And back by popular demand, "Which house did they choose." Below you will find a description of my clients along with three houses we looked at. See if you can guess which house they chose. I'll send out the answer in exactly one week (Tuesday, April 11), so make sure to submit your guess by Monday, April 10, midnight. If you guess right, you win a Goat Justice League bumper sticker. It has the Goat Justice League logo and says, "I'm Pro-Goat and I Vote." Even if you don't want to stick it on your car or bicycle, you can put it on something else. My son, Spencer, cut one up and put it on his water bottle. My niece has hers on her laptop. For people with style conscious dogs, they look great safety pinned to dog sweaters. Also, your name will be announced as a winner in the follow-up big reveal. If you guess wrong, no one but me will ever know, so guess away.
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Oliver and Katie had been enjoying their one-bedroom apartment in the Madison Valley with a big view until the pandemic hit and they had to both begin working from home. Suddenly, with their offices moved into their living space, things got very tight.
By October of 2022, Katie had completed her PhD in climate science and landed a job in alternative energy data analysis. Oliver, who also held a degree in climate science, had been working several years for the Allen Institute using AI to model climate change. Now that both had good jobs, they were ready to buy a place and willing to spend up to $1,000,000.
Oliver grew up in Canada but his parents are from Chile and he has a large extended family still living in the Southern Hemisphere so they wanted a guest suite for family to come and stay for several weeks comfortably. They also wanted to each have their own offices, room to garden, and to be within walking distance of light rail, parks, and a coffee shop or two. Most of their friends are south of the ship canal, so they wanted to be in Mount Baker, Lakewood, or Columbia City.
Oliver had purchased a fixer with his brother in Canada and knew how time consuming such projects can be. He and Katie both work a solid work week and on the weekends, enjoy getting out to ski and hike so they were not enthusiastic about a fixer although not dead set against one.
We saw lots of houses. Here are three of the more memorable ones.
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| Oliver and KatieWhich house did they choose?
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3416 19th Ave S
Priced at $900,000 (it sold for $972,000), this house was a craftsman charmer with three full bedrooms up, a full bath on the top floor and another bedroom and full bath on the main floor. The back porch had been enclosed to create a long work space overlooking the Cascade Mountains. It had a well-tended garden on a 4,414 sq ft lot. The house itself was 1,580 sq ft above ground with another 1,130 sq ft in the basement. Much of it had been updated (but the updates were dated) and there was a significant amount of asbestos needing abatement around boiler pipes in the basement.
Location: On a quiet street, just a block from Jefferson Park, .6 miles to the Beacon Hill Light Rail Station, and .3 miles to Bar del Corso (a great Italian restaurant on Beacon Hill). It was on a block of lovingling maintained craftsman homes. 3416 19th Ave S
This house was listed by Brian Rosso of Windermere Mercer Island.
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4510 S Alaska St
Priced initially at $768,888 (and selling at $709,950), this 1,740 sq ft house, built in 1953, was a solid house with a full three bedrooms and one bath up and a carport just steps from the side kitchen door. It had a lovely 4,800 sq ft lot with a quiet and private side and back yard with a fruit tree or two.
Largely untouched since 1953, this house was ready for some fixer-upping but with its low price, Oliver and Katie would save enough to afford a big remodel. The house needed a new kitchen, bathroom, heating system, electrical system, plumbing system, and roof. It needed everything and yet, was livable. What's more, its unfinished basement could be turned into a guest suite.
Location: On a picturesque street in Lakewood, .9 miles to the Columbia City Light Rail station, a half a mile to the Columbia City Bakery, and .6 miles to the green belt trail along Lake Washington. 4510 S Alaska St
This house was listed by Rhonda Banchero of Better Properties
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2906 S Charlestown StPriced at $989,000 and selling for $975,000, this 1999 house had been carefully maintained. Its total square footage was just 1916 but it lived large due to a smart layout. Downstairs was guest suite complete with kitchenette, a 3/4 bath, two bedrooms, and a laundry room. Upstairs included a bright and airy open concept living room, dining room and kitchen area plus a primary en-suite bedroom (that's a bedroom with a full bath attached), two more bedrooms, and another full bath. In all, it had five bedrooms and three baths. To top all that off, it had an attached two-car garage and a deck off the dining area.
The garden in back was fully fenced and included a patio area and shed for garden tools. It was mostly lawn but there were several mature fruit trees and plenty of space to add a big vegetable garden.
Location: a .7 mile walk to the Columbia City light rail station, and one mile to the Columbia City Bakery. The street itself had a bit of funkiness due to a vacant lot across the street. It did have sidewalks and well-tended houses though. 2906 S Charlestown St.
This house was listed by Jana Wilkins of John L Scott
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| Electronics Recycling Event
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PAPER SHREDDING AVAILABLE
Confidential Data Disposal will have a large shredding truck at the event.
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My Dad turns 90
My dad turned 90 in February so my sister, brother, and sister-in-law went to visit him in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. We had a very nice celebration. One afternoon, we went quahogging (A quahog is a type of clam you catch by wading out into a salt water lagoon and scraping the bottom with a rake/basket contraption). I did not actually go in the water as there were a limited number of pairs of waders. I stood on the shore and shouted encouragement and did jumping jacks to stay warm. Every night we played a card game called, Oh Hell, and ate birthday cake. My dad was a formidable opponent in Oh Hell. We also played a game called Chronology and he got an unprecedented 32 cards in a row correct. I thought my sister and client, Michael Reagan (now teaching labor history at Princeton) were tied as the greatest Chronology players in the world, but I think my dad could beat either of them handily.
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4919 South Genesee Street | Seattle, WA 98118
Copyright © 2018 Jennie Grant Real Estate | All rights reserved.
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