Hard to believe after months of planning, the Pacific Northwest Housing Summit and Seattle RE Barcamp events are done. 

During the Housing Summit, I brought my netbook and provided a stream of updates via my Mortage Porter Twitter account and for PNWHS on Twitter.  Overall I was very pleased with the event–there was a lot of good information (not all positive) shared with what to expect with housing in our area.   The wrap-up post on the Housing Summit site will continue to be updated with articles as I find them.  I was a bit disappointed that more real estate professionals did not show up for the event.  I'm chalking it up to it being a reflection of the current state of our industry…especially mortgage originators.  It's true that there were not continuing education clock hours valuable for LO's due to the NMLS requirements, but I don't that's reason enough to not attend an event like this.  I wonder how many are planning to stick around in this industry as the bar continues to raise and disclosure forms continue to pile on.  The job is much tougher than what it used to be and if the Fed (and big banks) have their way, our income will be reduced to peanuts.  Good luck finding an experienced mortgage originator to assist you with your largest investment…sorry…didn't mean to digress!  

Seattle RE Barcamp was a blast.  I enjoyed really enjoyed volunteering for this event and strongly encourage others to do the same.   Since it followed the Housing Summit, there were topics suggested that were beyond social media as I had hoped. 

My only regret is that I couldn't attend more sessions!  PS… if you have any photos or videos from the event, feel free to post them at the Flickr group.

We had folks from all over the country join us at the Seattle Center on last Thursday and Friday for the Housing Summit and RE Barcamp.   I really enjoyed finally meeting Frank Garay and Brian Stevens from Think Big Work Small.  I appreciate their efforts in keeping mortgage professionals up-to-date with current issues facing our industry laced with humor on their vlog.

Thank all of you for making both these events so special!

Neighborhoods across the county will be holding events to get to know each better on the evening of Tuesday, August 4, 2009.  If you live in Seattle, you can register your "block party" with the Seattle Police Department.   Our neighborhood in West Seattle has enjoyed this chance to get together for the past couple of  years with a fun pot luck with someone from the SPD stopping by to answer our questions, informing us of recent crime trends or things to be aware of.

If you live in the Bellevue area, Crossroads Mall will be holding a National Night Out event from 4:00 – 7:00  p.m. with games and goodies for the kids.

The City of Renton will be hosting a Night Out event at the Highlands Community Center from 4:00 – 7:30 pm with free food and games.

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT is designed to:

• Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;
• Generate support for, and participation in, local anti-crime programs;
• Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and
• Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

It's not too late to plan an event for your neighborhood.  Being aware and knowing your neighbors is a great first step in preventing crime.  You can start by contacting you local police department.

If you know of a local Neighborhood Night Out event, please share it with us and post it in the comment section.

Update:  I'll add neighborhood events as I receive them via comments to the body of this post.

High Point in West Seattle, will be holding a large Night Out event at Commons Park.

Kenmore City Hall from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.   Join the Kenmore Police Department at the annual National Night Out Against Crime event. The police chief will barbeque hamburgers and hotdogs for Kenmore citizens. Information will be available on block watches, house checks, personal safety, fingerprinting and ID cards for kids, bicycle registration cards and home fire prevention. FREE!

RSVP by clicking here!