January 12, 2007

Green Lake: Weird Choices

When a house has been on the market for almost 150 days, something’s wrong - right? I can’t speak for everyone, but once I walked upstairs and downstairs in this Green Lake bungalow, I got a good idea of what would cause me to walk away.

Warning: I’m going to complain about bathrooms again.

Upstairs first. It’s a master suite tucked into the eaves of the roof; bedroom on one side of the stairs, bath on the other. I almost did this in my house (it would have been enormously cheaper than raising the roof) and after seeing this place, I’m glad I didn’t. I had problems with the functional height of the ceiling, which is lower than the usual 8 feet, and gabled over a good chunk of the floor area, to boot. It felt confining.

The bath side looked spacious in the pictures, but my opinion changed to “wasted space” when I saw it in person. With all that room, why not put in two sinks? Plus, why choose a claw foot? As romantic as they are, they’re impractical for everyday showering. I lived with one for a year. It was awkward to get in and out and so narrow that the wet vinyl shower curtain would wrap itself around my legs like a prop in a porn film. Never again.

The basement had been halfway finished and not well, I judge. For example, someone installed drywall to the underside of the ceiling joists, which doesn’t sound bad until you see how much duct work and plumbing run below them. None of this was boxed in, so pipes randomly puncture the ceiling and go their merry way. Two new bedrooms were added, but they didn’t bother to enclose either the laundry or the furnace, making the main basement area look like a giant utility room.

It was just a weird set of remodeling choices, a combination that seemed designed to raise the paper value of the house - more bedrooms, more bathrooms - without going to the time and expense of tackling the hard issues, like headroom.

As a balance, there are strong, positive features to this property. It’s a block from the park, an utterly fabulous location. A corner lot, so plenty of natural light. I loved the kitchen, both its aesthetic and work triangle. In fact, the whole first floor was charming.

But in the end, I’m not interested in paying top dollar for finish work that ignores functional flaws. And, judging from how long this place has been on the market, a lot of other people don’t value these improvements either.

STATS:
Neighborhood: Green Lake
Asking: $699,950
Address: 6549 Sunnyside Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98103
Square footage: 2070 (KCR). Lot size: 2728 sq. ft. (KCR)
Bedrooms: 4 Baths: 3
Last sale price: $481,000 (Apr. 2006)
MLS#: 26136878
Click here for detailed listing.

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