Pssst, wanna buy a house?...OR Playin RUFF!

Two things today which are related:

1. Renton's Off Leash Dog Area, to be located behind the Renton Community Center across the river and near the Cedar River trail, is aiming for an August opening if the user group, Renton's Unleashed Furry Friends can match the city's 20,000 dollars. They're off to a good start, have a wine and auction benefit scheduled for tonight at Vino in the Landing, and a later event being scheduled for the Dog and Pony Alehouse and Grill. They're looking for donations and volunteers and are a wonderful group of people.

2. I'm a real estate agent. It is seldom revealed here because I have to keep up the image of uber cool blogger, and face it, real estate agents aren't cool. They're thought of as people who will sell their grandmother if they could earn a commission, and you can tell they're lying because their lips are moving. On the evolutionary scale, they're thought of as somewhere between a leech and a tick.
Two years ago many real estate agents were suggesting that if you didn't buy a house right then, you'd never be able to afford one, you'd be priced out forever.
Fast forward two years, and many Renton area homes are now worth 25% less than they were. But now, many of these same real estate agents are suggesting that you'd better buy a house right now because we've hit bottom and that interest rates won't fall any more.
What am I suggesting, and what does this have to do with dog parks?
I'm not suggesting that people buy houses or not buy houses. Prices have come down and interest rates are low, but I'm not going to be like many real estate agents and pretend I can predict the future.
But....if you already want to buy a house, and use me as your real estate agent, I'll donate two thousand dollars for the Renton off leash park. I'll donate it in your name if you like. Buy enough houses and you can probably have the dog park named for you or your German Shepherd- Basset Mix.
I'm not going to suggest that if you buy a house you'll get rich. In fact, the opposite happened a couple of years ago after some real estate agents referred their clients to their loan originator buddies to make sure they could qualify for a loan they couldn't afford, and then prices went down.
There are lots of good reasons to own a home. Over the long haul homes usually keep pace or exceed the inflation rate. And when you own a home, it's yours, meaning you can do with it what you like. Tear out all that grass and plant blueberries. Or paint the house purple. Use the garage for your heavy metal band to practice in.

If you want to buy a house, and also want to support Renton's Offleash Dog park, I'm your man. How cool is that? 206-349-2574 or sacharoff@gmail.com
Ira Sacharoff Betterproperties.com Seattle office