NOTE TO READERS: The online software we use to create and post this blog was having problems Friday morning when this went up and it’s just now, Saturday morning, working as it should. Let’s try this again.
Fires in U.P. How tragic! The recent apartment fire and then the home fire this week are catching everyone’s attention. About two dozen residents were left homeless from the apartment fire and it appears as if they’ve located at least two victims in the remains of this week’s home fire.
The Portland Beavers visit to Cheney stadium this week has been a 50/50 affair, so far. Wednesday night the RAINIERS lost the opener 1-7 but bounced back Thursday with a 5-3 win. Two more tests against Portland are scheduled for 7pm tonight and again Saturday night. The final home game before the all-star break will be a 1:30 Sunday afternoon game, again, against the Beavers.
What’s this I heard about Yuniesky Betencourtshowing up in a Rainiers uniform this week? Yup, there he was at second base, of all places, Wednesday night. He did not play Thursday and we’ll see where he shows up tonight…second? short? bench? Seattle? Pittsburg? Huh? Coming off the rehab roster following a hammie pull last month, Betencourt’s real issue is a possible trade which might be immanent. Could Yuni be a Pirate within the next week or so? Keep your ears open.
I can handle 80 degrees today, about 83 tomorrow and a little precip on Sunday with temperatures back down to the mid-low 70s then as well as Monday and Tuesday. The WEATHERMAN warns of some more possible rain mid-week.
CAMP U-PLAYwraps up another successful week today and begins anew on Monday. To register your 5-12 year olds for part of the 10-week long day camp program, call the rec office at 460-2530.
For the seniors, there’s a BBQ planned for Wednesday (7/15) from 5 – 8pm at the Senior Center and it’s free.
The next First Aid and CPR Class is scheduled for Saturday August 15th from 9am to 5pm but you should consider registering now by calling 564-1623.
I know there are a few addicts in our readership. (What?) Garage Sale addicts, that is. August 8th should have a big circle around it on your calendar. From 9am to 4pm at Cirque Park, that day, is the big City-Wide Garage Sale. (Oh, I can hear the nervous twitching already.) It’s an event to benefit the Volunteer Center and that’s who you need to contact to secure your own booth. Last year, there were more than 50 vendors at the event. a 10 X 10 booth runs $35 if you register by July 17th or $50 after that. 223-0039 will get you Julie Kerrigan from the Volunteer Center and she’ll get you in.
SALE OF THE DAY: In an effort to help you keep tabs on this continually changing real estate market in University Place here’s another recently sold U.P. home with details from public information. SOLD: 4713 82nd Ave Ct W. They brought it on at a reasonable price for the market, $249K but the market didn’t move. So, they dropped it to
$237K and got an offer. They settled at $233K for this 3-bed, 2-bath, 1,326 sq ft home built in 1990. Only 72 days from start to finish for this Westwood Gardens home. In a market where so many homes first appear for sale at a price far above what they eventually sell for. Why was this one pretty well priced and then adjusted to catch a sale in a timely manner? Two words explain it all: Bank Owned. Banks don’t want to own homes. After they foreclosed on this one, they got accurate assessments of it’s true market value, put it on the market and adjusted that price quickly so as to get it sold fast. Every day a bank owns a foreclosed home it’s losing money. They normally sell for exactly what the market will bear. They are not a steal and they are not overpriced. Again, they are in line with the CURRENT fair market value. Period.
Here’s hoping you have a great weekend. I’ll catch you again first of the week and if you have ideas, topics or issues for the blog, most anything effecting University Place, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line. You won’t be ignored.
Be well!
Pat Maddock, Coldwell Banker Bain REALTORS, 3560 Bridgeport Way West, University Place, WA 98466 (253)682-1182 patmaddock@cbbain.com
Who is this guy?
As a top producer with Coldwell Banker Bain REALTORS in University Place, Pat Maddock is the former President of the Tacoma-Pierce County Association of REALTORS and a current Vice-President of the Washington REALTORS, the statewide trade association of professional members of the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). He also serves the University Place – Fircrest Division of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce on it’s Board of Directors and he serves the City of University Place on the Economic Development Commission. But most importantly, he’s been a University Place native since 1953. Pat is also a 20-year Air Force veteran.
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He was finally correct, the WEATHERMAN, that is. Nobody’s out back building a boat but it is nice to have a little rain to freshen things up. OK, so we tied the record. 29 days without measurable precipitation. Actually, for around here that’s not a record. It’s a miracle. In fact, it’s kind of a St. Jude style of miracle, come to think of it. BUT… he’s calling for…the Weatherman, not St Jude… he’s calling for PM Showers both Friday and Saturday. That’s a pretty safe bet wouldn’t you say? I mean, “PM Showers” means it’s gonna rain somewhere between noon and midnight. Really stickin’ his neck out on that one, huh? 30-40% chance of those late showers each day with temps in the mid ’60’s. But then on Father’s Day… We should have expected this. A month of no rain and then Dad’s Day, it’s Showers! 65 degrees is the call for Sunday. Next week, however, it’s to be partly cloudy all the way into the following weekend with temps climbing through the ’70’s as the week progresses and we should hit about 80 NEXT Sunday. ( Shhhhh, I’m not talking about weather and July 4th in the same sentence. I don’t want to jinx it! ) Now, having said all of that, there is a difference of opinion between weather forecasting agencies. Some think this Sunday’s rain will taper off through Wednesday while others think Sunday will wrap it. We’ll just have to wait and see, I suppose.
3-baths built in 1986 in University Ridge off of Chambers Road. There were some extras here. It’s at the end of a dead end road or cul-de-sac or whatever you want to call it but it IS a desirable feature and it looks down over the Chambers Creek gulch, also desirable. Now, for those of you that might conclude that it sold because it was UNDER priced??? Nope. Quite frankly, in the U.P. School District, if the home is in good shape and it’s family sized and it’s under priced…it will go immediately. This one took just over two weeks which tells me it was the perfect price. Had they tried for a higher price, it would have done exactly what other U.P. homes are doing right now, it would languish on the market until it was seen as “damaged” goods and then it would eventually end up selling for less than it should have in the first place, had it been appropriately priced. This home sale is the other side of that coin. Perfect, just perfect!
Who is this guy?
properties at Chambers Bay and all they offer. This was just a perfectly priced home for it’s location, age, condition, etc. They listed it at $333,500 and 15 days later they had it sold for $325K. In this market, that’s perfect! What might surprise is that it’s only 1,835 square feet. It has some wear and tear on it. It needs new carpeting but they accounted for all of that with the dollar sign. Again, it was very appropriately priced and so it defied the slow market and earned a good, rapid sale. We often have a tendency to want to “just try” for that higher price and while I don’t blame anyone for trying, if we leave it at a higher, unproductive price for long at all it becomes viewed by buyers and REALTORS alike as “damaged goods”. So, pricing it right to begin with can make all the difference! It certainly did with this one.
RIGHT WRONG
terms of what price they started at and what they ended with. It was actually back in 2007 that they brought it on the market at $555K and then what happened? Well, the market promptly went to hell in a handbag and there they were with quality homes being built in a soft market, to put it lightly. I really do think it was the quality of Zetterberg homes that got the job done. They have a solid reputation and if you had a chance to walk through this home, it showed like a model. At 2,724 square feet, this 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home shines! The extras are literally too numerous to list. Just suffice it to say that they’re all in there. So, at a time when a lot of builders are giving them back to the bank or selling for a loss AND really struggling to get any new home inventory sold, this Zetterberg ended up closing at $496K and that ain’t bad…not in this market.
You’ve heard me drone on before about getting the kids outside, away from the TV and getting them as active as we can. Yesterday, our two grandsons were over and while their Mom and Dad were busy helping get some things done at the house, the two little guys got a bit bored. Solution #1, build a birdhouse. No, in fact build a bird hotel! Evan called it the Bird Inn. That accomplished several things and then they still had energy. So, while Evan was off investigating something “interesting” we found his twin brother Ethan up a tree. Yep, just sitting up there, thinking and watching the summer afternoon going by. You could say a lot of things about an eight year old boy up a tree on a Sunday afternoon but I would just say…PERFECT!
everything. Everything, that is, except what I went looking for. I was lectured the other night that what I really needed was (Oh, you’re gonna love this!) concentrated, dried coyote urine. ( You just can’t make stuff like that up. ) And the guy who told me about it, swears by it. (Who gathers this stuff? I thought I’ve had bad jobs!) He promises me that it not only drove out all of the neighborhood pets but it also made his yard totally free of mice, squirrels, rabbits, racoons, possums and apparently it even drove off his first wife! “Wow!”, I thought, “That IS good stuff!” So, I went looking for it only to be told that the only place they knew that carried it was the good old Duffle Bag, which, of course, closed it’s doors forever, last year. 
As the last week of school is upon us, so to is FLAG DAY, this Sunday 6/14. Remember all of the campaign “bull” about Barack Obama not pledging allegiance? Well, here’s a good way to put that all to bed. On Thursday, President Obama officially declared Sunday to be Flag Day and the week following to be Flag Week during which he directed the displaying of the flag on all federal government buildings and he urged all of us to observe the day and week by flying our colors at home and other suitable places and by publicly reciting the pledge of allegiance. Do you have your colors up? Do your children understand what it’s all about? Should we leave that lesson to the schools? No! Where should our youngsters learn what it means to be an American? With their teacher or with Mom and Dad? Here’s a good opportunity to explain another facet of what it all means. A good Flag Day and Flag Week to you and yours!
level home featuring 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2,168 square feet on almost a half acre lot is now sold. Three different REALTORS handled the home for over a year and finally, the asking price got reasonable and low and behold, there was the buyer! It wasn’t that the first two agents weren’t any good. Nor was it that they weren’t doing what it took to sell the home. The price was too high! It was really that simple. They started at $375K and finally, when they price got to $339K, they accepted an offer of $324K and it was done. But when it sells at $324k you’ve got to know that $375K was a waste of everyone’s time.
rain while the temps were near 90…what a sensation. Well, let’s see what Thursday brings. Beyond that, the WEATHERMAN says a bit of cooling and increased cloudiness is approaching with forecast highs looking like 70 Friday and in the upper 60’s for the weekend parade and garage sales. Not bad.
to, oh say that youngster of yours or your family or your company or you or whomever you want memorialized at the playground for all to see. It’s a good straightforward way of raising funds for this huge undertaking. What I’m saying is you can stop by the booth and “Buy a Picket” and have it inscribed as you want. No kidding. It’s just one more outside of the box idea being incorporated into this community project. Stop by, see what’s going on, ask your questions and have your little guy or gal get their ideas on paper so they can be considered by the professional designer who will be here next Thursday 6/11 in the primary schools doing just that, soliciting their design ideas. Will your youngster be included in that? Make sure they have their voice heard. Stop by the booth in the park on Saturday and, of course, don’t miss all of the entertainment, food and “treasures” there. 
University Place: What's UP? 