SEATTLE AVENUE

Predatory Lending Practices
There are a number of different forms that predatory lending takes. In each instance, however, a financial institution takes unfair advantage of a consumer’s financial needs by charging usurious interest rates and other unconscionable fees and charges:
Predatory mortgage lending involves a wide array of abusive practices. Here are brief descriptions of some of [...]

Posted in Mortgage Corner Comments(0)

Each month I feature a different non-profit participating in my Community Partnership Program. When a client hires me to help them sell or buy a property, I donate an amount equal to 10% of my commission to the non-profit of their choice in their name. I’ve established strong relationships with many different non-profits and continue [...]

Posted in Community Partnership, Hurricane Katrina Comments(0)

FEMA attorneys, fearing lawsuits, quashed early attempts to test trailers for dangerous levels of formaldehyde. Now the agency faces class action suits and Congressional ire.
When Hurricane Rita turned most of their house into a pile of debris, 63-year-old Nancy Sonnier and her 64-year-old husband, Mitchell, salvaged three walls of a back bedroom and slept in [...]

Posted in Hurricane Katrina Comments(0)

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) reports that Washington state has the 18th highest foreclosure rate in the country.
Foreclosures on subprime mortgages are at an all-time high. A situation fueled by adjustable rate mortgages sold in recent years. Rates are now adjusting, or recasting, and loan payments are increasing 10% to 50% [...]

Posted in Market Comments, Tips Comments(0)

I was warned about this two years ago, sitting in an uncomfortable chair in a chilly meeting room in Kent. I needed continuing education hours to renew my real estate license so I took a $10 class by a highly-recommended Stewart Title officer. During the class our instructor described a road map of what we’d [...]

Posted in Buyers, Market Comments, Mortgage Corner Comments(0)

The RE Store was founded in 1993 by the non-profit organization RE Sources for Sustainable Communities to address the growing problem of wasteful disposal of useable building materials, most of which were buried in the local landfill. The RE Store provides an alternative to dumping those materials.
In addition to giving old materials new life, The [...]

Posted in Products, Tips Comments(0)

BoKlok is a groundbreaking new concept to housing that involves providing space-saving, functional and high-quality properties at a price that enables as many people as possible to afford a comfortable home.
First pioneered in the 90s in Sweden by furniture company IKEA and construction firm Skanska, BoKlok has expanded to Finland, Denmark, Norway and the UK.
BoKlok, [...]

Posted in Small House & Modular Comments(0)

My husband Henrik and I bought this sailboat earlier this year, an old Catalina 25 that we’re fixing up. He’s Swedish, I have history in Louisiana, we may name it Swedish Gumbo. It’s looking pretty good and my husband’s teaching me to sail. I grew up with boats so I work the tiller pretty well [...]

Posted in Buyers, Reflections, Sellers Comments(0)