Make a Good Life

California is improving...We are next

An agent in our office just returned from Palm Springs. While there, she did what all real estate agents do while on holiday, shopped for real estate!  Her report this morning at our office meeting:  Things are happening in the real estate market there!  Multiple offers, low prices, shrinking inventory, quick sales....recovery from last year for certain.

This report coupled with reports out of Florida and the Las Vegas area make us even more optimistic about our short term future.  Washington typically follows about six months behind the California trends....so I am expecting a decent winter!

At the County....bad news

I was in the permit department and environmental health today down at the courthouse. Guess what?  They have cut 16 positions and the new hours will be half-day....the office will be open until noon five days per week....Better hurry down in the morning to get your septic designs, etc.

They will add postions as needed, once people start applying for permits again.  That is coming soon....I can feel it.

Try this for a day...you will be surprised!

I joke in the office that if I wear my Greene Realty name tag and happen into a store with it on, I am instantly aware of my behaviour.  Am I frowning at the woman who is standing directly in front of the item I want to look at?  Do I seem impatient with the teenager I am asking to check the stockroom?  Do I seem to be angry when I have to wait in line?

In other words.....wearing my nametag makes me a better person....at least superficially.  So I read in The Happiness Handbook and online on We Are What We Do, that the simple act of smiling has the same effect.  I tried it, and you know what?  It does...!

You will not believe the effect this exercise will have on your mood.....

Smile.  That is it, just smile.  When you are on the phone, when you are driving, when you are ordering your latte.  Smile and the world will smile back. Try it!

Sliding Scale Proposed for Application Fees

OLYMPIA — Thurston County residents criticized proposed fee increases for land-use permits as unreasonable and exorbitant during a public hearing Thursday, and some said the county should establish a sliding scale to ease the blow for smaller property owners and contractors....

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