Now that summer is nearing, the plants are starting to grow quickly. Seattle Public Utilities has asked that customers keep their meter accessible for their staff. This ensures that the meter reader can quickly and accurately record your usage. By doing this, it will help keep utility costs down, and maintain stable rates.

Here are some things you can do to help Seattle Public Utilities.

Trees, bushes and plantings

• Trim bushes, trees, and grass that block the way or cover the meter. During the growing season, plants can quickly overtake and block meters.
• Minimize plantings that are in the way of meters.

Pets

• Keep pets away from the area that leads to the meter.
• If you have a protective or guard dog, let Seattle Public Utilities know so that the meter staff is aware.
• It may be required to confine pets during the day that your meter will be read.

Objects in the way

• The meter staff needs to have access to the meter. If there are objects in the way such as garbage cans, construction equipment, or landscape tools and materials the meter reader won’t be able to access the meter.

Locked gates

• If you have a gate that you prefer to keep locked Seattle Public Utilities will often obtain keys from customers so that they’ll have access to the meter. As long as the lock is accessible from the exterior of the gate, this doesn’t present a problem.

Address

• Make sure your address is clearly visible and displayed on your residence.
• This also assists emergency personnel in finding your home quickly.

By making sure the above points are attended to should ensure accurate reading of meters. If you have further questions don’t hesitate to contact Seattle Public Utilities.

Want to get familiar with the plethora of Real Estate terminology? Here are some commonly used terms to hopefully help define and clarify some meanings for you and to alleviate some confusion.

• Multiple Listing Service (MLS) – The MLS is an enormous database that organizes home that have been listed by real estate agents. The MLS acts as a portal for all licensed real estate agents to find and list homes for home buyers and home sellers.
• Real Estate Agent – A real estate agent is a real estate professional who’s job it is to make sure a person looking to buy a home, or a person looking to sell a home is represented.
• Seller’s Agent – A seller’s agent will make sure that information posted on the MLS is accurate and complete. He/she will ensure that images of the property or home are taken in a way that showcases the best aspects of a home in order to entice a potential buyer’s agent to view the home.
• Buyer’s Agent – A buyer’s agent represents a potential home buyer. The buyer’s agent will take into account the parameters set by the buyer and endeavor to find homes that meet the qualifications of the buyer. A buyer’s agent will work with and negotiate with the selling agent on the buyers behalf.
• Escrow – Escrow is money that is held by a third party, (usually an escrow agent) who works for both the lender and the borrower. The escrow agents role is to carry out instructions agreed upon by both parties. The money is released when all terms of the agreement are met.
• Lender – Any company or bank that provides money on loan to a borrower.
• Borrower – Any individual or group entity that contracts money from a lender.
• Equity – The market value of a real estate property less the amount of existing liens.
• Lien – A lien is a legal claim against an asset which is used to secure a loan and must be paid when the property is sold.
• Mortgage – A mortgage is a loan that is secured against a real property. Usually placed on a schedule of repayment.

If there are any more real estate related terms that you may want defined, please let us know.

The after-tax season and the U.S. Census may bring out scam artists. Beware.

Tax refund Scams–Watch out for phony e-mail saying you’re eligible for a refund. According the IRS, the scam asks consumers to open an attachment or click on a link to a claim form. The form requires personal and financial information. Taxpayers do not need to complete a special form to obtain their federal tax refund, according to the IRS. Refunds are triggered by the tax return you submitted to the IRS.

U.S. Census: Scam artists may get in touch via phone, e-mail or in person in an effort to steal confidential information. A legitimate representative from the Census Bureau will never:

• Ask for your full social security number
• Ask for money or a donation
• Send requests on behalf of a political party
• Request PIN codes, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts.

The Census Bureau also doesn’t conduct the Census via the Internet or send e-mails.

If you’ve ever gone spelunking (no, not throwing rocks into ponds spelunking) or cave exploring then you understand basically how geothermal heating works. It essentially taking the relatively cool constant temperature of the earth’s crust (about 55 degrees Fahrenheit) and bringing it up to help cool a home in the summer, or heating it in the winter.

In a building that uses geothermal heating, a pump brings 55-degree groundwater up into a heat pump. The pump extracts the heat from the water and sends cooler water back into the earth. In the summer, the process is reversed by pulling hot air from the house and sending it down to the earth.

Since geothermal heat pumps are more efficient than air-to-air heat pumps, and because the ground water is closer to the desired indoor temperature than the air outside, geothermal pumps use less electricity and work better in colder climates than the original heat pumps did.

Currently, there is a generous tax credit that pays for 30 percent of a geothermal system’s cost. Despite the government incentive, some find it difficult to fund the $40,000 – $60,000 upgrade to their current heating system.

However, once the new geothermal heating system is in place, heating and energy savings are substantial. Keeping heat and energy bills roughly the same throughout the year. Geothermal heat pumps offer high efficiency and a low operational cost. According to the EPA, geothermal heating/cooling systems can save homeowners 30 to 70 percent on heating and 20 to 50 percent on cooling costs over conventional systems.

As an added consideration, some homes are being outfitted with solar panels in addition to the geothermal heat pump. By using the energy provided by the solar panels, the heat pump can be nearly self sufficient energy wise by using the suns energy to power the pump.

It’s an amazing way to save on electricity without sacrificing comfort.

Despite the initial cost, the savings are immense and the return on investment is nearly equal.

Perhaps as technology improves and the cost of installation is reduced consumers will find time to go spelunking into the wonders of geothermal heating.

During the regularly monthly meeting in Olympia, the Washington State Transportation Commission will continue to discuss the SR 520 toll setting.

Tolls for the SR 520 Bridge have not been set but will be discussed during the meeting. There won’t be any toll booths on the bridge; tolling will be done electronically. Motorists will prepay into a “Good to Go” account. When cars approach the bridge, an overhead device reads a transponder sticker on the windshield and automatically deducts the toll from the account. For those who don’t have an account, cameras will record license plates and send out a corresponding bill.

During the meeting, the Commission will work with the Washington State Department of Transportation to develop the toll rate structure. The discussions will cover the setting of the timeline, potential rate levels, and the rate structure.

The meeting is open to the public if you’re interested in attending.

The two-day meeting will be held at the Transportation Building in Olympia at 310 Maple Park Ave. SE. Meeting times are 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 18 and 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 19.

Hi all,

Sorry for the inconvenience, but due to the increase in spammers, we’ve temporarily closed the blogs for commenting.

The Bothell Real Estate Writing Team

Backyard cottages are just that; Cottages. They are a spacious “MIL” mother-in-law. However they cannot be more than 800 sq. ft. They are allowed in single-family zoned properties throughout Seattle under an ordinance approved unanimously by the Seattle City Council. Owners of the property must live on the premise and Seattle would allow about 50 new cottages a year. The lot size along with height and depth requirements are covered under city ordinances as well.

Cottages or DADU’S (Detched Accessory Dwelling Units) are an additonal way to support needed housing in Seattle. They can be a nice niche for students, relatives, elderly or low-income rental property. They are small dwelling units that are on the same lot but separate from a single-family home.

Permit fees for backyard cottages will vary according to whether they are “new construction” or existing structures. It can take time to go thru the permit process. For more information about legalizing a currently occupied backyard cottage, please contact Dianec.davis@seattle.gov. For information needed on permit requirements go to www.seattle.gov/dpd/BackyardCottages or call Applicant Service Center (ASC) at 206-684-8850.

It seems Jack Frost forgot us this year. The Seattle-area northwest is the warmest it’s been for quite some time. With all this warm weather, it gives us time to not only enjoy the relative warmth, but also to go out and look at houses or spruce up the yard for those that are selling! » Continue reading “Where’s Winter!?”