Blue Ridge Waterfront - Seattle Home on the Puget Sound

I previewed this Blue Ridge waterfront home recently for clients. It has some of the best waterfront footage on the Puget Sound that I have seen in a while. It just had a significant price drop, from $2 million to $1.8 milllion.

Situated at the center of Seattle's Blue Ridge neighborhood, this low-bank property has an easy walk down toward the sandy beach and saltwater shores of the Puget Sound. The yard is large, and the shoreline is even larger. This mid-century home looks good from the street, but you can't feel its expansive size without seeing the interior. At 3800 feet, it's a large, spread-out home that is well-designed to make use of the water views from all of the Northwest-facing windows.

The double lot provides plenty of privacy, and the lower level would be ideal for developing into an entertaining area leading out to the yard and the waterfront.

2444 NW Blue Ridge Dr, Seattle, WA 98177Courtesy NWG Real Estate
Blue Ridge Waterfront Homes For Sale
Blue Ridge Water View Homes

Lake Union, Wallingford Houseboats

Most Lake Union houseboats and floating homes are in the Eastlake and Portage Bay waterfront neighborhoods, but there is a large enclave on Northlake Way in Wallingford that is less well-known. This area of the lake has quick freeway access, open public parking for cars and boats, and great parks like Gasworks just steps away.

There are a handful of houseboats on the market right now in Wallingford's stretch of Lake Union. There have been just two sold so far this year, although summer is always the peak of houseboat buying season. The two sold so far are a two story house barge at $235,000, and a 48' vessel with two stories and a top deck. The vessel sold for $255,000.

Houseboats in Wallingford start at around $150,000 and quickly break above the $500,000 mark. There are such a variety of styles of live-aboards, from tiny towable barges to long, sea-faring vessels that you need to take a walk down the docks to understand the different lifestyles afforded by each type of home.

Lake Union floating homes

Wallingford Condos Sold, YTD 2009

Condos make up a low percentage of housing in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle, but those condominium buildings that do exist carry substantial price tags.

The median price for condos sold so far in 2009 in Wallingford was $265,000. This is a 1 bed, 1 bath condo of about 600 square feet. Marketing time for condos this year has been just over 2 months, at 65 days on market. Almost all of the condos sold in Wallingford sold between 30-90 days on the market this year.

Seattle - Wallingford Condos For Sale

Wallingford Neighborhood Home Sales, 2009 - Seattle Real Estate

There have been fifty-six single family homes sold in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle so far in 2009. Median home prices stayed above the half-million mark at $502,000. For most of Wallingford, this would be the price on a typical small- to mid-sized Craftsman house with two or three bedrooms and one bath.

While total sales numbers are down, length of time on the market isn't remarkably long. Right now, the median time to sell a single family home is 50 days in Wallingford. 44% of homes sold in less than one month, which is still a bright spot for this Seattle neighborhood. If a home is priced right in Wallingford, it still seems to move quickly.

Wallingford, Seattle Homes For Sale

Seattle Makes Forbes Top 10 list for family friendly cities

Seattle was ranked as the #7 most-family-friendly city by Forbes this week. Although housing prices in Seattle are relatively high, incomes are commensurately high, according to Forbes' study.

Forbes analyzed taxes, incomes, and total expenses to figure a family's ability to live a good lifestyle in a major U.S. city. Seattle came out in the top 10, mainly thanks to a strong job market and high wages, from aerospace, biotech, software, and other Seattle companies.

Seattle Family Friendly City - Forbes

Waterfront Home Sales in Seattle, June '09

Floating Homes and Houseboats dominated the Seattle waterfront home sales for the month of June. Looks like summer has started.

There were 11 total waterfront homes reported sold on the NWMLS in June, with five being houseboats and floating homes. Two houseboats on Lake Union sold at under $300,000, while the floating homes sales started at $500,000 and moved all the way up to $1,400,000.

The two highest-end homes on the waterfront were in Laurelhurst in N. Seattle and Fauntleroy in W. Seattle. The Fauntleroy home sold for over $1.7 million, with 85 feet of no-bank waterfront on the Puget Sound. The Laurelhurst home, which had 16 feet of Lake Union waterfront and a shared 50 foot dock, sold at just under $2 million.

Seattle Waterfront Homes For Sale

Pending Home Sales Rise For Fourth Consecutive Month

Pending home sales numbers in the U.S. are continuing their upward trend. For the fourth consecutive month, the Pending Home Sales Index rose for residential homes. This index measures signed contracts on homes for sale. Low interest rates, more affordable home prices, and first time buyer tax credits are attributed to the increases in homes under contract.

We haven't seen four straight months of gains since late 2004, so this is a very positive trend in real estate sales. While these transactions may take a bit longer to close with the larger number of short sales and distressed homes, there's no doubt that total closed home sales will rise in the coming months.

Seattle Homes For Sale