• The Pike Place Market – Pike Street screams Seattle, from the top of Capitol Hill where it intersects Madison to the western end in the Pike Place Market.  It connects Seattle to Puget Sound by bringing together the fruits of the region’s entrepreneurs and the oceans that surround it.  There are handcrafted and commercial products of most every kind; groceries and seafood to suit anyone’s tastes; all perched above the Elliott Bay with views of water and the Olympic Mountains beyond. Any of the restaurants are fun because of the atmosphere. I particularly like Campagne; they have a café for either lunch or dinner and a restaurant that serves exquisite French meals. Le Pichet is another of my favorites for something a little less formal.
• A ferry ride to Winslow or Alki beach – The views from the Washington State Ferry decks can make you tingle. The ride to Winslow is an easy one that takes you across the sound to Bainbridge Island and the town of Winslow.  The town is a five minute walk from the ferry landing and has a number of small restaurants and shops to explore.  The foot ferry to Seacrest Dock in Alki can be developed to include a 4-5 mile walk around Alki Point on a level seaside path with views along its entire length.  I usually allow myself a stop at Spud’s Fish and Chips because some of the calories will be burned off on the walk.
• Queen Anne Hill – Views, entertainment and great food make this a very desirable urban neighborhood in which to live.  From the Westlake Center, take the monorail to the Seattle Center.  On the “must do” list is the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project (EMP).  Don’t eat.  From there take a bus or taxi to the top of Queen Anne Ave; the counter balance.  Find your way to Kerry Park and enjoy another view over Seattle to Mount Rainier.  Follow Highland Drive to the west around the corner to see the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound.  My favorite pizza spot is Via Tribunali on W Galer.  How to Cook a Wolf is another one of Ethan Stowell’s great restaurants there.
• Ballard – Founded on the bounty of the sea and more recently by young and restless, Ballard is a beautiful mix of young and old.  The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, Shilshole Bay Marina and Golden Gardens give you a true sense of how the people and landscape of Seattle are connected to the sea.  There is lots of night-life on Ballard Ave.  I really enjoy Bastille for a special meal.
• Miscellaneous – To fill in moments of boredom here are a few more things that will warm your cockles.  Fly to Roche Harbor on Kenmore Air for the day and have lunch at the McMillin’s.  Enjoy a concert at the Benaroya Concert Hall; I think that this is what it must be like to be inside a cello while listening to musical concert.  The sound is unparalleled in the world.  Have dinner at Poppy or lunch at Boom Noodle my favorite restaurants on Capitol Hill.

In February of 2010 a delegation from the Washington Realtors will be steaming towards Kobe, Japan to join in ceremonies commemorating the 50^thanniversary of the Hyogo Prefecture Real Estate Transaction Association.  The visit is in response to a visit in September of 2009 by five representatives from the Hyogo Prefecture Real Estate Transaction Association (Hyogo Taku-Ren).  In a landmark ceremony members of the Washington Realtors and the Japanese delegation signed a Letter of Intent for a Bilateral Cooperative Agreement.  Press release

 2. Confirm (price) the known scope – this can be accomplished by going to the store with a shopping list and pricing it or asking subcontractors to   give you prices on their specific trades.

 3. Make allowances for the unknown scope -  if you have to remove a wall it is very easy to estimate how long it will take to remove and replace the   GWB.  It may not be easy to estimate how long it will take to repair the rot behind the wall but don’t give up on the whole process as being too hard to  estimate.  To repeat; estimate the knowns (fixed priced) and document them.  Make a guess at what you can’t see.  It really burns me when   subcontractors try and tell me that because it is a remodel they will only work on a T&M basis.  Do you mean to tell me that a plumber doesn’t know   how long it takes to rough in and set a sink or toilet?  OKI believe that those costs are known and it is the vast majority of their work.  When you   pulled the wall apart, it turns out that he has to run 16’ more copper to get around a column or spend a few more minutes notching a beam for the   toilet.  OK, those are unknown, but how much did they cost?  What we’ve done is control the risk.  We’ve isolated the allowances and they are a very   small part of the project.

 4. Give yourself a contingency; the size depends on the size of the project.  Start out at 25%.  Do your estimate and revise your scope (eliminate or  add back things you need or don’t need) if you want to.  Revise the estimate and only use a 20% contingency.  Make some more decisions and get  subcontractor quotes.  Do you feel comfortable going down to a 15% contingency?  Remember, no matter how detailed your estimate is, something  will change and you will need (or want) a little more money than the “bid.”
 
 5. Use your estimate as a sounding board.  If a subcontractor says they need more money, get really specific: what is actually different than was  estimated.  The more detailed the original estimate from the contractor, the easier this step is.  If it looks sketchy to begin with, the little red flag goes  up.  If you over spent on plumbing fixtures, under spend on electrical fixtures….. You will find that the allowance budgets are far smaller that the known  (fixed) budgets.  If you watch the allowances closely you won’t go over budget.

 6. If you live with a mate, tell them you love them on a daily basis, even if you are tired.  If you live alone, include a friend for support.

Tens years or so ago I met a man who was also an old skier.  We’d both spent some of our youth living in the Rocky Mountains and devoting our time testing our balance while in frictionless motion sliding down steep hillsides covered in snow.  We were working together now on the renovation of a commercial building on the shores of Lake Union.  Mike was the project manager representing the general contractor.  Mike travels in a wheelchair.  I have this memory of him negotiating over a debris covered jobsite that’s probably more romance than reality.  His people knew better than to impede the progress of his chair.  His was the only chair that I saw on a jobsite in thirty five years of my experience in that industry.  He makes an impact.

Imagine my surprise today when I saw his name as a speaker at our weekly CBBain real estate forum.  I was fascinated to see the article that was written about him on the NAHBR website: Selling Universal and Green Remodels.  

The forum is entitled “Designing for Life”.  You’ll see from Mike’s website at

Stewardship Remodeling that he believes that home design should be for life and that if it is done correctly, it should allow us to live out our lives there.  When you understand this approach you can see that one of the paths that it leads to our interest in the impact of aging on real estate.

Is it fair to ask an elder to leave the home that they’ve grown to love?  Is there a way to recognize our own concerns for the safety of our elders and the possibilities that may exist for them staying home?

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