Wenatchee Realtor Is Assaulted At Open House

Realtors have many open houses per month.  The weekends are sprinkled with corner signs advertising open houses.  It’s a great opportunity to show off homes and allow potential buyers a preview, but you hardly ever consider the dangers of allowing strangers into your space.  Last weekend a Wenatchee realtor was assaulted at an open house.  Thankfully she was not harmed and made wise decisions to protect herself.  This is a a great time to review the safety guidelines realtors should follow when exposing themselves to unfamiliar people and environments.  Take a look at these Open House Safety Tips from the National Association of REALTORS®.

“A real estate agent was assaulted during an open house Sunday afternoon at a home for sale in the 700 block of Cascade Street in Wenatchee. Police Sgt. John Kruse said the local woman called police after incident about 1:30pm. Kruse said she told authorities a husband and wife had toured the home together but the suspect returned alone and asked to see the home’s basement.  Kruse says the intoxicated man allegedly tried to grab the female real estate agent.  Officers contacted the man who claimed they were just having a “consensual hug”.  Kruse says the woman was not injured.”

Source:  KPQ.com

Kirkland gains 31,000 residents and Woodinville loses a fire department.

We perform a lot of Kirkland home inspections and I’m sure the new home buyers and current homeowners are very happy they’ll receive property tax savings soon. The Kirkland annexation will boast the benefits of 31,000 more residents, a decrease in property taxes and increased law enforcement, but one neighborhood loses a fire department. In a KING-5 News video interview the Kirkland mayor says that they are prepared to cover the larger area. The city had been working on the annexation for 10 years. The Woodinville area fire department had a closing ceremony today to honor their “second home” and office.

“One of the biggest annexations King County has seen in a long time became official a minute after midnight Tuesday. The Finn Hill, North Juanita and Kingsgate neighborhoods are now part of Kirkland…the city has done extensive research and is confident Kirkland can welcome 31,000 additional residents and 200 new businesses while providing essential city services. One change will be law enforcement. On Tuesday, the King County Sheriff’s Office patrolled the Finn Hill, North Juanita and Kingsgate neighborhoods. Now Kirkland police take over. That’s why the department hired 24 new officers and still plans on adding 13 more. The Kingsgate area, however, lost a nearby Woodvinville fire station. Residents there have concerns about what that will mean for service. Kirkland’s mayor said the city has hired additional firefighters and they are working to make sure response times stay low.”
Source KING 5 News, June 1, 2011 at 7:20 AM

Zillow Goes Public

"Real estate site Zillow.com filed for a $51.75 million initial public offering Monday.  The Seattle-based company didn't say in its Form S-1 filing how many shares it planned to sell, nor how it would price each share. However, it did say that Technology Crossover Ventures and PAR Investment Partners agreed to buy a total of $5.5 million of common stock directly from Zillow."

Source: NEW YORK (CNNMoney) By Julianne Pepitone, staff reporter (April 18, 2011: 4:50 PM ET)

Overall home sales may still be down since the boom, but the real estate tech industry is looking good.  Trulia, Zillow, Estately and Redfin have started to thrive in the dot com world.  Capitalizing on social networking integration and web advertisement these companies are providing better tools for the home buyer, seller, real estate agent and other real estate industry professionals.  As a home inspector working from Seattle to Wenatchee these websites have been a valuable tool for marketing our services over a board service area.  I'm looking forward to the many opportunities these sites present as they grow.