2021 Recap
2021 was an exciting year for me. Helping people as they buy and sell homes as they move in and out of different stages in life, is incredibly engaging and rewarding. Here's what happened this year with me and my clients in 2021.
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A Townhouse for Bruno, Mariya, and Sabine
The year started with Bruno, Mariya, and their one-year old, Sabine. They had been living in a Capitol Hill apartment with young Sabine and it was too small. They wanted something vintage and charming near family and friends on Capitol Hill. They weren't seriously looking yet, hadn't even spoken with a lender, but they saw a vintage townhouse online and were intrigued. They called me to see it and it was beautiful but a mess! There were four tenants who had little incentive to tidy up when strangers came tromping through in the midst of a pandemic. Mariya and Bruno were undeterred and saw through the mess. The market was not as hot as it is now. The property sat past its offer review date. We even got to do a bit of negotiating. Unheard of today. Turns out there were beautiful fir floors under the ancient upstairs carpet. Already, Bruno and Mariya have remodeled the bathroom and kitchen and the place looks fabulous and they are happy.
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A Condo for Kit
Kit was another Capitol Hill renter ready to be done with his landlord and have his own place. Like many first time buyers, he wasn't sure he wanted to buy, but he wanted to look. And look we did. We looked in Eastlake, First Hill, Leschi and Capitol Hill. After a few weeks of looking, he still wasn't sure what he wanted. He waited and mulled, and when after a month or two went by, one of the places we'd seen had a big price drop, and he called to say, "Let's go see that condo again." We wrote an offer and he got it! Plus, he got it for a good price and was able to do his own inspection.
Just after finding the condo, Kit met Matt and they are now partners. I take credit for the match. No quibbling with me about correlation and causation.
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The Biggie, Krista's House
Krista had been in her five-bedroom, 3,000 square foot home for 22-years. There she had passed many life milestones: becoming a mom, raising two children, seeing them off to college, losing a mother, starting a new career, and getting a graduate degree. It was a big house full of so many memories that it was hard to let go. But it was now too big and it was very expensive to maintain. She decided to downsize. Out she moved and I got to work to prepare the house for sale: clearing out what she couldn't take, gardening, switching out light fixtures, undoing an airbnb set up, patching and redoing the fireplace mantle, etc. She covered the costs, but I organized the workers and did some of the gardening and clean up. Then I brought in the stagers. The house that had begun to drag Krista down, now strutted its stuff. Buyers responded and we received 10 offers. Krista now has a manageable sized home in Fircrest and a fine nest egg to boot. Hers was the biggest home preparation I've undertaken and it turned out to be well worth the effort. 1639 35th Ave
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Max and Melissa - Farmland with a House and View
Max and Melissa wanted a vegetable garden -- a sunny spot to grow food. A view would be nice too. And a house. There were no such properties on the market when we were looking, but then I remembered a place that a client had passed on the year before. It was off-market, never having sold, so I called the owner, who had just finished with trying to deal with several builders who did bait and switches on her. She was ready to sell to people who wanted the property as is, not as a tear down. By this time in the year, the market had become extremely competitive and being able to buy a place off-market, without other buyers competing was a treat. Max and Melissa even got to put in an inspection contingency. Before Max and Melissa moved in, they planted a garden. They had been right about the yard being excellent garden space. Look what they grew, even without goat poop compost!
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Jeff, Larry, and the Gem
Jeff and Larry bought this house in 2000 as a fixer. They are handy and love fine craftsmanship. Year after year, they made improvements. The result was a gem. A cream puff. A tiny sparkling beauty of a house. There were three offers on the house and Jeff and Larry were able to move to Bainbridge where they have been very happy exploring their surroundings, going to gardens, and art fairs, bicycling and meeting new neighbors and friends. The sad part about this sale was that Jeff and Larry were excellent neighbors -- witty, smart, engaging, and always up to something interesting. I miss having them nearby. 1103 Lake Washington Blvd
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A Roller Coaster With a House at the End
When Oriana emailed me for the first time, having been referred by a friend, she said she wasn't really looking, but there was this house. It was a beauty of an old craftsman on a southeastern corner lot.
Up: We went to see it and it was a mess. Many, many things were odd about the house and how it was presented, but Oriana liked it. She said, "I like a shabby house."
Down: We wrote an offer, but were too late. Someone got there before us, even though it had been on the market 45 days. With little hope, I told Oriana, that the other sale was contingent upon an inspection, and you never know, it might come available again.
Up: The house came available again. We submitted our old offer, and got under contract
Down: We did an inspection and it needed lots of work -- sewer, gutters, electrical, windows, front porch! We could not get the seller to budge on the price. Oriana ended up walking away.
Up: They called us a few weeks later. Maybe they would negotiate and sell it for the price we'd asked for.
Down: Oriana, said, "Hmmmm. I'd like even more off now."
Up: We asked for more off and got it! This all took about a two months but in the end, Oriana got the house for $150,000 less than it had originally been listed for (it had been listed for a ridiculous amount, but still). We did look at others along the way to get a better sense of this house's pricing and what else was out there, but somehow, this house stuck. Oriana knew it was the house for her, but also knew it wouldn't be the house for a lot of people. She knew when to walk away. It was a good reminder to me, sometimes, you need to politely walk away to get what you want.
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Diana and Michael, Goodbye Capitol Hill
The market is full of nuance. Covid made it especially so. The Eastside surged as people in condos in downtown and Capitol Hill lost all those great things about being in an urban center -- public transit, restaurants, and shows. And condos are small and working from home makes them smaller. When I met with Michael and Diana, things were hot in the single family market, but slow for condos. This turned out not to matter too much. The condo was very nice and had parking, a new kitchen (Diana and Michael had done a very smart removel), a sunny patio, and a location equidistant between Broadway and 15th. We went all out with painting and ooo-weee, the place looked lovely when it hit the market. We got two offers and ended up taking one that was all cash. They closed just two weeks after listing.
Diana and Michael now have a lovely townhouse in Fremont with a patio out front, a view, and room to grow! 1815 14th Ave
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Cameron and Sabrina, The Townhouse at the End of the Soul Search
Like many buyers during the pandemic, Cameron and Sabrina were ready to move out of their Capitol Hill apartment into their own more spacious place. They wanted a place that wouldn't require a mortgage so large that making payments would control their work choices. However, they also wanted a place that they would be happy in for at least five years. We searched and searched to find the right balance. We explored different neighborhoods: Judkins, Squire Park, Columbia City, Leschi and the Madison Valley. We looked at condos, townhouses, single-family homes, and duplexes. We looked at new houses, old houses, flips, and fixers. At last we discovered a townhouse style condo in New Rainier Vista. It's a mixed income housing development within walking distance to Columbia City. It's beautifully done with underground utilities and lots of greenspace, parks and a P-Patch. Low-income rental housing is mixed in with owner occupied single-family homes and townhouses. The exteriors of most of the properties are maintained by the HOA, so exteriors always look sharp. It was just the right size, overlooked a large public meadow, and was within walking distance of light rail and Columbia City. They had found a good fit.
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| Laura and Pedro, Returning to France
Laura and Pedro had lived in their co-op for about four years before moving back to Pedro's home country of France to be near Pedro's parents. When I came by to see their place, they had been in France for a year and their tenant was in the process of moving out. I came up with a plan for repairs and a budget and together we tweaked it over WhatsApp. I thought I was quite with it, using WhatsApp. They had already made lots of great improvements, new oak floors and a lovely bath, but the kitchen was in need of work. With the help of my favorite go-to guys for preparing a house for sale, Bob and Ryan, we gave the kitchen a mini facelift with new counters, flooring, and shelves. Bob and Ryan touched up the paint where needed and put up new light fixtures I found at the Re-store. The result was quite beautiful. The co-op received three offers and sold with no contingencies for $46,000 over asking. This was a lot for a little co-op and the most a unit had ever sold for in the building. They now live in an apartment in Lyon. They are going to use their net proceeds to buy a farmhouse in the French countryside. It may be a vacation home at first, but one day they want to farm it. And get dairy goats! I wonder if Coco and Charlotte might like to move to France to live with them. Is this a dream goats have? 1107 E Denny Way, Unit A2
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Tommy and David, Off to Colorado
Tommy and David's place was my condo/co-op listing number three of the year. Their preparation didn't require a kitchen mini-remodel but the refrigerator was too tall, so we ordered a cute tiny one. It wasn't very practical, but it fit and was so cute that no one noticed it was impractical. I brought in an electrician for a few electrical repairs and light fixture changes, and then I brought in the painters, cleaners, and stagers. The place has wonderful light and bones and did it turn some heads when it hit the market! The open houses were packed. With three offers, it sold for the most money a one-bedroom in the building had ever sold for. It sold for almost as much as a two-bedroom. Tommy and David are going to try different neighborhoods near Boulder and then plan to buy there after a year. Once they have a house, they are going to get a dog. A Pug Dog! Also, they got engaged just after they went under contract to sell. Was this due to my work and the beautiful clean offer they received? Yes! Again, no quibbling with me about causation and correlation. 1100 17th Ave, #405
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4919 South Genesee Street | Seattle, WA 98118
Copyright © 2018 Jennie Grant Real Estate | All rights reserved.
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