Blog - Windermere Orcas

Lifestyle, San Juan Islands

Top 30 island escapes

Orcas Island, WA The long summer weekend was invented in Washington’s San Juan Islands, or should have been. Summer stretches languorously here, with 16 hours of daylight— enough time to savor orcas and eagles, kayaking and hiking, and a wonderful food scene. Orcas is the island of superlatives. It’s the biggest of all the San […]
Environmental

Eco-friendly design by Frances Badgett

Back in the 1970s, environmentally conscious house design was relegated to the fringes. Solar homes were first gaining notoriety, but were rare projects. No one built to preserve trees on new construction sites. But with a growing consciousness and improvement in materials and costs associated with eco design, the paradigm has shifted dramatically. Considerations like […]
Lifestyle, San Juan Islands

Why Washington's Orcas Island Should Be Your Next Family Getaway

This was just posted to the Conde Nast Traveler website Written by Rebecca Misner August 02, 2016 On remote Orcas, off the coast of Washington State, the summer is short, the days are long, and the empty beaches, gin-blue lakes, and dense forest trails add up to the castaway vacation you’ve been dying to take. […]
Housing Market

Western Washington Real Estate Market Update

Posted July 28 2016, 11:00 AM PDT by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate Posted in Market News and Western Washington Real Estate Market Update by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate ECONOMIC OVERVIEW Washington State continues to see strong employment growth, outpacing national numbers with an annual rate of more than […]

Lifestyle Top 30 island escapes Orcas Island, WA The long summer weekend was invented in Washington’s San Juan Islands, or should have been. Summer stretches languorously here, with 16 hours of daylight— enough time to savor orcas and eagles, kayaking and hiking, and a wonderful food scene. Orcas is the island of superlatives. It’s the biggest of all the San […]

Environmental Eco-friendly design by Frances Badgett Back in the 1970s, environmentally conscious house design was relegated to the fringes. Solar homes were first gaining notoriety, but were rare projects. No one built to preserve trees on new construction sites. But with a growing consciousness and improvement in materials and costs associated with eco design, the paradigm has shifted dramatically. Considerations like […]

Lifestyle Why Washington's Orcas Island Should Be Your Next Family Getaway This was just posted to the Conde Nast Traveler website Written by Rebecca Misner August 02, 2016 On remote Orcas, off the coast of Washington State, the summer is short, the days are long, and the empty beaches, gin-blue lakes, and dense forest trails add up to the castaway vacation you’ve been dying to take. […]

Housing Market Western Washington Real Estate Market Update Posted July 28 2016, 11:00 AM PDT by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate Posted in Market News and Western Washington Real Estate Market Update by Matthew Gardner, Chief Economist, Windermere Real Estate ECONOMIC OVERVIEW Washington State continues to see strong employment growth, outpacing national numbers with an annual rate of more than […]

San Juan Islands Travel & Leisure Magazine Picks the San Juan Islands as the 5th Best Island In the Continental US for 2016 by Melanie Lieberman If you thought you had to travel to Hawaii to experience island life in the U.S., you may be surprised to discover that some of the most well-loved islands are scattered around the country’s coasts. Every year, T+L asks readers to rank their travel experiences in our World’s Best survey. Here, they […]

Lifestyle Living on the Water is a Lifestyle Posted June 8 2016, 3:00 PM PDT by Kelly Weisfield subscribe to post Email-icon Buying Waterfront Properties – What You Should Know Before You Take the Plunge Posted in Luxury Homes, Premier Event , Selling, Buying, and Living by Kelly Weisfield Living on the Water Is a Lifestyle Enjoying direct and private access to the […]

Buying Homebuyers May Benefit from Stock Meltdown This was sent to us by Tammy Pollard, Sr. Mortgage Advisor with Paramount Bond & Mortgage Co, LLC Despite the facts that the Federal Reserve recently raised interest rates, U.S. stocks are tumbling and new worries about the Chinese economy seem to emerge daily, there is still a positive outlook for homebuyers. All the worries […]

Housing Market King County Had Almost Half of 2015’s 30 Most Competitive Neighborhoods in America We probably don’t need to tell you that 2015 was a crazy year in real estate, especially in our city. Bidding wars and listings lasting mere days on the market is something we’ve all grown accustomed to. But it turns out we’re not alone. Redfin recently came out with a list of the 30 most competitive […]

Lifestyle 15 Islands You Need in Your Life: No Passport Required CHECK OUT #11! By Kelly Hickey Deal Expert, Chicago posted on December 21, 2015 on travelzoo.com Stunning, shimmering sunsets across the water, the peaceful lullaby of waves crashing and the wind blowing, the feeling of truly being removed for your everyday life … yep, islands are pretty much the best. While it’s wonderful to get […]

Buying 2016 Home Sales Will Be Best in a Decade, With Surprising Hot Spots, Realtor.com Predicts CNBC December 2, 2015 Total homes sales next year are expected to reach the highest levels since 2006 on the back of new construction and the existing housing market, Realtor.com reported Wednesday. The report contains several surprises. Among them, Providence, Rhode Island, ranked as the hottest market for 2016, and millennials are expected to make […]

Lifestyle Just Hanging Out This was taken by Diane from her home on Buck Mountain.

Buying How to Survive the 4 Common Mortgage Killers A lot of detailed documentation is required when applying for a home loan these days. You can expect to show everything from full tax returns, pay stubs, bank statements, to letters of explanation regarding credit, debt, income and assets. However, that leaves quite a bit of room for challenges to pop up. Here are four […]

Lifestyle Sun in the Madronas taken by diane whitley

Housing Market It Pays to List in Winter Spring may still be peak home-shopping season, since most families want to move when school is out. Yet it actually pays to list in the winter, when buyers tend to have more urgency. A study by online brokerage Redfin found that average sellers net more above asking price during the months of December, January, February, […]

Lifestyle View from the Orcas Island Ferry This was taken by Deborah Hansen, a broker in our Windermere Real EState/Orcas Island office.

Lifestyle Providing Food for the Holidays and the Rest of the Year. It’s that time of year again when many of our Windermere offices are out in their communities helping to collect donations and raise money for their local area food banks. Many people rely on the food they get from food banks to feed their families. Not having the luxury to purchase their own food means […]

Lifestyle Dog Friendly Vacations Did you know that according to Sunset magazine. Orcas Island is the number 1 dog friendly vacation spot on the west coast? Yeppers, it’s true! Top 25 Dog-Friendly Vacations, From Beach Runs to Pup-Loving Bar Crawls Top 22 dog-friendly vacations You can take your best pal with you on these getaways around the West Dog-friendly […]

Lifestyle Halloween on Orcas Island One of the many reasons I love living on Orcas Island is Halloween. All the merchants in town decorate then pass out candy to all the little and big monsters! Fire pits are set up, hot apple cider is passed out, pumpkin carving and of course Trick or Treaters are everywhere. The costumes are inventive […]

Lifestyle Sunrise on Orcas Island This was taken by Bob Shipstad at his home on Orcas Island

Lifestyle Why I Love Living On Orcas Island On Orcas Island, we LOVE parades. Any excuse, we are going to have a parade. The entire community comes out and supports them. Yesterday was Homecoming, which is a big deal just about anywhere, but for a small community like ours, it’s huge. The parade started at the high school down Prune Alley, right on […]