Tacoma Undressed

Annie Wright School

Annie Wright is the oldest boarding school in the Pacific Northwest, located in North Tacoma with a view of Commencement Bay (Puget Sound). It was founded in 1884 by Charles Wright nine years before there were paved roads in Tacoma.  He established the school because Tacoma residents had no place to send their daughters for education.  C. Wright named the school after his daughter, Annie Wright.  Currently, half of the 450 attending students are boarding students and the other half live in Tacoma and surrounding areas.  It is a college preparatory school for girls and boys grades K-8 and girls from grades 9-12.  Growing up in the surrounding area I really didn’t know much about the Annie Wright school.  I remember as a child driving by this big tudor brick building and remarking how cool it looked with its clean and manicured grounds.  Over the years it has become well known and has grown in size of student body since the late 1900’s.  Visit http://www.aw.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1 to get more information.

Rhododendron Plants

These are amazing Rhododendron plants the home owners in Stadium District have pruned into an arbor.  The Rhododendron is Washington’s state flower, so we see alot of these plants, but I have never seen one quite like this!  It looks like it has been growing for about 30 - 40 years.  The picture makes it look like the opening is for trolls to enter, but in actuality the opening is about 6 feet tall.  The Rhododendron stays green all year round without losing its leaves and in spring the blooms are big and colorful.  Stay tuned… next spring I will get a picture when it is in full bloom!

Selected By KING TV

We are most honored that KING TV has selected our TacomaUndressed.com blog as one of the blogs that feed through KING TV’s Citizen Rain. Congratulations Carol, for the additional exposure you will receive.

Each item we post is available to the KING TV blog readers.

Tips On Keeping Good Credit Scores

The first step when purchasing a house is to get pre-approved from a mortgage lender.  One important factor in getting approved is your credit score, the higher the score the better your credit is.  Lenders pull a report from three major credit bureaus to receive three maybe different scores (numbers).  The reason the scores may be different depends on which bureau your creditors report to.  The rating is established by a percentage of different factors:

Bill Paying History (35%)

Paying your bills on time is a good thing.  If you have late payments, it could hurt your score quite a bit.  The more recent late payments the more chances your score will go down.  It is better to have one or two mistakes then a pattern of late payments.  A series of 30- day late payments is worse then one 60 day late.

How Much You Owe (30%)

It is figured on what you owe versus how much available credit you have on your cards.  The more credit cards you have maxed out the lower your score will be.  However, owing nothing may not give you a good score in this area because there is no track record of how you handle credit.  It is good to have a little bit owing on your cards.

How Long You Have Managed Credit (15%)

If you have too many credit cards and want to cut them up, it might be wise to keep some of the ones you have had for a long time, even though they may be at a higher interest rate.  The reason is the credit companies can see past history on how you have managed your cards.  You may want to use these cards once a year and then pay them off.

Mix Of Credit (10%)

It is good to have installment loans such as car lonas and also revolving debt which is credit cards to show how you manage different types of debt.

Pursuit Of New Credit (10%)

Anytime you request credit the creditor will pull a credit report which places an inquiry on your report.  Too many new inquiries every month is not a good thing.

It is a good idea to annually check your credit by getting a copy of your credit report to make sure there is no incorrect reporting or fraudulent activity.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Check out these awesome pictures taken by a friend at the top of one of the suspension towers of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge.  No, it wasn’t me up there in the clouds snapping pictures!  The new bridge was completed in 7/2007 and has alleviated traffic congestion.  The old bridge is still operational and is opened to 4 lanes going eastbound from Tacoma to Gig Harbor, the new 4 lane bridge travels westbound from Gig Harbor to Tacoma.  There is a $3.00 toll going westbound, however, if you purchase a “Good To Go” pass it saves money and also prevents you from sitting in toll lines.  Visit:  http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/GoodToGo for more information.

The view is looking towards Tacoma.  Thanks Paul for the great pictures!

Tacoma Home Sales

Here is an overview of homes (excluding condo’s) that have sold in the Tacoma area in the past 5 months:

DOM = Days on Market

North Tacoma

South Tacoma

Central Tacoma