Hello! I have been working part time with Mary Ann since September of 2007. I came to real estate by a rather circuitous route. I moved to Seattle from the Bay Area in 1992. I loved living in Capitol Hill and working as a paralegal for a nonprofit, but in 1995, I was pulled away to Wisconsin to attend law school. I remained homesick for Seattle weather, geography, neighborhoods, people, and food, but I enjoyed my job in which I supervised law students who worked on legal cases for prison inmates. Just as my work contract ended in 2003, my son was born and I knew it was time to migrate my family westward again.

After a short stint in Fremont, Mary Ann helped us buy our house in the Whittier Heights area of Ballard. When my son started preschool, I wanted to find a gratifying outlet for my time (and earn some money to pay for that school!). I have always loved the process of house-hunting and I also came to the conclusion that being a good lawyer and being a good real estate agent have many similarities.

I believe, and we taught our law students, that a good lawyer is one who carefully listens to her client, finds out what that client really wants, and then tries to accomplish that goal with hard work, clear thinking, creativity, and the highest ethical standards. I expect those same things from a real estate agent, and I knew that Mary Ann shares those values, so I convinced her to let me learn the art of real estate by working for her.

I really enjoy the variety of tasks I get to do. Learning about real estate law brings out my inner “law geek”, and Mary Ann’s love of her work makes the job fun. And it doesn’t hurt that instead of visiting the inside of maximum security prisons, I now get to tour lovely homes around Seattle.

Welcome to my real estate blog! I want to have a web site that my clients and friends find useful and fun. My clients have tons of questions about buying, selling, owning, and remodeling their homes. I am going to use my blog as a way to answer a lot of the questions that clients frequently ask me about real estate, like when is the best time to sell, how to choose a contractor, remodeling, financing, etc.

My assistant, Amy, and I will also be blogging about “green” real estate, what’s going on in our favorite neighborhoods, and exploring little niches of Seattle you may not have heard of.

I hope you check back often and leave comments. Also, let me know if you have any special requests for blog topics. I’d love to hear from you!