Chris Phillips

In the Margins: Not your father’s real estate market, nor your mother’s

Aug 23, 2023

Nearly 40 years ago, my wife and I purchased our first home. For what seemed like a staggering sum of $75,850 ($221,000 in today’s dollars), we moved into a 1,350 square-foot, three-bedroom home in a small subdivision just north of the Harbor. We vacuumed our sofa cushions for the down-payment and borrowed the balance at

In the Margins: Can’t we find better ways to celebrate a birthday?

Jul 19, 2023

We returned to Gig Harbor at the end of June after a family vacation in the north woods of Canada’s Great Lakes region. Unfortunately, this year the typically fresh lake air and photogenic views were compromised by a gray layer of noxious wildfire smoke from northern Ontario. It reminded us of Puget Sound’s summer of