Archive for October, 2007
October 31, 2007
Recent posts on Sweet Digs Seattle:
Many people dream of building their own house to express their personal style and to customize everything just the way they want. Bryan and Dianne Bremner are two sixty-something retirees in Republic, Washington and have done just that. They have built a Monolithic Dome home that in my opinion resembles an above ground Hobbit hole. I can imagine a Lord of the Rings themed Halloween party going on tonight at that address!
In addition to the loft, Curlew Keep sports three bedrooms; three bathrooms; a sunken living room; dining, kitchen and laundry areas; and a two-car, attached garage leading into an outdoor room. If you are interested in building your own Dome Home, you can visit other Monolithic Dome homes at the Monolithic Dome Institute Web site. These homes are located throughout the U.S. and other parts of the world, and some are for rent and for sale.
October 31, 2007
Excess inventory and declining pricings continue to characterize the condominium market, with September sales of Eastside condos showing a 16% decline in median pricing from the previous year.
If you’re in the market for a condo, maybe this is the time to strike! This week brought the following price reductions of about $10,000 or more on Eastside condos.
BELLEVUE
2244 132 Ave SE, #B-202
3 br/2 ba, 1,484 sq.ft.
Reduced $20,000 to $429,00 ($289/sq.ft.)
MLS 27177822
2060 132nd Ave SE, #606
2 br/2.5 ba, 1,312 sq.ft.
Reduced $9,950 to $419,900 ($320/sq.ft.)
MLS 27176410
1709 134th Ave SE, #3
2 br/2 ba, 1,248 sq.ft.
Reduced $10,000 to $449,000 ($360/sq.ft.)
MLS 27113417
ISSAQUAH
43 Sunset Ct. NW
3 br/2.5 ba, 1,756 sq.ft.
Reduced $10,000 to $465,000 ($265/sq.ft.)
MLS 27063492
5352 237th Ter. SE
2 br/2 ba, 1,028 sq.ft.
Reduced $13,000 to $299,500 ($291/sq.ft.)
MLS 27169934
KIRKLAND
11809 100th Ave. NE, B-104
2 br/1.5 ba, 859 sq.ft.
Reduced $10,000 to $299,000 ($348/sq.ft.)
MLS 27169663
11713 93rd Ave NE, B-7
1 br/1 ba, 719 sq.ft.
Reduced by $10,000 to $254,900 ($355/sq.ft.)
MLS 27185664
To receive daily notifications via email about new listings and price reductions in your price range and search criteria, click on “save” above the map. Name your search and check “daily” under notifications.
October 31, 2007
It’s true: Halloween lawn decorations have transitioned from cute to gruesome. “Honey, let’s have a graveyard on the lawn this year, OK?”
And then there’s the aftermath. When I moved to Seattle I thought Smashing Pumpkins was a band, not a hobby. It was early fall when I got here, then Halloween, and then it was squash guts time. Everywhere I went there were bits of half-rotted pumpkin littering the streets and sidewalks. Talk about gory.
Tonight while you’re trotting the kiddles around the neighborhood (yours, or maybe a slightly hotter one), retailers are poised and waiting. Because tomorrow is when the ghosts and pumpkins come down and Santa comes to town. November 1 is upon us, the unofficial beginning of the holiday shopping season.
The new owners of these recent Laurelhurst sales (high heat zone, kids) have a new neighborhood for trick-or-treating.
4117 NE 41st St
Sold for $929,000 on 10/9/07
4 br/1.75 ba; 2,000 sq ft
5154 NE 41st St
Sold for $995,000 on 9/27/07
3 br/1.5 ba; 1,820 sq ft
4234 51st Ave NE
Sold for $1,045,000 on 10/11/07
4 br/1.5 ba; 2,600 sq ft
October 30, 2007
Recent posts on Sweet Digs Seattle:
Have you ever had trouble getting a contractor to return your call? I don’t think I’ve run across anybody who hasn’t had difficulty in even getting a bid on a house project, but according to the Washington Post’s, “Contractors Surface as Housing Market Slows,” there are signs of change heading our way. According to the National Association of Home Builders, in a declining housing market, homeowners are skeptical of getting a return on their investment and also home equity lines can be more difficult to obtain, presenting yet one more obstacle to home improvement projects.
According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, overall growth in spending on remodeling projects in 2007 is expected to be 3%. A year ago it was 6.8%. In 2004 and 2005, they height of the housing boom it was nearly 20% each year.
So what does this mean for the prospective home buyer? Well, for those of you out there who have been toying with the idea of real estate investments and flips– maybe this is your time. A buyers’ market combined with excess supply in the contractor market could be just the right combination you need to make a smart investment. You may be able to get a deal on a property and on the home improvements to boot! However, before you start lining up those contractor bids, you might want to give it a little more time for the excess contractor supply to trickle down to our market, because last time I checked my answering machine, I still hadn’t gotten a call back from my contractor. Have you?
In the meantime, take a look at a couple of these Eastside (Bothell) fixers.
21624 8th Pl. W
2 br/2 ba, 1,242 sq.ft.
Price $242,500 ($195/sq.ft.)
MLS 27183410
7613 NE 205th St.
4 br/1.75 ba, 2,440 sq.ft.
Price $389,950 ($160/sq.ft.)
MLS 27183812
20330 79th Ave NE
4 br/2 ba, 2,040 sq.ft.
Price $449,000 ($220/sq.ft.)
MLS 27192251
October 30, 2007
December 31 is your last chance to get tax credits for your energy efficient home improvements (via Inhabitat).
See this chart to find out what improvements qualify. But if you’re not looking to insulate or replace your water heater this year, you can still get rebates from energy companies and appliance manufacturers. PSE offers a guide for their customers (and others), and the Energy Star program website has a rebate locator that will tell you what’s available by ZIP code.
If you miss the deadline, you can still get up to $2000 tax credit for solar energy systems and $500 for fuel cells until the close of 2008. Seattle City Light will even pay you to collect solar energy.
Green up your current home or take the money saved and do an eco-upgrade on one of the Northeast Seattle price reductions below.
Check out more Inhabitat pictures from the Solar Decathlon. You may see green in a whole new way.
To receive daily notifications via email about new listings and price reductions in your price range and search criteria, click on “save” above the map. Name your search and check “daily” under notifications.
Price was: $435,000 Price now: $420,000
10511 12th Ave NE
3 br/1.5 ba; 1,560 sq ft
MLS#: 27182842
Price was: $535,000 Price now: $525,000
3810 NE 90th St
3 br/2.5 ba; no sq footage listed
MLS#: 27135084
Price was: $635,000 Price now: $619,000
11516 34 Ave NE
3 br/1.5 ba; 1,530 sq ft
MLS#: 27166723
Too much work? This one’s not reduced, but it’s already solar.
Price: $869,000
3061 NE 97th St
3 br/2.25 ba; 1,692 sq ft
MLS#: 27193104
October 30, 2007
Twirling girls in flowing, sequined skirts. Charging, brawling boys with really big sticks. Halloween costumes. Holiday music. Those are the sights and sounds that surround me as I sit here on the b#%$-freezing bleachers in Kirkland’s Kingsgate Ice Arena. I say that endearingly, as I sit here and freeze for hours each week, watching my daughter spin, jump, float, and occasionally splat accross the bright, white ice. She loves it here, I tell you, and because she loves it, here I sit, hour after hour, 
day after day…frozen fingers, frozen toes, and more (which I’ll spare you the atrocity of hearing about).
If you have little ones in your family that are interested in figure skating or ice hockey, you may want to visit this Eastside ice skating rink. It’s tucked away in the back of an inconspicuous shopping center, and in fact, I didn’t know it was here for years! Try the group lessons, or go for leisurely spin during public skating hours. Though it’s not a fancy arena, it is a friendly one, and the teachers and coaches do what they do for the love of it.
However, if you do happen to get caught up into the wallet- and-time-sucking vortex of either of these sports, do yourself a favor—relocate to the area.
PAST SALES IN THE KINGSGATE AREA:
14266 122nd Ave NE
4 br/2.25 ba, 3,220 sq. ft.
SOLD (10/10) $220,000
11720 NE 141st St.
3 br/1 ba, 2,160 sq.ft.
SOLD (10/9) $400,000
12811 NE 142nd St.
4 br/2.25 ba, 2,090 sq.ft.
SOLD (9/28) $447,000
13901 127th Pl. NE
3 br/2.25 ba, 1,590 sq.ft.
SOLD (9/27) $440,000
13619 121st Ave NE
4 br/1 ba, 1,300 sq.ft.
SOLD (9/19) $429,950
14079 117th Ave NE
3 br/1.75 ba, 1,170 sq. ft.
SOLD (9/7) $436,000
October 29, 2007
Recent post on Sweet Digs Seattle:
The best thing about moving is discovering a new neighborhood and all the great food experiences it has to offer. But if you don’t know the area and you don’t quite know your neighbors yet, how do you figure out where to go?
My favorite restaurant site Urbanspoon recently added a fantastic new feature – “restaurants near you”. Just type in your street address and voila! All the restaurants in the area are mapped plus you get a list of the top ten most popular so you know what to try first. The site also aggregates restaurant reviews from the press and blogs but the best part is you can connect with your friends and find out what their favorites are.
Here are all the restaurants near Redfin HQ:
October 29, 2007
Many fixer descriptions mention the zoning of a home, or suggest improvements to the property that a new owner may choose to make. Can you really turn the basement into a mother-in-law? Are fantasies about overlaying your dream home on top of the existing house realistic? A professional will likely have the best answer for you, but there’s some initial legwork you can do on your own, if you’re inclined.
First, you’ll only be able to change what your land use zone will allow. For a broad overview of Seattle’s zoning, check out this pdf map from the City of Seattle’s website. While you’re there, you can zoom in and see what’s nearby in an unfamiliar neighborhood, such as commercial districts and clusters of multi-family homes.
Here is a list of the zoning classifications. You can find out a property’s zone, history, and legal square footage by researching its parcel data, at the City’s or County’s websites. The County’s iMAP zooms down to the parcel, and will even tell you if the house next door was once a meth lab.
For those properties zoned single family residential, the City has a pdf that outlines general codes. For example, my house is zoned SF5000, so my house has to be twenty feet from the front lot line. However, since both of my neighbors have front yards that are less than 20′ deep, I may be able to shorten my front yard to meet theirs.
There are other easy-to-digest publications available on land use compliance from the Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD). You wouldn’t plan a project without licensed professionals to advise you, but if you want to know how a certain restriction applies to your home, you can ask the DPD.
Chances are there’s a compromise between your vision for a home and what’s legal, affordable, and possible. But if not, better to know from the outset than try to rework your ideas later.
October 27, 2007
May I suggest open house hopping? Choose a few houses you want to see, in one neighborhood or not, then stop at other open houses you come upon along the way.
I’ve gotten you started with a few Ravenna/Bryant/Wedgwood open houses you might consider. Bring a friend with a critical eye, and stop for an early dinner. Hot Dish, anyone? They don’t serve dinner until 5, so you’ll have to stop by Third Place Books and get lost for an hour.
Homes are open this Sunday, October 28 from 1-4, unless otherwise specified. All information obtained from sources deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed.
Price: $369,950
7734 15th Ave NE
2 br/1.5 ba; 1,900 sq ft
MLS#: 27170314
Price: $475,000
8625 29th Ave NE
3 br/1.75 ba; 1,740 sq ft
MLS#: 27190960
Price: $569,950
900 NE Ravenna Blvd
3 br/1 ba; 2,130 sq ft
MLS#: 27170353
Price: $574,500
6515 32nd Ave NE
3 br/1.75 ba; no sq footage listed
MLS#: 27139300
Open Sunday, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Price: $600,000
2815 NE 60th St
3 br/1.75 ba; 1,630 sq ft
MLS#: 27187640
Price: $624,950
6016 39th Ave NE
4 br/2.25 ba; no sq footage listed
MLS#: 27149171
October 26, 2007
Open house this weekend:
Sunday, October 28, 1-4pm
526 1st Ave S #222
Seattle, WA 98104
Recent posts on Sweet Digs Seattle:
In my family “debt” was always a four-letter-word and to be avoided at all cost. The only acceptable reason to borrow money was for a home, and you should of course always pay your credit card off in full at the end of every month. Not everyone has this attitude about money. An article from the Herald Tribune relates money management habits to culture. In France they consider “someone without debt is someone without problems.” That same logic is certainly true today in the US for anyone without a mortgage.
The credit regulation and lending practices in a country are largely driven by the cultural attitudes about debt as well. Asian cultures that have a more conservative fiscal approach are not experiencing the same problems as the west right now. There are three facets to consider when looking at the credit problem – consumers, lenders, and legislators. All three have a responsibility and sometimes it seems that “perhaps we should go back to old-fashioned banking.” Big lenders in the Seattle area have demonstrated a significant lack of discipline and integrity with WaMu’s high risk mortgage “bonanza” and just today there was an SEC filing for an investigation of our local Bremerton-Based WSB Financial which is believed to have “violated certain banking laws and regulations which are primarily related to the origination, administration and monitoring of construction and mortgage loans.”
The super-rich, regardless of what culture they come from usually have the same philosopy on credit - they generally pay cash for their properties so it they currently have fewer “problems” than most.
The very, very high end of the markets in communities such as the Bay area, Los Angeles, Manhattan, and Miami and to a lesser degree Chicago, Seattle and Washington that have global appeal have held up much better the rest of the housing market,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “The top end runs on its own dynamic that tends to be more immune to the ups and downs of the global economy. A recession would certainly not help the high end but it would not undermine it. And much of their buying is done with cash and not affected by the global financial turmoil and its impact on the availability of mortgage.
