V for Vendetta, with some holiday goodness on the snowy streets of downtown Seattle.

I wasn’t able to get far out of my neighborhood due to weather conditions, but I did shoot some great shots of some kids and high-priced real estate, all covered in snow, with appropriate soundtrack by Dan Phillip.

Happy Halloween!

Use Trulia Heat Maps to identify the well-endowed neighborhoods in your area (i.e. by highest average home price) and follow the red brick road.

Zillow blog Homes with a Scary History

8 Halloween Blog Post Ideas for Real Estate Bloggers

When it comes to property’s paranormal history, it’s buyer beware

Legal Guidelines for Selling your Haunted House

Simpson’s Quotes

Simpson’s Punk Rock

The Simpson’s perform Shakespeare

Last exit to Springfield

A lot of people have inquired about our holiday card this year, wondering how we did it. No Photoshop, these are claymation characters created by artist Mike Leavitt. He owns Intuition Kitchen, a small art studio in South Seattle.

My husband took photos of each of us for reference and sent to Mike. To see how close to reality he got with his characters, you can view the reference Flickr photos.

If you have a favorite client who deserves their very own action figure, he can make fully-articulated characters or also smaller “wedding cake topper” size. My friend Bradford Bohonus did a cool virtual reality 360 tour of Mike’s studio.

For a view of some of our past holiday cards, you can view JoDavid’s Flickr set online.

(Add holiday music soundtrack HERE.)

The Yule Log

Return of the Yule Log

Virtual Fireplace

From Marlow, JoDavid, Max, Jack and Sam

Zillow just launched Smart Search, a new version of its search system, along with enhanced Neighborhood Pages that make it easier for consumers to zero-in on homes become smarter about the characteristics of surrounding areas… blah blah blah, yackity-yak…..

But the real news is this cute virtual holiday missive.

Thanks to Sellsius this week for bringing us not one, but two explicit posts this week, Real Estate Porn, Broker-Agent Edition and Real Estate Transparency: Real Estate Agent Fired for Sexy Slideshow, which allows me the perfect segue to share, once again, more news from the lovely Ravenna, Queen of the Burlesque Realtors.

If you happen to be in Seattle on December 19th, don’t miss Ravenna and Gal Friends in a fundraiser called “Christmas Stockings: A Burlesque Benefit” to support our troops. It’s at the The Rendezvous Jewelbox Theater and there are two shows: 7:00 and 8:30 pm
21+ $15.

Through the sale of their vintage style pin-up images, THE PIN-UP ANGELS raise money to send comfort packages to U.S. troops serving overseas. The Angels do all the work to collect donations, shop for the necessary items, organize the packages, and ship ‘em out to the troops in need. After sending 200+ Christmas care packages, THE PIN-UP ANGELS continue fund-raising for this on-going effort.

Don’t miss this happenin’ event hosted by Trixie Lane, the Queen of Shame!

Live music, scantily-clad girls and real estate. What more can you want for the holidays?

Jesus of Peeps by Janet Galore of   t e l e m e t r y

With Easter fast approaching, Matt Zemek faced some questions that pitted his religious faith against the strong forces that exist outside of church, parish and sanctuary.

In his op-ed piece A Christian’s identity crisis he ponders the modern dilemma of rising real estate prices from a rarely-viewed angle of Christian morality.

Living a self-chosen life of service, Zemek has been living a frugal lifestyle dedicated to helping others. While he was busy working in soup kitchens and homeless shelters, he was apparently oblivious to the plights of the average working family and was amazed that two working adults could be hard-pressed to afford a home in the Seattle area. Of course, this is a microcosm of the U.S. and the same story can be and is being played out around the nation.

His op-ed was inspired by another guest writers story “Seattle too pricey for normal people“, a short folksy whine about how much more expensive Seattle is than Boise. In that piece, writer Christy Thomas laments that she’s too busy being able to earn a living to volunteer her time to help others.

That admission caused Matt Zemick to have an epiphany of sorts, a “A-HA” moment that brought him to his knees. Suddenly able to put 2+2 together, he realized that this was perhaps why there are so few fellow citizens ready, willing or able to make the same sacrifices he’s willing to make.

Could it be that, because of the high price of real estate and just making ends meet that people were unable and unwilling to help others?

In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, his theory contends that as humans meet ‘basic needs’, they seek to satisfy successively ‘higher needs’ that occupy a set hierarchy. The basic concept is that the higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus once all the needs that are lower down in the pyramid are mainly or entirely satisfied. Once an individual has moved past a level, those needs will no longer be prioritized. However, if a lower set of needs is continually unmet for an extended period of time, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs – dropping down to that level until those lower needs are reasonably satisfied again. Innate growth forces constantly create upward movement in the hierarchy unless basic needs remain unmet indefinitely.

In this case, the basic need of housing and shelter, if not met, can stunt human potential and cause them to revert to a cruder and baser instinctual level. Therefore, unable to properly care for themselves, the homeless person (or maybe just a renter?) is rendered unable to help others, until they have reached a certain level of comfort.

Is this really where the crisis of unaffordable housing is taking us?

At the bottom of Maslow’s triangle are the very important and basic physiological and safety needs. Only after these are met are people able to move up the triangle to self-actualization and finally self-transcendence. At the top of the triangle, self-transcendence is also sometimes referred to as spiritual needs.

Maslow believes that we should study and cultivate peak experiences as a way of providing a route to achieve personal growth, integration, and fulfillment. Peak experiences are unifying, and ego-transcending, bringing a sense of purpose to the individual and a sense of integration.

If men and woman are too busy trying to make ends meet and provide food and shelter for their offspring, then perhaps indeed, this inability to meet basic needs is causing a sort of moral and spiritual bankruptcy, not just in Seattle, but everywhere.

Or are we putting the cart before the horse? It could be argued that “basic housing” IS affordable. It’s the soul-sucking middle and upper-middle class suburban subdivisions and McMansions and those who strive to live there that is causing the moral bankruptcy and decay….

Marla Jennings Christian Realty — Sister Taffy’s Friends of Baby Jesus

“Oh, God hasn’t forsaken you. He’s just lost in this 27 room Georgian mansion and can’t find you!”

Jesus Toast

His Move — Christian Real Estate

My Sweet Lord

An Easter Miracle

Nine reasons why Irish real estate might be right for you.

Mad Season, a book by Nancy Means Wright, about Colm Hanna, a pun loving Irish realtor who doubles as the town mortician

Lovely Irish ballad with video

My Irish Realtor

Killarney Realty in Irish Hills, MI

Fantasy Ireland

Irish Castles for sale

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations around the U.S.

What a lovely sentiment.

How many people can wish their loved ones Happy Valentine’s Day like this? Hairshirt? Sacred undergarments? Italian sweater? Flak Magazine’s Essay on Back Hair.

Wunderland Long Hair Index

In Korea, there’s a government campaign against long hair. It stressed the “negative effects” of long hair on “human intelligence development”, noting that long hair “consumes a great deal of nutrition” and could thus rob the brain of energy. North Korea wages war against long hair.

Bring back the good times with this “Pimp Your Cubicle” kit that contains everything you need to pimpify a bland and uninspired real estate office: a dollar-sign paperweight, gold push-pins, leopard print fringe to run around the edge of your cubicle, a disco ball, and “Bling” mousepad. But, if that doesn’t quench your thirst for individuality, check out the accompanying book for more design Pimp My Cubicle schemes. From a beach front theme to the Taj Mahacubicle, you’re sure to find something that appeals to your inner pimp. See Newsweek Periscope’s Style: Very Niche Marketing

Wanna Pimp Your Crib on a budget? Try J.C.Penney’s Cribs Decor

Pimp is not just another word for Your Baby’s Daddy. For a list of All Things Pimpin’ see That Fat Bastard or Blender Magazine’s Guide to the Best Bling Ever.

The Real Estate Rap Song

Real estate bling for Realtors, real estate agents and all the real estate playa’s.

HOUSE BLING!!!

Sell real estate in style

Some folks are likening Realtwhores to pimps and prostitutes. Perhaps it’s time for Realtors to take that word and make it their own.

Pimp My Roll

Pimp my 4-door American land yacht Real Estate Ride

Gay Ghetto

Ghetto Real Estate Goldmine

Ghetto Fabulous Real Estate Co.

Jack a Crib

Pimp your Real Estate Blog

Yes, Virginia! There is a Poncho Claus! We spent a lovely Xmas with Elvez, the Mexican Elvis. www.Elvez.net

¿Mamacita Donde Esta Santa Claus?

Max, Jack, Sam and Elvez wishing you Feliz Navidad!

I have always known, anecdotally, that I reside in the Halloween Capitol of Seattle, but until now I have not had scientific proof.

In Seattle, the Fremont neighborhood claims to be the Center of the Universe, but I know that this is not true. This time of year, Capitol Hill is — at least it’s the Center of the Known Halloween Universe.

In a move of utter brilliance, Capitol Hill Seattle blog has published this Ultimate Guide: Fancy Pants Capitol Hill Trick-or-treating. The folks behind the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, a neighborhood blog catering to the fancy pants part of Seattle’s Capitol Hill, have determined, by using Zillow Heatmaps and a childhood theory, that North Capitol Hill is one of the best places to score candy this year.

Of course, I’ve always known this, but up until this time, have had no scientific way to prove this obvious thesis.

This is why I live here. I have had a compelling a desire to live in Halloween Central, and I reside in the epicenter.

The author claims to have received 250 children last year. I know that is true, but I am raising the bar, as we received over 500 kids and I hope this year to break our record.

Halloween Central, circa 1937

I live in the center of all this Halloween madness, an area roughly from Galer to Mercer, 16th Ave. East to 22nd Ave. East. If you look on a map, I am precisely at the center. My house already has a bit of historic provenance, being a former ancillary for the Presbyterian Church (formerly known as “Presbytery House”) and was in use from 1912 to 1964. The Robels then raised their 6 children there and we are the third owners. We were given the church logs, sign and various newspaper articles and clippings attesting to its history as a church, vicarage, meeting place and chapel, and we are holding those items for safekeeping, to turn over to some new residents, someday.

Because of or in spite of its history, we take great pleasure in decorating the home for Halloween. Spooky music, strobe lights, howling witches, animatronic figures, black lights, this and more go into our home decor in October. Some neighborhoods have “Candy Cane Lane”. We have haunted houses, ghouls, giant styrofoam gargoyles and “Bates Hotel” signs.

My neighbors across the street have built a coffin out of what appears to be an old shipping crate, the neighbor behind me has a haunted house in their garage and the guy a few doors down dug an open grave on their front lawn. But I have a few tricks this year that’s going to blow them out of the water.

Be afraid. Be very afraid!