Here’s a little-known fact (or maybe I’m the last to find out) provided by my mother-in-law who lives in France: Seattle’s sister city is Nantes, France. As sisters are wont to be, Nantes is similar to Seattle in that she, too, is a major seaport and a center for high-tech and aeronautics industries. Both cities are in regions known for producing fine wines, for their mild, wet climates, and for their thriving horticulture and arts scenes. Check out the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association website for information about their various exchange programs and other opportunities to connect with our charming French sister.
Archive for June, 2005
Via Lifehacker, we see that Time magazine has posted a list of online real estate resources. We’ll be evaluating these and other links in the coming weeks. The best will make it over to our “Useful Links” section on the sidebar. In the meantime, Time’s list is as good a place as any for info if you’re just starting to think about buying or selling.
Urban planning, architecture, and alternative housing concepts are key ingredients to creating more livable cities. Starting Saturday, you’ll be able to check out some of the latest trends and ideas in affordable housing at the Museum of History and Industry, (MOHAI). The new traveling exhibit from the National Building Museum in Washington D.C., aims to dispel outdated, negative stereotypes of affordable housing projects and demonstrate how, if well-designed, they can be an attractive asset to all communities. It even includes a few local examples to prove its point. The exhibit runs from June 25 – August 28, 2005. Here’s the press release from MOHAI:
Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry will this summer host an exhibition touring the nation which demonstrates that affordable homes can be well designed-and benefit the communities in which they are built and the residents who live there. The exhibition, Affordable Housing: Designing an American Asset, opens Saturday, June 25 and showcases energy-efficient, durable, economical to maintain, and aesthetically appealing homes that are within reach of working Americans. Affordable Housing, an exhibition organized by the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., will be on display at MOHAI through Sunday, August 28.
Continue reading ‘MOHAI exhibit shows off well-designed, more affordable housing’
Are you working with a lender you haven’t met or know very little about? Here’s a useful site from the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing regarding predatory lending practices. It includes topics such as “Warning Signs”, “Questions to Ask Your Lender”, and “Where and How to File a Complaint”. With its no-nonsense reminder “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”, this is a helpful bookmark especially for first-time buyers. Click on the language of your choice to read the brochure.
The Seattle Office of Housing has a wealth of information about affordable housing opportunities for first-time buyers and low income families, as well as free PDF publications on renting, home repair, and housing alternatives for artists. Developers, property managers, and neighborhood associations will all want to bookmark this site for future reference.
You know the old saying, “As the local economy goes, so goes the real estate market?” Well, okay. I just made it up. But with talk of a real estate bubble gaining traction, there’s at least some indication that the Seattle economy might just be producing the wealth to support higher home prices.
The Puget Sound Business Journal reported last Monday that restaurant openings are on the rise in Seattle. Several new restaurants have opened downtown in recent months, but outlying areas are seeing the most growth in eateries.
Restaurant boom: Sites multiply on Seattle outskirts - 2005-06-06:
Restaurant consultants say many more openings are planned, a reflection of the widening perception that an industry badly shaken by the dot-com fallout may finally be recovering.
“No question about it — ‘05 is going to be a good year for restaurant openings, and ‘06 will probably be even better,” said Arnold Shain, president of consulting firm The Restaurant Group in Seattle. “Consumer confidence returned last year, and now we’re seeing that come to fruition.”
In “The Owner-Renter Divide: America’s Caste System,” Portland’s own Russell Shaw laments the renter’s precarious position in today’s economic ecosystem. Writing at The Huffington Post, he says:
There are two Americas: one for property renters and one for property owners. Renters live in a world of arbitrary rules, where ruin is an illness or pink slip away. Owners can be foreclosed on, of course, but we live in a society where purchasers can procure mortgages loans for a couple of pennies on the dollar. The more financially vulnerable renters live in a world of 25% cash advances and 125% payday loans.
Now, we’ve known plenty of renters who are perfectly happy to remain free of the responsibilities of home ownership, and who haven’t had to resort to payday loans, as Mr. Shaw admits he has. So what about you, gentle reader? What, to you, are the benefits of home ownership, or the traps of renting?
Ask about your neighbors, then buy the house.
