Free Market Tracker Report

Another free service from me to you. Check out Prudential's new Market Tracker report. This e-mail report provides you with monthly updates about real estate activity in your zip code area, including average sales prices, active listings and rates of appreciation. To view a sample of the January report for 98126 click on the link below. To begin receiving the free monthly Market Tracker report, simply call (206)708-9800, text or e-mail me at alice@alicekuder.com with your current e-mail address and the zip code(s) you want to track. That’s it! You can easily opt out at any time if you change your mind.

Market Tracker is offered exclusively through Prudential Northwest Realty, LLC.

Click the link that follows to see a sample Market Tracker report:

http://media.reliancenetwork.com/dyna_images/clients/1974690/20081393012.htm

Seattle home market bucks the trend

Standard & Poor's released year-end figures earlier this week which track the home prices in various markets throughout the United States. Seattle was one of three markets that posted a positive rate of appreciation. The other two were Portland, Oregon and Charlotte, North Carolina. Miami remains the weakest market, followed by Las Vegas and Phoenix. If you'd like more information about the report, just send me an e-mail: alice@alicekuder.com with S&P in the subject line.

Million dollar view

Here are a few pics of the home I will be holding open this weekend at 9270 California Ave SW (just off Barton). Not only is the view fabulous, but the home itself has some wonderfully unique features such as the stained glass skylight shown here. Whether or not you can afford a $1.1 million dollar home, treat yourself to a tour of this great property, listed by my Prudential colleague, Maggie Heffernan. I will be there from 1-4 both Saturday and Sunday.

Check out this organ!

While previewing new listings this week, I saw this marvelous vintage organ in a beautiful old Victorian home in the Admiral District. This 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath home is listed at $739,000 by Randie Stone of Windermere. Give me a call if you'd like more information or would like a personal tour.

Do you know where you live?

As a real estate agent, it's my job to know the various neighborhoods around town. But you might be surprised to hear that the city of Seattle doesn't recognize or declare any distinct boundaries for various neighborhoods. So how do you know, for instance, where Gatewood ends and Fauntleroy begins? Is there such a place as Sunrise Heights?

Recently I was taking a new listing for a house on 36th and Cloverdale and the owner asked me what neighborhood his house is in? I told him I was going to ask him the same question, because I had discussed it with other agents and none of us could come up with a good description for that area!

What do you think? The area I'm talking about is west of 35th, south of Thistle, north of Roxbury and east of 39th. My colleagues and I would argue that it's too far west to be Westwood, too far south to be Gatewood, too far east to be Fauntleroy (or Fauntlee Hills) and too far north to be Arbor Heights.

Of course, there are other hard-to-identify neighborhoods, too. Do you live in one?

I'm thinking about sponsoring a contest to name some of these neighborhoods and maybe come up with some unofficial boundaries. It might be kind of fun, don't you think?