Besides being a Golf and Country Club, Tam O’Shanter is also a neighborhood. “The purchase of a home in the TOS Neighborhood is all it takes for newcomers to join in the fun.”
I recently sold a home there to buyer clients and hope that gets me an invite as a guest to hang out at the pool this summer 🙂 I don’t play golf, so I’m going to do some market stats.
In 2005, or as much of it as I can get which is beginning around this time but back in 2005, the median home price in Tam O’Shanter was $498,500 which was over the median list price and the median days on market was 15 days.
In 2006, the median price jumped up by about $100,000 to $600,500, still over list price, but with the median days on market increasing to 21 days.
In 2007, the median price went up another $100,000 to $699,950 which was equal to the median asking price and the median days on market was 20 days.
So no evidences of weakness here in the Tam O’Shanter neighborhood, and given the increase was about the same $100,000 in each year, that would be a 20.5% increase from 2005 to 2006 and a 16.6% increase for 2007.
One home that has closed in Tam O’Shanter sold for over $800,000 in 2008 and sold at 98% of asking price. It took about 9 weeks to go into escrow from the time it was listed. The only other property that sold/closed so far in 2008 is the one that I sold, as in I had the buyer client. It sold for about 89% of the original listing price and had one price reduction prior to it being sold. But that was a short sale property.
There are two properties in escrow waiting to close and past the inspection phase. So far so good in 2008. There are 5 properties on market. An interesting note that could account for longer days on market generally in 2008 is that one of the pending sales was initially contingent on the sale of another house. With buyers being less likely to buy outright before they sell their current home, we will see sales taking longer to get from list date to closed due to home sale contingencies. But the good news is that this one appears to reflect that the buyers WERE able to sell their other home and proceed with their purchase. So pretty good news all around on that one.
This is a good neighborhood to watch for signs of market changes as it had good appreciation in both 2006 and 2007 and is a neighborhood I would suspect to see fairing well in 2008 relative to King County as a whole. Of course the sale I participated in as the Buyer’s Agent is not going to help it’s stats this year. But as more houses come on market and sell, we should see this neighborhood outperforming King County as a whole.
I posted this as I was calculating the stats, so I did not pick this as a “good news neighborhood” to be a cheerleader 🙂 It just turned out that way while I was writing the post. I’ll try to do many of these mini snapshots of the market in areas where I work, to keep the Sunday Night Stats posts more focused on the neighborhoods affected, and those not affected, throughout 2008.
Hi Ardell,
Another good neighborhood to watch is Sheffield Greens. This is a Burnstead neighborhood located across from Microsoft’s Redwest Campus. It has always been a really popular neighborhood because of its location, the builder, and the traditional two story style of most of the homes.
There was a home that just went pending in this neighborhood for 725k that had been on the market for a long time, which is surprising for this neighborhood.
Debra,
It’s hard to track Sheffield because most list the community as “Microsoft” vs Sheffield Greens.
Some of the homes in that area, not necessarily Sheffield, are kind of trapped in with the only access back out to 148th. While connecting neighborhoods is sometimes a negative, if a section of homes is built such that the only way out is to the very busy road, it doesn’t lend itself to comfortable conditions for a Mom when a child goes out to ride their bike, if they can only go up and down the street where they live.
In and out streets are fairly common off of busy roads in the entire area. It’s hard to find a child friendly location that offers lots of room to get around without hitting major arterials.
As the children get older they want to go further, which puts them and their bike out onto 148th. It’s hard to tell a 12 to 14 year old to just play on their own street.
One other thing to watch in this area is that Sheffield has multiple divisions and some of those have had multiple builders and homes of varying sizes and styles. Not exactly apples to apples comparisons in pricing for some of them. Also, some homes back up to the golf course and this may affect pricing compared to neighbors.
Actually, Reba, almost all of Sheffield Greens, Divisions 1,2, and 3 are Burnsteads. There are a few homes that were built by Swanson-Dean in the original division. Divisions 1 and 2 are very similar in style, price, age, etc.and have a Redmond address. Division 3 is only slightly more expensive and parts of it fall into Bellevue. The homes in Div. 1 and 2 go in the 700’s right now. Division 3 goes for about 10-15%, more depending on the house.
There is a newer neighborhood, built about 10 years ag, that is not part of Sheffield Greens, but has a similar name, the name right now escapes me. You enter this neighborhood on the same street as Div. 3, but you go straight ahead to get to this neighborhood. I have a client who lives in one of these homes and they are very different from Sheffield Greens.These homes are more expensive, bigger, newer, and built by a smaller builder. This may be what you are thinking of, Reba, but it is a different neighborhood.
Actually Tam O’Shanter has a huge variety of homes, styles,size of homes, builders, prices, golf course lots, view lots, you name it. Much more of a variety than Sheffield Greens. However, I agree with Ardell, it is a great community that has stood the test of time on the Eastside. It is a great if you like to golf, swim or play tennis as they have a beautiful newer clubhouse. Some buyers I have worked with do not want to buy there, however, because of the home owner’s dues related to these amenities. Some buyers love it because there is a place to go that is right in the neighborhood.
The reason I recommended tracking Sheffield Greens is because of the area is so popular with Microsofties and is a good measure of what is happening in the Bellevue/Redmond corridor. Ardell, you are right, some agents call the area Microsoft, some call it Sheffield Greens, but you can usually tell by the picture and the age of the house. Other Burnstead homes that are similar, but a little newer, are often in Pinehurst or Devon Ridge.
I watched Sheffield Greens being built in the late 80’s and even looked at homes for myself in the neighborhood when I first moved here. I’ve worked in the neighborhood for the past 20 years, so I know it pretty well.
Years ago after the neighborhood was built, there was a lot of unhappiness because, as Ardell mentions, the main street through the neighborhood connects to both 140th and 148th Ave NE. The people in the neighborhood got the city of Redmond to put in speed bumps to eliminate most of the traffic that had cut through the neighborhood. There are also a number of cul-de-sacs off this main road that are very popular.
Debra,
I’d love it if you could come with us to Broker’s Opens one Thursday. It’s a valuation training class and peer review of homes session after we get back that is most interesting, and your input would be invaluable given your history in the area.
We do 98005, 98007 and 98008 for the most part, but this week I’m switching it to 98007, 98008 and 98052.
Give me a call if you can be our guest this week or any Thursday. I may switch off to Kirkland in another couple of weeks though, or do both Wednesday in Kirkland and Thursday in Bellevue/Redmond, if I can squeeze that into my schedule.
It’s important to note that there are many homes that back up to Tam O’Shanter that are not in the Tam O’Shanter neighborhood and do not come with membership rights. Various neighborhoods surround the Tam O’Shanter Golf and Country Club.
On second thought, I may be thinking of Brae Burn. But always a good idea to not assume that just because you can see a golf course from the property you are considering buying, that buying it comes with automatic membership priveleges.
Hi Ardell,
Some Thursday I would love to do so. However, I will be out of town this Thursday. Thanks for asking! You are bringing me back to my teaching roots!
Actually, if I join you, you could return the favor, as I will be listing a few homes in those areas in the next month and you and your group could come and give me your opinion.
Debra,
We’d be more than happy to do that. In fact I’m giving a class on preparing a Comparative Market Analysis and would be happy to add one of your listings to the class samples.
Hope your “out of town” is for fun. Talk when you get back.