We recently went on a week's vacation to Lake Chelan and found a wonderful resource for our pets while we were gone! We have had various friends and acquaintances house sit & pet sit for us in the past, but this time it seemed like all of those folks were either unavailable or had actually moved away - & we were wondering what we were going to do about care for our two dogs while we were away. Our older dog is a rescue dog, and I am pretty sure he would not do well at all if we tried to board him somewhere, so having someone come stay at our house and watch the dogs has always seemed like the only real answer.
I did some research on line about professional pet sitters and found Kari Kells! What a find!! I have added her website as a link on my blog under pet resources as we were so, so pleased with her!! She is very loving with pets and very business like in her approach to pet sitting. The dogs had fun with her, we vacationed without worry - how nice to know we can get away and feel like the pets will be very well cared for in our absence!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Real Estate Market last month
I am changing my real estate market updates a bit; this will show total number of currently active residential listings in the Olympia/Lacey/Tumwater areas, as well as a rundown for the month of June for listings that came on the market or went pending by price category.
Total active listings within the greater Olympia area is now at 1444.
During June, the activity looked like this:
New listings New pending sales
Under $200K - 16 26
$200-250K - 112 52
$250-300K - 75 55
$300-350K - 36 23
$350-400K - 33 23
$400-500K - 51 13
Over $500K - 43 10
So there is still a good amount of inventory for buyers looking to get a great value on a home to live in or acquire as an investment property. I notice that in the under $200K category there were actually more new pending sales than new listings - those are still moving rapidly when they hit the market with even multiple offers being not an unusual thing. Buyers in that price range have to be ready to move very quickly with an offer when they find the house they want!
I think the pattern of new pendings in the price brackets of over $200K but under $400K are encouraging, too. It is when you get above $400K that activity is just very slow and time on the market tends to be pretty lengthy. I would still advise that anyone wanting to sell absolutely must get their home priced right (as in very, very close to the mark where it should actually end up selling) as well as having it in top notch condition inside and out. If you don't really need to sell and just think it might be interesting to "test the market" at an above market asking price - please think again!
Total active listings within the greater Olympia area is now at 1444.
During June, the activity looked like this:
New listings New pending sales
Under $200K - 16 26
$200-250K - 112 52
$250-300K - 75 55
$300-350K - 36 23
$350-400K - 33 23
$400-500K - 51 13
Over $500K - 43 10
So there is still a good amount of inventory for buyers looking to get a great value on a home to live in or acquire as an investment property. I notice that in the under $200K category there were actually more new pending sales than new listings - those are still moving rapidly when they hit the market with even multiple offers being not an unusual thing. Buyers in that price range have to be ready to move very quickly with an offer when they find the house they want!
I think the pattern of new pendings in the price brackets of over $200K but under $400K are encouraging, too. It is when you get above $400K that activity is just very slow and time on the market tends to be pretty lengthy. I would still advise that anyone wanting to sell absolutely must get their home priced right (as in very, very close to the mark where it should actually end up selling) as well as having it in top notch condition inside and out. If you don't really need to sell and just think it might be interesting to "test the market" at an above market asking price - please think again!
Eating locally!
I think this is the summer that I am really committed to eat as locally as possible. I loved the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver - that was part of my motivation to actually plant a vegetable garden this year after talking about it for at least the last 2 or 3 years. And so far it is sure fun to watch everything grow and be able to eat some yummy veggies right out of our yard! The cauliflower and broccoli are ready and some of the peas look like they are ready or close! The tomato plants are coming along nicely as well as squash (that already need to be thinned a bit) and onions, garlic, peppers, beans and cucumbers. The only thing that didn't go well was our lettuce - the slugs invaded in record numbers even though we spent quite a bit of time daily "flinging" them out of the garden. Finally decided they could eat the lettuce and we could just get that at Farmer's Market. I think it is working as they did devour the lettuce, but haven't gotten started on anything else. So anyone who knows non-toxic ways to deter slugs for future lettuce plantings, please pass along your wisdom!
Farmer's Market has also been a wonderful source of fresh local produce. We have been gorging on yummy strawberries and now the peaches from Eastern Washington have arrived - hurray! This crazy spring/summer have delayed a lot of the fruit from its usual harvest time - but that has just meant we are even happier to finally see it, and eat it!
So, I am finding our garden to be relaxing to work in, and I really enjoy not having to worry about some of the various alarming bulletins about the mass-produced items causing e coli or salmonella scares - organic and local offers great peace of mind as well as amazing taste!
Farmer's Market has also been a wonderful source of fresh local produce. We have been gorging on yummy strawberries and now the peaches from Eastern Washington have arrived - hurray! This crazy spring/summer have delayed a lot of the fruit from its usual harvest time - but that has just meant we are even happier to finally see it, and eat it!
So, I am finding our garden to be relaxing to work in, and I really enjoy not having to worry about some of the various alarming bulletins about the mass-produced items causing e coli or salmonella scares - organic and local offers great peace of mind as well as amazing taste!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
