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Recipe: .... 2

Improve Your Life .......................... 3

Home Warranties Worth It? ......... 3

Experts Predict 2014 Housing Market ..................... 4

Current Market Stats ....................... 5

Housing Bubble Fears .................... 6

Economy Heats Up ........................ 6

The Next Place to Live ................... 7

Mariners’ Home Schedule ............. 8

Happy Spring! Happy Spring!

Page 2

Baby birds learn to sing. Baby birds are born with the ability to sing, but they must

learn the specific songs of their species. They are thought to acquire these songs between 10 to 60 days of age and begin to sing them the next spring when they have matured at about 300 days old.

Source: www.facebook.comGraebel

Companiesposts/354205888015015

Spring fever is real! Commonly occurring when a sudden warm spell follows a long cold period. When the temperature rises, there's a dilation or expansion of the blood vessels so that blood can be carried to the body surface where heat can be lost quickly. Some people experience an energetic feeling to this reaction. Source: www.facebook.comMerrillCorporation

Bostonposts/430363920379924

RECIPE: IRISH CREAM CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

I have compiled an extensive list of professionals that encompasses a wide range of services. If you are in need of any contacts for services ranging from Arborists

to Zoologists, I can connect you with a respected expert to meet your needs.

Call Me to Locate Your Professional!

NEED A PROFESSIONAL SERVICE?

Terrific Trivia How many people do you share your birthday with?

A. over 10 million B. Over 13 million

C. Over 15 million D. Over 19 million

Makes 1 9-inch Springform Pan

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs

1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup butter

3 (8 ounce) pkgs cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 T all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the cookie crumbs, confection-

ers' sugar and 1/3 cup co-coa. Add melted butter and stir until well mixed. Pat into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes; set aside. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, white sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa and flour. Beat at medium speed until

well blended and smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in the sour cream and Irish cream liqueur; mixing on low speed. Pour filling over baked crust.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees, and con-tinue baking for 60 minutes.

With a knife, loosen cake from rim of pan. Let cool, then remove the rim of pan. Chill before serving. If your cake cracks, a helpful tip is to dampen a spatula and smooth the top, then sprinkle with some chocolate wa-fer crumbs.

Source: www.allrecipes.com/Recipe/Irish-Cream-Chocolate-Cheesecake/Detail.aspx?evt19=1

Answer on pg 5

Page 3 W i n d e r m e r e B e l l e v u e C o m m o n s

Feeling stuck in a rut? Make these small, mindful moves to improve your mental and emotional well-being in a big way.

Make a Date With a Friend When you are busy, time with pals is the last thing you should cut. The more you hang out with friends, says a recent Dutch study, the easier it is to cope with stress.

Power It Down The next time you meet a friend, switch off your phone and stow it. You've got to disconnect to truly connect.

Go Play (Outdoors and In!) Everyone can benefit from playing games whether it be physi-cal activity or board games. Exercise, laugh and relieve daily stress.

Laugh Off Stress A study at the University of Luxembourg found that if you laugh gently at a misstep instead of belittling yourself, you'll be less tense and feel a greater sense of well-being. .

Go Ahead—Brag! The next time you get happy news, like a promotion, phone a pal. You'll get a second dose of the positive feelings associat-ed with the event.

Get Out in Nature Being outdoors for half an hour can boost creativity and help you feel more focused and less stressed once back at your desk.

Take Charge Be true to yourself, play to your strengths, and enjoy the results.

Pause and Reboot Take a breath. Doing a basic meditation on a busy day is good for your health.

Embrace Your Messy Side Cleanliness may be a virtue, but clutter may inspire your next great idea.

Make it a Habit When stress hits in, get relief by falling back on a healthy ritu-al like a power walk.

Jump for Joy Literally or figuratively… Go on - hop a little. Or skip!

Source: www.goodhousekeeping.com/ health/wellness/little-life-improvers

THINGS TO DO TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW!

ARE HOME WARRANTIES WORTH IT?

Lorraine Labonne-Storch opted not to buy a home warranty when she bought a house in New. The home inspec-tor had told her the boiler was on its last legs, but she didn't want to pay the $500 fee for the warranty.

Less than a week after closing, her boiler burst into flames and had to be replaced for $12,000. She now regrets her decision to skip the home-warranty coverage. As she learned, a home warranty can pay for itself in one visit from a repairman. And that includes the $100 deductible that many plans have for a service call.

The home warranty would have covered only up to $1,600 for repair or replacement of the boiler, but "any little bit would have been helpful," she says.

Labonne-Storch is now a real-estate agent, and she says her first advice to buyers is to purchase a home warran-ty. "When a buyer is buying a home, you have to keep in mind that these are used items."

What warranties cover and how much they cost A home warranty can be an inexpensive insurance poli-cy for a buyer who purchases a home that has old ap-pliances, or for new homeowners who don't know the

In addition to charging a small deductible, home-warranty companies typically place some limits on what they'll fix.

A typical home-warranty plan might cover air condi-tioning and heating with ductwork, electrical systems, plumbing (including stoppages), clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers, ranges and ovens, refrigerators and water heaters.

When is a home warranty a good deal? Knowing the average life span of an appliance can help determine if buying a home warranty is a good deal. Even with new appliances or home systems, the origi-nal equipment manufacturer warranties can be less than a year.

Source: www.realestate.msn.com/are-home-warranties-worth-it

Page 4

EXPERTS PREDICT 2014 HOUSING MARKET

D. Over 19 million -Louis Glickman

The U.S. real estate market made a robust comeback in 2013, surpassing expectations of many economists, as the combination of low inventories and historically low interest rates caused home prices to rise and even helped fuel bidding wars in some markets, surpassing the expectations of many economists. While positive trends, such as in-creasing home values, are expected to continue into 2014, mortgage rates are also expected to rise in the coming year and could put a damper on home buyers? abilities to afford new homes.

Looking back at some 2013 data can give us a hint of the year ahead:

Inventory Should Gradually Stabilize and Return to Traditional Seasonal Levels

The beginning of 2013 could be characterized as the “year of low inventory” as buyer demand ramped up and homeowners waited for further price increases and evi-dence of a solid economic recovery before putting their homes on the market. The year began with a significant shortage of inventory (reported by realtor.com®), and then as early as February the level of shortages started to decline slowly. As 2013 comes to a close, inventory is approximately the same as a year ago. However, homes are selling faster than in 2012, with the median age of the inventory down by 11 percent.

More Homeowners Are Likely to Return to Positive Equity Rising prices helped 2.5 million homeowners who were previously underwater regain positive equity status dur-ing the second quarter of 2013. However, approximately 7.1 million homes were still in negative equity at that time and an estimated 10 million homeowners, or about 21.1 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage, re-mained “under-equitied,” with less than 20 percent in home equity. The good news is that prices are expected to continue rising in 2014, which will lift more home-owners into positive territory. According to real-tor.com®, median list prices for homes in October rose 7.57 percent above the same month of 2012.

Mortgage Rates Are Expected to Rise Mortgage rates increased approximately 100 basis

points in 2013 and are likely to rise in 2014. The new chairman-designate of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, is expected to continue the policies of Chairman Ben Bernanke, including keeping mortgage rates low by buy-ing blocks of mortgage-backed securities. However, the Fed has considered tapering its bond-buying activity as the economy improves, which could lead to a slight in-crease in interest rates.

Foreclosure Activity Is Expected to Slow Foreclosure sales are likely to play a minimal role in the housing market in 2014. September 2013 was the 36th consecutive month with a year-over-year decrease in foreclosure activity. Foreclosure inventory has dropped to multi-year lows, down nearly 33 percent since the end of 2012. Foreclosure starts were down 39 percent in the third quarter of 2013 to the lowest level since the second quarter of 2006.

Further Declines in Home Affordability Are Expected The National Association of REALTORS®’ Home Af-fordability Index, which compares home prices with in-come, dropped to a five-year low in 2013 as price in-creases outpaced income growth. If the U.S. economy begins to grow at a faster pace and incomes begin to rise, though, the affordability index will slide further from

While no one can predict with certainty what the housing market holds in store for 2014, a constant in real estate is always that local markets vary widely in their performance. National numbers can tell a story about the economy in general, but home prices, inventory and foreclosure activity depend on local market conditions. Contact a Realtor® in your community for the most up-to-date information about your market.

Source: www.realtor.com/news/experts-predict-2014-housing-market/

W i n d e r m e r e B e l l e v u e C o m m o n s Page 5

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE MARKET?

A Few Fun - but harmless – practical jokes for April Fools Day! Soap that won't lather - paint soap with clear fingernail polish and leave in the shower! Confetti Shower - Place piles of confetti on top of ceiling fan blades so when it turns on, surprise! Computer mouse prank - place tape over computer mouse sensor.

Source: ladycreate-a-lot.blogspot.com/2011/03/april-fools-day-30-harmless-pesky.html

Number of Homes

Median Sales Price

Average Market Time

Number of Homes

Median Sales Price

Average Market Time

East of Lake Samm./Snoqualmie

261 $490,000 70 days 221 $550,000 68 days Up 10.9%

West Bellevue 37 $1,099,900 53 days 54 $1,294,000 59 days Up 15.0%

East Bellevue 87 $500,000 48 days 66 $548,950 52 days Up 8.9%

South Bellevue/Newcastle/Issaquah

143 $550,000 80 days 100 $564,250 52 days Up 2.5%

Kirkland/Rose Hill 63 $555,000 66 days 69 $675,000 60 days Up 17.8%

Redmond 82 $516,999 60 days 82 $642,000 62 days Up 19.5%

Mercer Island 45 $995,000 95 days 33 $970,000 82 days Down 2.5%

Woodinville/Juanita/Bothell/Duvall

179 $405,000 64 days 157 $499,950 62 days Up 19.0%

Renton 108 $328,750 72 days 109 $370,000 60 days Up 11.1%

Kent 132 $239,725 89 days 124 $251,500 60 days Up 4.7%

Ballard 201 $425,000 33 days 202 $472,250 29 days Up 10.0%

Madrona 79 $619,000 33 days 88 $577,475 55 days Down 6.7%

West Seattle 152 $317,500 48 days 165 $361,000 53 days Up 12.0%

NE Seattle 107 $442,000 40 days 121 $500,000 35 days Up 11.6%

Queen Anne/Magnolia

72 $671,725 49 days 77 $669,000 43 days Down 0.4%

Central Seattle 93 $290,000 70 days 84 $355,000 57 days Up 18.3%

N. Bothell/Maltby 192 $369,972 64 days 158 $445,264 65 days Up 16.9%

Lynnwood/Mt. Lake Terrace

194 $299,950 46 days 174 $355,150 56 days Up 15.5%

Mill Creek/Everett 270 $275,000 59 days 236 $317,500 55 days Up 13.4%

Monroe/Snohomish 114 $220,500 76 days 145 $265,000 81 days Up 13.7%

*All data compiled from information supplied by Northwest Multiple Listing Association on 3/5/2014. Accuracy of information herein is not guaranteed. This information was only taken of single-family homes, and does not include condominiums or vacant land.

LOCATION Year-to-date 2013 Closed Sales thru February

Year-to-date 2014 Closed Sales thru February

PRICE CHANGE %

Page 6

ECONOMISTS POP HOUSING BUBBLE FEARS

The upbeat real estate market news we received in 2013 presents some challenges for the year ahead. An influx of buyers last year helped strengthen housing appreciation, which in turn led to greatly improved consumer confidence. The result was 5.1 million home sales, the best year for real estate purchases since 2007.

But 2014 will be different, with sales volume gains ex-pected to be small at best, because of rising interest rates and home prices, NAR Chief Economist Law-rence Yun says. But there’s an upside, too: the contin-ued growth in the economy, which, while modest, has stayed on track. The resulting addition of more than 2 million jobs each year should provide a boost to hous-ing markets. On the commercial side, rising rent growth and declining vacancy rates bode well for the

office, in-dustrial, retail, and multifamily sectors.

Yun says lenders could promote stable markets next year as they look to purchase-money mortgage loans as their next big growth area to com-pensate for a shrinking body of business from refi-nances, which will drastically fall as interest rates rise.

Source: realtormag.realtor.org/news-and-commentary/market-pulse/article/2014/01/economy-heats-up

ECONOMY HEATS UP

Though home prices are projected to grow at a 3 percent to 5 percent appreciation rate, econo-mists at Clear

Capital are saying there should be no worries about a housing bubble brewing any time soon. In fact, accord-ing to Clear Capital’s Home Data Index, if home appre-ciation continues at its current pace, prices may not re-turn to peak levels until 2021.

The National Association of REALTORS® reported in its December existing-home sales report that home prices rose 11.5 percent in 2013 compared to 2012. That marked the strongest gain since 2005, when medi-an prices for existing homes rose 12.4 percent.

Following the double-digit growth in home prices last year, Clear Capital economists predict that national home prices will now fall into line with inflation and follow more historical rates of growth.

“Double-digit gains over the last year, while similar to rates of growth in the run-up to the bubble, are off a

much lower price floor,” says Alex Villacorta, vice pres-ident of research and analytics at Clear Capital.

However, Villacorta did note that Phoenix and Las Ve-gas are showing signs of overheating and should be watched closely. Both markets saw yearly gains around 30 percent, but home prices have since been cooling. Home prices in Las Vegas remain 20.8 percent below 2000 levels when adjusted for inflation, but prices in Phoenix are about 1.9 percent above 2000 levels, ac-cording to Clear Capital.

Home prices at the metro level, when adjusted for infla-tion, reveal 46 out of 50 metro markets have home price levels that are at pre-2003 levels. Twenty-five of 50 markets are reporting prices below 2000 levels.

"With the majority of metro markets still so far below peak prices, it’s time for conversations surrounding price trends to shift away from the 2006 peak as the point of reference, and back to current trends and fore-casts," says Villacorta. "While there are certainly inves-tors and home owners holding real estate assets that will be underwater for seven years or more, the current housing market is positioned to behave very similar or even below historical norms, given the current econom-ic climate.”

Source: realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2014/02/03/clear-capital-pops-housing-bubble-fears

Windermere Bel levue Commons Page 7

5 PLACES TO LIVE NEXT:

Chosen by Dr. Stan Humphries, chief economist of Zillow

While Sammamish is technically a suburb, developers are plan-ning to create a city center by placing a town hall, retail, and small

-unit homes around a European-inspired cen-tralized plaza to make it a walkable neighbor-hood void of those impersonal suburban strip malls. By welcoming people who are unwilling to trade commuting time for home price, this midrange to upper end neighborhood already known for its good schools and easy access to 520 and I-90 is set to become a community perfect for the stroller brigade.

Sammamish

Chosen by Matthew Gardner, economist of real estate advisory firm Gardner Economics

Artists helped revitalize Columbia City – now home to a flourish-ing retail scene reminiscent of an early Ballard – and the light rail has cut commute times from downtown to this South Seattle neighborhood. “Mass transit, which has been woefully inade-quate in the past, is improving dramatically”, Gardner says. “This will give young professionals and older people wanting to down-size access to downtown.” Already treated to bakeries, trendy restaurants, and indie music venue Columbia City Theater, resi-dents have it all without having to pay the prices commanded in nearby nabes like Beacon Hill, Seward Park, and Mount Baker.

Columbia City

Chosen by Jennifer Nelson, broker at Windermere Real Estate

Hillman City – Columbia City’s under-the-radar little brother, is guaranteed to profit as its grown-up sibling’s success begins to spill over. Restaurants and shops are popping up in the diverse neighborhood where the Night Out in Hillman City block party attracts residents from dozens of ethnicities. Seward Park, Gene-

see Park, and Lake Washington fulfill an out-door lover’s needs.

Hillman City

Chosen by Christopher Tanaka, broker at John L. Scott

For a city to thrive, it needs a dense epicenter with an eclectic and vibrant population. Thanks to Amazon’s recent relocation to South Lake Union, the neighborhood – already an enclave to young professionals – will draw many of the web goliath’s creative task force, spurring de-velopment of even more condos and restau-rants. As the area fills up, the younger demo-graphic may spill over in to Belltown and Capi-tol Hill, but SLU will remain the focal point for change.

South Lake Union

Chosen by Glenn Kelman, president of Redfin

The Central District is the Little Neighborhood that Could. The CD lost its footing when the real estate bubble burst, but people are beginning to eye the southern edge of Capitol Hill once more. It’s a natural option for young families who want a bigger house and a bigger yard without having to sacrifice access to nightlife, and it’s proximity to I-5, I-90, and downtown Seattle.

Central District

Source: Seattle Met By: Rachel Sturtz

Where you’ll want to be in 2016

Where you’ll want to be in 2016

Juana Cundari 1200 112th Ave NE, Suite B100

Bellevue, WA 98004 juanacundari@windermere.com

425-241-8064

MARINERS’ 2014 HOME SCHEDULE