Staying Healthy While Enjoying Stay Healthy Streets

Speaker 1: [0:09] Hello, hello, and welcome to another recording of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. This is your host, Christian Awesome, with the Awesome Awesome Group at Wilson Realty here in Seattle. And I am joined by the rest of the team. We are social distancing. We are all recording this in separate places, as opposed to how we normally do it all together in the same room. We're separate. But you know what? We'll make it work. So with me today is Mr. Jason Saldarriaga.

Speaker 2: [0:34] As always.

Speaker 1: [0:36] Miss Charlotte Reynolds.

Speaker 3: [0:39] Hello.

Speaker 1: [0:40] And the wonderful Sarah Kate Davis.

Speaker 3: [0:43] Hey, everyone.

Speaker 1: [0:44] All right. So today's podcast, we are going to talk about a few things. So first off, we're gonna go over whether or not it still makes sense to buy right now, uh, and whether this is a good time to buy. Uh, Jason's gonna talk and teach us about the Stay Healthy Streets in Seattle. They are pretty interesting, so you're definitely gonna wanna learn about them. There's some potential changes on the horizon as well that might impact you if you're not already impacted by those. Uh, we're gonna go over the West Seattle Bridge, get you up to speed on what's going on there. Talk about how we're seeing some changes in what people are searching for in homes. And yeah, that's, that's pretty much what we're gonna talk about today. So Charlotte, let's first dig into if it still makes sense for people to be buying right now

Speaker 4: [1:34] Yeah, for sure. So, I mean, it's pretty apparent that, you know, there's a lot of change happening for all of us right now. Mm-hmm. So that being said, there's a lot of people out there evaluating if, you know, purchasing a home that as they had planned, like still kind of makes sense for them. Uh, so for some people it does, and there are, you know, quite honestly a lot of people to where it doesn't make sense for them to continue with their plans purchasing, and we've seen some people kind of put that on hold because of, you know, everything's with happening, you know, people changing jobs and stuff like that. So on the other side of that though, there is a new group of buyers that are coming into the market due to the rates being as low as they are. I don't know if you guys out there are paying attention, but they're like shockingly low right now. So-

Speaker 1: [2:21] Yeah, I think earlier this week I saw one of our clients who just got their house offer accepted, and their rate was 3% on a 30-year fixed. Yep,

Speaker 4: [2:29] exactly. Yeah.

Speaker 1: [2:30] That's insane. So

Speaker 4: [2:31] yeah, that's definitely, um, driving a new market of buyers just on its own. So it's been interesting to watch this evolve over the last few months, um- Mm-hmm … from, from a couple different aspects. So what we're really telling our clients right now is that if buying still makes sense for you and your long-term plans and your job is still stable, then yeah, it's definitely still a good time for you to buy. Um, and you need to always look at it as a long-term investment, and that's how we want people, you know, to look at it right now and just in general. Um, and no matter kind of what the state of the market is, never try to play the market because that never works out in your favor. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: [3:13] So- If it does, it's only 'cause you got lucky, not because of you being smart. Exactly. 'Cause it's, it's just like the stock market. It's pretty much impossible to play it.

Speaker 4: [3:21] Yeah, exactly. So if you, you know, are having a hard time figuring out if this still makes sense for you, never hesitate to reach out to us, and we're happy to have that conversation with you for sure.

Speaker 1: [3:32] Yep. And you can always do that at our website. It's very easy to schedule a little quick 30-minute phone call, Skype. We- we've done a lot of Zoom calls, FaceTime, Google Meet. We can chat with you just on the phone. Um, whatever you're comfortable with. There's absolutely no pressure. There's no cost. It is just a super laid back half-hour discussion with you or shorter or potentially longer, depending on how many questions you got. Uh, and you can do that right on our website, awesomeandawesome.com/schedule. It's very, very simple to do. So feel free to do that if you are thinking you want to decide if that makes sense or not. Awesome. Thank you, Charlotte. Sarah Kate, let's talk about how people's searches are changing. What are you seeing out there?

Speaker 3: [4:18] Yeah, people are reevaluating their home search indeed. You know, with the West Seattle Bridge closing, that has impacted some people's search. Maybe they're deciding not to live in West Seattle anymore because they have to commute downtown for work, and that just doesn't make sense for their lives anymore. So we're seeing some people take West Seattle off their list, for instance. You know, people that live in a smaller town home may be feeling a little cramped, and they're thinking they need a little more space. They'd like a single-family home, maybe even a home office, for instance. So we're seeing people kind of reevaluate what they want in, in a home. And maybe people are being granted the ability to work from home on a more permanent basis, and they don't need to live so close to the city, and they're maybe expanding their search up north a little bit, you know, past Northgate, Maple Leaf, even Edmonds. I've had a few people that have changed their search to include Edmonds. So there's a lot of, there's a lot of reasons people are reevaluating their search at this moment.

Speaker 1: [5:24] Yeah. I mean, we've had a couple, couple buyers that have gone from, you know, Lynnwood or the edge of, uh, Shoreline in Seattle and gone up to Snohomish, um, because it's just not that big a deal anymore. They don't have to commute at a specific time. Um, they can get more, more of a, a, a larger house for the same amount, if not a little bit more, um, out further on some land. So.

Speaker 3: [5:51] Yeah. I've had some clients too that were maybe thinking about waiting till next year to buy their first home, but their apartments are starting to feel very cramped at the moment, so- Mm-hmm um, my clients with stable jobs are, are reevaluating, uh, their timeline as well.

Speaker 1: [6:06] Definitely. We've had a lot of buyers that are renting and just don't want the apartment life. Especially, most of the p- apartments and even condos, the amenities are all closed off. So, uh, the purpose of being in this cool, newer building with all these awesome amenities that now you can't even use, it's like, well, what's the point? So, yeah.

Speaker 4: [6:27] And they're pay- paying premiums for those amenities too.

Speaker 1: [6:30] Mm-hmm. Yeah. Big premiums. I've even, I've even heard of, uh, I was talking to a client a couple days ago, and they were considering asking for a rent reduction because they can't use the, the amenities. And I was like, "Huh, interesting. Well, good luck." I mean, I don't know if they're gonna say anything or let you, but might as well try.

Speaker 3: [6:48] Yeah. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Speaker 1: [6:49] Yeah. Cool. Awesome. So yeah, definitely people are changing their searches. Um- It's, it's interesting. Uh, we've even seen this, uh, some of the big portals out there have, have noticed these changes as well, uh, and even made some comments on it. Um, hot tubs, I know hot tub sales have gone through the roof just, just like alcohol sales have since the pandemic started. Hot tub sales have just skyrocketed. So if your house already has one, that's gonna be a hot commodity Jason Yeah … tell us all about these Stay Healthy Streets. What the heck are they? Where are they? What's going on? Please explain.

Speaker 2: [7:29] Yeah. I- it's gonna be interesting to see how this impacts people's searches. So basically, uh, if you haven't heard already, Stay Healthy Streets are various streets throughout Seattle that are now closed off to through traffic. So you can park your car on it, and people who have, like, a house or a driveway can still access their property, but you're not supposed to drive through it. You know, so traffic shouldn't be moving through it really. And it's r- devoted to allowing pedestrians and bikers to really enjoy the street. These streets are located throughout Seattle. There's streets in Ballard and the High Point area of West Seattle, Delridge, uh, Greenwood/Phinney Ridge. There, it's all throughout Lake City. Some in South Seattle, like Rainier Beach and whatnot. In total, it's about 20 miles that have been allocated these Stay Healthy Streets. The idea being, when the pandemic hit, people needed some ability to get out of the house, get some fresh air, but still be distant from other people to maintain social distancing. Mm-hmm. And so they implemented these Stay Healthy Streets, and then after a couple months, they were such a huge hit that not only did they expand to more streets, but the mayor, Mayor Durkan, actually announced that many of these streets are going to be permanently closed to stay, uh, to, uh, through traffic. They're gonna install, like, permanent signs, signage to make it more official. It- I'll be interested to see if they change the markings on the street and that sort of thing. So more to come there. But it really just shows how Seattle's evolving and is listening to, to citizens. Kind of a, a current thing is that they recently reached out to the public and said, "All right, these are a huge hit. What other streets do you think we should convert to Stay Healthy or temporarily convert them to Stay Healthy Streets?" And, uh, we voted on that, and so I'm sure there'll be some, some, some change moving forward on that. But yeah, it's very excited, it's exciting, and as a real estate agent, I'm, I'm intrigued to see how this impacts property values, quite frankly, because it's, uh, it opens up the door for a lot of these properties to now be basically, uh, to a butt apart- Yeah which is pretty exciting for a lot of people.

Speaker 1: [9:51] Uh, yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see how this all plan, or pans out long-term too, um, and what changes happen. And we will, we'll, uh, we'll update the description if, if more streets are added, we'll, we'll add those to the description. So, um, just pay attention there. Awesome. Anything else you want to talk about, Mr. Potato Head? I mean, Jason.

Speaker 2: [10:13] No, that's, that's my spiel. Why don't,

Speaker 1: [10:15] why don't you explain- More

Speaker 2: [10:15] to come … Speaker: why I called you Mr. Potato Head so it doesn't seem like I'm being mean? Well, I… This was during the r- you know, when was it? Probably April when everyone was really- Yeah cooped up at home, freaking, and kids were freaking out, and, and I live near one of these Stay Healthy streets, and I figured, you know what? I can share, spread some cheer. So I got myself an inflatable Mr. Potato- a Potato Head outfit, and walked around the neighborhood playing All You Need Is Love- … uh, with a, in a speaker on, in my pocket, and just waved at all the kids. Only a few of them- … it was successful.

Speaker 1: [10:54] I thought that was so awesome that you brought some cheer to people in a time where we were all freaking out and worried, and that was great. Good job, Jason. That is why I called him Mr. Potato Head. Because he was, and he brought some cheer to a lot of people, so good job, Jason. All right. Let's talk about the West Seattle Bridge and what the, uh, latest is there. So obviously there's some big infrastructure changes happening there. Uh, there's been some updated timelines, and so I just wanna keep you up to date. So City of Seattle, Seattle Public or Seattle Department of Transportation has said that if repairs are feasible, most likely at the earliest they would be complete by 2022. If they are able to do those repairs, that's not gonna mean it's gonna be the same amount of lanes of traffic. It's gonna be reduced lanes, and the repairs will probably only last about 10 years, and then it's still gonna need to be ultimately replaced. So it's basically a Band-Aid for 10 years, but it won't even be ready until at the earliest 2022. They said that if a tear down, complete tear down is called for, they could start doing that as soon as next winter. Uh, and a replacement would take until 2024 to 2026, and that's assuming they're gonna build a new bridge. One very interesting proposal, uh, that has been floated out there is the idea of an immersed tu- uh, tube tunnel. And, uh, a retired civil engineer proposed this idea. His name's Bob Ortland, and he-- Once he proposed this, he actually proposed it on… The first place I saw it was West Side Seattle blog. Um, if-- I think their website is West Seattle Herald, but it's been gobbled up and, and added to the West Side Seattle. That's the first place I s- I heard about it. It has since received, received a huge groundswell of love because it would be a pretty interesting option. Basically, they could add a light rail tunnel and, um, enough traffic to this tunnel that, that basically it's a precast cement tunnel that they then sink down into the Duwamish River. It wouldn't impact boat traffic or anything like that. They would dredge out the river. It's only 500 feet wide, um, that they would need to build this, so they only really need two, potentially three sections. Um, and they could do that way faster than, uh, rebuilding an entire bridge. Uh, in British Columbia, they did one of these. It was a 2,000-foot tunnel versus the 500 feet that West Seattle would need. Uh, they did this in 1959, and it only took two years and two months to build that. Wow. And that was under the Fraser River. So, um, it shouldn't take nearly… It's only a fourth as long. It shouldn't take nearly as long to do, to do it. Um, and it would be-- It would already have capability for light rail. Like, it would just be… Uh, y- you can read up about it more if you just Google it, but it's called immersed tube tunnel. Um, it got so much groundswell that when the proposals for the City of Seattle came out for construction companies to bid on this, they originally had only asked for companies to bid on a bridge. This got so much notice that they actually added or an immersed tunnel, tube tunnel option to those bids. So, um, it's definitely gaining some support and, uh, and I think it's worth looking into. I don't know if it's the right idea, but I definitely think it's worth looking into. Um, the, the speed of it getting done, the fact that light rail could be added to it, um, all those things just kind of make sense. The, the degree of entry and exit from the tunnel would be only six degrees versus, uh, I think the cur- I don't, I don't wanna say even a number, but it's much, it's like two to three times h- uh, more of a degree to get onto the West Seattle bridge currently. Um, like from Delridge and stuff like that, it's quite a hill, so big trucks and things like that really slow down and gum up traffic getting onto the current West Seattle bridge. So since this is a much lower slope, uh, that would, that would help keep traffic moving at a faster speed. So there's a lot of, of pros for it. I'm sure there's some cons that will eventually come out. Um, but it seems like an, an option that definitely needs to be explored. So, um, yeah. Anything else you guys wanna talk about? Is that it?

Speaker 4: [15:45] Yeah. I think that's all

Speaker 3: [15:47] I have. For now. Yeah. Until next time.

Speaker 1: [15:49] Until next time. All right. So if, uh, if you have ever come to one of our home buyer classes and, or if you're, you know, just thinking if this might be the right time for you to do something again, please go to our website and just schedule a strategy session. That's awesome nossum.com/schedule. You can schedule a, a strategy session very easily. It's totally free. There's no pressure. We're just gonna chat with you, help you explore your options. If you would also like to watch a virtual home buyer class that we recently recorded via Zoom, you could do that. You can sign up for that right at beersandhomebuying.com. That's beers, with an S, and homebuying.com. Um, we usually use that website for signups for our Beers and Homebuying home buyer class, which is usually done in person, but that's not happening right now. So we did it virtual. You can definitely watch that. That video is only 34 minutes long, and it really gives you all the basics on how to buy a house in Seattle. Um, so yeah, that is it. Thank you very much for joining. I hope you learned something, or at least many things. And until next time, thanks for listening.

Speaker 4: [17:03] Thanks. Bye. Bye.