Signs of winter abound; Christmas decorations, ski areas opening, snowflakes in the forecast, red Starbucks cups, an open air ice skating rink downtown. Truly, that is happening. It could be a nice tradition and a further enhancement to our already vital downtown. "Franciscan Polar Plaza" will transform Tollefson Plaza at 17th and Pacific for the entire holiday season. Franciscan Health System, Tacoma Art Museum, City of Tacoma and other sponsors have partnered to bring us a downtown winter destination. It is a temporary thing, opening the day after Thanksgiving and running through January 2. Admission will be $8 and $2 for skate rental. “We love Tacoma and we’re confident that this will be a success for the city and the community,” said Cameron Fellows, Deputy Director of Tacoma Art Museum. “The community has come together to support this effort and we hope this will become a new tradition that enlivens downtown for years to come.” The ice rink will also be available for private events. For more information about Franciscan Polar Plaza including hours, visit www.PolarPlaza.com.

As mentioned above, thanks to a pile of new snow, Crystal Mountain is opening today. Snowqualmie opens tomorrow. White Pass is watching the sky to see what falls. As of this writing, they hadn't made any announcements. Some are predicting a great season at local ski resorts due to a second consecutive La Nina winter.

Our real estate market continues to see incremental improvement. I read today that Washington State's Chief Economist said our state is ranked 47th in the U.S. for 30 day mortgage delinquencies, which could bode well for early 2012 in that it suggests relatively fewer foreclosures here. The north Tacoma real estate market specifically is also seeing gradual improvement, especially homes priced below $350,000. Right now there are 100 pending sales in the north end and 89% of those are below $350,000. I can currently call the $150,000 to $200,000 price range a seller's market. There are more than half as many pending sales as active listings, which means the market is absorbing inventory well and there may be slight upward pressure on values in that small price band. We had one of our best months of the year in October, believe it or not, after a lackluster spring/summer.

Where ever you plan to spend Thanksgiving this year, we would like to wish you a safe and happy holiday!

Two months ago a wrote about an experiment. I thought my home's value in Zillow was low and noticed they had erroneous property information. I claimed ownership of the house and edited the info, promising to report back as to what effect this had on my Zestimate. Nothing changed. It did not go up--and in fact the information is back to being wrong!

I am going to give Zillow a second chance. I do understand what happened. Zillow cancelled my personal account because of conflicts with my business one and along with it went the changes I made a few days prior. My wife is helping me. She created a user account and made the changes. I'll set myself a reminder to look at the value in 6 weeks and report any improvement, or lack thereof.

The other day I got to talking to a friend, Greg Horn, who builds docks. His company is Pacific Dock Builders, LLC. Greg lives and works primarily in Lakewood, which is Shangri La if you are a dock builder because wherever you are in Lakewood you’re near a lake. He estimated that two out of every three homes on Lake Steilacoom, for example, have a dock, many of which are in pretty sad shape because they were not built to last. The docks Greg is building today will be here 40 or 50 years, and the steel pilings they sit on at least twice that long. For the decking, Greg recommends TimberTech, a durable decking product that also resists slipping. Typical docks are 8 feet wide and about 30 feet long. They can run from $10,000 to $20,000.

Docks are an investment, both in your own personal enjoyment and in your property’s value. You want a dock to function well, look good and last a lifetime. I believe it makes sense to do it right. Here are some examples of the docks that Pacific Dock Builders has built. If you would like to get in touch with Greg Horn, let me know. Let me also take this opportunity to tout a beautful home that our team is offering on Lake Steilacoom. It does not have one of Greg's docks at present, but it does feature an Aqua-Lift, which is handy for keeping the underside of your boat clean. Here is a link to the virtual tour: Lakefront home offered at $550,000.