According to Home Depot's website, you can purchase a wallplate for a receptacle or light switch for $0.22.  Very often, I find myself writing inspection reports with multiple receptacles and light switches missing wallplates.  I don't think anyone can argue that an uncovered receptacle is safe.  VERY easy to install, VERY cheap to purchase, a VERY good investment to ensure safety and another VERY easy way to avoid a "nit-picky" inspection item! "Be sure to check out my other blog entries. You can get your 10 daily comments in right here, right now! Simply scroll through the blog entries in the widget just under my picture at the upper right." Tacoma Home Inspector 09/10/2008

Here are 5 consulting questions that unlock information and understanding like no others.  Using these questions will do amazing things for your buyer and seller consults as well as your personal relationships too.   I will write another post soon with more examples of how to use these.   Exactly what do you mean by ( a view, 3 bedrooms, a big kitchen ect) What's important to you about..... What do you get when you have..... What does that do for you? How does it make you feel when.....   Need more info? Tell me more about..... These questions will save you so much time and driving and work and frusteration and gas and guess what your clients will also be glad you asked.  You will understand them like you never could with out asking and you will get them what they want sooner and more e... 09/04/2008

Wow, count down for Tacoma School district....next Wednesday is when school starts.  On one hand I can't believe it is almost over and we really did not get to do enough this summer, but at the same time I am ready!   When school starts my oldest will go back to school and he is more than ready. ( as evidenced by his fighting with his siblings, the rest of our team's kids, his extreem boredom and his extreem ethusiam around getting school supplies)   I also am excited as it will give me a more structured schedule and give me more time to do it during the day.  Also we have a car pool worked out so I will no longer have the main responsibility for driving kids to school at all!   For the first year my children were in school, I was it for driving, not only was I pregnant and doing full t... 08/27/2008

Yesterday I met with a client who is shopping for 2 homes and showed him a couple.  Much of what we are looking at right now of course is a short sale or is bank owned.  We have already made an offer on one house that is a short sale and we are waiting for approval of course.....he has waited a week already and no answer.  I of course had told him already that it may take a month or even more before we know anything or even have an update..... Mind you this is a client who I have closed deals in under 72 hours with and who a long closing is usually 21 days for him.  So he says....".Short sale, why do they call it a short sale? It does not seem short to me"  This strikes me very funny, but also true.  I am usually on the other side of the short sale representing the seller and it sure do... 08/27/2008

We have been on  the market 40 days! Everyone who came to see this home loved it, but no buyers yet. We also drooped the price from $379,000 to $374,990. It did not change much, so I believe that price is not as important as timing now. We had people begging us to rent it to them, because they can not get mortgages. Well, we have three months more before we will have to pay for two places. http://www.slide.com/r/7ubF2J2U5D_YgXOIZwDYDbj-Pl6uRgpj     08/25/2008

Well, we took our day off as a team this Tuesday.  We had a fun time that was very relaxing and I only missed 78 phone calls in 6 hours! We elected to just go walking and sit and talk on the water front and I think we ended up spending the most time there.  ( until we realized we really needed to eat!)  It was just really fun to learn more about eachother, although we do know eachother well, it's nice to just talk and have it not be business.  However some times we ended up talking business too a bit.  ( really it's part of our lives right?) After that we went to Lunch @ Indochine down town on Pacific Ave in Tacoma.  ( a place I would reccommend by the way, I'll write a review soon.)  We all loved our food and we even got Sue to try the coconut soup, ( she did not think she like coconut... 08/22/2008

 I think that American people are incredibly kind in general. They do help other coutries all the time. I have collected many art supplies and toys in my neighborhood and sent it to an orphanages back to my motherland - Belarus. I found so much support here. On the other hand, in Belarus, it is hard to find anyone who is willing to deliver this boxes from one city to the orphanage. People in the third world countries just do not understand a principle of charity. They used to live in a hard reality, they used to have no help, and they no more want to help others. I would say even more - if my parents will try to give something to the orphanage in their own town, they will get no appreciation. People will look at them as they have too much money and try to show off. It makes me so sad. T... 08/21/2008

Steilacoom lake.WA can be found in the great suburban city of Lakewood minutes from Tacoma. Steilacoom Lake remains as one of the safest and cleanest waterfront locations in the Tacoma area. From it's amazing floral & wild life to it's luxurious waterfront properties, it is without a doubt one of the greatest places to purchase your own waterfront home. Contact me for available waterfront properties and the best market strategy to get your home sold. Edwin Zetino 253-304-5307 08/18/2008

What a shame to see one of my favorite destinations as a child reduced to this level.                   It doesn't seem like it was all that long ago that "mystery pic" was a happy place for children to visit here in Tacoma.  At one time this entrance led to a walking trail that transported the young visitors into some of childhood's best loved stories.  Now due to age, neglect and vandalism, Humpty Dumpty, Jack Sprat, his wife, and a host of other children storytime favorites no longer live here.  If you are a local, I've already given you far too many hints and I'm sure you've guessed it by now.  But just for fun, let's leave this out there for folks not familiar Tacoma to guess. If you get it right, I'll give you a gold star! :-) Interested in moving to Tacoma Wa?  Search for all lis... 08/13/2008

We have a team meeting 2 times a month usually at my house.  It is always incredibly productive and really fun.  However to the untrained eye, I don't think you would think it was even a business meeting if you walked in....   We have the all of us, but also in the summer all of our assorted children as well.  We often if we plan well enough eat lunch together as we do the meeting.  It is a mixture of catching up with eachother's lives, business planning, delegating of up coming tasks, recognition, training and what ever else comes up.  We do not yet have agendas that are formal even though we do usually have things we have planned to go over.   Today as we did out meeting for almost 2 hours with 7 kids in the house and 4 of us I realized that this time we spend together a couple times ... 08/12/2008

I am planning a "girl's day out" for me and my team ( at this point all official team members are women and also Mom's our children range from 2.5- in their late 30's)    We are celebrating reaching a mile stone as a team, but here is the funny part.  I am so nervous about taking a day off together and knowing what to do.  Here these are some of the people I know and trust better than anyone in the world, but really what I know how to do is to work.  I have fun while we work and so do they, but I am so out of my element when it comes to time off and fun with some one besides just my kids or just myself.  ( I love to read and also to hike all alone.)      Thinking I will take them all out for a pedicure, maybe a hike, lunch, ( where?)  Not sure what else would be fun, none of us are big ... 08/11/2008

I am looking for a helper to entertain and feed and supervise my kids after school hours 2-2:3- until 5:30-6pm 3-4 days a week ( not Tues). My children are between the ages of 2.5 and 11. 2 girls one boy. Want help with prepping dinner for me and general clean and pick up while I work. Often I am even at home, but I am working and so need help at that point for sure.                11 yr old son2.5 yr old daughter    8 year old daughter...   I am open to any age that can and will be dependable and responsible, so a teen for an after school job would be just fine with me as would a responsible adult for who this is a good fit. It would be a big bonus if that person would also be available 2-3 nights a month to do child care as well. ( weekends) I live in South Tacoma. I would provide any... 08/11/2008

Ok, I know most people will think that a Realtor will always think it is a good time to buy or to sell, we make out living doing this right?   However I often after consulting with people consult them right out of   buying or selling and come up with a different possible answer often.  Knowing the neighborhoods and market here in Tacoma well really helps us to do this   Here are some of the times.....   **Buying--   They are buying a home with out really feeling like this is "it" if they are going to owner occupy.  I understand the concept of buying a small home and working into ownership of the dream home.  That is fine and even to be encouraged very much.  However, buying just to buy when it does not meet a number of the client's needs and their budget and lifestyle is just wrong.   I... 08/11/2008

....perform any permit research for your clients?  I've been at inspections where there's an obvious addition that wasn't permitted.  A recent example was when I was walking on a garage roof and it felt soft, almost like it might give.  I immediately scurried down my ladder and went to check the framing.  My initial thought was that there might have been significant wood rot.  I entered the garage and realized that it was sheetrocked with no attic access.  However, there was an addition through the back door that acted as a shed or workshop.  I immediately looked up and found that the rafter's spans was about 15 ft with no additional support.  Clearly, this couldn't have been a permitted addition because that wouldn't have met the requirements for a roofing structure.   I'm not saying t... 08/07/2008

Last year after school my if I had to work with my kids along and would not be home for a while I would have 3 starving kids in the back of my truck.  As difficult as it can be to work with 3 kids along, it is impossible if they are also hungry and tired.  Frisko Freeze could not solve the tired, but often was on fast solution to the hungry part.  Plus it is an adventure to eat sitting in the bed of a truck or on the tail gate which is what we did.  I found it a fun time to sit and talk with them and a time when they usually managed to get along as well.     Frisko Freeze, an institution for everyone who lives, works or goes to school down town, in New Tacoma or the North Slope.   The food is typical American burgers, shakes, chicken strips, fries and such.  The service is fast and the ... 08/05/2008

I just found out that JD Powers has an award for Real Estate.  ( coming from a back ground that included Automobile advertising I thought it was just about CARS!)  Any way, it went to Keller Williams, which is no surprise to me.  Starting my career there has definately been one of the very best business decision I've ever made hands down.   What is exciting about it to me is the fact that KW is being recognized for the great company it is.  When I first started with Keller Williams, most of the clients I prospected to had never even HEARD of us.  ( Even though at the time we were the nation's 8th largest RE company at the time)  It's great that now I never have that problem at all, everyone sees our RED signs and knows who we are.    Even more exciting for me of course is the fact that... 07/29/2008

The North End neighborhoods of Tacoma, WA are the preferred neighborhoods for most home buyers I have had the pleasure to meet.  They like the small town feel and the quaint shopping areas scattered throughout the neighborhoods and the fact that they can walk to many of these areas.  I come from a family of long time Tacomans.  My grandparents settled in "Old Town"...my granefather came from Yugoslavia (the area now known as Croatia) when he was 17 and my grandmother when she was 2 years old...and I spent the first 11 years of my life growing up in the same home where my father was born in "Old Town".  We have always lived in the North End and have watched the property values grow over the past few years.  Always believers in owning real estate, my grandparents and parents have owned se... 07/27/2008

It's been well over 10 years since our family drank tap water, actually maybe over 15 because it was one of the first health changes my Naturpath recommended when I started going to see him.  However the thought of drinking only from little plastic bottles that made more waste in the land fill or had to be recycled and might not be has never appealed to me and I don't really like the price either. When we first changed to purified water we had water service, but wow was it ever expensive and I did not like that.  Then when we moved to South Tacoma soon after we found Water to Go.  ( There's one on the North End too) Why do I like it?  With the possible exception of mountain spring water when we are @ the mountains, it is the best water I've ever had.  It's priced better than all the oth... 07/26/2008

Today between taking pictures of an upcoming listing and meeting with a client to present offers, I realized I had about 45 minutes with nothing that had to be done @ the moment, but not really enough time to not totally waste the time by driving to my home office and then back out again, so I stopped to a Pedicure. Now for one thing stopping for pedicure in the middle of the day always feels great because you feel like you are goofing off and being pampered and you pretty much have to let the phone calls wait at least a half an hour.  But....this was even better!  I stopped @ Concept Nails located @ 4020 South Steele St in Yuen Lui Square near Wendy's near Tacoma Mall.Yuen Lui Square near Wendy's near Tacoma Mall.  First, it was clean and pretty through out with plenty of stations for ... 07/24/2008

If you are in a hurry and need a quick lunch skip the burgers....go to one of the locations of Pho' Than Brother's noodle shops.  For under $5 you can have a great lunch complete with dessert.  The menu is simple pretty mcuh the whole thing is soup.  Good part is the soup tastes great AND you get your choice of beef ( several cuts) chicken and even vegetarian soup as well.  It takes less time than most fast food places to have a steaming bowl of soup and veggies to add as well.  Before your soup even arrives you will have a fresh made cream puff dessert....and yes you can eat dessert first if you want! We recommend Than Brother's Pho' shop for healthy fast food in Tacoma....there's a location near 106th and Pacific and another just South of 84th on South Tacoma Way.   07/22/2008