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By Courtney Cooper, February 26, 2008 9:02 pm

CityDog Magazine is Seattle’s premiere dog magazine!

This magazine provides amazingly detailed information for all things for your Seattle area dog in Puget Sound! I find myself in awe at just how many dog friendly events happen in Seattle and I wouldn’t know about them without this magazine! Yes, it is true! Seattle based CityDog also puts on some amazing events and the Puppy Love Mutt Mixer this Feb was no exception! I heard it first hand that this year’s event was wildly popular with the puppies! Seattle residents are lucky to have such a creative dog lover running this fabulous mag! Here is what CityDog has planned for March (straight from the invite):

Seattle’s Pioneer Square is Going to the Dogs!

WHO
CityDog Magazine, you and your furry, four-legged art lover.

WHAT
Join CityDog Magazine and the Pioneer Square Community Association for the first-ever dog friendly art walk as part of the First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square.Be sure to check out the CityDog-hosted, one-night-only art exhibit showcasing the fabulous works of some of Seattle’s finest dog photographers and artists all under one roof!

Photographer extraordinaire Amy Soper of Dane & Dane Photography will be on hand to snap portraits of your own furry friend (available for purchase) and Pioneer Square’s own Dry Soda will be there with refreshing samples of their gourmet sodas.

WHEN
March 6, 2008, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

WHERE
Seattle’s Pioneer Square on the corner of S. Washington & Occidental
(at the old Fenix; enter through the atrium on Occidental Square)
Click here to view map

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHERS & ARTISTS

• Bev Sparks, B Sparks Photography
• Emily Rieman, Best Friend Photography
• J. Nichole Smith, Dane & Dane Photography
• Jenifer Flynn, Four Legs Photography
• Jamie Pflughoeft, Decopaw Design
• Jennifer Sellers, Artist
• Shai Steiner, Animals In Primary
• Angela Ketelhut, Art by Angie

This dog friendly event is one-night-only, so don’t miss this chance to mingle with fellow dog lovers and visit with the photographers and artists who specialize solely in the art of the four legged. Each will be on hand to discuss and share their wonderful works of fine art and photography with you. Then, look for the “CityDog Friendly” sign at other participating, dog friendly galleries as part of the First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square.

RSVP rsvp@citydogmagazine.com

Party Animal Rules: Dogs must remain on-leash and be under your control at all times. Dogs (and people for that matter) must also play well with others. Thank you for your understanding!

I highly recommend you subscribe to this amazing magazine!

Want info on Green Seattle topics?

Seattle Built Green Info , Seattle Green Remodeling , Seattle Going Green Guide, Going Green in the Seattle Suburbs

Courtney Cooper ….For all your Seattle Washington Real Estate Needs! Seattle Area Real Estate Agent: Broker and Realtor serving North King & South Snohomish County.  Seattle Real Estate and Seattle Suburbs!  Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services:   Experienced REALTOR with a background in accounting - I love my clients and work hard for them! Please call me if you are looking for a home or investment property (including short sales, preforeclosures, foreclosures, and REO properties) in Seattle (Ballard, Crown Hill, Phinney, Ravenna, Maple Leaf, Greenlake, Greenwood, Northgate, Lake City,University, Sand Point, Laurelhurst, Windermere, Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, Westlake, Eastlake, Lake Union, Downtown, Madison Park), Shoreline, Edmonds, Brier, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Lake Forest Park, Bothell, Mill Creek, Everett, or other Seattle Suburbs!

 If you are thinking of relocating to Seattle, I am an expert at Seattle Relocation services and can help you find the perfect home while making sure it is a solid financial investment!

Comments (1)

By Courtney Cooper,

Feb 2008 Seattle real estate seems to be hopping – could have something to do with the amazing sunny weather we have been having, but hot neighborhoods include Ballard, Crown Hill, Phinney, Fremont, Greenlake, Wallingford, East Lake, Queen Anne, Lake Union, and Eastlake! I put an Eastlake condo on last month and it got an offer in five days! This real estate sale in Seattle had nothing to do with luck. I gave my sellers a clear plan of attack and they took charge and listened to me on every point. I am still getting calls asking if this place is available to buy as a result.

Some of the basics - These Eastlake sellers did all things I asked them to do and followed my Seattle seller tips exactly! They updated some of the fixtures, cleaned the place completely, put in a few new touches, allowed me to put some Staging pieces in, and priced the place right! Our sale price was 98.76% of our list price and we closed successfully in about a month! Sellers who are serious about listing their houses and condos need to be very diligent in this market to make sure and follow a clear plan of attack when it comes to getting their home ready for the 2008 Seattle real estate market. Savvy Seattle buyers will respond as a result.

Want info on Green Seattle topics?

Seattle Built Green Info , Seattle Green Remodeling , Seattle Going Green Guide, Going Green in the Seattle Suburbs

Courtney Cooper ….For all your Seattle Washington Real Estate Needs! Seattle Area Real Estate Agent: Broker and Realtor serving North King & South Snohomish County.  Seattle Real Estate and Seattle Suburbs!  Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services:   Experienced REALTOR with a background in accounting - I love my clients and work hard for them! Please call me if you are looking for a home or investment property (including short sales, preforeclosures, foreclosures, and REO properties) in Seattle (Ballard, Crown Hill, Phinney, Ravenna, Maple Leaf, Greenlake, Greenwood, Northgate, Lake City,University, Sand Point, Laurelhurst, Windermere, Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, Westlake, Eastlake, Lake Union, Downtown, Madison Park), Shoreline, Edmonds, Brier, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Lake Forest Park, Bothell, Mill Creek, Everett, or other Seattle Suburbs!

 If you are thinking of relocating to Seattle, I am an expert at Seattle Relocation services and can help you find the perfect home while making sure it is a solid financial investment! 

Comments (0)

By Courtney Cooper, February 15, 2008 1:49 pm

Seattle’s real estate market may be a bit soft right now, but the rates are incredibly low for qualified buyers and as a result the good Seattle lenders I have talked to recently are incredibly busy – and even backed up in some cases. Sure, there are going to be refinances in this mix of increased business, but the savvy Seattle buyers are out there in neighborhoods and suburbs right now trying to scoop up some deals before others realize that the market isn’t as bad as they thought! The truth is that Seattle has a booming real estate market in 2008 – it is just a very different market than we have seen in recent years. Seattle sellers, agents, and buyers need to adapt and stop looking to the media for “expert information” because the media seems to be gripping more of a doom and gloom Seattle bubble attitude. Instead, ask someone out there who is actually listing and selling houses in 2008! WAMU might be backed up because they cut their staff down to the bone, but other lenders are busy, too!

The weather is beginning to turn in Seattle – I always know when the woodpeckers start banging on my chimney to attract mates that spring is near! More and more buyers will be out as warmer days set in and with this will come some competition. Sellers should have their full service agents price their home competitively. They should pay the extra money and have an accredited Stager help them get their home ready for the market if their Realtor suggests it. Spring on its way doesn’t mean that Seattle sellers don’t need to put their best foot forward so that a buyer’s first impression is the best it can be. The 2008 Seattle market is still strong, but just trickier and it takes savvy on your agent’s part and on your part to sell your home.

Smart Seattle buyers who are out there right now: it is possible to get incredible prices, deals and bonuses from these sellers without completely low-balling them on your offer! Have your Realtor be aggressive, but write a strong offer and choose where you want to negotiate rather than beating down the offer from all directions. The window of primo opportunity is getting smaller as more buyers realize how enticing Seattle real estate is right now!

Courtney Cooper ….For all your Seattle Washington Real Estate Needs! Seattle Area Real Estate Agent: Broker and Realtor serving Seattle neighborhoods and Seattle suburbs in both North King & South Snohomish County.  Seattle Real Estate and Seattle Suburbs!  Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services:   Experienced REALTOR with a background in accounting - I love my clients and work hard for them! Please call me if you are looking for a home or investment property (including short sales, preforeclosures, foreclosures, and REO properties) in Seattle neighborhoods (Ballard, Crown Hill, Phinney, Ravenna, Maple Leaf, Greenlake, Greenwood, Northgate, Lake City,University, Sand Point, Laurelhurst, Windermere, Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, Westlake, Eastlake, Lake Union, Downtown, Madison Park) or Seattle suburbs (Shoreline, Edmonds, Brier, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Lake Forest Park, Bothell, Mill Creek, Everett) or other Seattle Suburbs!

Comments (8)

By Courtney Cooper, February 13, 2008 2:19 pm

Whether you are in city in a Seattle neighborhood, or in the Seattle suburbs, here is your guide to all things about being green in Seattle!

Being more green can save you money on top of being good for Seattle! I have a lot of good ideas about living green in the Puget Sound, but I know that I got many of them from my friends, family, and clients. I can recall on many occasions exactly where some of these ideas were stolen from. For instance, I know for a fact that I should be bringing my own take out containers to restaurants that I frequent thanks to S&E.

?????S&E’s take out container idea: One day we went to lunch with S&E and after the meal they whipped old containers straight out of their canvas bag and started passing them around the table for us to scrape our left overs into. At first I honestly thought that they were crazy, but I complied and took my left over Phad Thai home in an old washed up cream cheese tub. I started thinking about the Styrofoam take out containers from most of the Thai places that I have been to and realized that S&E had it right, although they looked a bit hippy doing it. We can have a big impact on the environment by following their lead. So five stars to S&E for this one – it can really add up! (BTW, S&E also drive a hybrid car, use florescent lighting, and walk to the local farmer’s market to buy their organic groceries. They are a very good example for me to aspire to.)

I sent out the following email to many friends and clients:

I am doing a series on Going Green in Seattle online – I would love your tips and advice to include if you have time.  My clients and friends have always been so “in the know” about these things and I strive to put that good advice to use!  If you get a minute, I would love your top five ways to go green so that I can include them in the series?

Here are some of the basics in my own home that we strive for:

• Recycle like crazy and reuse as much as possible (instead of recycling cardboard box use it to send something out). I honestly believe that recycling is the very basic thing that all earthlings should do. I was surprised to find while visiting another state that there are places that actually do not recycle their cans, bottles, paper, etc. To me this is such a foreign concept. Every household should recycle at the very least. Even hazardous waste should be disposed of properly and there are places that do this. Recently our yard waste containers are now able to have food scraps in them and that has seriously cut down on our garbage output – things like pizza boxes and paper napkins can go in there, but I also like the idea of composting in Seattle!Seattle recycling info, Seattle hazardous waste disposal info, King County Hazardous Waste info, Snohomish County Hazardous Waste info, Snohomish County recycling info
• Less usage
  Turn the lights off if you aren’t using them and don’t use them as often as you think you might need to. Purchase the more efficient florescent bulbs for all your lighting fixtures – these come in an array of forms now and they actually look good now. We have been replacing all of our canned lights with the canned version of fluorescence over the last year. It is making a difference already in our bill and energy use. The only thing with these is to make sure proper disposal occurs because of mercury content. The hazardous waste sites take them and properly dispose of them.
  Lower the thermostat a degree or two in the winter for increased savings. Raise it a few degrees in summer if you need to use an air conditioner. I also use my curtains to help control the temperature in the house. Shorter showers (showers instead of baths), rain water to water plants outside – Less toilet flushes, never leave faucet running, Energy efficient appliances, hanging clothing out to dry in summer and washing clothing less (wear it a couple times at least if it is still clean…)
• Less driving/more efficient cars I have a large family and need a bigger car, but I was still able to find a Flex Fuel version of the car. Driving a Hybrid makes a difference and I plan on purchasing a Hybrid car in the next year. In the mean time, I try to drive less and do more work over the computer. I am able to sign my clients electronically to save energy and also add convenience to them. I use the fax and internet more and more to save gas! I also clump my trips together so that I am doing a big circle errand and hitting all my stops at once rather than driving to each one individually. A little extra planning really helps cut down on wasteful driving time.
  
• No Toxins in the house!!!
  Toxins in the house eventually reach our groundwater and streams….
  No chemicals in the lawn: We used to have a lawns service keep our lawn nice and green and it occurred to me one day that they were saturating my property with poisons that my children walk on and my dogs play in. I now have a patchy at best lawn full of moss here and there and bits of clover, but it is not leaching toxins into the groundwater. I occasionally will go outside with a tip from my hubby’s grandmother. She said to spray the dandelions at the base of the plant with a bit of vinegar and water in a spray bottle. It actually works like magic! They brown up in a couple days and go away for a while before I am out there with another spray bottle.No toxic cleaners…
  OK, I still have a few, but I am down to mostly Mrs. Meyers products and Method products. They work great, smell great, are better for the environment, and keep things tidy.

  No parabens – This one will probably make me look like a complete nut, but I do not allow products with parabens in my home AT ALL. No exceptions. Parabens are known to be endocrine disrupters and are found in just about everything – shampoos, lotions, make up, etc. – even found some in Huggie’s baby wipes! There have even been studies to suggest that they can cause breast cancer and low sperm count in men – just saying… So you rub the Body Shoppe Body Butter on your skin and shower it off into our water supply. Do some more research if you think I am off my rocker on this one, but I personally think parabens have a huge impact on our environmental health as well as our personal health. Products that I have found to be safe and paraben free: Oil Of Olay beauty fluid (just the basic stuff - I have seen parabens in their other products), Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shampoo, Burts Bees - all products I have seen so far!

• Eat local and organic food! If it is local then it didn’t cost a lot of energy to get here. If it is organic then less impact on the earth went into producing it – no pesticides! S (of the S&E take out idea above) recently sent me info on a pesticide study done on Mercer Island children… The study showed that the pesticides are definitely getting into our kids’ bodies, but that they quickly were rid of pesticides once they began eating organic foods only.
  

OK – On to some of the ideas from you guys so far (keep them coming by the way):

• Jen says her cloth baby diaper service is awesome and she also uses canvas grocery bags. Here is a link to a Seattle cloth baby diaper service. There are pros and cons, but each site is very informative.
• I noticed that Animal Care Center (one of the best vets in Seattle is Tracy Tomlinson) in Mountlake Terrace has some interesting posters up about Dog waste pollution and its impact on the environment. My friend recently mentioned buying or making a dog waste solution for her back yard.
• I got flush the toilet less from both Rob & M – I would also add that buying a low flow toilet or dual flush model could go a long way. I personally have to recommend the Toto brand
• Rob says cloth diapers, solar panels, fluorescent light bulbs and less toilet flushing. I also saw recently that REI among others are selling cool solar chargers for cell phones, etc.
• Kathi likes rain barrels and I have to get at least two! Here is some info on attaching a rain barrel to your gutter system in Seattle. There are tons of Seattle rain barrel sources!

Look for more in upcoming segments – and please comment! Let me know what your amazing eco-ideas are for Seattle!

Courtney Cooper ….For all your Seattle Washington Real Estate Needs! Seattle Area Real Estate Agent: Broker and Realtor serving North King & South Snohomish County.  Seattle Real Estate and Seattle Suburbs!  Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services:   Experienced REALTOR with a background in accounting - I love my clients and work hard for them! Please call me if you are looking for a home or investment property (including short sales, preforeclosures, foreclosures, and REO properties) in Seattle (Ballard, Crown Hill, Phinney, Ravenna, Maple Leaf, Greenlake, Greenwood, Northgate, Lake City,University, Sand Point, Laurelhurst, Windermere, Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, Westlake, Eastlake, Lake Union, Downtown, Madison Park), Shoreline, Edmonds, Brier, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Lake Forest Park, Bothell, Mill Creek, Everett, or other Seattle Suburbs

Comments (3)

By Courtney Cooper, February 11, 2008 12:42 pm

Built Green in Seattle neighborhoods and Seattle suburbs?

In Seattle real estate, I have written about all the great Built Green properties in Seattle neighborhoods & Seattle suburbs before, but I thought it was pretty cool that the Master Builders Association in partnership with both King and Snohomish Counties also offer a Built Green Self Certification checklist for Seattle area remodelers, too!!! This is huge since I put all new energy efficient appliances in my house and also had Bamboo flooring installed throughout, but I also think it is so wonderful that Seattle buyers looking for a built green house can now look to existing properties for a Built Green rating!

Return on Your Investment?

Yes! Green for green! Seattle Built Green properties are popping up all over the place in the new construction arena. I think a great way to add value to your house before you decide to sell is to make sure that any remodels done are certified by this program as being green and better for the environment! It will add to your ability to market your home to all the savvy buyers out there looking for these types of properties, and it will be contributing to making Seattle real estate more green!

Courtney Cooper ….For all your Seattle Washington Real Estate Needs! Seattle Area Real Estate Agent: Broker and Realtor serving North King & South Snohomish County.  Seattle Real Estate and Seattle Suburbs!  Cooper Jacobs Real Estate Services:   Experienced REALTOR with a background in accounting - I love my clients and work hard for them! Please call me if you are looking for a home or investment property (including short sales, preforeclosures, foreclosures, and REO properties) in Seattle neighborhoods(Ballard, Crown Hill, Phinney, Ravenna, Maple Leaf, Greenlake, Greenwood, Northgate, Lake City,University, Sand Point, Laurelhurst, Windermere, Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, Westlake, Eastlake, Lake Union, Downtown, Madison Park), Shoreline, Edmonds, Brier, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Lake Forest Park, Bothell, Mill Creek, Everett, or other Seattle Suburbs!

 If you are thinking of relocating to Seattle, I am an expert at Seattle Relocation services and can help you find the perfect home while making sure it is a solid financial investment!