July 3, 2008
Looking to fill your weekend post-4th fireworks? Do some home cruising in the Central District with these new listings, and take in a bit of Seattle history, to boot. That’s right, kiddos — all of these homes are more than a century old, all have been listed no more than a fortnight, and all brim with turn-of-the-20th-century character. Okay, so maybe some of them need a little more love than others (we’re not naming any names), but they’re nonetheless charming in their age. And, given this city’s propensity for razing old buildings, I for one am glad to see some of that Arts and Crafts construction outfox townhouse purgatory.
161 18th Ave.
Vintage: 1903
Price: $489,950
Specs: 3 bd/1 bath
Size: 2,070 square feet
512 21st Ave.
Vintage: 1900
Price: $556,500
Specs: 4 bd/3 bath
Size: 2,200 square feet
1501 E. Columbia St.
Vintage: 1901
Price: $661,000
Specs: 3 bd/2 bath
Size: 2,090 square feet
333 19th Ave.
Vintage: 1907
Price: $524,500
Specs: 4 bd/1.5 bath
Size: 2,820 square feet
1424 26th Ave.
Vintage: 1907
Price: $625,000
Specs: 4 bd/2.5 bath
Size: 2,100 square feet
July 3, 2008
This post is dedicated to my favorite aunt, Thea Nikki. (Thea is the Greek word for aunt.) Next Tuesday is Thea’s birthday. It’s a big birthday, so I want to get her something extra special.
Thea’s always loved Tudors. Elegant, earthy Tudors are a common housing stock in the land of her birth, Portland, Oregon. In Laurelhurst Park, one of Portland’s many historic neighborhoods, Tudors live harmoniously among Craftsman Bungalows, Northwest Farmhouses, and Victorian Painted Ladies.
The Tudor Revival house is typified by steeply pitched roofs, stucco exteriors, and heavy timbers. Reminiscent of the original medieval style, the early 20th century interpretation creates a warm, enveloping and sturdy-feeling home.
So Thea, for your birthday I found you three Tudor homes. I’ve been watching these for a while (in honor of you). They all have their good and not-so-good points, but in the end, each would make a wonderful, never-move-again home.
Have a look at each of these beauties–I’ve summarized their pros and cons (as I see them). Pick your favorite!
All of these homes have been on the market for some time (718 20th was recently re-listed), and reduced from their original price. They’re all within a few blocks of each other on the NE edge of Capitol Hill/Montlake/Madison Park.
718 20th Ave E Seattle, WA 98112 Price: $817,000
This is the biggest of the three at 3200 sq/ft (though I’ve an inkling that may include the basement?) It also appears to be the most move-in ready. Meaning it’s also has the biggest price tag (though the price per sq. ft. is the cheapest—because of it’s large size). The kitchen, while functional, does not do justice to the home or the neighborhood—it’s gonna need updating.
1413 25th Ave E Seattle, WA 98112 Price: $614,990
This is a For Sale By Owner. The bones look great, but a thorough inspection to determine needed upgrades is required. Cosmetically, it looks good, but I’m dubious as to the state of the various systems. The price allows for some upgrading. This one is within walking distance to the Arboretum.
2110 E Crescent Dr Seattle, WA 98112 Price: $625,000
This one is listed as a fixer. Again, the bones look great. It appears to need the most work, but until inspections are done, it’s hard to tell. The price also allows for some upgrading. Location-wise, this is my favorite. (I’ve a strange love for Interlaken Park, which is just around the corner.)
Let me know which one you prefer Thea. I’ll drive by, snap a pic, print it out, and put it in a nice frame. All just for you.
July 2, 2008
Skyrocketing gas prices, rising food costs, house foreclosures, unemployment…it’s hard to find a silver lining these days, and we are all eager to point fingers at somebody, including the “affluent suburbanites and their cars” who, as Lynne Varner further points out, are stereotypically “gas guzzlers commuting to McMansions,” which, not coincidentally, are the most recent fodder of public debate.
The suburbs aren’t dead. They’re more vibrant than ever. Technology has pushed the work-at home concept and large employers such as Microsoft have turned the burbs into employment centers. City dwellers aren’t the only ones interested in doing errands on foot. Planning for suburban communities includes retail, employment and entertainment options that operate as mini-Seattles.
More creativity, less blame, can give us four-day work weeks, telecommutes, and a viable school option across the street rather than across town.
In Puget Sound, we are blessed with employers that make more efficient work options feasible for many of us, wherever we live. Nearly 250 area employers made the most recent (2006) EPA national list of Best Workplaces for Commuters including Microsoft, which allows telecommuting, flexible work hours, and now offers its Connector bus service, Amgen, which offers incentives to employees for leaving the car at home, and more. With its high tech backbone, Seattle certainly has the infrastructure and the determination to be an example for the rest of the country.
So, which is the right way to live? I can’t tell you, just as you can’t tell me. However, I can say that wherever you live, there are choices in how you decide to live that can make it right for all of us:
Plant a garden.
Compost.
Recycle.
Carpool.
Ride a bike.
Use public transit.
Telecommute.
Modify your work week.
Consolidate errands.
Turn off a light.
Add a timer.
Take a shorter shower.
Reuse grocery bags.
Adopt a dog.
Eat leftovers.
Call your mother.
July 2, 2008
Enamored of the Hill lifestyle but disenchanted with the prices? These five listings appeared just yesterday and offer Capitol Hill living for less than $300,000.
They vary in size from 800 sq. ft. down to 500, with an average price of $428/sq. ft.— spot-on for the location. There’s also a nice range of styles, from Old World Classic to Modern.
1106 E Thomas #1 Seattle, WA 98102 Price: $298,000
511 E Roy St #202 Seattle, WA 98102 Price: $267,500
1605 15 Ave #LW6 Seattle, WA 98122 Price: $257,500
1410 E Pine St #W210 Seattle, WA 98122 Price: $252,000
752 Bellevue Ave E #112 Seattle, WA 98102 Price: $229,500
July 2, 2008
Some homes are not priced to sell in this market. Slowly, people are figuring it out. Will lowering the sale price by $500 entice buyers? I think it really depends on the market, price range and location. Steve Tytler of the The Herald in Everett has his own opinions on this subject.
You tell us. Do these price reductions entice you to break out the checkbook? Some of these are funny, others are spot on and the rest may require more professional opinions.
8410 SE 47th Pl, Mercer Island
UP $999 to $999,999 (We know, $1 million is a scary number)
Perhaps it was a typo, but the sale price went from 1,075,000 to 999,000 then back up to just one dollar short of a million. Not sure where this is headed, but I’m pretty confident someone shopping on Mercer Island with an upper six-figure budget is not likely to care about one dollar. Just a thought.
6024 123rd Ave SE, (Newport) Bellevue
Down $20,000 to $459,000
Folks, this home is back on the market. After a quick stint of off market status, this beautifully remodeled four bedroom and 2.5 bathroom home located in the Newport Hills is serious about finding a buyer and dropped the price well below comparable homes in the neighborhood. Spot on 6024!
Ed note: This is a bank-listed foreclosure. Emphasize the “serious about finding a buyer” comment.
833 SW Sunset Blvd #55, Renton
Down $950 to $239,000
At first glance, the price reduction seemed like a pittance, but the three bedroom and 2.5 bathroom home is priced in the sweet spot for many first time homebuyers looking for spacious digs without the steep price tag. The medium price estimate for this home according to Zillow.com is $228,500. So, maybe this townhouse has a few more price reductions to go.
10824 SE 170th St #B-105, Renton
$195,000
No price reduction here, but I had to share this deal with you. The two bedroom and two bathroom condo just came back on the market, and with this low price, it’s sure to capture the intention of a savvy investor. The condo has been on the market for more than 117 days, (might be getting a little desperate) and features fully upgraded appliances and furnishings.
July 2, 2008
A few houses have popped up in West Seattle in the past week or so, just in time for shopping over the long 4th of July weekend.
4423 SW Seattle St (3 bed, 1 bath, 2,370 sf, $574K)
This one is my favorite. It may need some updating inside, but it has a good structure to it, it’s on a big lot, and it’s about two blocks from a beautiful northwest view of Bainbridge Island. The bay windows on the upstairs corners look nice from the outside and make for a nice place to sit and enjoy the sun from the inside.
1635 46 Ave SW (4 bed, 1.75 bath, 2,840 sf, $649K)
I like this one too, but the pictures aren’t very good so it’s hard to get an idea for how it feels inside. If there’s an open house this weekend I’ll be sure to post about it. This one is close to the previous one, and closer to Sunset Street, which means you’d only be a few houses away from amazing views on your evening walks. Both of these houses are close to shopping, food, library, schools, etc., at the intersection of California and Admiral.
2734 53rd Ave SW (4 bed, 3 bath, ~3,500 sf, $399K*)
Note the asterisk after the price. This one is interesting: a 10K+ square foot lot, broad views of Alki and the Sound, and all you have to do is bring your own house! According to the listing, the price gets you plans, permits, and “geotech” (I do not know what this means). I have to admit, it sounds like a nice package if you can afford the house that’s been drawn up. The location is decent, depending on how much you like to walk. It is about midway between Alki beach and the California and Admiral intersection, which means a long walk to either one (and an uphill walk to grocery shopping).
July 2, 2008
The Seattle City Council may put the kibosh on supersized construction, according to the Seattle P-I. City Council President Richard Conlin has drafted a proposal that would limit home sizes on single-family-zoned lots, dropping the current cap of 5,250 square feet down to 4,350. This construction reduction would also increase green space between lots, and would provide wider buffers between houses. (Good, especially when the neighbor kid is drumming along to his Rush albums.)
What’s more, this city-proposed downsize does well by neighbors who feel crowded by behemoth homes, or who aren’t necessarily pleased with the sore-thumb looks of a megamanse in, say, a Craftsman-heavy Seattle ‘hood. And, with 65 percent of the Emerald City zoned single-fam residential, there exist all manner of lots primed for new biggie digs.
Conlin’s proposal, which should see discussion a next month’s Council meeting, seems to be coming at the right time: says the P-I piece, demand for homes in the $900,000+ bracket is diminishing. Likewise the pining for extra square footage, as I blogged last week.
Yet even if the proposal passes, it still may leave neighborhoods in the lurch. Take away 900 square feet, and you’ve still room for a potential view-killer. Plus, a 4,350-square-foot home provides no more urban density than does a place that’s one story taller. Of course, most of the single-family lots in this town don’t allow for subdivision anyhow, and, with the recent crackdown on eyesore townhomes, c’est la guerre.
I do wonder about the motive behind Conlin’s proposal. Is it concern for the architectural aesthetic of Seattle? Is it a community-minded move, spurred by the piles of complaints the city has received due to the steady build-up of these West Egg megahomes? Or is it a green push, one that will ride on the coattails of the bottled water ban in city offices and precede the proposed bag tax and styrofoam container censure?
Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I’m hoping for all three.
July 1, 2008
Having just returned from a three week trek through China (and with the Beijing Summer Olympics on the horizon), I thought it might be timely to deviate from Seattle real estate for a moment and share some reflections (and vacation pictures!) from my trip with you.
First off, I can wholeheartedly say that you won’t hear me complaining about the weather, traffic, or housing in Seattle anymore (or at least as much). In fact, after getting a first hand view of how the Chinese people live, I would be hard pressed to complain about much of anything again.
Case in point, in this distant land where the culture is so glaringly different than our own, the sprawling metropolis of Beijing struggles each day to handle its population of 15 million inhabitants, which is roughly four times the size of the Seattle metropolitan area. The cityscape is different than what we know, for it is far more dense, far more crowded, and far less personal than our beloved city. The work commute starts very early in the morning, though
this is mostly due to the struggle to get through traffic. Businesses open late in the morning, but they also stay open much later, as the coolness of the evening seems to draw more people out for shopping and eating late into the night.
Another noticeable difference–no real suburbs as far as I could tell. Beijing appears to be densely filled with row after row of identical high-rise housing units, each equipped with individual air conditioner and laundry dangling out from each window. As you travel further and further away from the city center, these high rise residences continue on, until suddenly it stops and you find yourself on rural farmland. In fact, the shiny, new Olympic stadium (aka the “Bird’s Nest”), appears to outsiders as a wholey integrated portion of Beijing, but in fact, it actually lies on what was pre-construction farmland. My guide personally knew at least one farmer who received $1 million in exchange for his land.
In Beijing, the hustle and bustle of the Olympics is everywhere you look. The c
ity is crazed with getting in shape for the ultimate world event. Construction is every direction you turn, with bamboo scaffolding covering everything from massive skyscrapers to historical treasures like the Forbidden City. With the Olympics within spitting distance, it looks precarious if it will all be finished in time, but knowing the unparalleled discipline of the Chinese, I’m certain it will.
In addition, traffic takes on a whole new meaning in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. In a place where the auto industry has been growing in recent years due to the lower of price to encourage car sales, paradoxically, at the same time citizens are discouraged from driving these cars by placing tolls on roads which far exceed the low cost of public transportation. For example, on one route alone, I calculated the toll road costs of driving a private car to be six times more than the required bus fare, and this didn’t even take fuel costs into consideration.
And of course, there’s the weather…never again will I complain about Seattle rain. I was warned beforehand to bring an umbrella, but being the overconfident Seattlite that I am, I thought I was rainproof–after all, who carries an umbrella around here?? However, rainproof I may be, but monsoonproof, I am not! Within seconds, I was crushed by tumultuous sheets of rain. In Beijing, it’s duck and cover, or drown.
On the other hand, rents in Beijing are on the rise, mainly because of the Olympics. Homeowners who were even considering selling earlier on decided to hang onto their properties and rent them out during the Olympics, though the actual sales prices of properties has been on the decline. This decline is expected to continue after the Olympics have come and gone, making Beijing no different than any other major city right now. However, long after the camera’s fade into the distance, one thing is for sure, the 2008 Olympics will have changed Beijing for the better.
More food for thought:
$466,00 can get you this 2 bedroom, 1,500 square foot apartment in Beijing or this 3 bedroom, 1,500 square foot house in Bellevue or this What’s the difference (besides 6,000+ miles)? Per capita income in Beijing is roughly $3,600/year, compared to $29,000/year in Bellevue.
June 30, 2008
Recent posts on Redfin Seattle:
If you missed the Seattle Red Carpet Event you missed a good time and some really interesting morsels shared in the home buyer’s class - fortunately for you, the slides are posted.
Redfin mined some data on what homes are actually selling for vs. the price they were listed at. In general you can expect a couple percentage points of advantage on price if you’re buyer unless you’re shopping in Snoqualmie. Surprisingly, houses and condos in Snoqualmie are selling *above* asking price. Snoqualmie is best known for its Falls that plunge down into the Snoqualmie River (unlike it’s home prices that are soaring over asking). If homes are selling over asking price that usually indicates there are multiple offers. Any comments or anecdotal stories from buyers or sellers in that part of the County?
King County Houses Sale-to-List Prices, April 1 - June 23 2008
| City |
# Deals |
Final v. List |
Average Price |
| Auburn |
131 |
98.6% |
$338,870 |
| Bellevue |
198 |
97.4% |
$821,883 |
| Bothell |
66 |
98.5% |
$442,362 |
| Burien |
43 |
98.1% |
$347,888 |
| Des Moines |
55 |
97.7% |
$299,295 |
| Duvall |
30 |
96.9% |
$496,607 |
| Federal Way |
111 |
98.5% |
$328,122 |
| Issaquah |
123 |
97.3% |
$646,272 |
| Kenmore |
39 |
97.5% |
$506,493 |
| Kent |
196 |
98.9% |
$360,366 |
| Kirkland |
135 |
97.3% |
$787,105 |
| Lake Forest Park |
20 |
98.9% |
$461,073 |
| Maple Valley |
118 |
98.8% |
$411,227 |
| Mercer Island |
56 |
96.5% |
$1,441,888 |
| Newcastle |
34 |
97.6% |
$858,459 |
| Normandy Park |
13 |
95.4% |
$577,150 |
| North Bend |
26 |
97.5% |
$431,987 |
| Redmond |
192 |
97.6% |
$672,922 |
| Renton |
278 |
98.2% |
$415,984 |
| Sammamish |
144 |
97.4% |
$696,178 |
| SeaTac |
38 |
98.3% |
$302,714 |
| Seattle |
1442 |
98.4% |
$553,891 |
| Shoreline |
105 |
98.3% |
$418,262 |
| Snoqualmie |
79 |
100.2% |
$530,302 |
| Tukwilla |
23 |
98.5% |
$329,918 |
| Woodinville |
51 |
98.1% |
$727,207 |
King County Condos Sale-to-List Prices, April 1 - June 23 2008
| City |
# Deals |
Final v. List |
Average Price |
| Auburn |
35 |
98.2% |
$214,646 |
| Bellevue |
109 |
97.6% |
$373,350 |
| Bothell |
32 |
98.5% |
$259,634 |
| Burien |
17 |
99.1% |
$196,747 |
| Des Moines |
15 |
98.4% |
$257,233 |
| Duvall |
2 |
98.2% |
$234,757 |
| Federal Way |
34 |
99.0% |
$174,542 |
| Issaquah |
101 |
98.5% |
$312,222 |
| Kenmore |
8 |
99.7% |
$250,148 |
| Kent |
61 |
98.5% |
$230,368 |
| Kirkland |
101 |
96.9% |
$404,509 |
| Mercer Island |
5 |
95.1% |
$472,000 |
| Newcastle |
7 |
98.9% |
$313,836 |
| Redmond |
68 |
98.1% |
$333,342 |
| Renton |
58 |
97.7% |
$236,964 |
| Sammamish |
9 |
98.3% |
$291,033 |
| SeaTac |
9 |
96.6% |
$219,470 |
| Seattle |
538 |
98.2% |
$399,317 |
| Shoreline |
25 |
98.1% |
$249,899 |
| Snoqualmie |
15 |
102.0% |
$210,398 |
| Tukwilla |
9 |
99.2% |
$176,242 |
| Woodinville |
7 |
99.6% |
$295,932 |
June 30, 2008
Finally, summer has arrived in Puget Sound; and with it, frenetic construction. New mid-rise, mixed-use buildings dot the border-lands between Capitol Hill, First Hill and the Central District.
Madison is an especially busy street, with always-moving orange construction cones marching east to west and back. Starting just over the highway, you can see the steel bones of a soon-to-be high-rise. A bit further up Madison at 12th, the Trace is move-in ready. Two blocks more, and another new building nears completion, replacing the old piano bar at Madison and 15th. Continue over the crest of the hill to 23rd Ave, and there’s a pile of rubble where Deano’s recently existed.
Not to mention the half-dozen other brand new buildings within a couple blocks of Madison. Hard-hats are everywhere. Sorta hard to believe the construction industry is faltering, eh?
Even our valiant Seattle City Light folks are working extra hard. I snapped this pic of linemen connecting a new building to the city’s grid. And on a Sunday no less!
In just a few months, Madison promises to emerge as one of the newest, densest, most urbane parts of the city. Until then though, it’s gonna be noisy and congested.
While I can’t predict when the economy will recover or gas prices will retreat, I can offer one tidbit of advice: avoid driving on Madison until late October. (Instead, try Pike, Pine or Union. They’re much more traffic-friendly this summer.)
