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Our family has been hosting exchange students for about nine years now.  My husband and I started hosting summer groups back when we were first married.  We had so much fun with them! When we bought our home in 1999 we began to host long term exchange students, students who were here for 9 months to a year or more.  It has been such a rewarding experience, especially for our 6 year-old son.

We enjoy having students stay in our home for many reasons.  Number one, it's great fun for our son, who is an only child and quite social. We usually have students from Japan, so since his father is from Japan it gives my son a chance to interact with someone from that culture.  Secondly, we just enjoy having another person in our home to interact with and share experiences.  We tend to be homebodies, so having a student with us inspires us as a family to go out and do more things together, such as day trips, festivals and other activities.  Finally, we treasure the friendship that endures long after the student has returned to Japan. We have had them come back later to visit us and stay in our home; we have also gone to Japan to visit them. 

One of our students actually got married eventually and stayed in Seattle, so we get to see her every once in a while.  She had stayed with us while I was pregnant with our son.  She was very friendly and talkative, and always kept me company.  We would cook meals together, do crafts, wash dishes together and chat.  The day she moved out it broke my heart because I just knew that I would miss her so much. So you know how happy I was when she chose to stay in Seattle. 

Our new student is named Mina. I just picked her up from the airport yesterday morning. She is a sweet, friendly girl who wants to study film making. She's into skulls, from what I can tell; when she came yesterday she was wearing a pink t-shirt with a fuzzy skull on it, some suede boots with pink skulls, and a metallic pink skull wallet.  She brought my son a happi coat as a present, he is wearing it in the picture. Hopefully she will like living in our home with us, as we already like her very much. 

During these cold winter months I love to make Chai. Not the kind that comes in a carton that you buy at Safeway.  No, I like to brew Chai using whole spices and water in a percolator. I especially like making Chai for Brokers Opens and Public Open houses.  The Chai smells divine and gives off a feeling of comfort and warmth in just about any home, and you also have a delicious beverage to offer visitors.

Here are the steps for making your own home-brewed Chai.  You'll need:

1. Whole spice Chai, which you can get by going to (shameless plug alert!) www.threetreetea.com;

2. A kitchen;

3. A percolator;

4. Your choice of sweetener;

5. Milk.

What you do:

Fill percolator with water to fill line.  In percolator basket add 4 - 5 tablespoons of loose Chai. Put basket inside percolator and cover with lid. Boil on high for at least 30 minutes, until the Chai has a somewhat dark color.  Keep simmering chai as long as you like.  The longer it simmers the stronger it gets.

Serve with sweetener and milk/half & half if desired. 

Chai goes well with all kinds of sweets, so don't forget those. 

Enjoy!

But did your fun have to involve me? Was it really necessary for you, whoever you are, to uproot every single sign on the street and toss them about like garbage?  

You see, I've had enough trouble trying to sell this house without you getting in my way, you dreadful little vandals. If you like to pull things out of the ground so much, why don't you come over to my house and do some weeding?  Oh, wait, that's probably too productive of an activity for you.

Thank goodness for the nice neighbor who not only called to tell me what had happened, but who also offered to let me borrow her post hole digger to fix the signs.  Otherwise it would cost me money for a sign call, but I suppose I could have split that with the other agent who had two signs uprooted.

I suppose that annoying things like this need to happen so that the good of humanity can come through; in this case it was in the form of a good neighbor who cares about what happens on her street.

By the way, my sign is the same one that was hit and knocked down by a ricocheting raccoon on Halloween.  I'm just having no luck keeping this sign up at all!

When my office mate Kerry told me that she had listed a 3800 square foot home in the Hazel Valley/Evergreen area of Burien, I was intrigued. I haven't been into too many homes of that size in this area. So when I went into the house last Tuesday I was very pleasantly surprised.

From the outside the home looks like a typical 50's home, and has nice landscaping in front. But when you go inside and down a few steps, you're greeted by a giant stone wall(not a fireplace, just a stone wall with places to put plants!). There are actually two separate upstairs "wings", if you will. One is above the kitchen/laundry and is accessible by a stairway off of the kitchen. There is a bathroom, large bedroom and a fun hidden cubby space that would be a great child's play area.

The other stairway up is by the front door, and it leads to 3 more very large bedrooms. The master has a huge deck, the coolest closet with built-ins everywhere, and the continental bathroom is beyond, with the bathtub placed right in the middle of the room.

Everything in this home is period '50's, and impeccably maintained. The main floor also has a huge living room, dining room and large den with bathroom, fireplace and wet bar, and also has sliders to the patio. Going downstairs from the kitchen you'll find a large room with dark walls and red carpet, the perfect man cave. The staircase pictured above is impressive, and the tile area below is set up for some sort of water feature.

This is the coolest house I've seen in a while. The best part about this house is that it's for sale!! Asking price is $450,000, which is pretty good for all this square footage and character, plus a 2 car garage to boot. Want more info? Shoot me an e-mail if interested. By the way, Kerry gave me permission to introduce her listing to y'all since it's in 98146. Somebody please buy it and love it!

White Center's only donut shop, Seattle Donut & Deli, is located in a tiny strip mall on 15th Ave. S.W. and 100th St. I went in there for the first time a couple of weeks ago to grab a quick bite to eat.  This is definitely a hang-out for a lot of people, many from the Camodian community. The place was busy as can be so I knew I was onto something good. 

Luckily there was one booth available, way in the back of the store...a good spot for secret picture-taking. I ordered a sandwich on French roll bread, with ham, cilantro, mayo, tomato, (I said, "No, thank you" to the jalapenos) and my favorite part, pickled daikon(japanese radish) and carrots.  It was delicious. And at $2.99, you can't beat it. Afterwards, I ordered a cruller, a chocolate sprinkled donut and a couple of glazed donuts to take home to my husband and son. Those were also very good.  The other day my friend and I had the Maple Old-Fashioned there, and oh my GOSH it was just divine. I keep thinking about it. 

They also have all kinds of interesting beverages, including the iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk, and bubble tea. If you're in the area, give Seattle Donut & Deli a try sometime. 

Would you like to live within blocks of downtown Burien? This 3 bedroom condo is in a super-convenient location. Walk to almost everything! Best priced 3 bedroom condo in this area.  This comfortable and spacious 1280 sq ft condo features master suite with 3/4 bath. There's another full bath upstairs, and a half bath downstairs. All appliances stay, including the brand new JENAIR range.  Wood burning fireplace for cozy winter nights, and a 1-car garage with loft storage and access to attic space.

You will love the huge, awesome patio with a covering for almost year round BBQ's. The patio is also surrounded by tall fences for maximum privacy. And, believe it or not, there are ELEVEN closets and storage areas in this unit! Conveniently located close to airport, libraries, parks, hospitals, schools, freeways and bus lines. HOD's are $312 which include water, sewer, garbage, earthquake insurance and cable! This condo is the perfect trifecta - plenty of room, excellent location and fabulous price. Don't delay! MLS# 28009947, ONLY $229,950!!

Currently, there are 150 active listings(that's available homes on the market), broken down into 122 single family homes and 28 condos.

From reading the agent comments, there is currently one short sale on the market right now; there has been one home sold through a short sale in the last 6 months in 98146.  That's pretty good compared to some areas.

A brief explanation before I go further:  Interestingly enough, and of course as you already may know, 98146 includes part of West Seattle, part of Burien, and part of unincorporated North Highline. West Seattle is known as "Area 140" and Burien/Highline is known as "Area 130", for purposes of classifying listings on the Multiple Listing Service.

So:

Average Market time in 98146/Area 140: 100 days

Median price: $400,000          Average price: $521,800

Average Market Time in 98146/Area 130: 59 days

Median price: $283,750          Average price: $272,000 

Furthermore, since 1/1/08 98146 has had 13 sold homes, and 19 homes are currently pending.

The stats support what we already know to be true, that entry-level, starter homes under $300,000 are selling much more briskly than those in the upper price range.  This is due in some part to higher interest rates on jumbo loans(loans over $417,000).  However, we may soon see higher loan limits, set up in tiers; we may also see interest rates go down on jumbo loans in the lowest tier starting at $417,000.

I was on my way home from work today, dwelling on a transaction I'm currently involved in that as of today has officially boarded the handbasket to Hell.  Other than that my day was fabulous, but of course our minds can't help but go back to the bad things that have happened.  I was feeling so sorry for myself that I put in a CD by the Smiths, because Lord knows I can't possibly feel worse about myself than Morrissey feels about himself!

As I was settling in to wallow in my sour mood, I catch a glimpse of this sign outside of Dr. Ron Fulton's chiropractic office.  How long it's been there, I don't know.  But it made me turn at the next corner and go around the block so that I could a) get a good look at it again, and b) take a picture of it for my blog.  This sign made me laugh so hard that my mood instantly changed, and I turned off the radio so that it wouldn't change back. I don't know what it has to do with chiropractors, but it is hilarious.  Thanks, Dr. Fulton!

It's been about 3 weeks or so since I last blogged about www.myzip.net.  Since my marketing is based on my zip code, I was very excited to see  this new blog avenue, and I was determined to get my zip code so that I could be the neighborhood blogger for 98146.(www.98146.net)

MyZip.net is "part of the Marchex network of local sites including local search service Open List. Launched in 2007, we're building the nation's first and best network of local and neighborhood blogs. To see for yourself, type your ZIP code + .net in your Web browser.".

Basically, MyZip will pay you $50 per month to blog about goings-on in your zip code, during a trial period which goes for an unspecified period of time. I should be getting my first payment into my PayPal account sometime next week. They 'require' you to post 3 - 5 times per week, and uploading a photo counts as one post.  So far, I'm having some fun with it, and for me, this is one more way to position myself as a neighborhood resource.

Last night I had the opportunity to meet other neighborhood bloggers in my area, as well as the guys in charge of implementing MyZip.net.  We met up at Kell's Irish Pub and Restaurant in Pike Place Market for some beers and appetizers. I had a great time getting to know everyone, though I couldn't help but feel old amongst all the other younger, more hip bloggers. I know, I have issues.

Most of us were sweating the minimum submission guidelines; not necessarily because of the $50 stipend but because, in my case anyway, I don't want to get replaced by a more prolific blogger.  The powers that be assured us that we needn't be so hard on ourselves at the beginning, as the guidelines were just that.

There are plans in the works to have more networking events such as the one last night.  It was a great opportunity to communicate with the guys in charge, and let them know of issues that we're having with things such as uploading photos and other items. 

In case anyone is still interested, they still have lots of zip codes available.  Just go to MyZip.net, and click on 'Compensation'. You'll be directed to a survey, and once that's done they will contact you and let you know if you got your zip code.  I'll keep posting more on this as time goes by.