Waterfront bank-owned homes in Seattle

There have been a good number of new waterfront foreclosures in the Seattle area. From creeks to Lake Washington waterfront, these properties are usually well-priced.
Surprisingly, there are still three bank-owned floating homes for sale. These properties have been on the market for a while, and are not your average houseboats. They're newly-built, high-end, floating homes with quality appliances and building materials. It takes a unique buyer to live in a floating home, but these seem to be very inexpensive compared to the prices we've seen over the past few years:Seattle floating homes
The highest-end home is a waterfront home in Holmes Point. This Lake Washington waterfront home in in the North end of Kirkland and is listed around $3.5 million. Clearly, if it was still owned by a traditional home owner it would be priced higher than this. There are some real deals for waterfront home buyers available, if they're willing to tread in the waters of bank-owned homes.

Bank-Owned Million Dollar Homes in Seattle

We've seen a slight increase in the number of foreclosures and bank-owned homes showing up for sale on the MLS in Seattle. While most of these foreclosures were low-end homes at the beginning, we're starting to see more luxury homes reverting back to the banks and coming on the market.

Kirkland is a perfect example. While there were only a couple dozen average-priced bank-owned homes on the MLS a couple of months ago, there are multiple million-dollar plus foreclosures for sale today (including a beautiful place on Lake Washington waterfront) -- take a look:Kirkland bank-owned homes

In Seattle proper, there are two homes listed around the $2 million mark. We don't expect to see foreclosures in Leschi, but it's a shock to see one in Broadmoor. These are still high-end, quality homes, they just happen to be owned by a bank now.Seattle bank-owned homes

Waterfront Sales in Seattle Surge in August '09

There was a flurry of Seattle waterfront real estate activity in August - seems like the nice weather finally brought the buyers out of the shadows. After a slow July, there were quite a few closings last month, from small houseboats to grand waterfront estates. The highlights:
Seattle Houseboats and Floating Homes
There were three houseboats sold in August, with one being a small "house barge", and the other two being true "floating homes". The house barge in Westlake (Lake Union) is a small craft, newly-built, and cozy. With 1 bed and 1 bath, it went for just $65,000 (yes, there are a lot of other costs involved in living here). The two floating homes were on Roanoke Reef and Mallard Cove, higher-end floating home communities in the Eastlake area. These are 2000 sq ft quality homes, with sale prices of $1.1 and $1.2 million. The views from both of these homes are beautiful.

Waterfront Land:A property on Alki Ave SW in West Seattle sold for just $440,000 with Puget Sound waterfront. It's zoned for low-rise multi-family, so there will probably be townhomes/condos on this lot soon. There's a small house on the lot for now, but not for long.

West Seattle Homes:
Two waterfront homes on Beach Dr SW sold for $1.35 and $1.55 million. At 60-70 feet of Puget Sound waterfront, they're very comparable properties and are just a couple of blocks apart. The first home was a 1970s-built remodel with about 2600 sq ft of space. The second is a newly-built home, but a bit smaller at around 2200 sq ft. Both lots are around 5600 sq ft.

North Seattle Waterfront Homes:
Northeast Seattle has some of the most expensive and least expensive waterfront in Seattle. Case in point, our two sales in Cedar Park and Windermere. The Cedar Park home has 75 feet of waterfront on Lake Washington, 2700 sq ft in the 4 bedroom 2.75 bath home, a 50 foot dock, and a covered boat slip with lift. It sold for just $1.3 million after almost a year on the market, a relative bargain on Lake Washington.

Just a couple of miles South, a home in the Windermere neighborhood with very similar stats sold for almost $2.1 million. The Windermere neighborhood is well-known, sought-after, and exclusive. Buyers pay for these factors. This home sold in just one month, which seems to happen a lot in Windermere. When something comes on the market, if it's priced well, it's gone quickly.

Sam DeBord and Brian Wiegand
http://SeattleHome.com

King County's Seattle Waterfront Prices Stay High

Seattle waterfront homes have long held their value better than other homes, on average. The King County area's most recent statistics are keeping with that trend.

Waterfront home sales in King County for February 2009 held almost the same median price level as February 2008. Median prices went from $451,000 to $446,500, a decrease of about 1% according to the NWMLS. Although the total number of sales was down from 25 homes to 14 homes for the month, sellers stuck to their prices and it looks like it paid off for many of them.

Days on Market actually went down from a median of 91 days to 74 days, which was a surprise in a slower market. There are still buyers in the market for waterfront homes, and they're willing to move when the right home comes on the market.