Author: Dale

Cyclists take over 22nd Avenue

Dale 11 Comments

Cyclists from across north Seattle pedaled their way to downtown Ballard for the Bike to Work After Party and Summer Streets event on 22nd Avenue between Ballard Avenue NW and NW Market Street earlier this evening.

Hundreds of brightly dressed, helmet-wearing, Lycra clad riders took to the street, snagging free offerings from various vendor booths, including these Cliff Bar samples.

Many waited in line to ride the Dutch Bicycle Company’s humongous, seven-seat Conference Bike.

Some had their picture taken by Michael Stearns as part of his ByPedal Project.

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Possible ‘double dip’ in home values?

Dale 22 Comments

And now in more (not so) good news on the economic front, Zillow is suggesting that there may be a looming “double-dip” in home values.

At least from Seattle’s perspective, we’re not listed as one of most likely candidates for another drop in value, but data from Zillow’s Home Value Index indicates if you bought anytime in the last few years, your home is probably worth less than when you bought it.

Here’s a chart showing the change in values over the last five years.

Zillow Home Value Index
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According to Zillow, here are some toplevel findings:

  • Decreasing Home Values: Home values changed -5.8% to a Zillow Home Value Index of $300,400. Values also fell in the short-term, changing -0.5% from November to December. The Zillow Home Value Index measures the value of all homes, not just those that sold in a particular period.
  • Homes with Negative equity: 22 percent of all owners of single-family homes with mortgages were underwater at the end of Q4.
  • Foreclosure re-sales: 19.5 percent of all sales in December were foreclosure re-sales (REO sales). Nationally, foreclosure re-sales made up 20.3 percent of all sales.
  • Homes sold for a loss: 18.5% of all homes sold in December sold for a loss.

I’m not a real estate analyst, so I’ll point to the SeattlePI for more information.

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Maritime Pacific Brewery is moving

Dale 14 Comments

But it’s not moving far: a few blocks east to a former manufacturing building at 1111 NW Ballard Way, a block away from Trader Joe’s.

Owner George Hancock said the move to the 22,000-square-foot building will give them the space they need to meet growing demand, especially for bottled beer. At their current location (below), the staff can brew four batches of 16 barrels per day. At the new location, they’re putting in a brewhouse that can produce up to four batches of 40 barrels per day.

“We can’t make enough of the Imperial Pale. We can’t make enough Seattle Lager. We have a hard time keeping up bottling Imperial IPA,” Hancock said. With the additional capacity and a dedicated bottling room, he says they’ll be able to distribute other beers that rarely see the inside of a bottle — favorites like Salmon Bay ESB, Bosun’s Black Porter and Seattle Lager.

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