Jamie McDonnell + The Anthology Home Collective

Jamie McDonnell + The Anthology Home Collective I’m Jamie. A q***r real estate advisor focused on your story, goals, and dreams. I would be honored to help you write your next chapter.
(2)

Things nobody adequately explains before you move to Western Washington:The rain isn't really the thing.It's the GRAY.It...
08/28/2026

Things nobody adequately explains before you move to Western Washington:

The rain isn't really the thing.

It's the GRAY.

It can be 48 degrees, vaguely damp and the exact same shade of gray for so long that when the sun finally appears, the entire population comes pouring outside like someone opened the doors at recess.

Then summer happens.

And suddenly you're like, "Ohhhhh. THIS is why everyone lives here."

Ten miles is not a measurement of travel time.

A ferry can be public transportation, a commute, a gorgeous way to spend an afternoon or the reason you're texting someone, "I'm going to be 90 minutes late."

Mount Rainier will randomly appear one day looking approximately six feet away and you will understand why we all take pictures of a mountain we've already seen 9,000 times.

And yes, you probably want air conditioning now.

Western Washington has cities, islands, farmland, mountains, beaches, suburbs, rainforests and places where you can live in the woods while remaining suspiciously close to Costco.

It's weird here.

I like it.

If you're q***r and thinking about moving to Washington, you probably have questions that have absolutely nothing to do ...
08/26/2026

If you're q***r and thinking about moving to Washington, you probably have questions that have absolutely nothing to do with bedrooms, bathrooms or interest rates.

You know the questions.

Will we find community?

Are there other q***r families?

Where are the Pride events?

Can I find affirming doctors, therapists, barbers, churches, schools or whatever else matters to MY family?

Can we just exist without constantly having to explain ourselves?

And sometimes the question is simply: Where might we feel like we belong?

Those are legitimate relocation questions.

Washington being a blue state doesn't mean every town is interchangeable or that everyone's experience will be the same.

I won't tell you where you should live.

I WILL help you find the information, resources and communities you want to investigate so you can decide for yourself.

And you don't have to sanitize the questions when you ask me.

I'm q***r too.

I know what you're actually asking.

I had a completely different post I was going to write today.And then Dolly Parton died.And suddenly talking about real ...
08/25/2026

I had a completely different post I was going to write today.

And then Dolly Parton died.

And suddenly talking about real estate and commission checks felt a little weird.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized maybe this is exactly the day to tell this story.

Because Dolly made a hell of a lot of money in her lifetime.

She also spent a hell of a lot of it making other people’s lives a little easier.

She built businesses. She employed people. She gave away books by the millions. She helped people after disasters. She put her money behind things she believed mattered.

She never seemed ashamed of being successful.

She just understood that once you have enough, you can reach back and make sure somebody else has enough too.

And that brings me to a text I sent today.

My buyers had been told they would receive their $800 earnest money back at closing.

Then an error on the lending side and an unexpected debt they hadn’t budgeted for changed the numbers.

Instead of getting $800 back, they were going to owe about $250.

That’s a $1,050 swing.

Maybe $250 doesn’t sound like much.

But when you’ve budgeted every dollar to buy a home and you’re expecting $800 to come back to you, it sure as hell is.

So I texted:

“What do I need to drop my commission by?”

I could absorb it.

They couldn’t.

And that’s actually something I’ve built into the way I run my business.

Realtors get plenty of s**t about how much we’re paid. Sometimes deservedly so.

I don’t know what other Realtors do with their money.

But with every commission check, I put some aside specifically for my clients.

Sometimes that fund pays for a septic pumping.

Sometimes an inspection.

Sometimes some random expense nobody saw coming.

And when it hasn’t been needed for a while, it gives me the ability to do something like this and give up part of my commission when a client needs that money more than I do.

I don’t advertise it. It’s not a program. I don’t promise it to clients.

It’s just part of how I’ve chosen to run my business.

Because I like making money.

I like being successful.

I also think one of the very best things about finally having enough is getting to say:

I can absorb this. You don’t have to.

Dolly Parton spent 80 years showing us that ambition and generosity don’t cancel each other out.

You can build something enormous and still remember what it felt like when a relatively small amount of money was a very big amount of money.

You can make money and do good with it.

You can take care of yourself and still take care of people.

You can be successful without pulling the ladder up behind you.

So maybe this wasn’t such a weird day to post about business after all.

Maybe it’s exactly the right one.

Rest easy, Dolly.

Thanks for showing generations of us that there’s nothing wrong with making a good living.

Just don’t forget to do some good living with it.

Yes, you can buy a house in Washington without ever setting foot inside it.I've relocated across the country sight unsee...
08/24/2026

Yes, you can buy a house in Washington without ever setting foot inside it.

I've relocated across the country sight unseen four times myself, so I have some feelings about what a "virtual showing" should actually mean.

I am not going to FaceTime you from the kitchen and tell you how pretty the countertops are.

You have photos for that.

I'm showing you the weird stain behind the washing machine.

I'm opening the cabinets.

I'm walking outside so you can hear the road.

I'm showing you the neighboring house that the listing photographer VERY strategically managed to exclude.

I'm telling you if something smells weird.

I'm driving the neighborhood.

And if I walk into a room and immediately think, "What the f**k happened here?" you're going to know that too.

Buying remotely requires a different level of trust.

My job isn't to make you fall in love with the house.

My job is to make sure you understand what you're buying.

Sometimes people ask what Realtors actually do all day.Well. This. This is what we do all day. Manage this. This week I ...
08/23/2026

Sometimes people ask what Realtors actually do all day.

Well. This. This is what we do all day. Manage this.

This week I have:

😳 A new client with a non-zero chance of Baby Reindeering me. Early days. We shall see how this plays out.

🤷🏻‍♀️ A client who closed LAST MONTH incessantly texting me and the buyer’s agent about copyright law. Why? Unclear. Why are we all still here? Also unclear.

🙄 A buyer’s agent who believes a 1950s house should be updated to today’s standards before being sold and is advising her clients accordingly. She’s been doing this long enough she may have sold the place to the original owner.

😤 A listing agent who has somehow out-boomered himself by obtaining a HARD COPY of the HOA documents, refusing to scan them, and insisting they be picked up at his office.

Two hours away.

M-F, 9-5, naturally.

🤯 A buyer’s agent who keeps removing my assistant Kaja’s email from Reply All and replacing it with KaYa, so everything bounces back when I Reply All. I keep correcting it. She keeps changing it back. This is our life now.

🫠 A listing agent who keeps emailing me as if I am the appraiser, despite me repeatedly responding, “You have emailed me, the buyer’s agent, again.”

At this point I am gaslighting myself into thinking maybe I am the appraiser and forgot?

😡 A roofer who certified a roof that was DOWN TO THE PLYWOOD as having “easily 10 more years of life left.”

Turns out the roofer:

1. Did not get on the roof.
2. Did not bring a ladder.
3. Did not look at our inspector’s photos of the roof.

Anyway, my buyers are getting a new roof before closing. From a different roofer, obviously.

🤨 A closing team demanding information from the lender despite having spent a WEEK not including anyone from the lending team on the emails or me, the buyers agent.

I did not pick said closing team.

😏 A buyer demanding my seller provide evidence AND instructions for how to operate the gas fireplace.

The seller made them a video.

It begins with her holding up the instruction booklet THAT IS ATTACHED TO THE FIREPLACE and saying, “First thing, you open this instruction manual.”

Honestly, 10/10. No notes. Oscar performance for short documentary.

🫩 A client who has panic attacks before, during, and after nearly every interaction we have and trusts me completely with her real estate needs.

Which is genuinely very sweet. I’m honored.

I’m also tired.

🫪 A buyer who closed last month, installed her washing machine incorrectly, flooded her house, and is angry the inspector didn’t catch that this would happen.

She installed the washer.

After closing.

About 27 days after the inspection.

I represented the SELLER.

So that’s what we do. We are just out here looking at our phones several times a week and thinking, “This cannot possibly what I am doing with my life.”

And yet, it is exactly what I am doing with my life.

I love what I do. I love the people I get to do it for and with.

As always, I got 99 problems, but loving my job ain’t one.

(I also have 10 other active clients that make this job totally mundane with how uneventful they are. Lame.)

(Here’s a picture of my kid in Alaska this week on a trip made possible by this rad job of mine)

"We want to live near Seattle."Okay.What does **near Seattle** mean to you?Because that sentence has approximately 47 di...
08/21/2026

"We want to live near Seattle."

Okay.

What does **near Seattle** mean to you?

Because that sentence has approximately 47 different meanings.

Do you work downtown five days a week?

Twice a week?

Fully remote, but you want restaurants, concerts and city stuff nearby?

Do you want Seattle energy without actually living IN Seattle?

Do you just want to be within reasonable striking distance of an airport?

Or did you tell me "Seattle" because you're moving here from another state and that's currently the only Washington city you can confidently locate on a map?

All valid answers.

But they're going to send us in very different directions.

Lynnwood isn't Tacoma. Edmonds isn't Olympia. Everett isn't Kitsap. And two places that look reasonably close together on a map can be VERY different once traffic, bridges, water and ferries get involved.

So don't worry about telling me what town you want.

Tell me what you want access to.

Tell me where you need to go.

Tell me how you want to live.

We'll figure out the town from there.

If you're relocating to Washington with kids, "Which area has the best schools?" probably isn't the question you actuall...
08/19/2026

If you're relocating to Washington with kids, "Which area has the best schools?" probably isn't the question you actually need answered.

Because best for WHO?

The kid who needs a strong special education program?

The theater kid?

The athlete?

The neurodivergent kid who is going to absolutely drown in the wrong environment?

The kid who needs more support?

The kid who needs more challenge?

The kid who desperately needs to find their people?

School ratings can't tell you all of that.

And neither can I decide for you which school is "best." What I CAN do is help you find the actual information and resources you need to evaluate your options.

Then we look at the rest of your life.

Because if the "perfect" house means you're driving 45 minutes to school, back to work, across town for therapy, back for soccer and then doing the whole damn thing again tomorrow, we haven't actually made your life better.

Sometimes the best house isn't the one with the biggest kitchen.

It's the one that makes Wednesday easier.

Under contract! 🎉 I’m so excited for my buyers on this rad, groovy Lacey home at 329 Wildcat ST SE. Built in 1959 and be...
08/19/2026

Under contract! 🎉 I’m so excited for my buyers on this rad, groovy Lacey home at 329 Wildcat ST SE. Built in 1959 and beautifully updated, it offers 3 bedrooms plus a den, 2.5 baths, and 1,938 sq ft of living space on nearly half an acre.

Central A/C keeps things cool all summer, while the covered patio and expansive backyard are perfect for relaxing, gardening, or planning that future shop or play area. The oversized garage loft is just waiting to become a workshop or home gym.

Want to be next in Lacey or nearby? Start your search here:
https://anthologyhomes.epiquerealty.com/d8r6qezs

My company automatically submits us for RealTrends, so every year these rankings show up. This year (which is actually 2...
08/18/2026

My company automatically submits us for RealTrends, so every year these rankings show up. This year (which is actually 2025 numbers) I’m #6 in Lynnwood by sides and #14 by volume, down from #3 and #9 the year before.

Which makes sense. Last year was the slowest year I’ve had in real estate.

I had to take a step back and, in doing so, Marc took a step forward. Watching your kid step in and do the things you couldn’t do for a while, and do them as well as you would have…That’s pretty rad.

I tried to teach him the thing I think matters most in this business: people. Not numbers. People. Always.

And last year especially, that mattered.

The majority of the people I helped were relocating to Washington because they didn’t feel safe where they were. Families that looked a whole lot like mine, trusting me to help them pack up their lives, move across the country and land somewhere they could breathe a little easier.

That’s a big responsibility. And an honor.

Meanwhile, the universe was very clearly telling me to sit my butt down for a season. It flooded our house, put us in a hotel for a month, then a rental for another 8 months, tried to kill our dog, sent our kids’ mental health to the lowest lows and, just in case I still wasn’t getting the message, gave me frozen shoulder because apparently I’m old AF and needed the reminder.

So, I listened for once and I worked less. I volunteered in my kids’ schools. I did something that, for whatever reason, is called a “fun run.” I got waterpark passes for the first time in my life (and used them!). I spent more nights with my family than I spent days weaving from town to town for work.

RealTrends sees 18 houses and $10.1 million in volume.

I see 17 families. One I helped twice.

Apparently those numbers still put me around the top 2% of agents nationally. That’s cool. It’s just not the part I care about.

And for what it’s worth, it’s only August and I’ve already surpassed everything I did in all of last year.

So while some would not post a ranking like mine, I don’t look back at last year and wish I’d sold more houses.

I’m glad I knew when to sell fewer.

If you're thinking about moving to Washington, please do not start with Zillow.Start with your life.Where do you work? H...
08/17/2026

If you're thinking about moving to Washington, please do not start with Zillow.

Start with your life.

Where do you work? How often do you actually have to go there? How much time are you willing to spend sitting on I-5 questioning every decision that led you to this moment?

Do you want walkable coffee shops or enough land that seeing a neighbor requires binoculars?

Do you need q***r community nearby? Specific services for your kids? Easy access to Seattle? A yard? A ferry? Absolutely NO ferry?

These questions matter more than whether you prefer a Craftsman or a rambler.

Western Washington isn't one lifestyle. Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Edmonds, Lynnwood, Everett, Kitsap and the communities between them can give you wildly different versions of living here.

So when someone tells me, "We want to move to Washington, but we don't know where," that's actually fine.

Don't pick a town and try to force your life into it.

Tell me what you want an ordinary Tuesday to look like.

We'll work backwards from there.

Address

Seattle, WA
98101

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Jamie McDonnell + The Anthology Home Collective posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category