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

Waterfront Real Estate sales on Seattle's Eastside, 07/09

There were two sales in July of Seattle area waterfront homes on Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish. Between $1 and $1 million, these Bellevue waterfront and Kirkland waterfront homes are in the low-to-mid range of sale prices on the Seattle-area lakes.

Bellevue Waterfront Homes - The Bellevue home sold was on Lake Sammamish, on Bellevue's East end. A smaller home (1500 sq ft), it was suggested in the listing and very likely that it will be rebuilt as a larger home. With 50 feet of waterfront it's big enough to expand, and the vast majority of homes on the waterfront are much larger. The property sold for $925,000 after 6 months on the market.

Kirkland Waterfront Homes - The Kirkland sale was in Woodland Cove, a high-end enclave on the shores of Juanita Bay. On the North end of Lake Washington, this home has 100 feet of South-facing waterfront and about 4000 sq ft of living space. It sat on the market for about 9 months before selling for $2.2 million.

Sam DeBord and Brian Wiegandhttp://SeattleHome.com