Ballard: Happy 99th!

Homes were a lot different when Teddy Roosevelt was president, as this 99-year-old farmhouse ably demonstrates.

Underneath all the charm and romance, I found several things that would drive me crazy if I lived here. First of all, the lack of a bathroom on the second floor, where the bedrooms are. (Yes, I am a crank on the matter of bathrooms, as regular readers of this blog have probably noticed.) Unfortunately, there’s no room to put one up there, so it’s either dark-of-night aerobic exercise or an expensive addition.

The sole bathroom is off the dining room, which just feels wrong to me. If I threw a dinner party in this house, I’d have to practice the fine art of ignoring the obvious when my guests disappeared for a few minutes.

Next, the heating consists of a wall-mounted forced-air gas heater that protrudes into the archway separating the living and dining rooms. Given the absence of a basement, it was sited as well as possible. Still, it’s butt ugly and clashes with my couch.

Finally, the kitchen and breakfast area: low ceilings, weird layout, and wasted space. Plus, the washer and dryer are there, next to the pantry. Even a laundromat-in-a-closet solution so beloved by modern townhouses would be better.

But none of that matters. It’s under $400,000, which in this part of Seattle means that it’ll be snatched up fast – and probably bid up.

STATS:
Neighborhood: Ballard
Asking: $399,950
Address: 2850 NW 65th St., Seattle, WA 98117
MLS#: 27040895
Click here for detailed listing.

KCR DATA:
Living square footage: 1100. Lot size: 2550 sq. ft.
Bedrooms: 2 Baths: 1
Last sale price: $144,950 (Aug. 1997)