the
Volume 10 | Issue 4
EYE ON THE
APRIL 2019
APRIL happenings
market
The Puget Sound market continues at a steady pace compared to prior years. With the peak season for real estate just around the corner, it may be a good idea for sellers and buyers to start planning their timelines. Experts suggest that the first and second weeks of June will be an optimal time in the Seattle metro area for sellers to list their homes and maximize their earnings. Overall, most of 2019 is expected to be a buyer’s market. Analysts emphasize that the region isn’t in a “real estate bubble” but that home prices in the area are starting to match wages. Inventory and home values are modestly increasing— another sign that the market is healthy and consistent. In King County, the median single-family home price was $655,000 for February. Pierce County’s
value came in at $355,000 and Snohomish County was recorded at $474,948. Since news broke that Amazon will no longer place its second headquarters in New York, there has been discussion of what that means for the Seattle headquarters. The company has recently expanded office space to downtown Bellevue, and it may be that those who intended to be employed at the New York HQ2 will be displaced to Bellevue. More recently, Amazon has confirmed plans to sublease space in offices under construction in Seattle, which draws much speculation on the growth of the company in the Puget Sound region.
celebrating EARTH DAY EVERY DAY A few ideas for celebrating Earth Day in your home and your daily life: Walk or bike to work. Reduce your communities. Go to e-stewards.org to footprint on the Earth by leaving your find a facility that will help you recycle car at home whenever possible. You your e-waste in a safe and responsible benefit from the heart-healthy exercise, manner. and the Earth benefits because, with Reduce junk mail. One hundred million one less car on the trees are cut down each year to road, there are fewer produce junk mail, and the resulting carbon emissions. loss of trees takes a huge toll on the Recycle your e-waste. Earth. Return junk mail unopened More than 50 million to the sender by writing "Refused. tons of electronic Return to sender.” Opt out of waste are generated prescreened credit offers each year in the U.S. alone, and only 20 permanently or for five years online at to 25 percent of the waste is responsibly optoutprescreen.com. Decide what recycled. As a direct consequence, large other mail you do not want to receive amounts of hazardous materials such as by going to DMAchoice.org. lead, mercury and cadmium leach into (continued on next page) our air and water, contaminating our
1-30 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival tulipfestival.org
6 86th Annual Daffodil Parade thedaffodilfestival.org 7-18 Seattle Restaurant Week srw.seattletimes.com 11-14 Spring Fair thefair.com/spring-fair 13-14 Seattle Super and Sprint spartan.com/en/race/ detail/4276/overview 20 Free National Park Day nps.gov/planyourvisit/fee-freeparks.htm 20 Seattle Cheese and Meat Festival cheeseandmeatfestival.com/ seattle 25-5/5 Apple Blossom Festival appleblossom.org 26-28 Evergreen City Ballet Presents Coppélia | evergreencityballet.org/coppelia 27 Spring 2019 Protégé Show emeraldcitytrapeze.com
TAKING CARE OF tulips Bringing tulips home from the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival? Here’s how to make them last: • Choose tulips that are tightly closed; this means they are fresher. • Select a vase that is half the height of the tulip stems • Fill the vase one-third full, as tulips do better in shallow water. • Re-cut 1/4 inch and rewater daily. • Keep them away from direct sunlight and heat. • At night, store them in the coolest room in the house. • Place a penny in the bottom of the vase; it’s been said to work!