Close To Home

This week in our ongoing effort to highlight small Seattle Businesses Brennen was lucky enough to sit down with Kari Kalway of Puddles Barkery, a local Seattle purveyor of palette pleasing home-made dog treats.   First off a quick apology, this episode starts with a little bit of weird background noise. One of the mics was acting up and we couldn't remove it entirely, it goes away after about 2 minutes but we are sorry about it. That being said we were really lucky to talk to Kari Kalway for this episode about her passion project start up Puddles Barkery. Lately in these Close to Home episodes we've been trying to focus more on how businesses and people develop and grow and less on purely house related things. Kari has an amazing story about seeing a need in the market place and stepping up to fill it in a really unique way. Plus, lots of adorable mentions of cute puppers. If you've got a special dog in your life head over to her website and pick them up a treat they are sure to love! As always if y

This week Brennen is breaking down how long it takes to get a home in tip top shape and ready for the market.  We all know the difference between just getting something done and getting it done right. For instance: if you're writing a paper and you bang the whole thing out in one frantic night versus taking your time over a number of weeks, any professor is going to be able to tell the difference. Obviously this is a purely hypothetical example with absolutely no close real world parallels to actual life events, or some persons affiliated with this show... Anyway, the point is when something is important it's always worth putting in extra time and preparation to make sure it's done  up to the highest standard; this is true in academia, and in real estate.  But how much time is exactly is that? Well, that is exactly the question we are going to answer on this weeks Clouse Corner and honestly the answer may surprise you! As always if you have additional questions, ideas for topics, or need help

How big of a difference can a coat of paint make? Brennen investigates on this weeks Clouse Corner! Lets talk a tale of two houses: Two houses go on the market at the same time. Both are spacious two bedroom, one bath, affairs in a desirable neighborhood; located near a natural grocery store, and some boutique shops. For ease of comparison we'll say they were built at the same time and have the exact same fixtures and amenities. In fact the only difference at the time of them entering the market is their paint jobs. One owner favored bold dark colors, like deep blue and burgundy and painted all their walls and bathrooms in this vein. The other was repainted before going on the market in light neutral tones. Which do you think will sell faster, and for more money with just this one difference? Which one would you prefer to move into?  Now obviously this is a leading question. But it's pretty likely that if you followed this thought experiment you found a strong preference for the lighter more neutral hou

Recently Brennen got asked an interesting question, “how much money will I make buying a Seattle Condo, historically speaking, versus continuing to rent?” It’s a good question, and doesn’t just apply to Seattle, so we are breaking it down on this week's Clouse Corner. Hello listeners! We talk a fair bit about renting versus buying on this show. Check out our past episode on that subject if you want to know more. But basically we tend to favor buying, surprising literally no one. But it’s not just because we are in the real estate game. The fact is: If you live in an area (like Seattle) where equity is steadily growing, if you can afford to buy and are instead renting you’re leaving money on the table. How much money? That’s what we are going to answer this week. We are breaking down how much money a condo owner would have hypothetically made if they had sold a condo in Seattle after owning it for 3,4, and 5 years. That’s right, they all would have made money. So, if you’re asking yourself, “can I make money o

If you're in the market to sell your home but not sure how to proceed never fear! In this weeks Clouse Corner Brennen is giving the run down of the top 5 mistakes he sees sellers making in the market right now and how to avoid them.  To say a lot of things are changing right now would be a pretty huge understatement. Covid has had rippling effects on almost every industry and that includes real estate. With that in mind how do these changes affect what someone looking to sell their home should prioritize? It's a good question and one we are going to get into on this weeks Clouse Corner, so take out a notepad and get ready to look at your home through new fresh eyes. Let's see what we can improve! As always if you have additional questions feel free to reach out to us, we love to hear from you! Instagram Facebook Twitter Also online at: TheClouseGroup.com Thanks for listening! Our Opening theme: “Inspired” By Kevin Mcleod (incomptech.com) Other music (in order used): “Low Life High Life” By Dan Henig “Rui

This week Brennen is diving into some more mistakes first time home buyers make, and how best to avoid them.  Hello again listeners! If you've been with us for any amount of time you'll know that we do these kind of lists semi-regularly on the Clouse Corner, that's because there are always new people entering the market and we believe and informing people on both sides leads to the best interactions in the industry. That being said if you are old hat at buying properties at this point feel free to go and check out an episode from our archive, or make your own list top 7 lists and share how well you matched up in the comments. We would love to see how close you can got, and hey, maybe you'll inadvertently give us material for a future episode.  All that being said for all your first time buyers out there looking for some peace of mind, rest easy, you've come to the right place. So kick back relax and get the information you need.  As always if you have questions or suggestions for future episode

This week we Brennen talks about what in his opinion are the 5 key questions people should be asking their real estate agents.  Welcome back to the Clouse Corner listeners! Real estate is a competitive market, this is pretty well known fact, and as such there is a lot of competition helping you sell your property. This should be a good thing for you, as greater competition should give you the best chance at being able to negotiate terms in your own favor, but that's much harder in practice than in theory. The truth is all of that competition means there is a lot of mediocre mixed in with the good, and if you're new to this you might find yourself in over your head, with an inexperienced or inept agent while you're still trying to get your bearings. You don't want that. And we here at The Close to Home Podcast certainly don't want that. With that in mind Brennen is sharing what he thinks are the top 5 questions everyone should ask a potential real estate agent this week If you've struggled finding a agent

This week Brennen tries to demystify the world of condominiums and how potential buyers of them can avoid the most common pitfalls that come with the purchase.  Hello listeners, we hope everyone is staying safe out there. We talk a lot about houses on this show, obviously, it is a real estate podcast after all. However this week we are mixing it up and focusing in on serious home-ownerships fun loving BFF aka buying a condo. There are a lot of reasons to own a condo, they make a great entry property into a certain areas and neighborhoods, they can pull double duty as a vacation property and Air B&B the rest of the year, or they are just a good solid option if live a smaller lifestyle and don't want the trouble of a house. All of that being said there are still some common mistakes that come with the territory and we (and by we I mean Brennen) are going to do our best to prep you for the potential pitfalls that come with this kind of purchase.  As always if we missed anything, or you have more q

This week on the Clouse Corner Brennen is talking photography, what to avoid and how to get the perfect snapshot. There really is nothing like a first impression, and the first impression your property listing often makes is through photos, and so it makes sense that you should be willing to put a little extra elbow grease into getting them just right. It's important that people be able to see themselves in your space without it seeming like someone else already lives there, and that can be a hard line to tread. Personally Brennen has seen photos ranging from amazing to outright bad, it just comes with the territory. But the suffering of his eyes is our gain! This week he's dropping the bare-bones basics of taking photos of your home that will get people up off their butts and into your open house. It may be art, but there is definitely a science to it.  As always if you have additional questions please reach out to us, we love to hear from you! Instagram Facebook Twitter Also online at: TheClouseGroup.c

Sometimes purchasing a home or condo can entail more than a few hidden costs you have not budgeted for; we are breaking some of them down this week on the Close Corner.  Often in our heads we make home buying more simple than it is. You hand over the money or a down payment, often in a large bag with a dollar sign on the outside, they hand over a big fancy piece of paper that says, "Deed" in big bold gothic letters and boom, you own a house. Sadly there is a lot more involved and often it can get pretty nit picky pretty quickly. If you've been listening for a while then you've heard us cover some of the hidden fees and whatnot that you are likely to encounter when buying  a home. Luckily for us and unfortunately for you we have not covered them all so this week we are covering some more! That's it, hopefully you find it helpful.  If you have any questions, or suggestions for future episodes please feel free to reach out to us. We love to hear from you! Instagram Facebook Twitter Also online at:

This week in part 2 of our interview series with Hollis Rendleman of Hollis Rendleman Interiors we are focusing on how to set up your home office, without work taking over your home. Welcome back listeners! As we all know the world is working from home right now and that has brought up a fresh set of challenges for a lot of people. How do you not take work to bed with you when your work is literally 20 feet from your bed? That’s why in this second half of our interview with Hollis Rendleman we wanted to focus on tips for the at home worker and putting together your own work space. It’s pretty safe to say the results speak for themselves and all of us who worked on this podcast will definitely be making some changes to our home offices, or in Brennen’s case his kitchen table. Hopefully you’ll find some good tips in there as well; and if you do, consider heading over to hollisrendleman.com and checking out one of her workshops. As always if you have questions, ideas for future episodes, or guests you think we s

This week Brennen takes some time to talk about red lining and the Equal Housing Act and how they shape the housing market and wealth gap still evident today.  Hello listeners, normally we are not the the kind of podcast that does very special episodes, but in light of everything going on in the world right now we wanted to contribute to the conversation in our own small way. Now don't let the somewhat clickbaity title fool you, this is not some kind of juicy tell all first hand account of discrimination in the housing market, although those definitely exist. This weeks episode is more a tip of the iceberg affair meant to give a little historical background and information to people wanting to learn more about the circumstances that are shaping our lives in America today. That being said this is only intended to be an introduction, we strongly encourage everyone to do their own research. These things happened, and it is only by learning the truth of them and educating ourselves that we learn to better un

This week Brennen talks with Hollis Rendleman of Hollis Rendleman Interiors about how to go about designing your space not just for comfort but to reflect and elevate who you are! After a (very) long hiatus we are back with new episodes of our flagship Close to Home Podcast! It’s definitely been a minute and we appreciate you sticking with us as we acclimated to the new state of things. Speaking of acclimating, we are opening up with a two-part series, with our next two episodes centering on design all star Hollis Rendleman. If you have not checked out the interior magic she does over at www.hollisrendleman.com then you absolutely should. In Part one we were lucky enough to get her general thoughts of how optimizing your interior can benefit an individual or business in a multitude of ways, some expected, and some surprising. It’s definitely one of the better interviews we’ve done so be sure to catch both parts! As always if you have questions, ideas for future episodes, or guests you think we should speak to

What are the best improvements you can make to your house before putting it on the market? Brennen gives you the inside track to the most effective improvements! Hello Listeners! This week is all about the practical, small tangible improvements you can make to your house that will net you the biggest payoffs. In an ideal world we would all like to think that we can improve a house, maybe not to the point of full on restoration (lets be honest the plumbing alone would be a disaster) but definitely enough to leave it better than we found it. The sad truth though is home improvement is less like Under the Tuscan Sun and more like The Money Pit, once you start things can easily go wrong and you'll find your time and money slipping away at an alarming rate. That being said, there are some small easy things anyone can take on that will improve a homes value on the market. We are starting with 3, there are definitely more, but 3 is all we have space for on an episode of the Clouse Corner, if you want more you'll jus

This week Brennen breaks down why you should have your house put on its best outfit before you take it out on the town! Hello again lovely listeners! We are keeping it short and sweet this week with a meaningful breakdown on staging! What is staging you might ask? Actually, probably not, it's one of the more common things for people to know about real estate. Well, just to cover our bases:  staging is the practice of setting up a home or property with furniture and other adornments, so that people can really imagine themselves living there when they come to tour the place.  See? super easy. Now most of you can probably see the benefits of showing people a nicely set up room instead of an empty box, unless you are super into empty boxes (no shame). But, if you want the in depth breakdown don't take my word for it, Brennen is eminently more qualified and here to share his expertise. Enjoy this weeks Clouse Corner! As always if you have any questions or future episode suggestions please let us know: I

This week we are talking seller financing, what is it, how does it work, and when is it a good plan?  Hello lovely listeners! We are kicking off the month of June by getting back to our roots, so to speak. What exactly are those roots you might ask? Why, explaining the technical minutia of the world of real estate of course! What a silly question to ask! Up this week is seller financing, what is that you might be asking? Well to give only the briefest of context:  Seller financing is when the seller of a property handles the mortgage process instead of a bank or other financial institution.  Pretty simple right? But why would you want this as a seller or a buyer? Well you'll have to listen to the full episode to find out, but the major appealing aspect is it allows a buyer and seller to create a more tailor made deal. A common case could be parents buying a house for newlyweds and giving them a deal on paying it back over time, but that's just one example. If you have any questions about sel

Closing might seem like the end of the line for the home buying process, but there several common pitfalls that can be a first time buyers downfall. find out what they are this week on the Clouse Corner.  Hello lovely listeners. It seems we are not talking as much these days and it's a shame! As some of the keener ears in the audience may have already noticed we have had to move our production into our homes with the shelter in place orders and Covid19. This meas that for the foreseeable future we will only be bringing you episodes of the Clouse Corner and not recording the longer form episodes of Close to Home. It's a shame but we hope you'll bear with us as we take every precaution to keep ourselves and our guests safe.  Speaking of staying safe this weeks episode is all about safety, specifically how can you keep yourself and your money safe during the final phases of the home buying process. It may seem like a done deal once you've already traversed the harrowing intricacies of applying for loa

This week we are talking deals! More specifically are you missing out on anything by not shopping around during the pandemic? Hello lovely listeners! In case you haven't gathered from our lead in this weeks topic might be a bit touchy. Don't worry, no actual touching has occurred in the making of this podcast, we all know that's a relic of the before-times. Nonetheless, as a podcast centered primarily on Seattle real estate and real estate related topics, we would consider ourselves remiss if we did not at least try to acknowledge the  topic. What with society largely shutting down if you're the kind of person who has a nose for a deal you might think now would be a great time to pick up some property at a steep discount, However, do the trends actually support this line of reasoning? Well, you're just going to have to listen and find out! Just a quick disclaimer, the facts in the this episode are pointed specifically at the Seattle real estate market and not towards other state or the United States a

This week Brennen delves into the DI-Why of buying a piece of work property and improving it over time.  Hello Lovely listeners! The idea of buying a run down starter home and restoring it to glory with your own two hands can be a romantic one. I think deep down most of us have had the fantasy of being Diane Lane, restoring our beautiful villa under the Tuscan sun. It's a great day dream. But the practicalities of just plumbing and electric on a run down home are often enough to make your head spin. That's why this week we wanted to delve a little deeper on this common idea of home improvement, how do you balance risk versus reward to get the most out of your time and money. We may not all be able to be Diane Lane, but hopefully we can avoid being Tim, the Toolman, Taylor. Shout out to anyone who remembers the show Home Improvement. And for those who didn't don't worry, that joke isn't worth looking it up. If you have extra free time these days (and most of us do) do check out Under the Tuscan Sun, it's

This week Brennen is breaking down what exactly makes a loan a "jumbo loan" in the Seattle area.  With all the craziness going on in the world right now you may have heard the term "jumbo loan" thrown around a bit. If you have and were wondering what exactly makes a loan jumbo (it's not adding fries and a drink) then that is where we come in. Brennen is here to give you the rundown on what exactly makes up a Jumbo Loan and what you can expect from them. It's a brief info dump that we hope people will find helpful, especially those in the Seattle area! As Always if you have additional questions please reach out to us over our various forms of social media:  Instagram Facebook Twitter Also online at: TheClouseGroup.com Thanks for listening! Our Opening theme: “Inspired” By Kevin Mcleod (incomptech.com) Other music (in order used): “Low Life High Life” By Dan Henig “Ruination 2” By Vibe Mountain “We Don’t Know How it Ends” By Lee Rosevere (leerosevere.bandcamp.com) Music obtained and Licensed under Cr