6-22-10: Ron and Gail and their 2 grown children wanted to buy a Seattle duplex, preferably in Wallingford, for the two young adults to live in and manage as a good investment. At first, finding the right one was hard. But when we found it, they knew it, so they outbid two other eager buyers. We closed today. And it's in a great spot ... in Wallingford!
6-21-10: Tim wanted to buy a place in or around Capitol Hill to house the offices of his landscape architecture firm. The right deal couldn't come together, but he still wanted to move. He had always dreamed on that one corner in Madrona, so when it came available for lease, we snatched it up. Both sides signed the lease today.
5-19-10: Myyk was a college grad starting his new computer programer job, which happens to pay well enough that he thought he ought to go ahead and buy a home, catching the "bottom of the market." He wanted a close-in townhome with some architectural style yet enough room to have friends move in too. The first one that he really, really wanted couldn't be had. We closed today on a 4-br one in the north end of the Central District.
1-19-10: Laura wanted a fixer in the Central District that would be big enough for her and her brother to call home as both created and raised families. We chased some difficult short sales and then they zoomed in on a 4-br townhome for sale by a bank that had foreclosed on it. That transaction closed today.
1-14-10: Todd needed a new retail tenant to replace the one who succumbed to the recession in his South Downtown Seattle historic building. Tenants are few and far between in this climate. But a non-profit Grameen bank was in the market, so we contacted them. They wanted to create an eclectic shop at which their microborrowers could sell the goods they produced. We came to agreement and the last part of signing up the lease was finished today.
11-4-09: Mark wanted a floating home on Lake Union. He had rented one years before and was now in position to own one. He knew we were near the bottom of the market, and "they won't be making more of these (floating homes)," establishing them as strong investments (if you can get one). He got a beauty; we closed today.
10-4-09: Julia wanted an urban condo in Seattle to buy as an investment to build her American credit rating and then move into when her kids have started college. We built a rapport so that with her an ocean away, we found just the right unit with fresh walnut floors, warm brick walls and tons of light in a fully re-done historic building in Pioneer Square.
7-15-09: Mark (#2) wanted just the right small Neighborhood Commercial site in Capitol Hill on which to build a small mixed-use building (residential over retail) with NO PARKING. This was one of those "find something off-the-market" opportunities. We used maps to locate a short list of prospects, knocked on doors and we closed today on the one he would most want out of them all -- the triangular plot at 12th & Madison that up to now has housed the Acacia flower shop.
6-09: Deb & J wanted to move up from renting the space for their Capitol Hill physical therapy clinic to owning their space. They had sent hundreds of letters to property owners, but no luck. We found them a big house on 12th near Cal Anderson Park that they love. We closed in June '09 and just today (6-22-10) they concluded a full renovation and moved in.
3-09: Art also felt ready to move up from renting to owning the space for his popular Seattle retail store. The search was slow and methodical, but he closed this month on a prime corner and opened the new store within weeks.
