Spoken Gently's Blog: All Categories

One of the major draws to Washington’s beautiful Tri-Cities area, for both real estate opportunities as well as tourism, is the wide variety and abundance of natural attractions to be found there. The Tri-Cities community of Pasco is home to many of these wonders, including the McNary National Wildlife Refuge.

Although this beautiful refuge spans a large portion of the whole Tri-Cities area, it is considered to, in a sense, “belong” to Pasco because of its proximity to and accessibility from this city. If you’re a lover of plants and/or animals, as well as Mother Nature in all her glory, you simply must check out the McNary National Wildlife Refuge, whether you’re a visitor to the area or considering real estate here.

This natural sanctuary of many…

This fall, the current Washington residential purchase agreement form will not be available. The new Washington REALTORS forms will be taking the place of the current standard. Classes are available (and for the most part, a requirement) in the use of the new forms. One notable change is the requirement to attach a legal description to the purchase and sale agreement, as opposed to merely writing the description in to the listing agreement. To acquire a hard copy of the legal description my necessitate opening title or contacting a title company for the latest recorded legal description. These are the facts, now for an opinion.

I understand the Washington Association of REALTORS® desire to unify the forms all Washington real estate agents use, however,…

I read this article yesterday and thought about posting a blog entry about it. Well, the article came across my desk today, this time from another source, so I thought it best to suggest it. The article is Search Engine Land's Top Ten Organic SEO Myths. At first, the myths seem fairly straight forward bringing no new news with them, however, as I thought about the myths, I find myself guilty of subtly subscribing to some of them. For instance, I find myself updating pages for the sake of search engine optimization. My pages certainly need work, however, the motive should be for the visitor, not the search engine. Another point I toiled with was the point regarding sitemaps. Sitemaps are helpful, however, I am guilty of relying on them too much for the…

Yes, you have read it correctly, cities in Washington state are among the cities in the United States with the fastest growing home prices. Our Wenatchee is the #1 city in the country with the fastest growing home prices. Among the top twenty markets in the country are Washington's Longview real estate market (6th), Seattle metro area real estate market (17th), Tacoma real estate market (19th), and the Spokane real estate market (20th).

From the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, page 2:

The Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with the greatest appreciation between the second quarter of 2006 and the second quarter of 2007 were: Wenatchee, Washington (23.5%), Provo-Orem, Utah (18.2%), and Salt Lake City, Utah (16.0%). The MSAs with the…

Thanks to Tri Cities Toyota, Tri Cities Washington will have a two page plug in the next issue of Time Magazine, reports the Tri City Herald. The two pages are an advertisement won by Toyota of Tri Cities for earning the Toyota Motor Sales President's Award. The ad will picture community notables wearing local sport team apparel, and hits the newsstands August 31st.

Also in the news is Toyota Center's inking a 10-year $2.1 million deal with Toyota of Tri Cities for naming rights to the Toyota Center.

The Tri Cities continues to be a destination location for those looking to relocate. When considering relocation to the Tri Cities Washington area, consider Joe and Colleen Lane for Tri City Washington real estate services.

The Chancellor’s Exhibition Series art exhibit is open to the general public at the East Building of WSU Tri-Cities, 2710 University Drive. The 14 display art exhibit will be open through December in the administration corridor. For more information visit the WSU Chancellor's Art Exhibit page.

The artists and their works are:
• Tracy Horner — Insect Mandala and Meet.
• Vali Hawkins Mitchell — The Palouse at 60 Getting Cold.
• Heather Willoughby — All There Is, Rare Respite, A Sense of Tangibility.
• Leonard Orr — 99, 103, 49, 105, and 104.

Colleen and I are excited about this year's inaugural first freshman class at WSU Tri-Cities. As Richland Wa REALTORS®, and personally owning several Richland Washington properties, the commencement of a new…

This 17th annual Tri City golf classic is accepting registrations until the August 31st deadline. A registration form can be found here. Several options are available for company sponsorships at the September 7th classic at Canyon Lakes Golf Course. For more information: Tri City Golf Classic

Related Tri Cities Resources: Tri City Regional Chamber of Commerce | Canyon Lakes Golf Course | Tri City Washington Golf
Related Featured Articles on Golf Course Living: Golf Living's Ground Floor | Greenery and Golf at Home

The Parade of Homes is a yearly event whereby the region's builders, subcontractors, and construction vendors showcase their work. This year's Parade of Homes showcases 30 homes throughout the Tri Cities Washington area during September. Tri-Cities residents can view these spectacular homes for a fee of $7.00 The viewing dates are September 8 & 9, 12, 15 & 16. For more information, maps, and the previous year's winners, click on the Home Builders Association Parade of Homes image.

In terms of real estate, the Parade of Homes is a great opportunity for real estate agents to show their listings. Many Parade of Homes viewers come from out of town to view the best that Tri Cities has to offer, often times the catalyst for relocation to the Tri City Washington…