December 3, 2006
The $3-Million-Plus Club
Yesterday’s The Seattle Times had a perfect article to go along with this week’s most-expensive new listings. To sum it up, “In Puget Sound, $1 million doesn’t get you a luxury home anymore … The luxury price threshold is more like $3 million.” The article even features a couple homes we mentioned in past weeks.
The most-expensive new listing at $3.3 million has many of the amenities the article cites as luxury home musts (space for formal entertaining, recreational spaces, wine cellar) …
… but what I found even more interesting was the sidebar about spec homes. It says in the early 1990s, it was rare to see a spec home at more than $1 million, today $4 to $5 million is possible.
To that end, I’m also including this week’s second-most-expensive new listing … a spec home in Bellevue for $3 million. Since it won’t be completed until 2007, there aren’t pictures of the interior, but you can see the floorplan and computer-generated images of the exterior. Check out the architect’s other projects to get a feel for what you’d get. The median list price within a couple mile radius is $1.9 million.
Another interesting luxury-home stat: “The number of homes that sold for more than $3 million quadrupled in King County between 2003 and 2005 and may keep pace for 2006.” Good news for home sellers in this price range.
This week’s least-expensive new listing is a MAJOR fixer-upper (= gutted and uninhabitable) in Lake City. Why is this $89,900, one-bedroom, 550-square-foot condo such a steal? Speaking from personal experience only, aside from the obvious, I think Seattle showers took on toll on this part-stucco building. There will be a $39,000 assessment … so, the actual cost is $128,900, which still is a good price when the Zestimate is $233,168.
The building has three higher-floor units for sale, but they don’t look completely redone, just freshly painted. So, my guess is the lower units had more damage and had to be gutted. One positive, you won’t have to deal with being wrapped in plastic during repairs. I enjoyed this no-view, no-natural-light, no-airflow, constant-construction-noise-and-dust experience for almost a year and it’s not something I wish on my worst enemy.
If you’re a true Seattleite (or even a transplant) you’ll find two more positives: Across the street is the 64-year-old Lake City Library and blocks away is another Seattle landmark, Dick’s Drive-In. These burger flippers should be the only restaurant workers allowed to wear bright orange uniforms.
