In the “workshop post” I wrote this morning, I indicated that I have almost always started the homebuying process with my clients by looking at was has SOLD vs. what is currently for sale. Sold, Pending and STI properties will better reflect the best that the market has to offer in your price range, as someone liked them, and bought them. So better to set your sights and parameters based on these properties, before you look at the properties for sale. I had a request to do the Green Lake/Wallingford area in a similar “workshop post”, so here goes.
A buyer client tells me that they want to live “in Green Lake“. I ask why because wanting “the lifestyle of being able to live where they can walk around the Lake” is a LOT different than wanting to “live in Green Lake”. Seattle Agents and publications define Green Lake much more narrowly than consumers who just want to be within walking distance to the Lake.
So I go to the mls, which I now have open in a separate window, and I DO NOT search for “Green Lake” by Community. Instead, I do a radius search, and I put the center point of the circle smack in the middle of the Lake. I draw the circle at 1.45 miles from the center of the lake. First, because no one is walking IN the Lake, so part of that distance is the Lake itself. Secondly, because walking around the lake is 2.7 miles or so. If you are going to walk around the Lake once or twice, I figure you can walk a mile to get TO it, and should consider your options within that distance. Third because I used to live exactly 1.45 miles from the center of the Lake, and it was a comfortable walk over to the Lake, even in high heels. So I know, from personal experience, that this is a reasonable parameter and opens up the options, especially if a client’s price range is teetering on maybe not being able to afford to live “near” the Lake.
Obviously you are not going to pay as much for a house 1 mile from the Lake, as you will for one across the street from the Lake. But some people are very surprised by how much house they can get, if they just go a little further away, and so should consider all property within a mile of the Lake, all the way around the Lake. Someday I’ll have to tell the story of when I showed a house that was used as a brothel. It was a riot and an experience I will never forget. Talk about “never let them see you sweat”. But I’ll skip that area in this workshop post. Suffice it to say, that while it IS close to the Lake, you may not want to be the first house in from Aurora on certain streets. 🙂
The median price range for this area is $447,000, but includes some houses priced as high as $1.7 million. So let’s say that this client is single and can afford up to $450,000. The first thing I see is that 265 properties have sold in the last six months for $450,000 or less, and that does not include the STI and Pending sales. So the first question is answered. YES, you can afford to live within walking distance to Green Lake. Let’s see what he can get for something that is at least 900 sf and built since 1990. I expect to find condos and townhomes, but since he is single, he may want something newer, rather than an older house that needs a lot of work, so let’s look there first.
WOW! 68 newer townhomes and 12 condos have sold and he really likes the idea of owning a newer townhome, which in Seattle are not condos. Since there are so many, and he likes the two story townhomes vs. the one floor condos, we can up the square footage to at least 1,200 square feet. He really likes this style
Which is only 6 blocks from the Lake up at the top end by Duke’s. I call that “the Top”. It was over 1,400 square feet, had 3 bedrooms and 2.25 baths, a garage, and was well within his price range as it sold for $390,000
Now he is VERY upset that he never saw that one as he had been looking on the Internet for a home before he met me, and this one just closed. He wants to know how and why he missed this one. I look in the mls and note that it wasn’t “mapped”. Not mappable for some reason OR maybe the agent didn’t want to show it on a map, as the map feature makes it look a lot closer to a busy road than it actually is. So if the buyer was looking at property via a site that required “mapping” to be intact…this one would may have been overlooked if he was only using that “cool” feature.. Most sites offer various means of searching for property, the same way that I can use several “search types” when using the mls. Don’t use ONLY one, if you are seriously looking for property and not just browsing around the Internet. Use several sites and a few different search methods. Not just “the fun” one.
He asks what a .25 bath is. I explained that there was no .25 bath in this townhome. “2.25 baths” equals 1 full bath (with tub), one 3/4 bath with a shower (and no tub) and one “powder room” with toilet and sink on the main living area.
He asks if he can rent out the other two bedrooms. I point out the layout and what he will “lose” if he rents out the two rooms to people he doesn’t know REALLY well. First, he will pretty much lose his “yard”, because the sliding glass doors to the yard are from the lower floor bedroom. Kind of awkward to go through someone’s bedroom to get to your yard, and possibly even more awkward to sit in your yard, staring into someone else’s bedroom. I also point out that in this townhome, the 3/4 bath is down with the lower level bedroom. So if he is OK with only using his yard with the lower tenant’s permission, yes he can have a friend live there and contribute some money each month for groceries and utilities. (Not legally “rentable” as a separate living unit.)
Main drawback is the top floor had no “master bedroom” as there is one bathroom in the middle of the hallway between the two bedrooms. So if he “rented” the other bedroom upstairs, he would have to share his bathroom with that other person.
He wants to know how I know where the bathrooms are and where the yard access is, etc without having ever been in the property? One because almost all Seattle townhomes are built with two bedrooms on the top (3rd) level and one down at the garage level. Second, because the position of the bedrooms and bathrooms is noted in the mls, but not on the public sites.
There was a much bigger townhome on the Wallingford side, but the front door was “below grade” and it sold for $35,000 more
After looking at and discussing all of the options, he decided he’d rather have something like this free standing newer single family home for $450,000 with attached garage and 1,600 square feet in Greenwood.
He was surprised that both of these were built in 1990. He said they seemed newer. I explained that was because they upgraded the colors in the house and updated the appliances to stainles steel when they remodeled the kitchen.
The client was happy with his options. He didn’t think he could get something newer in his price range, within walking distance to Green Lake and shops. He didn’t rule out attached townhomes, but we figured out he preferred a free standing townhome, at the higher price.
