitol views, and many residents enjoy being able to walk to the Capitol, downtown Olympia and the waterfront. Schools: Many residents in this area are in the Olympia School District and North Thurston School District. Types of homes: Vintage! Search North Olympia homes for sale.     North Olymp... 10/17/2014

Here is the Boston Harbor WA real estate market update for September 2014.   Why live in Boston Harbor? Boston Harbor is a desirable area of Thurston County and offers residents lots of waterfront activities including Priest Point Park and Boston Harbor Marina as well as a direct route to downtown Olympia. Other downtown waterfront activities include the Hands On Children's Museum, Swantown Marina, the Farmer's Market and more, which are just a walk or a bike ride away for many residents in the southern part of Boston Harbor. Schools: Most residents are in the Olympia School District and the North Thurston School District. Types of Homes: Boston Harbor has a mix of waterfront homes and condos, mid-century and vintage homes. Search Boston Harbor homes for sale. Neighborhoods include Fish... 10/15/2014

Here is the West Olympia WA real estate market update for September 2014.   Why live in West Olympia? West Olympians love their part of town! There is The Evergreen State College and South Puget Sound Community College, Capitol Medical Center and the shopping mall to name a few amenities. The main north-south road, Cooper Point Road NW, leads to the homes with water views of either Eld Inlet to the west or Budd Inlet to the east. Investors can find opportunities with rental properties near The Evergreen State College while longtime, homesteaders can find their dream home in West Olympia.   Schools: Many residents are in the Olympia School District.   Types of homes: West Olympia offers some residents with desirable inlet water views, new construction and vintage homes. Neighborhoods in ... 10/15/2014

Halloween Kids' Event in Olympia at the Hands On Children’s Museum   This year, the Hands On Children’s Museum in Olympia is presenting the Boo Bash for this year’s Halloween kids’ event at the museum.    This year, a giant spider is perched above the entrance, adding to the creep-factor!     So don your favorite costume, gets some treats and enjoy an afternoon of educational, yet fun activities.       At the Boo Bash kids’ event, you can expect to see lots of creepy and crawly insects and Franken-animals!  Boo Bashers can also get their faces painted, go on a scavenger hunt, visit the mad science lab, and try their luck at the carnival games.     When:   Saturday, October 25, 2014 from 12 – 5 PM   Where:  Hands On Children’s Museum located at 414 Jefferson Street NE, Olympia WA 98501 ... 10/15/2014

Here is the Delphi / Black Hills WA real estate update for September 2014.   Why live in the Delphi / Black Hills area? Delphi / Black Hills residents are in an area of homes on larger parcels of land. Buyers can find their coveted horse properties here! There are also some high-end neighborhoods including Field of Dreams and Cougar Ridge as well as the neighborhoods of Alpine Hills, Black Lake, Littlerock, Mud Bay, and Waddell Creek. This area also includes part of the Capitol State Forest. Schools: Many residents in this area are in the Tumwater School District. Types of Homes: There are a wide variety of choices between homes on a golf course, horse properties and larger acreage homes with mountain views. Buyers can also find unique, custom-built homes along with manufactured homes a... 10/14/2014

Here is the Summit Lake / Steamboat Island WA real estate update for September 2014.   Why live in Summit Lake / Steamboat Island areas? Northwest Thurston County not only features the major areas of Summit Lake and Steamboat Island but also Carlyon Beach, Gravelly Beach, Hunter Point, Madrona Beach, and Oyster Bay. For water views and beach access on a budget (at least less expensive than West Olympia!), you'll want to check out the Northwest section of Thurston County. People may look at a map and think it is too far from Olympia, and that's just not the case. You can get into town in about 10-15 minutes yet you feel far and isolated. Home buyers can not only find beach properties but also horse properties in this area of Thurston County. Mini-farms are sprinkled throughout, and resid... 10/14/2014

Olympia, Washington single-family Market Watch (Oct 13, 2014)   There are currently 714 active listings in Olympia. In the past seven days Olympia experienced; 40 New listings recorded 15 Homes came back on the market 61 Homes had list price reductions 1  Homes had list price increased 2 Contingent 7 listings expired 7 listings cancelled 54 listings went pending 29 listings sold and closed  53 Bank or real estate owned properties Currently there are 279 houses that have been on the market for over 100 days...   About Olympia; ~ Olympia is a incorporated city founded in 1859. The population in 2010 census was 46,478. Olympia is a bordering community to JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord). Commute times to JBLM are between 30 and 59 minutes. (Depending on traffic) Olympia is the state capital... 10/12/2014

    As a Realtor I drive through lots of different neighborhoods and see plenty of houses. Recently I've noticed more and more of these types of little houses pop up all over Olympia:                   These book houses are part of the Little Free Library program and encourage visitors to “take a book” and “return a book” The mission of the Little Free Library is to create neighborhood gathering places and encourage reading and book exchanges. Their big goal was to create 2,510 little free libraries, to match Andrew Carnegie’s achievement of building 2,510 libraries. This goal has long been reached, as thousands of these little book houses have sprouted all over the world. To make it easy for people to put up their own book houses in their neighborhoods, the organization has even come u... 10/06/2014

 Olympia, Washington single-family Market Watch (Oct 6, 2014)   There are currently 723 active listings in Olympia. In the past seven days Olympia experienced; 46 New listings recorded 17 Homes came back on the market 61 Homes had list price reductions 3  Homes had list price increased 2 Contingent 26 listings expired 10 listings cancelled 64 listings went pending 43 listings sold and closed  54 Bank or real estate owned properties Currently there are 277 houses that have been on the market for over 100 days...   About Olympia; ~ Olympia is a incorporated city founded in 1859. The population in 2010 census was 46,478. Olympia is a bordering community to JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord). Commute times to JBLM are between 30 and 59 minutes. (Depending on traffic) Olympia is the state capit... 10/05/2014

How to save your buyer from over-paying escrow fees for new construction in Olympia WA This post is written to buyer's agents representing clients who are purchasing new construction.  Buyers, you have enough to worry about; this is not meant to add any more stress to your purchase.  If you have a competent Realtor representing you, you won't have to worry.  (And you do have your own Realtor, right?)     How to save your buyer from over-paying escrow fees:   Step One:  Read the builder contract and look for the escrow fee disclosure. Some builder contracts will include a disclosure that the builder/seller will receive a discounted escrow rate but the buyer will pay the escrow fee according to the fee schedule and not get this discount.   If this disclosure IS a part of your purchase and... 10/03/2014

Temporary housing options in Olympia WA (that don't involve a friend's couch or a tent in the wilderness!). Relocating to the area while house-hunting, or just timing your home sale with your new home purchase may require an option of finding temporary housing.  Here are some options for temporary housing in and around Olympia WA that hopefully are better options than the pull-out sleeper sofa at Aunt Betty's house! If you will be between homes for less than a couple of weeks, you may want to consider a hotel.  Travel sites like www.hotels.com or www.expedia.com can help with your search. For longer stays, furnished apartments can be economical choices:Olympia:Extended Stay America.  They offer furnished hotel rooms with a full kitchen, laundry facilities and pet-friendly rooms.  Visit ... 09/30/2014

Olympia, Washington single-family Market Watch (Sept. 29, 2014)   There are currently 787 active listings in Olympia. In the past seven days Olympia experienced; 35 New listings recorded 8 Homes came back on the market 53 Homes had list price reductions 4  Homes had list price increased 1 Contingent 2 listings expired 13 listings cancelled 72 listings went pending 60 listings sold and closed  51 Bank or real estate owned properties Currently there are 322 houses that have been on the market for over 100 days...   About Olympia; ~ Olympia is a incorporated city founded in 1859. The population in 2010 census was 46,478. Olympia is a bordering community to JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord). Commute times to JBLM are between 30 and 59 minutes. (Depending on traffic) Olympia is the state capit... 09/28/2014

Olympia, Washington single-family Market Watch (Sept. 22, 2014)   There are currently 775 active listings in Olympia. In the past seven days Olympia experienced; 45 New listings recorded 10 Homes came back on the market 55 Homes had list price reductions 5  Homes had list price increased 3 Contingent 5 listings expired 15 listings cancelled 63 listings went pending 38 listings sold and closed  55 Bank or real estate owned properties Currently there are 293 houses that have been on the market for over 100 days...   About Olympia; ~ Olympia is a incorporated city founded in 1859. The population in 2010 census was 46,478. Olympia is a bordering community to JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord). Commute times to JBLM are between 30 and 59 minutes. (Depending on traffic) Olympia is the state capi... 09/22/2014

Olympia, Washington single-family Market Watch (Sept. 15, 2014)   There are currently 788 active listings in Olympia. In the past seven days Olympia experienced; 42 New listings recorded 16 Homes came back on the market 59 Homes had list price reductions 5  Homes had list price increased 0 Contingent 7 listings expired 11 listings cancelled 72 listings went pending 39 listings sold and closed  56 Bank or real estate owned properties Currently there are 286 houses that have been on the market for over 100 days...   About Olympia; ~ Olympia is a incorporated city founded in 1859. The population in 2010 census was 46,478. Olympia is a bordering community to JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord). Commute times to JBLM are between 30 and 59 minutes. (Depending on traffic) Olympia is the state capi... 09/14/2014

You probably can guess who the 8 most important people are that you need to know when buying a home but how do you find the "good" ones?  The ones that can make your transaction happen, not break it?   With all of these 8 most important people, these professionals all have several key traits in common. They: are experts in their field  have the experience and the know-how to work successfully for you work for an established, reputable company are educated are educators are ethical are transparent   Finding these top-notch professionals can be difficult but you are not alone in this.  Your Realtor is a huge resource for you.  Whereas you may only do a handful of real estate transactions in your lifetime, your Realtor probably has done a handful of transactions over the last couple of we... 09/09/2014

Olympia, Washington single-family Market Watch (Sept. 7, 2014)   There are currently 803 active listings in Olympia. In the past seven days Olympia experienced; 38 New listings recorded 17 Homes came back on the market 60 Homes had list price reductions 4 Homes had list price increased 0 Contingent 24 listings expired 12 listings cancelled 50 listings went pending 40 listings sold and closed  59 Bank or real estate owned properties Currently there are 280 houses that have been on the market for over 100 days...   About Olympia; ~ Olympia is a incorporated city founded in 1859. The population in 2010 census was 46,478. Olympia is a bordering community to JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord). Commute times to JBLM are between 30 and 59 minutes. (Depending on traffic) Olympia is the state capit... 09/07/2014

Olympia, Washington single-family Market Watch (Sept. 1, 2014)   There are currently 827 active listings in Olympia. In the past seven days Olympia experienced; 43 New listings recorded 13 Homes came back on the market 67 Homes had list price reductions 5 Homes had list price increased 2 Contingent 5 listings expired 12 listings cancelled 68 listings went pending 68 listings sold and closed  57 Bank or real estate owned properties Currently there are 285 houses that have been on the market for over 100 days...   About Olympia; ~ Olympia is a incorporated city founded in 1859. The population in 2010 census was 46,478. Olympia is a bordering community to JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord). Commute times to JBLM are between 30 and 59 minutes. (Depending on traffic) Olympia is the state capita... 08/31/2014

How can you judge a Realtor by their shoes?  Are they pristine and flawless?  Or are they decades old and worn?  A shoe can tell you a lot about a person. My shoes are my resume.  Here is a tour of my 3-month-old shoes that have served me well but will need to be retired.  I loved these shoes but the demands of the summer real estate market has taken its toll and I must bid them farewell.   Scrape from trying to retrieve a key that fell through the cracks of a deck.  When showing a home, dropping the house key between the slats of a deck is a nightmare.  But because Realtors have to do what needs to be done, I got the key.   Worn heel from driving to show buyers lots of home choices, attending clients' signings and closings for support and to answer any questions, being a courier when s... 08/22/2014

CONGRATULATIONS to Brand New Homeowners Omar & Sarah! Thank you for allowing our team to assist with your very first home purchase - We could not be more thrilled for your family!!! 08/21/2014

CONGRATS to Greg & Lanae on their very first home!!!  You both were amazing to work with, we are honored to work with you on this next huge step in your lives!!  08/21/2014