Archives for June 2013

How to appeal property taxes online in King County

June 26, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Now homeowners in King County can view and appeal their county taxes online, reports The Seattle Times. A newly unveiled county website,www.kingcounty.gov/eappeals, serves as the portal for residents to view their property values by address and determine whether an appeal would be worth their time and effort. The site provides the following:

Access to the history of valuation and past payments made
Access to the information used by tax assessors to value the home
Ability to determine the amount of savings based on a lower valuation
Ability to file an appeal online at no charge

King County Assessor Lloyd Hara says that the county is “trying to provide an opportunity to allow citizens to take a look and to see whether or not they’ve been fairly valued each year.”

Homeowners who choose to appeal their assessments must do so within 60 days of the mailing date shown on the Official Property Value Notice.

Filed Under: Blog, Real Estate

No Place Like a New Home

June 26, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

You’ve decided to take the plunge and buy your first home. Congratulations! Before you get your feet wet, you should know that the current market is competitive and dream features might have you paying more than you expected. This inforgraphic will help you get a handle on the current lay of the land and help you understand the first the first steps you can take to go from house hunter to homeowner.

Filed Under: Architecture, Blog, Real Estate

Oculus of Trees: Lush Courtyard Separates Two Homes

June 25, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

A two-story courtyard featuring an oculus for six willow trees, surrounded by a peaceful reflecting pool on the upper level, provides a sense of separation between the homes of a retired couple and one of their adult children. Located in Singapore, the Wall House by FARMis technically one residence with two separate, self-contained ‘blocks’ of living space linked at the living and dining areas by a granite patio.

The upper levels of both volumes are planted with grass, flowers and small trees, providing a sunny spot to relax, while the lower level of the courtyard stays cool and shady. While the balconies and terraces off the bedrooms of the top floors face each other, they remain separated.

The lower courtyard is a communal dining space leading to a shared library, and the separate living and dining spaces, kitchens and guest rooms of each home. One unit features an additional study with its own private living room, and the other has a gym.

The green roofs, a number of water features and lots of wood and stone give the homes a feeling of connection with nature despite the city setting. Throughout the private spaces on the bottom floor, narrow courtyards open to the sky above placed beside expanses of glass let natural light flood in.

source: http://dornob.com/oculus-of-trees-lush-courtyard-separates-two-homes/#ixzz2WU768Pl9

Filed Under: Architecture, Blog

Fixing Common Gas Range/Oven Problems

June 25, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

There are common gas range/oven problems that you can safely and easily fix yourself. Watch this video for gas oven/range troubleshooting tips.

Filed Under: Appliances, Blog, Home Care

A Nate Silver NHL

June 24, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Nate Silver of the New York Times wrote a great piece about hockey recently that starts with the question of why Canadian NHL teams haven’t won the Stanley Cup in the last two decades. One reason is simply that there aren’t that many Canadian teams anymore, with various franchises having relocated from the Great White North to the southern and western United States. Silver, by estimating the approximate number of hockey fans in various markets, makes a strong case that the NHL would be better off financially to abandon its American expansion and return to being a more strongly Canadian league. Below is a visualization of his recommendations.

click to see the current VS. Nate’s Version.

(Silver didn’t specifically recommend that the Coyotes move to Seattle, the Ducks to Hamilton, etc., just that the former set of teams be eliminated and the latter created. We added the lines to help emphasize the northward shift he recommends.)Image by John Gara/Buzzfeed

There’s a lot more interesting stuff in Silver’s article here.

Filed Under: Blog, Hockey

Home Ownership Makes Happier, Healthier Families, Survey Shows

June 24, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Owning a home can make families healthier, happier, and more financially secure, according to new research by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. on the benefits of home ownership. Researchers worked with Habitat for Humanity families to evaluate how their lives changed after moving into their homes.

Eighty-nine percent of the Canadian families surveyed said their lives improved since they moved into their homes. Eighty-six percent said they’re happier since owning a home.

The survey also found home ownership led to an improvement in children’s school performance. The families reported that the children had increased confidence, improved behavior, higher grades, and enjoyed school more after becoming home owners.

What’s more, more than 75 percent of families surveyed say their health had improved since becoming home owners. They reported fewer illnesses caused by colds, flu, allergies, and stress, according to the study.

Canada’s home ownership rate — at about 70 percent — is one of the highest in the world.

The study’s release coincided with the National Association of REALTORS(R) recent release of a new publication, “Social Benefits of Homeownership and Stable Housing.”

“There is evidence from numerous studies that attest to the benefits [of home ownership] accruing to many segments of society,” according to Canadian researchers. “Home ownership boosts the educational performance of children, induces higher participation in civic and volunteering activity, improves health care outcomes, lowers crime rates and lessens welfare dependency.”

Source: “Owning a Home Makes Families Happier, Healthier,” Realty Times

Filed Under: Blog, Economy, Random Thoughts, Real Estate

Music Review: Bobby McFerrin – SpiritYouAll

June 24, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Most remember Bobby McFerrin for the 1988 ubiquitous hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” which is fine, because that song (and entire album) resonates with McFerrin‘s belief that music should calm, heal, soothe, and redeem. All of his recorded work before and after that collosal hit fits right in line with that philosophy. I’ve been listening to McFerrin since my College days, where I purchased his self-titled debut recording “Bobby McFerrin” released in 1982, and I have every CD since.

On spirityouall, McFerrin focuses on black spirituals, a genre he sees as at the epicenter of American music, full of a kind of musical strength that puts joy, persistence, redemption, and a belief in personal and collective freedom up against the horrors, pressures, marginalization, and pure evil the world can generate in our lives.

The album is also a tribute to his father, Robert McFerrin, whose 1957 album Deep River brought black spirituals into the world of the concert hall and high art, and like that groundbreaking release, this album opens with the same song, an easy rolling “Everytime.”

In all, there are seven traditional spirituals here, including “Joshua” (full of McFerrin‘s jazzy scat singing), a joyous and syncopated “Whole World,” and the pulsing, nuanced, and flowing “Wade,” alongside an intimate cover of Bob Dylan‘s “I Shall Be Released” (I doubt Bob would recognize the song) and five McFerrin originals, and the whole sequence adds up to the audio version of a warm comforter blanket. My favorite is “Glory”; it brings back memories of jamming with musicians in my more adventurous college days.

By the time the closing track, “Rest/Yes, Indeed,” a mixed-meter spiritual hoedown, rolls in, the world seems not only bearable but better in all dimensions. Music can soothe the savage soul, goes the old adage. McFerrin believes it does even more than that, providing a bridge and a gateway to joy and redemption in a world that all too often seems to want to sweep all of our souls over a cliff.

From his website: spirityouall is a deeply personal statement for Bobby McFerrin. “I couldn’t do anything without faith,” he says. “I couldn’t open up my eyes, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t sing. What I want everyone to experience at the end of my concerts is . . . .this sense of rejoicing. I don’t want the audience to be blown away by what I do, I want them to have this sense of real joy, from the depths of their being. Then you open up a place where grace can come in.” Lift your voice, open your heart, and sing along.

On spirityouall, McFerrin shows his gratitude for grace and the ability music has to express that. As an artist, he helps this distressed world shine bright as a diamond.

Filed Under: Blog, Music

Semi-Subterranean Digs: Modern Take on Native Pit Houses

June 23, 2013 By EmmanuelFonte Leave a Comment

Modernism meets traditional environmental systems in this elegant dwelling seemingly sliced into the ground around it, drawing on geothermal advantages without forcing its residents entirely underground.

Dubbed the Edgeland Residence, this project by Bercy Chen Studio rehabilitates an existing brownfield site and “takes advantage of the earth’s mass to maintain thermal comfort throughout the year”with an “insulative green roof and a 7‐foot excavation‐ gaining benefits from the earth’s mass to help it stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.”

The residence is composed of two primary volumes on either side of an artificial void – one side for daytime activities (living, cooking and so forth) and the other for nighttime (sleeping), oriented based on the trajectory of the sun through the sky.

Beyond bringing back an historic American architectural typology based on passive systems, the project also renews the local ecology: “Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center collaborated to reintroduce over 40 native species of plants and wildflowers to the Edgeland House green roof and site, serving to help protect the local ecosystem.”

Contemporary systems extend tradition and environmentalism, including an “integrated hydronic HVAC system” that combine “hydronic heating and a green roof for maximum energy efficiency.”

Filed Under: Architecture, Art