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This week, two Seattle Mariners won the Rawlings Gold Glove award: Ichiro Suzuki and Franklin Gutierrez!

For Ichiro, this is his tenth Gold Glove award, behind only Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente who have won twelve each, and tying Ken Griffey Jr and Al Kaline for third place among outfielders since 1959.

For Franklin, this is his second award; he led American League outfielders this year in fielding percentage: a perfect 1.000 with no errors and 413 putouts.

Congratulations, Ichiro Suzuki and Franklin Gutierrez!

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The website Zillow has taken a break from crunching real estate numbers and created a fun list of the best neighborhoods for trick or treating this Halloween. 

The city of Seattle is the number one city to trick-or-treat in the nation, and for the second year in a row, Wallingford has been named the best neighborhood to trick-or-treat in Seattle, as computed in the second annual Zillow Trick-or-Treat Housing Index. The data junkies at Zillow donned their Halloween caps and identified the top five neighborhoods in Seattle that kids will get the most bang for their knock as they try to optimize their candy haul.

Top 5 Best Places to Trick-or-Treat In Seattle in 2010

1.Wallingford
2.Ballard
3.Queen Anne
4.Roosevelt
5.Ravenna

Zillow's Methodology

On Saturday, November 6th from 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM you can go to the Sunset Hill Community Club (3003 NW 66^th Street) and pick up information to begin your self-guided walking tour of the Ballard RainWise street project.

Ballard has taken the lead in Seattle to prevent pollutants from entering our waterways. How so? One of the biggest causes of waterway pollution is run-off from roofs and driveways. This water is normally diverted to the storm drains in the street or in some cases to the city sewer system itself. In the latter case, this puts a burden on the sewer treatment plants. In the former, pollutants that could be filtered on the property are wisked away to streams, rivers lakes and out to Puget Sound.

Here is what this free tour offers:

· Learn from experts at each tour site how and why Ballard is leading with green.

· Discover how easy it is to receive a RainWise rebate and create a beautiful yard.

· See neighborhood rain gardens and cisterns that have already received a rebate.

· Visit planting strips transformed into roadside rain gardens.

· Explore porous concrete and how it works in green alleys.

Be a part of cleaning up this valuable resource of ours. At the same time, you might discover a way to install a water retention site on your property and enjoy the rebate to help defray expenses.

It is becoming more and more important to home buyers that their new home be in a "walkable"  neighborhood.  Convenience to coffee shops, restaurants, shopping, pubs & parks are often at the top of people's new home wish list.  There are now several great web sites for Seattleites to research the "walkability" of a home:

Seattle Recreational Walking Map from the Seattle Dept. of Transportation (SDOT)

The Seattle Walking Map was designed to help Seattle residents and visitors choose a walking route that best suits their interests and fitness level. The routes identified in the map come from a variety of sources including Feet First, King County, and the City of Seattle Department of Transportation and include routes that follow sidewalks, shoulders on quiet streets, and park trails.

This new series of city walking maps divides Seattle into three sections: north, central, and south. Adjoining sections of the map include a limited amount of overlap, should your route cross from one section to another.

Walk Score

Walk Score is a site that has been around for many years.  Driven by advertising it will take any address and rate it for its proximity to amenities.

How Walk Score Works

Walk Score is a number between 0 and 100 that measures the walkability of any address.

90-100 Walker's Paradise -- Daily errands do not require a car.
70-89 Very Walkable -- Most errands can be accomplished on foot.
50-69 Somewhat Walkable -- Some amenities within walking distance.
25-49 Car-Dependent -- A few amenities within walking distance.
0-24 Car-Dependent -- Almost all errands require a car.

Here are just a few of Seattle's best walking neighborhoods:

Green Lake
Phinney Ridge
Queen Anne
Wallingford
Fremont

Congratulations to Svetlana Abrosimova, Sue Bird, Abby Bishop, Swin Cash, Lauren Jackson, Alison Lacey, Camille Little, Ashley Robinson, Jana Vesela, Le'coe Willingham, and Tanisha Wright on winning the Women's National Basketball Association Championship!

A popular website for homebuyers researching neighborhoods is Walkscore.com.  Lake & Company Real Estate now offers Walkscore information for every listing in the Northwest MLS.  From Lakere.com simply choose the home you are interested in from the search map.  At the detailed listing page look for the tab "what's nearby".

Website rates your neighborhood's walkability and your commute costs.  The Seattle Times, 8/16/2010

According to Walkscore, 57 percent of Seattle residents live in a neighborhood with a score of 70 or above.  Most neighborhoods have a score of at least 50, with 14 percent of residents living in car-dependent neighborhoods.

Seattle's most walkable neighborhood is Pioneer Square, with a score of 99, followed by downtown, 97; First Hill, 96, Belltown, 95; and Roosevelt, 96.  At the bottom of the list is Blue Ridge, with a score of just 32. 

Walkscore also scores the walkability of a neighborhood to its proximity to such amenities as grocery stores, schools, restaurants, parks and even bookstores. 

The website also has a calculator to show home much of a resident's average monthly income goes to housing and transportation costs.  According to Walkscore, households in traditional suburbs spend up to 32 percent of their incomes on transportation costs, while households in walkable areas with good access to public transportation spends as little as 12 percent.

This Agreement is conditioned on Buyer's subjective satisfaction with inspections of the Property and improvements on the Property. Buyers inspections may include, at Buyer's option and without limitation, the structural, mechanical, and general condition of the improvements to the Property, compliance with building and zoning codes, an inspection of the Property for hazardous materials, a pest inspection, and a soils/stability inspection.

The onus is on you, the Buyer, to line up and proceed with an investigation of the property to the extent you choose. A broker working on your behalf will have good suggestions for you, such as a list of licensed inspectors, a number of companies that do sewer scoping, and where and how to test for lead paint, asbestos and other hazardous materials. Plan to take two to five hours off from work and attend the inspection. You will learn a lot more about the property from accompanying the inspector than just reading the report later. Expect that an inspection for the average house will cost around $400 and a sewer scope another $200. This is all money well spent.

There is a neighborhood review clause in the inspection. You may take the opportunity to investigate crime statistics with the local law enforcement agency, determine the time required for your commute to work, check noise levels at different times of the day, and anything else that may affect your quiet enjoyment of the property.

I learned from a client years ago that the best neighborhood review process was to take a couple of hours and go knock on neighboring doors. Ask they people there how they like the neighborhood and what kind of problems might be anticipated. She was exactly right and I've been recommending that process ever since.

Your attitude and that of your broker are very important in the approach to the inspection and how you handle the results. There are three options open to you as you near the inspection deadline:

1. Perhaps you just want to walk away and that is within the bounds of your allowed choices.
2. There is also an option to negotiate with the seller, and minding the timelines is of utmost importance. Sellers in the recession market are already feeling put upon and will likely dig their heels in with requests for repairs. Work through this with your Broker respecting that, but still with a goal of getting the property at a fair price.
3. No house in perfect, and in spite of its flaws you may still love the house and elect to purchase it as it is. Some buyers forget that the original goal was to own a home.

Remember that the inspector is not there to pass or fail the house. The inspector is there to give you an idea of the condition of the house and its elements. You, the Buyer, make the decision to proceed or not.

On July 1, 2010 the State of Washington enacted a number of laws concerning the real estate industry and one of them: WAC 308-408C is all about what an inspector is required to do and what an inspector is not required to do. For a PDF summary of the law as put out by The Washington Realtors®, drop me an email and I'll send it to you.