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Recently there have been a couple of scenarios where I've come into contact with people who have expressed a desire to invest in a home.  They are currently renting, so each of these people would be a first time home buyer.  Upon turning in their loan application to a lender for review, I've gotten word back that both of these people cannot qualify for as much as they would need to buy an entry-level home.

Part of the reason? Car payments for one vehicle in the amount of $400+ per month.  I totally understand that most of us must have a decent car.  But as far as I know, a decent car that adequately suits your needs can be had for closer to $200/month. By purchasing a car with payments of around $200/month, you are saving $200 per month; the money that you would be saving translates to roughly $25,000 in buying power. Something to think about if your desire is to purchase a home in the forseeable future, and would like as much buying power as possible.

Right now there are so many great home buying opportunities out there.  If you've been considering investing in your first home, find a knowledgeable lender and find out what kind of loan/terms you may qualify for, preferably before you splurge on a pricey car.

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Thanks for stopping by my blog!

You can reach me at 206-595-5866, or e-mail me: LisaBosques@PNWRealty.com

Or visit my website:  www.98146online.com

I am an Associate Broker and Marketing Specialist with Prudential Northwest Realty Associates.   I specialize in homes located in the Burien/North Highline/West Seattle area, and I am here to serve all of your Real Estate needs. 
Your success is my goal!

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This is the question I've been hearing most often from people who approach the Prudential booth at the Burien Farmer's Market.  It seems that everyone has a bit of curiosity about the market and wants to hear an answer first-hand from local Realtors who are in the trenches.

My answer to this question is, "It's probably never been a better time to buy a home. Interest rates are low, and there are lots more homes to choose from. As for sellers, homes are still selling, and those homes that look great, have the most amenities and updating, and are priced at or below their competition will sell the fastest".

People are still buying homes.  They still want a place to call home, a place in which to have a sanctuary from the outside world. For those who truly want to invest in their own home, the tougher lending limits are actually a good thing.  With more protections in place, from here on out you most likely won't qualify unless it is believed that you can truly handle a mortgage payment. 

Homeowners who aren't overextended are usually happy that they purchased their home; the uneasiness and uncertainty you experience before and during the buying process doesn't return when the Dow drops or when turmoil erupts here or abroad.  And personal challenges happen regardless of where you live.  At least when you own a home, you have a chance of having it paid off someday.

So don't let what's going on in the world stop you - if your dream is to own a home, go get approved for a loan and start looking for one. If you need help, you know where to find me!

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Thanks for stopping by my blog!

You can reach me at 206-595-5866, or e-mail me: LisaBosques@PNWRealty.com

Or visit my website:  www.98146online.com

I am an Associate Broker and Marketing Specialist with Prudential Northwest Realty Associates.   I specialize in homes located in the Burien/North Highline/West Seattle area, and I am here to serve all of your Real Estate needs. 
Your success is my goal!

•    What Is My Home Worth?
•    Search For Properties
•    Search Foreclosures
•    Search Sold Property Data By Neighborhood

Today from 11-6  and Sunday, June 1st from 12-5pm, the new, expanded Wing Luke Asian Museum is having its grand opening celebration.   It is housed in the beautifully renevated, historic Kong Yick building, which is located at 719 S. King Street.  It officially opens to the public on June 3rd.  A Smithsonian Institution affiliate, the Wing Luke Asian Museum is the premier pan-Asian Pacific American museum in the country.

This project has been 5 years in the making, and it is finally ready to be unveiled.  I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to preview it a couple of weeks ago as I was delivering some tea to the Museum store.  Remnants of the old structure are blended with new, modern construction. I can't wait to see the exhibits.  And the museum store has so many beautiful Asian-inspired items, most made by local artists(including my husband - check out the Year Of The Rat tote bag!). 

Admission is free this weekend; in the future, the Wing Luke Museum may also take part in First Thursday Art Walks.

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Thanks for stopping by my blog!

You can reach me at 206-595-5866, or e-mail me: LisaBosques@PNWRealty.com

Or visit my website:  www.98146online.com

I am an Associate Broker and Marketing Specialist with Prudential Northwest Realty Associates.   I specialize in homes located in the Burien/North Highline/West Seattle area, and I am here to serve all of your Real Estate needs. 
Your success is my goal!

•    What Is My Home Worth?
•    Search For Properties
•    Search Foreclosures
•    Search Sold Property Data By Neighborhood

On Friday night I came home from Happy Hour to find my son and husband cooing over a little bunny that they had found in the yard.  We just so happened to have a rabbit cage(I have no idea why or how we got it), so they trapped him and put him in the cage.  We quickly set it up for Bun-Bun, and I went back out to get hay, pellets, a water bottle and some fresh veggies.

Once in a while I see bunnies in my Hazel Valley neighborhood.  I would tell my husband but he would never believe me.  I think that sometimes people get tired of caring for their animals and they decide to abandon them.  This may be what happened to Bun-Bun(or his mom).  We live near a gulley, and I can only imagine how many critters live there.

So far, of all the vegetables I've given him, he loves cilantro the most.  He gets very excited when he's eating it, and very disappointed when he runs out of it.

And, for the record, we haven't exactly decided on a name yet.  I call him Bun-Bun, my 7 year-old son calls him Lou and my husband calls him IHop. We'll see what name sticks!

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Thanks for stopping by my blog!

You can reach me at 206-595-5866, or e-mail me: LisaBosques@PNWRealty.com

Or visit my website:  www.98146online.com

I am an Associate Broker and Marketing Specialist with Prudential Northwest Realty Associates.   I specialize in homes located in the Burien/North Highline/West Seattle area, and I am here to serve all of your Real Estate needs. 
Your success is my goal!

•    What Is My Home Worth?
•    Search For Properties
•    Search Foreclosures
•    Search Sold Property Data By Neighborhood

Here in the Puget Sound it's customary to hold a Broker's Open House sometime during the first week of a new listing. 

Last month, an agent from another company came to our office to drop off a nice gift basket complete with invitations to her Broker's Open, snacks and drinks with information about the listing, and color fliers.  I thought that this was a very creative way to not only invite other agents to the Broker's Open, but also to get her name out. 

In the past I have found that when I try to take listing fliers around to offices, some offices are very kind and receptive, but there are a few offices who will not accept fliers, or they will but they aren't very happy about it.  When you think about it, it does create extra work for them if they have to distribute them to each agent's mail slot.

But who can refuse a basket full of treats?

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Thanks for stopping by my blog!

You can reach me at 206-595-5866, or e-mail me: LisaBosques@PNWRealty.com

Or visit my website:  www.98146online.com

I am an Associate Broker and Marketing Specialist with Prudential Northwest Realty Associates.   I specialize in homes located in the Burien/North Highline/West Seattle area, and I am here to serve all of your Real Estate needs. 
Your success is my goal!

•    What Is My Home Worth?
•    Search For Properties
•    Search Foreclosures
•    Search Sold Property Data By Neighborhood


 

A statistic that continues to alarm me personally is the fact that our homes are the second most common location of fatal injuries in the U.S., with our highways being first. The top five leading causes of unintentional home injury death are falls, poisoning, fire/burn, choking/suffocation, and drowning.  Children under 5 and adults over 70 are at highest risk for injury in the home.

At HomeSafetyCouncil.org, you can go to the Safety Guide page; there,you will find dozens of different hazards in the home.  There are illustrated checklists and safety tips for each hazard listed.  I can venture to guess that most of us have room for improvement when it comes to safety in the home.  This is certainly a reminder to me to set up a plan of escape for my family in case of fire or other disaster, for example. And I'm definitely past due for a new fire extinguisher.

In the Resource Center, there are also downloadable materials, guides, brochures, kid-friendly pages, bilingual materials and items for purchase. If you have some time and are curious to know how you can make your home safer, The Home Safety Council is definitely worth checking out.

Be safe!

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Thanks for stopping by my blog!

You can reach me at 206-595-5866, or e-mail me: LisaBosques@PNWRealty.com

Or visit my website:  www.98146online.com

I am an Associate Broker and Marketing Specialist with Prudential Northwest Realty Associates.   I specialize in homes located in the Burien/North Highline/West Seattle area, and I am here to serve all of your Real Estate needs. 
Your success is my goal!

•    What Is My Home Worth?
•    Search For Properties
•    Search Foreclosures
•    Search Sold Property Data By Neighborhood


 

...because this week, it's National Bike(or Walk) to Work Week.   Friday is National Bike/Walk to Work Day.  In honor of this, I thought it would be a great time to clean the cobwebs out of my walking shoes and do as much as I can on foot this week.

Here in the Seattle area, the Cascade Bicycle Club Foundation has great information regarding this yearly event.  During the entire month of May there are several businesses which are sponsoring events and contests which are geared towards motivating us to get out of our cars, whether by biking to work or walking.  The other purpose for this day is to "help generate political momentum for the creation of more safe, convenient bicycle facilities."

One sponsor in particular is Starbucks. On Friday, May 16, from 6-9:00 a.m. there will be booths set up at 40 commuter stations all throughout King County(you can find a list of stations here).  Stop by one of these stations on your bike and you can enter to win lots of great prizes, pick up a free water bottle and snacks, buy a t-shirt and have your bike checked out by one of the shop station sponsors. 

If you visit the Cascade Bicycle Club website you can find all sorts of information regarding bicycle commuting, and you can also download a 32 page booklet which outlines what you need to know to start commuting by bike. 

What a great opportunity for sedentary people like me to get in gear and start walking again.  As if rising gas prices aren't enough motivation!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

You can reach me at 206-595-5866, or e-mail me: LisaBosques@PNWRealty.com

Or visit my website:  www.98146online.com

I am an Associate Broker and Marketing Specialist with Prudential Northwest Realty Associates.   I specialize in homes located in the Burien/North Highline/West Seattle area, and I am here to serve all of your Real Estate needs. 
Your success is my goal!

•    What Is My Home Worth?
•    Search For Properties
•    Search Foreclosures
•    Search Sold Property Data By Neighborhood

Some of you may know about MyZip.net, a Marchex project.  Their goal was to get "people to think of their ZIP Code + .net as the default Web destinations for information and commentary about their neighborhoods or towns."  I've mentioned it before in previous blog posts, and I was fortunate enough to be chosen as the neighborhood blogger for 98146.net.  

The MyZip.net project was to be on a trial basis of undetermined length of time.  I am sad to report that on April 30th the trial period ended.  When I first signed up for this project I was under the assumption that once the trial period was over we would still be able to keep our blogs, and that the trial ending meant simply that we wouldn't be paid our $50 stipend anymore.  

However, upon receiving the final e-mail from MyZip, we were all informed that effective immediately we no longer had access to our dashboard, and that the project was completely over.  

What a bummer.  I was just getting into it. When I initially blogged about this on Active Rain, I do remember being warned about this.   The good thing that came out of it was that I got into the habit of posting something about my area 3 times a week.  

Thank goodness I still have Localism!! 

I will be working in the Prudential booth every week throughout the season.  It sure beats sitting in the office, and it's great fun to meet people, hand out treats to kids and snack on farm fresh produce.

Every year the location changes due to construction of Burien Town Square.  This year, the Farmer's Market will be located at SW 152nd St and 10th Ave SW, adjacent to Olde Burien shopping district and next to the Masonic Temple. It's a sweet location compared to last year.  In addition to the Farmer's Market, there are all kinds of great busineses in Olde Burien, old and new, so as you're strolling the Market don't forget to check out all of the other interesting places in Olde Burien, and why not grab a bite to eat as well?

Hope to see y'all there!

The Burien Farmer's Market is just around the corner.  The starting date will be Thursday, May 8th and will continue, rain or shine, every Thursday through October 9th. 

I will be working in the Prudential booth every week throughout the season, I imagine.  It sure beats sitting in the office, and it's great fun to meet people, hand out treats to kids and snack on farm fresh produce.

Every year the location changes due to construction of Burien Town Square.  This year, the Farmer's Market will be located at SW 152nd St and 10th Ave SW, adjacent to Olde Burien shopping district.  (I want to say it's in the old Prudential building parking lot...not sure yet but I'll keep you posted).  Regardless, it's a sweet location compared to last year.

Hope to see y'all there!