Archive for the ‘Queen Anne’ Category
June 19, 2008
I saw a discussion Monday over on seattlebubble.com about West Seattle houses on the market being sold for less than their purchase price. Since that’s my area, naturally it piqued my interest.
There are evidently lots of houses for sale in West Seattle where people lost money. In some cases, lots of money. The general consensus among those commenting on the blog post was that this was a big problem in West Seattle. I wondered if nearby neighborhoods had similar symptoms, so I dumped some data from Redfin and had a look. Here’s a summary:
| Where |
Total Inventory |
Number/Percentage |
Loss Range |
| West Seattle |
393 |
30/7.6% |
$50-$1.28M |
| Queen Anne |
160 |
11/6.9% |
$40K-$453K |
| Capitol Hill |
87 |
2/2.3% |
$2K-$50K |
| Mercer Island |
194 |
1/0.5% |
$35K |
There are some footnotes about this data. First, not all houses contain past sale information; maybe one third or so of them don’t list a previous sale price and date. Second, this does not factor in the age of the house, but I think you can probably guess when most of these money losers were purchased: all but one of the 44 of them were purchased in 2005 or later–the single outlier was bought in 2003.
What does this data tell me? It’s hard to say. To confirm what people were saying on seattlebubble.com, yes, West Seattle is showing the worst of it by percentage of total inventory, but only slightly ahead of Queen Anne. It looks to me like Capitol Hill and Mercer Island homes have held their value well.
Even this is not certain though, since these latter areas generally have more expensive homes than the former, which may imply something about their homeowners’ ability to wait longer to sell a home and therefore not resign themselves to losing money. Furthermore, it may be that investors and home flippers generally could not afford homes in the more expensive areas.
As a homeowner in West Seattle, this makes me wonder about what my neighbors will be selling their homes for in five or ten years. It also reminds me that it’s a buyer’s market right now, unfortunately for sellers.
August 7, 2007
Tonight is the annual Seattle Police Department Seattle Night Out.
Seattle Night Out is billed as a crime prevention event, but it is more of an opportunity to meet new neighbors and catch up on the neighborhood gossip. For you real estate buffs out there, this is the place to get the inside scoop on what is about to come on the market, why stuff is sitting on the market and why stuff sold for what it did.
What is really interesting is how this event brings about a sense of micro community. In my hood, Phinney Ridge, there is a block party just about every other street. For this one evening a year there is this sense of block rivalry–we have the best food, the best people, the best houses, the best location… It would be fun to have follow up event to settle the score of which block is really the best. Perhaps a hot dog eating contest or bocce tournament?
If your block is having a party you should find a way to peel yourself away from your computer and catch up with your neighbors and plot ways to take a bite out of crime. If your block isn’t having one, wander a few blocks and I am sure you will find one.
June 30, 2007
The following properties sold in Queen Anne near Lake Union during the past three months:
1758 DEXTER AVE N #5
2 beds/1 bath
Sold for $405,000
Last sold on 4/24/07
1,149 Sq. Ft.
$352/Sq. Ft.
750 CROCKETT ST #401
3 beds/2 baths
Sold for $540,000
Last sold on 5/11/07
1,785 Sq. Ft.
$302/Sq. Ft.
610 WHEELER ST # 202
2 beds/2 baths
Sold for $506,000
Last sold on 5/10/07
1,376 Sq. Ft.
$368/Sq. Ft.
They are all between 1,100 - 1,000 Sq. Ft. and sold for $300-$370/Sq. Ft. That’s right in line with nine properties close by that are currently listed with prices averaging $377/Sq. Ft.
June 29, 2007
The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend. Finding the right digs can be difficult, and open houses are a good place to start. here are a few for Queen Anne:
2470 Dexter Ave. N. #2-A
$629,950
3/2 Condo
Sq. Ft. 1575
$399.97/Sq.Ft.
MLS# 27058614
Sat. 1-3 PM
510 Lee St. #3
$329,900
2/1 conversion
910 Sq. Ft.
$406/Sq. Ft.
MLS# 27097933
Sat. 1-4 PM
June 17, 2007
Out of the several properties that sold in Queen Anne over the past few months, two have been on 11th Ave. The first at 3411 11th Ave. W sold for $645,000 in March and the second at 1912 11th Ave. W sold in April for $521,450. They were within $5 of each other on price per square foot at $366 sq. ft. and $370 sq. ft. respectively.
The price per square foot seems to be holding in this part of Queen Anne with listings ranging from $291 - $340 sq. ft. But, than again there’s the outlier at 3442 10th Ave. W that sold for $597 a square foot.
3411 11th Ave. W
Sales Price: $645,000
2 bedrooms/2 bath
1912 11th Ave. W
Sales Price: $521,450
2 bedrooms/1.75 bath
3442 10th Ave. W
Sales Price: $686,000
3 bedrooms/1 bath
April 27, 2007
This unit is on the North side of the building with a nice view of Queen Ann Hill. I was told that with all the pop-ups and planned pop-ups, you can’t count on a view in the future. The floor installation was poor to say the least. I could (and did) stand my pen up in the huge gaps between boards. The agent I talked to said that having the floors refinished could be negotiated in the contract. My only questions are:
- Why aren’t they fixing them now since they know they have a problem?
- Why should you have to negotiate having floors properly installed in a brand new condo
- Why didn’t they see the problems before installing the base molding?
- What else didn’t they catch since it seems they were not checking the work being done on the building as it was being built?
At $626 a sq. ft., I’d say it’s a bit high for the quality. On a good note, there is opportunity to get additional parking space income if you pick your parking spot options carefully. I was told that each unit comes with one covered space in the garage or two spots outside in the alley, one covered, one not. You also have the option, if you choose the tandem alley spaces, to buy an additional space in the garage for $20,000. You could capitalize on it all and end up with three spots. One for yourself and two to rent out. If you rented two spaces and brought in $500-$700/mo., you would pay for the spots in a few years and have some steady parking spot income.
Price: $289,900
Beds: 1
Baths: 1
Sq. Ft. 463
$Sq. Ft. $626
Homeowners Dues: $222.38
MLS# 27026752
April 27, 2007
There are six units in this building built in 1995 and redone in 2005. The outside of the building, windows, balconies and entry were totally replaced during the renovations. I was told that they used top quality materials and I noticed the same very high quality windows and doors that I had in my house in Germany. Because of the quality of the materials, I expected it to be a little quieter than it actually was. With the doors and windows shut, I could still hear street noise from Elliott Avenue. When I went out onto the balcony I could also hear what sounded like another building’s HVAC system. The closet space is great, but I expected the large walk in closet to have some built-ins instead of a few wire racks to hang clothes from. There is a cracked tile in the bathroom floor that needs replacing. The views are spectacular though and the elevator opens right into your unit on your own private floor.
Price: $925,000
Beds: 2
Baths: 2
Sq. Ft. 1812
$Sq. Ft. $505
Homeowners Dues: $718
MLS# 27063406
April 27, 2007
I thought it was odd that the best view in the house had not sold when other units had. This unit is on the SW corner with views of the sound and Cascades. I was told that it sold once and recently went back on the market. My curiosity got the best of me and I quickly hiked up to the 5th floor to check it out. As soon as I opened the door and saw the sloping floors, I had to pull out my golf ball and give it The Titleist Test. It failed miserably. From the hallway, the ball rolled picking up speed right to the middle of the room. Then I tried it again from the balcony doors and again it rolled to the middle of the room. It’s a new building and you would think the floors would be more even than that. The floors also looked like they had a poor installation job. There are big gaps and the stain doesn’t look like it set very well. All in all, I would give the floors a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10 for a new installation. The tiles in the bathtub were also a bit wavy, which made me wonder if someone forgot to use their level on the job. If you are interested in this unit, the agent told me that you can negotiate having the floors redone in your contract. I would question and define what they mean by redone though, since it looks like they didn’t do it right from the start. Parking is a plus with a chance to get an extra spot or two with their parking spot options.
Price: $479,900
Beds: 2
Baths: 2
Sq. Ft. 709
$Sq. Ft. $677
Homeowners Dues: $340.65
MLS# 27026779
April 22, 2007
This is one of the model units that I expected to shine. However, things aren’t always what they seem and I noticed that the plaster could use some repairing, there was some shoe strip missing and the old windows look like they could use some more work. It’s an open one bedroom which means that your bedroom is in the same room as your living room and kitchen, but to get to it, you walk up some stairs to a separate space that has a short wall around it. The unit has covered parking in the garage, 2 nice closets, a chalk board in the living room and views of the space needle, city, Mt. Rainer and Port of Seattle. The views might explain the $524,950 price tag and the $730/sq. ft.
Price: $524,950
Beds: Open one bedroom
Baths: 1
Sq. Ft. 719
$Sq. Ft. $730
Homeowner’s dues: $298
MLS# 27055847
April 22, 2007
This studio is in the Industrial Arts building. It has high ceilings and a great tree right outside the windows on a very quiet side of the building. It’s charming with slate floors, hip closet doors and about the same amount of closet space as the one bedroom units. After looking at tons of the Queen Ann HS Condominiums, it was my number one pick. A Murphy bed in the main living area would give it just what it needs to save on space and keep the cool look that it has without cluttering things up. My only concerns are that it comes with a parking space that’s not covered and you have to pay for extra storage. To get covered parking you would have to wait list (if you get it, the cost is somewhere between $20,000-$30,000). Extra storage is also at a premium ($5,500-$10,000).
Price: $309,950
Beds: Studio
Baths: 1
Sq. Ft. 526
$Sq. Ft. $589
Homeowner’s dues: $215
MLS# 27057583
