Come Enjoy Great Food & Music for a good cause at the Columbia City Night Out!

Columbia City Night Out

Come out and eat, drink, shop... and give to your community at the same time!
On Wednesday, June 24 from 5pm to 9pm, follow the Windermere Open House signs to Columbia City. Windermere Mount Baker and Columbia City merchants are getting together to raise funds for Southeast Seattle kids and families!
Participating merchants have agreed to donate a portion of the evening’s proceeds to The Windermere Foundation, with the funds earmarked for use in our Southeast Seattle neighborhoods.

There will also be a SILENT AUCTION at the Columbia City Theater (4916 Rainier Ave S), with live music by Freddie Mac and the Bad Assets. Jazz sensation Mercedes Nicole will be performing at Kallaloo (3829 S Ferdinand).
Check out our blog for more information on participating merchants and the Silent Auction: http://KidsCause.blogspot.com/


Previous recipients of our fundraising efforts include:

African American Academy Youth Empowerment of South Seattle Wild and Scenic Institute Dearborn Park Elementary Arts in Motion George Pocock Rowing Foundation Sunshine Physically Challenged Foundation Danny Tang Fund John Muir Elementary St. Edwards School Thurgood Marshall Elementary Urban Impact-Mekong Learning Center Salaam Urban Village Association Dunlap Elementary Treehouse Van Asselt Elementary Wing Luke Elementary Brighton Elementary Friends of Hawthorne Beacon Hill Elementary Youth Advocates Powerful Schools

I will be at Retroactive Kids from 5:00 to 8:00. Come by and see me!

Hope to see you there!

10 Cities Most Likely to Bounce Back From Recession Quickly

Some cities are likely to recover more quickly from the housing downturn than others. Forbes magazine has identified the top 10 cities that it believes are poised for recovery by examining unemployment figures, projected gross domestic product from Moody’s Economy.com, and housing affordability data from the National Association of Home Builders. Overall, cities most likely to recover first are those with strong technology capabilities.

Here is Forbes’ top 10:

1. Austin-Roundrock, Texas
2. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark.
3. Boulder, Colo.
4. Huntsville, Ala.
5. San Antonio, Texas
6. Mobile, Ala.
7. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
8. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.
9. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas

10.Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.

Source: Forbes, Joshua Zumbrun (6/10/09)

BAR(code) HOPPING




The world is drunk with information and people can't seem to satisfy their thirst. You're probably one of the many looking for the next great technological high. Well, you'll be happy to know that Microsoft has designed a brilliant way to take the party to the streets by turning your smart phone into a digital shot glass with their relatively new product Microsoft Tag Reader.


It basically works like this:

Say you're walking by a restaurant and you want to know more about the place. All you have to do is pull out your i Phone or Blackberry, snap a photo of their bar code and it will automatically bring up the website the restaurant has assigned to the bar code. It could be their website, ZAGAT rating, menu, etc..

Essentially it is just like clicking on a link but rather than opening a browser on your phone and searching for something, you will get instant access by snapping a picture of a bar code.


From a real estate perspective this will be great because it will allow people to access a lot more information & media connected with listings than can be shared with a flyer. How many times have you driven by house, wanted to know more about it but found that the flyer box was empty, or that the flyer wasn't very helpful. This technology will eliminate that problem.

But don't expect this technology to sweep across the industry right away. Real estate agents are usually good at selling real estate and behind the times with technology. It will probably be a while before we see widespread use in the housing market.

I can say that I have just started using this technology and can't wait to see what kind of interaction it produces!


What does it cost?

The service is free but you have to create an msn live account and download the software to your phone.

It also only works with a few smart phones right now. If you have a Blackberry, i phone, or use Windows Mobile 5 or 6 you can download the program directly from your phone by going to gettag.mobi and hitting download. Palm and other operation systems will be included later.



If you'd like to try it out on a bar code, try the one I created for a listing I have in Greenwood. Just download the program and snap a picture of the bar code below:




This technology is really cool and should prove to be very useful. I'm usually a tea totaler but I must say that I will be stepping up to this bar to imbibe deeply and frequently. See you at the party.

Check out this video on the new tag reader:

IS HOMER SIMPSON FACING FORECLOSURE?

Maybe so.

According to one real estate news source, this weeks episode of The Simpsons shows how even cartoon families aren't immune to the housing crisis.

"Even the Simpsons Face Foreclosure In this week’s new episode of The Simpsons, Homer and Marge’s adjustable-rate mortgage skyrockets and they have to put their home up for sale. The couple is in this jam because they financed their annual Mardi Gras parties using home-equity loans. Homer explains his dilemma in a way that is pathetically close to what has happened to so many others:"It's a secret thing called a home-equity loan. I get all this cash ... and the house gets stuck with the bills!" Later in the sad, but almost-true episode, he tells his mortgage broker: "When you gave me that money, you said I wouldn't have to repay it 'til the future. This isn't the future. It's the lousy, stinking now!"Source: TheSimpsons.com (03/08/2009)"

SHAG CARPETING IS MAKING A COMEBACK?

I didn't think we'd see it come back. Anyone who was impaled by a lost toothpick or stepped squarely on an MIA green army man as child can relate with the dangers of shag carpeting.

Yet here it is again making a comeback with the hip tile flooring company FLOR.

It is also the subject of a "Hot or Not" poll at apartmenttherapy.com.


FLOR could have made a killing during the Austen Powers crazed 90's. Single men everywhere would have purchased it in hopes of living out some "shagadellic" fantasy.


The question is will this new breed of shag carpeting make you growl out "Yeah, baby. Yeah!"

Track Stimulus Package Spending

According to President Obama we should be able use the new web site http://www.recovery.gov/ to track how the stimulus money is being spent.

I certainly appreciate how the Obama administration is taking advantage of technology to keep the public abreast as to what is happening in Washington. This website is being set up to provide a level of transparency as to how this stimulus money is going to be distributed. It will probably be more "opaque" than "transparent" but it's a nice start.

Without further ado, here's President Obama:

Foreclosure Help from the Private Sector

This is pretty cool. The owner Black Entertainment Television is kicking in to help people out.

Daily Real Estate News December 11, 2008


Black Media Mogul to Aid Foreclosure

Prevention Billionaire Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television and owner of the Charlotte Bobcats NBA team, has announced a plan to fight foreclosures.Johnson has committed $1 billion to enable his minority-owned Urban Trust Bank and a new entity, Homeowners First Bank, to create an arrangement that allows loan servicers to pay the monthly loans missed by borrowers while they work out a repayment plan.“Our mission would be to undertake mortgage foreclosure prevention activities such as substantial loan modifications, reducing principal and interest wherever appropriate; and to ensure that such modifications and overall reductions in mortgage payments will result in protecting homeowners from losing their homes to foreclosure," Johnson said.

Source: PRNewswire (12/10/2008)