I just got back from a trip there visiting my wife's college roommate.
We flew a direct evening flight from Charlotte and landed in Portland. Getting off the plane I immediately knew why it is called Portlandia. I never saw a such a concentration of odd people in my life. They wore kind of a uniform of odd color hair and hairstyles, with weird clothing, many with tee shirts shouting liberal slogans. They were everywhere in the airport not just some group, and all ages.
I rented a Chrysler 300 with leather seats and a 5.7L Hemi. It was a fast, nice riding car for the road trip to Seattle. But first we spent the night in Portland; a hotel room near the airport that cost $220, or about 50% more than I'd expect to pay in Charlotte.
In the morning we took a short drive up the Columbia river valley to do some sight seeing. Gorgeous river. The three hour drive to Seattle was more like six due to traffic. On a Sunday morning/ early afternoon. Although we left plenty of time, we were late getting to the cookout that our hosts had planned for us. Ate too much and had lots of beer followed up with red wine.
In the morning we toured our surroundings. A beautiful neighborhood called Magnolia. "Old money" overlooking the Puget Sound, 15 minute commute to downtown. Real Estate prices about double from here in the Piedmont NC.
I was asked to inspect the house to look over a page-and-a-half list of issues that were not disclosed during the sale last year. The previous owner had done a major renovation. The house was originally built in 1940, Cape style with a full basement and three bedrooms on the second floor. Ceiling heights were 7'-3" back then. The renovation included raising the second floor to achieve 8' ceilings on the main level, raising the roof over the master bedroom with high cathedral ceilings, and second floor plan addition for the master bath, lowering the floor of half of the basement to achieve 8'-0" ceilings, a new retaining wall parallel with the rear basement wall for walk-out access of the new bedroom, and a 12-foot wide concrete staircase leading up to the new leveled and landscaped back yard. The wide stairs brought in lots of natural light to the family room, which would otherwise been dark. The kitchen was very high end with a huge central island, Viking Professional appliances, and an amazing two-drawer dishwasher. The entire main level was done in variable width walnut, full 3/4" thick, imported from New Hampshire. The cost of the hardwood alone was $22K.
Then I met their inspector that they hired for a possible litigation. I'm figuring cost of repairs of less than $20,000 (they had already spent $6000). The inspector's rule-of-thumb- $50k or forget a suit- was identical to mine. She, the owner, however, doesn't like to get taken. I spent the rest of the week subtly reminding her to think rationally, not emotionally.
An interesting factoid here is that the cost of the City building inspection was $6800. Property taxes are $16K. For comparison here, permits are about $500 and taxes would be about $7K.
We celebrated our 30th by dining with them at the Space Needle. The bill was $380, not including a $50 tip.
A trip to Pike Market to purchase a pound of "hottest curry you can find" for my dog-watcher back home. Then bought a 5# salmon for $48 and watched it filleted. Our host grilled that up along with a ton of veggies.
Took a boat for a 6 hour round trip to a point on outer Puget. The catamaran seated 237 (it was full). Twin Detroit Diesels, V16's, churning Rolls Royce waterjets, propelled us at 25 knots.
Total 'cost' of the trip was 6# for me and four for my wife. We're back on the diet and I've already lost five.
We flew a direct evening flight from Charlotte and landed in Portland. Getting off the plane I immediately knew why it is called Portlandia. I never saw a such a concentration of odd people in my life. They wore kind of a uniform of odd color hair and hairstyles, with weird clothing, many with tee shirts shouting liberal slogans. They were everywhere in the airport not just some group, and all ages.
I rented a Chrysler 300 with leather seats and a 5.7L Hemi. It was a fast, nice riding car for the road trip to Seattle. But first we spent the night in Portland; a hotel room near the airport that cost $220, or about 50% more than I'd expect to pay in Charlotte.
In the morning we took a short drive up the Columbia river valley to do some sight seeing. Gorgeous river. The three hour drive to Seattle was more like six due to traffic. On a Sunday morning/ early afternoon. Although we left plenty of time, we were late getting to the cookout that our hosts had planned for us. Ate too much and had lots of beer followed up with red wine.
In the morning we toured our surroundings. A beautiful neighborhood called Magnolia. "Old money" overlooking the Puget Sound, 15 minute commute to downtown. Real Estate prices about double from here in the Piedmont NC.
I was asked to inspect the house to look over a page-and-a-half list of issues that were not disclosed during the sale last year. The previous owner had done a major renovation. The house was originally built in 1940, Cape style with a full basement and three bedrooms on the second floor. Ceiling heights were 7'-3" back then. The renovation included raising the second floor to achieve 8' ceilings on the main level, raising the roof over the master bedroom with high cathedral ceilings, and second floor plan addition for the master bath, lowering the floor of half of the basement to achieve 8'-0" ceilings, a new retaining wall parallel with the rear basement wall for walk-out access of the new bedroom, and a 12-foot wide concrete staircase leading up to the new leveled and landscaped back yard. The wide stairs brought in lots of natural light to the family room, which would otherwise been dark. The kitchen was very high end with a huge central island, Viking Professional appliances, and an amazing two-drawer dishwasher. The entire main level was done in variable width walnut, full 3/4" thick, imported from New Hampshire. The cost of the hardwood alone was $22K.
Then I met their inspector that they hired for a possible litigation. I'm figuring cost of repairs of less than $20,000 (they had already spent $6000). The inspector's rule-of-thumb- $50k or forget a suit- was identical to mine. She, the owner, however, doesn't like to get taken. I spent the rest of the week subtly reminding her to think rationally, not emotionally.
An interesting factoid here is that the cost of the City building inspection was $6800. Property taxes are $16K. For comparison here, permits are about $500 and taxes would be about $7K.
We celebrated our 30th by dining with them at the Space Needle. The bill was $380, not including a $50 tip.
A trip to Pike Market to purchase a pound of "hottest curry you can find" for my dog-watcher back home. Then bought a 5# salmon for $48 and watched it filleted. Our host grilled that up along with a ton of veggies.
Took a boat for a 6 hour round trip to a point on outer Puget. The catamaran seated 237 (it was full). Twin Detroit Diesels, V16's, churning Rolls Royce waterjets, propelled us at 25 knots.
Total 'cost' of the trip was 6# for me and four for my wife. We're back on the diet and I've already lost five.
