The main reason for Seattle's smarts, as I see it, must be the geography. Just take a look at the map. If a company in New York or Chicago was going to expand, Seattle would not be the first choice. It's too far away all by itself. Tucked in the Northwest corner of the US, Seattelites always had to be self-reliant to survive. That explains why so many corporations were founded here. Read the rest of this entry »

In 1999, when I still worked in the Rainier Tower in down­town Seat­tle, I mostly com­muted by bus from the East­side across Lake Wash­ing­ton. That’s when I learned the mean­ing of the phrase “the moun­tain is out” which means in Seat­tle that you can see Mount Rainier. Since then I’ve never stopped mar­veling at the incred­i­ble scenery that sur­rounds Seat­tle in all directions. Meanwhile on the real estate front: the most sig­nif­i­cant fac­tor in Seat­tle area real estate is the lack of inven­tory. In some areas the num­ber of active list­ings is down by nearly 40 per­cent from a year ago. Read the rest of this entry »

Finding the right rental home for a newcomer to Seattle is one thing. Renting a home requires the same due dilligence and attention to contract language as buying a home. Read the rest of this entry »

Corporate relocation is big business, outsourced to relocation management companies that manage the process and control the costs. When the relocation involves the sale and/or purchase of real estate, the transferee is rarely given a choice of broker/agent because the relocation management company enters into a relationship with the broker/agent that includes the receipt of referral fees which reduces the cost of relocation for the corporate client. Read the rest of this entry »