You’ve heard it all before. The pandemic upended everything, including residential real estate. It seemed like everyone needed more space. For those who could work from home, it meant buying without thinking about commute times or access to transit and was spurred by low interest rates. While that happened here in Seattle, it also played out across the country. Nationally, Zillow reported available home inventory across the United States was at its lowest in 40 years in February.
We’re seeing that echoed here
as well. There were 8 percent fewer sales in the first quarter of 2022 than in 2021. That’s not because the market is slow — it’s not; there simply aren’t enough houses available to buy. That low inventory is causing high housing prices, bidding wars and conditions on sales we’ve never seen before.
To give you some idea of what this means, area real estate analysts say that even with a flood of available houses on the market, it would take about two years to
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Adventures in aeroponics
This last December, my husband gave me an Aerogarden to play with. If you’ve not heard of this yet, the Aerogarden is a tabletop aeroponic/ hydroponic growlight set-up that’s become hugely popular of late. No doubt that’s due in part to the pandemic quarantines and supply-chain issues that have fueled a renewed passion for home vegetable gardening in the last two years.
Erica Grivas Get Growing
Despite appearances on Pinterest, it’s not that easy to grow food indoors, even with lights, because of humidity, varying temperature needs and air circulation. Microgreens and sprouts, sure. Scallions regrown from your organic market bulb? Yup. But thyme and dill? Not so much.
Growing happy herbs and veggies like lettuce, peas and tomatoes inside taking up less counter space than a waffle maker? Sounds amazing, right? I’m game to try. They had me at tomatoes. Now for the nitty-gritty. Like a Keurig, the Aerogarden has pods, but incorporates seeds instead of coffee. These are made of peat and are held with their base in a
reservoir holding water and fertilizer.
AeroGarden sells the pods in sets of six. Mine came with two sets: “heirloom cherry tomatoes mix” and “herbs.” To grow in this system, you need to buy new pods. The light, water and fertilizer alerts are all synced to a timer.
There are some caveats. Indoor plants need to be right near their grow light, so to grow anything really large, like a full-size tomato or bean vine, you’ll need one of the larger systems that incorporates a trellis. Some plants don’t do well hydroponically, like spinach.
My system, the Harvest Elite Slim, holds six pods and measures 17 inches high by 15 inches wide by 5 inches deep. Its black and pewter finish is streamlined and attractive.
The 20-watt LED light extends up to 12 inches, so that’s my ceiling for plant heights. The kit came with six tomatoes, but the company recommends doing three at most because any more would smother each other. That’s fine because I really don’t need six cherry tomato plants at one time inside.
My ideal grouping would be two lettuces, a basil and a tomato, but you can’t do that because the lettuce would need a light at five inches high, and the tomato at 12 inches — and there’s just the one light.
So obviously I started with the tomatoes. However, I was not happy without knowing the variety names, which Aerogrow (the parent company) calls a “proprietary mix.”
Side note: I don’t believe these are actual heirlooms because I’m not aware of any micro-dwarves that are over 50 years old. I like to compare and hone my favorites list each year. So, once I found out you can buy empty pods, I was ordering rare micro-dwarf tomato seeds from France, so I’ll know what I’m growing next time.
I planted three pods of mystery micro-dwarves. One benefit Aerogrow touts is how much faster plants grow in its system — up to five times as fast as in soil, even under lights.
I pushed the “start” button on Jan. 15, and in five days, baby cotyledon leaves were up, and in 10, some “true” leaves with telltale notches were showing.
Then my inner geek lit up, saying, “Wait, can we start our outdoor seeds in here?” Here comes another “Yes, but” answer.
SEE GRIVAS, PAGE 3
AeroGarden, an aeroponic/hydroponic growlight set-up, sells plant pods in sets of six. The light, water and fertilizer alerts are all synced to a timer.
Photo by Erica Browne Grivas
It’s tricky to swap plants from water to a soil medium. AeroGarden says it’s possible but is best done when the seedlings are about an inch high and are highly adaptable.
A bonus to this technique is if you can carefully separate the seedlings roots, you waste fewer seeds and plants. Each pod holds several seeds for insurance in case some don’t germinate. When you grow plants full-term in the AeroGarden, you must thin your group of three seedlings in a pod to the strongest one with an enclosed snipper.
Of course, I couldn’t kill off potential tomato plants that callously and gingerly separated them and moved them into seedstarting mix under another light I have. Even with fertilizer, they are barely 3 inches tall, whereas the AeroGarden plants are 7 (with pruning) as of mid-March.
I should be able to easily start cool-weather foods like peas, kale, lettuce or flowers like calendula or poppies.
(Full disclosure — these seeds can also be sown in the old-timey way outdoors in late winter, no transplanting needed. In my yard, the dog would step on them, slugs could eat them or I’d forget to water the one crucial week it didn’t rain.)
Once I buy my seeds and pods, this may not be much of a costsaver compared to buying starts at a nursery. Also, at most you can grow three seeds in a pod, so 18
“One benefit Aerogrow touts is how much faster plants grow in its system — up to five times as fast as in soil, even under lights."
altogether, versus up to 36 in a flat with a shop light. But it does have the value of being novel and convenient — kind of like gourmet home meal kits.
Back to those micro-dwarf tomatoes. Having picked one of the higher-maintenance, highestreward crops, there’s a bunch to do.
If all goes according to plan, I should start my regular regimen of pruning when the plant sports five sets of true leaves, pollinate flowers (by shaking, electric toothbrush or fan) every other day when they appear at five to seven weeks, and could be harvesting in nine to 12 weeks from the start.
As the plants grow, they’ll need water more often, but the flashing alarm lets me know.
I had flowers as of Feb. 20 — about five weeks from sowing — and went with jostling or gently flicking the flowers when I remembered. We spotted the first green fruit recently.
One giddy Amazon reviewer claimed that religious pruning had her harvesting tomatoes at over 200 days and that her two plants combined had 50 tomatoes on them.
Gardeners seeking to grow vegetables indoors, such as these tomatoes, may have luck with an AeroGarden, which is a tabletop aeroponic/hydroponic growlight set up that’s become popular during the pandemic.
On the other side, another reviewer said the tomatoes tasted flavorless and watery, on par with those at any winter supermarket.
Things I love:
• The uniform conditions the process provides, taking the guess work out of indoor seed-wrangling.
• The red light that signals it’s time to add water or fertilizer, and the interior pump which
keeps the air flowing — lessening chance of human error.
Things I’d change:
• Have a bigger system, include separate lights with variable heights, and use a renewable resource like coco coir for the pods. (Note: Inventive people are already selling off-market pods online).
Bottom line: Is growing with an AeroGarden or a similar system
for you? For our house, I think it will be a great add for adding homegrown produce in the winter. Assess what you are most interested in growing and when to decide if it works with your lifestyle. I’m still sowing my summer’s seeds as usual — sweet peas, spinach and carrot seeds went outside this weekend, and tomatoes will be done inside (under a light) right now.
“Laura is on it from minute one. That’s who she is professionally, and we were the beneficiaries of her experience, street smarts, and diligence. She set a perfect price point, managed the marketing focus and quality, and we had a verbal on the evening of day five followed by the contract at noon the next day. We were able to go about our jam-packed lives knowing Laura was in charge. Excellent job!” - Bill
Whitaker
& Suzanne Sheppard
Photo by Erica Browne Grivas
Compares
Seattle Opera showcasing The Marriage of Figaro and other family friendly events this spring
Seattle Opera’s 2021-22 season wraps up in May with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s crafty comedy “The Marriage of Figaro,” May 7 through May 22 at McCaw Hall.
Tickets are on sale now at https://www.seattleopera.org/onstage/marriage-of-figaro-2022/, with tickets ranging from $35–$369.
For Family Day, May 15, students 18 and under pay only $20 for almost any seat, with special student-oriented activities during intermission.
In addition to its mainstage programming, Seattle Opera offers a variety of events featuring new voices in opera and geared toward youth, families and adults.
Tickets for youth performances start at $5, while the Opera
Talk, Creation Lab and Veterans Cohort Celebration are free and open to the public.
Coming Events
• Opera Talk: The Marriage of…Susanna?: 7 p.m. April 13 at Tagney Jones Hall and YouTube livestream
Figaro may get top billing, but Susanna is the one calling the shots! Join a lively conversation about the role of gender and class in “The Marriage of Figaro,” featuring stage director Peter Kazaras and sopranos Anya Matanovic and Soraya Mafi, who share the role of the quick-witted heroine at the heart of this story. RSVP at https://www.seattleopera.org/operatalks.
• Artist Recital: Helena Dix, 7:30 p.m. April 9, Tagney Jones Hall
Australian soprano Helena Dix presents an evening of musical treasures of the bel canto era entitled “Rediscovered Treasures.”
Tickets and info at https:// www.seattleopera.org/on-stage/ rediscovered-treasures-helenadix/.
• Big Opera Party: 6 p.m. May 13 at The Opera Center
Dine under the stars while enjoying exclusive performances by cast members from The Marriage of Figaro.
Tickets and info at https:// www.seattleopera.org/ donate/2022-big-opera-party/.
• Path With Art Veterans Choir at Northwest Folklife Festival: May 30, Seattle Center
In partnership with Path with Art, Seattle Opera established the Veterans Choir as part of its 2019 production of The Falling and the Rising. Since that event, the choir has evolved into a year-round program. Come hear this ensemble of
(206) 972-7768 • ttruex@windermere.com
dedicated veterans showcase their work at the Northwest Folklife Festival, time to be announced with the 2022 Folklife schedule.
More info at https://www. seattleopera.org/classes-campsclubs/for-adults/path-with-artveterans-choir/.
• Earth to Kenzie: Four performances — June 4 - 5, Tagney Jones Hall
Join for a new one-act opera suitable for all ages, particularly families with children. Melodies and memorable characters showcase a story that explores themes of homelessness, empathy and finding strength through adversity. The 11 a.m. performance on June 5 will be a sensory-friendly performance.
Tickets and info at https:// www.seattleopera.org/classescamps-clubs/for-everyone/ community-performances/earthto-kenzie-2022/.
• Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab 2022 Performances: 7:30 p.m. June 10 and June 11, Tagney Jones Hall
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get to a neutral market. A neutral market is when you have four to six months of inventory.
The unfortunate reality is that we just don’t see that flood as a possibility, at least this year.
Nothing is normal
We thought we’d start to get to a “new normal” as pandemic restrictions wind down, people return to work and everyone adjusts. That’s not happening. We’ll see more inventory come on the market in April, like any normal spring, but it simply won’t be enough.
What we’re seeing has no precedent. It’s gone beyond what we call a seller’s market. This is a win-or-lose market.
With so few homes selling, comps — the settlement price of comparable homes in the area — effectively don’t exist.
Every home sold sets a new price benchmark for sellers and their brokers.
This market has put sellers and their brokers in the drivers’ seats. While buyers have been waiving contingencies to win houses for years now, sellers are now setting new conditions.
My team has eight homes set to hit the market in April where the terms of sale include being able to stay in the home for up to six months after settlement. Buyers who want to win will accept that condition.
Finding the edge
While it’s true that — at this moment — sellers have the power, there are limits. Don’t get greedy
Seattle Opera presents the next iteration of its composition workshop, which seeks to cultivate the next generation of opera composers and librettists in Washington State. Each performance will feature four new 20-minute operas by composer/librettist teams, representing the culmination of months of development.
Tickets are free, with RSVP required at https://www.seattleopera.org/creationlab.
• Veterans Cohort Celebration: 4 p.m. June 25 at Tagney Jones Hall
Join Seattle Opera for a celebration of Path with Art’s Veterans Cohort, the year-long program that grew from 2019’s production of The Falling and the Rising. With art displays, poetry and essay readings and a performance by the Veterans Choir, this event will showcase the work done across the suite of Veterans Cohort classes.
More information at https:// www.seattleopera.org/classescamps-clubs/for-adults/pathwith-art-veterans-choir/.
if you’re putting your home on the market.
In a recent transaction, the sellers were unrealistic about the process and just how much power they really had.
The last several comparable sales escalated from $2.5 to $2.8 million. The sellers flat out listed at the amount the home would likely escalate to, and yet they still expected multiple bids and a much higher price.
After I obtained intel from the listing broker that she was expecting three to four offers, my buyer clients put together an offer $50,000 below asking, waiving all contingencies, allowing the seller to stay for a period of time after closing, and we included an escalation clause in case multiple bids did in fact come in.
There was only their offer in total, yet the seller came back demanding the price the buyers said they would pay up to in the escalation clause.
The buyers wouldn’t do it. Frankly, they didn’t have to. Sellers can demand anything up to the point the market says “no.” In this case, the market was one set of buyers, and my clients wouldn’t give in.
Gaining your edge
In a win-or-lose market, everyone is looking for an edge. For sellers, it’s a high price and staying in the house while they find a place to land.
While sellers have the advantage, it’s not the time to think you can just stick a sign in your lawn and you’re good.
You still need expert advice and a broker who will go above and beyond to make a deal happen
you’re happy with. That means a savvy, scrappy and experienced negotiator. It’s also one who’s honest enough to tell you that you still need to spruce up your home and grounds, clean and declutter. And has the contacts to outsource all those chores quickly if you’re too busy.
Buyers need thick skins, emotional resilience and all their financials tied up neatly. Buyers need a broker with great industry relationships and experience to help them win. One who knows that sometimes winning simply isn’t losing — and that means setting up buyers for success.
Sometimes that success is advising buyers not to enter a bidding war they can’t win, or to not get so competitive they accept outrageous prices and demands from a seller they will regret later. My team is one of the top real estate teams in the state. We have been successful in this market because we’re willing to be flexible and do the work that others won’t to get those wins for our clients. If you have any questions about whether you should sell, buy or just what’s happening, I’d love to hear from you.
As a reminder, my home, my office and my team are focused here in Madison Park. If you’d like to set a time to talk through any matters involving real estate, my door is always open.
