Prepping your Tacoma Home for Sale – Cost vs Value Analysis

      Cost vs Value Each year, Realtors in conjunction with Hanley Wood’s Remodeling Magazine put out Remodeling Costs vs. Value Report.  Interesting information, but I don’t consider it gospel.  We meet with a lot of home sellers and most want to know what they should do to get their house ready for sale.  They are looking to do three things:... Read More »

Don’t Let an App Choose Your Agent

Real estate agents have long been independent spirits, shaped by forces of nature, paid only for results. The industry is competitive. The vast majority of new agents drop out in their first or second year. A minority emerge from those first years very different people; leaner, wiser, better. It is a sometimes gut wrenching business that rewards creativity, persistence, thick... Read More »

What The Tacoma Market Looks Like in 2015

I recently ran into George Lane of Guild Mortgage and asked him what buyers should know about shopping for a home in 2015. I was hoping for something newsletter-worthy and George delivered. He said there has never been a better time for first time buyers. Really? Never? I thought back to the juicy tax breaks for first time buyers, realizing... Read More »

Tacoma’s Historic North Slope Neighborhood

  Charming, pleasantly disorienting and completely ghost riddled The Historic North Slope is a north Tacoma neighborhood with a style as unique as its shape. Where most of Tacoma’s streets are neatly laid out north-south or east-west, the North Slope is angled as the usual city street grid adjusts to follow the shoreline. Just being there shuffles one’s sense of... Read More »

Making a Difference in Community:

David, Matt and I have come to understand what a new home means to people. The anticipation as the closing date approaches can be intense. Living in a new home changes lives. But what about someone who has been without a home completely? What must it be like to go from living on the streets one day, figuring out where... Read More »

Texting is the New Black

“Texting has taken over” When I was 13 I would sit for long hours in our rec room listening to Journey and talking to my friends on the (rotary) telephone. My kids don’t do that. They text. I read recently that many young people now consider a phone call to be intrusive. They even view it as presumptuous- for the... Read More »

Making Tacoma a Child-Centered Community

By Nicole Hume What if children were at the heart of our city? Could children come up with community solutions? What if Tacoma were a great place to be a child? These questions and many more came up at the “Symposium On Our Youngest Citizen’s: Building A Child-Centered Community.” The September 23rd event was attended by what looked to be... Read More »

Winning the “Highest and Best” Game

After you’ve found the perfect house in a hot market A great Westgate Tacoma house hit the market for some clients. This was the right area, close to their kids and grandkids, the right size, and comfortably within budget. We met at the house. It was superior to any we had seen in the price range. They wanted to write... Read More »