Click On The Form Above To Easily Search The Northwest Real Estate Market
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Monday, August 31, 2015
Explaining the Housing Affordability and Livability Advisory (HALA) Committee
This is a great article that explains the Housing Affordability and Livability Advisory (HALA) Committee
The recommendations reflect a range of housing types that actually already pepper our single-family neighborhoods.
IN 1993, when I was 28 and my second child had just been born, I rented a two-bedroom house in the Central District near where I grew up. I paid $800 a month.
That’s how my Seattle housing story begins, and it’s typical of my generation. In that house, I started the venture I still run, which now employs 14 people. In time, I was able to buy a house in Ballard that has somehow appreciated to a shocking $700,000.
The housing stories of young people nowadays are radically different. My friend Travana, who grew up in the CD a generation after me, cuts hair downtown and commutes by bus from a row house in Everett. That’s the closest family-sized place she, her husband and their baby girl can afford. She hopes to start a business as a clothing designer soon, if she can get ahead of her bills. My friend Meaghan, a new mom, may move to Renton to find an affordable two-bedroom place. Her husband is starting a new career and Seattle’s rents are crushing their finances. Travana and Meaghan are among the lucky ones — they have jobs and supportive families. Thousands of members of our community sleep under bridges or in cars each night, pushed there in part by our city’s white-hot real-estate market.
Housing affordability has become the defining challenge of Seattle’s growth. For the past 10 months, I’ve served on the Housing Affordability and Livability Advisory (HALA) Committee. Mayor Ed Murray asked us for a plan to turn Seattle back into an affordable city.
First, the purpose of changing single-family zoning is to welcome families who aren’t rich. It’s to enable the Travanas and Meaghans to live in these neighborhoods, too, renting and perhaps buying someday, and contributing their talents to our city along the way. The point of affordable housing is not the housing; it’s the people who will live in it.Of all the recommendations in HALA’s 65-point plan, the most controversial part concerns the city’s single-family neighborhoods. It deserves explanation.
Second, HALA had no choice but to recommend changes to single-family zoning. Affordability demands the reforms. Almost two-thirds of Seattle’s zoned land is currently reserved for detached houses. Seattle cannot accommodate the tens of thousands of people who are moving to our community without many of them landing in the single-family zones. Already, growth has made these neighborhoods exclusive to the point of exclusion — intensifying scarcity means only people with money or people from families with money can buy there now. Even small houses in popular neighborhoods start above a half-million dollars. Seattle is well down the path to Silicon Valley’s $1 million entry price for homeownership.
Third, HALA’s recommendations for bigger buildings in single-family areas are limited and fiddle around the edges, literally. HALA recommends an upzone to just 6 percent of the single-family zones. This 6 percent sits inside or adjacent to the city’s designated growth hubs, urban villages, or alongside arterial strips already lined with big buildings.
Fourth, HALA recommends more flexibility, but not bigger buildings, on the other 94 percent of the city’s single-family zones. These areas would stay under existing rules for building sizes: same height limits, same restrictions on total square footage, same setbacks. What would change is that city codes would allow more options in dividing up the allowable square footage. We recommend more in-law apartments, backyard cottages, cottage clusters, miniature duplexes and triplexes, courtyard housing, row houses, town houses, and stacked flats. We also recommended allowing separate ownership of these dwellings so that more people can afford to buy homes.
These suggestions reflect the range of housing types that actually already pepper our single-family neighborhoods, left over from before current restrictions. My friends Chris and Mary live in Wallingford on a neighborhood greenway. The three-story home they have restored themselves is surrounded by gardens and a chicken coop. It’s divided into three flats and they live on the top floor. My friends Valerie and Brian live in a classic old Capitol Hill house with a downstairs in-law apartment, which they rent to a single mom. Two doors up from my friends Pete and Christine, in a single-family zone in Ballard, is a triplex — two up, one down — built decades ago. My friend Rick lives near Green Lake and can point to the converted corner stores with apartments up top that are sprinkled through his neighborhood.
HALA means to say, in short: more like that! Neighborhoods would feel the same — the same tree cover and lawns, porches and rain gardens, chicken coops and tiny lending libraries — but with more people like Travana and Meaghan and their husbands and children. More people like my own children, now in their 20s, who I hope could live in their hometown someday and possibly own homes. And more people like 28-year-old me.
Alan Durning is executive director of the Seattle-based policy research center Sightline Institute and author of “Unlocking Home: Three Keys to Affordable Communities.” He lives in a single-family zone in Ballard.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Monday, August 17, 2015
Friday, July 3, 2015
Thursday, June 11, 2015
KUDOS!
Joyce Morrill – 5 years with RE/MAX
Larisa Skobyak – 10 years with RE/MAX
Dan Richards - ***20*** years with RE/MAX!!!
Dustin Remington - #7 Team in WA, 1st quarter
Jenny McGuire Henshaw - #7 Individual in WA, 1st quarter
| ||||||||||
Thursday, May 14, 2015
New Kenmore listing
Rik Jones just listed a stylish Craftsman in Kenmore. Please see attached flyer.
Thank you,
Jean (Rik’s assistant)
Jean Clements-Macak
Real Estate Assistant
Rik Jones & Associates
Remax Northwest Realtors
300 NE 97th St
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-4487; Fax 206-522-6214
My hours: M-F, Noon-3 pm
Friday, May 1, 2015
REALTORS(R) Are Increasingly Optimistic About the Outlook in the Next 6 Months
REALTORS® were increasingly more confident about the outlook for all property types in the next six months, according to the March 2015 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey.
For the second month in a row, the index rose above 50 for all property types. In the single family market, the REALTORS® Confidence Index - Six-month Outlook stayed at 75 (75 in February 2015; 69 in March 2014). The index for townhomes rose to 56 (55 in February 2015; 51 in March 2014), while the index for condominiums increased to 51 (50 in February 2015; 49 in March 2014). An index greater than 50 indicates that the number of respondents with "strong" outlook outnumbered those with "weak" outlook.
The seasonal uptick in market activity during spring and summer, low interest rates, and recent measures to help first-time homebuyers such as the lowering of FHA mortgage premiums and down payment requirement for GSE-backed loans appear to be increasing interest from first-time homebuyers.
Fwd: Open House on Bothell this weekend 5/3 from 2-4pm
708 216th St SW, Bothell 98021
$314,800
Open House 5/3 from 2-4pm
RE: HAPPY FRIDAY - YOU DID IT AGAIN!!!
Way to go Bothell!!!!
Kathryn Bell
Managing Broker / Branch Manager
RE/MAX Northwest Realtors - Kirkland Branch
Office: 425-827-3800
Mobile: 206-617-7619
Fax: 425-629-3146
http://www.kbell.northwestrealtors.com/
http://greenhomeadvisor.org/kathryn-bell
From: Theresa Niesten [mailto:tniesten@northwestrealtors.com]
Sent: Friday, May 01, 2015 9:20 AM
To: Theresa Niesten
Cc: remaxteamwork@gmail.com
Subject: HAPPY FRIDAY - YOU DID IT AGAIN!!!
Congratulations – Sue Doepp turned in deal #100 for April. You are ALL WINNERS!!!!
| ||||||||||
HAPPY FRIDAY - YOU DID IT AGAIN!!!
Congratulations – Sue Doepp turned in deal #100 for April. You are ALL WINNERS!!!!
| ||||||||||
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Stepping Stones April 30th (10AM - 11:30AM)
THIS THURSDAY IN THE BOTHELL OFFICE:
Registration link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stepping-stones-finding-time-financial-freedom-tickets-16603301923
What others are saying about the class:
See you Thursday. Thanks!
Matt Smith
Thank you, and may your work be in keeping with your purpose.
| D.R. Whitson, 602-321-8027 |
|
|
| |||
Founding Partner - John Maxwell Coaching, Training, & Speaking Company
If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain,
If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees,
If you want one hundred years of prosperity, grow people.
ATTENTION! The information contained in this email may be CONFIDENTIAL and PRIVILEGED. It is intended for the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be notified that any use, review, distribution or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email by error, please delete it and notify the sender immediately. Thank you.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Congratulations!! 100% Club!! DAN RICHARDS
DAN RICHARDS, welcome to the 100% club!!! J
|
Friday, April 17, 2015
Open House
I have Opens both Saturday and Sunday 12p-3PM at
532 Lake Street South G103
Kirkland, WA 98033
MLS #268288
Gina Morton/Broker
RE/MAX Northwest Realtors
206-406-8888
sent from my iPhone 6+
532 Lake Street South G103
Kirkland, WA 98033
MLS #268288
Gina Morton/Broker
RE/MAX Northwest Realtors
206-406-8888
sent from my iPhone 6+
Happy Friday!
Fifty (50) New Transactions so far for April. Attached are 10 New Listings and our office Open Houses for this weekend.
A reminder to post your new listings, recent sales, open houses, etc. to remaxteamwork@gmail.com, and check out our Blog updated daily by Biondi Media: http://realestatebrokerrecruiter.blogspot.com/
Lunch & Learn – CFPB Compliance – Complimentary class with refreshments here on Tuesday from noon-1pm w/Kelcey Myers of Fidelity Title
| ||||||||||
HOT KIRKLAND PROPERTY - LAKE STREET
Incredible opportunity for your buyers - Lake Street property in Kirkland - New on Market - MLS #768288
http://www.matrix.nwmls.com/Matrix/Public/EmailReport.aspx?ID=252238879
Contact Gina Morton for more information 206-406-8888
| ||||||||||
Just Listed: Forum Condominium in Old Bellevue
We just listed this condominium in Old Bellevue
Jeff Menday & Associates
RE/MAX Northwest Realtors
300 NE 97th St.
Seattle, WA 98115
Jeff Direct (206) 528-4482
Jeff Cell (206) 369-2818
Jean Direct (206) 528-4446
Fax (206) 522-6214
Your referrals are always welcome and so appreciated.
I promise to treat them with care.
Jeff Menday 206-369-2818
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
STEPPING STONES CLASS - APRIL 30TH - BOTHELL OFFICE
We now have the Stepping Stones class scheduled for Thursday, April 30th from 10:00am – 11:30 at the Bothell Office. Everyone is invited! See attached flyer for more information or go to www.TeamBuildU.com.
Please RSVP using the link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stepping-stones-finding-time-financial-freedom-tickets-16603301923
Thank you, and may your work be in keeping with your purpose.
| D.R. Whitson, 602-321-8027 |
|
|
| |||
Founding Partner - John Maxwell Coaching, Training, & Speaking Company
If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain,
If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees,
If you want one hundred years of prosperity, grow people.
ATTENTION! The information contained in this email may be CONFIDENTIAL and PRIVILEGED. It is intended for the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be notified that any use, review, distribution or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email by error, please delete it and notify the sender immediately. Thank you.
CONGRATULATIONS RE/MAX NORTHWEST - 870 MILLION+ CLOSED IN 2014
| ||||||||||
Fun RE/MAX Update: The Best Advice (on Tech & Social) You'll Get All Week
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This email was sent to tniesten@northwestrealtors.com by RE/MAX, LLC
© 2014 RE/MAX, LLC 5075 S. Syracuse St. | Denver | CO | 80237
Each RE/MAX office is independently owned and operated.
Forward to a Friend Unsubscribe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)