SOLID INVESTMENTS
It’s anybody’s guess what will happen to home values next, but if there’s anywhere they’ll stay stable, it’s here.
NORMANDY PARK
The sales pitch Britt Weber knew no one in Normandy Park when she moved to town nearly 16 years ago, but she did know where she could meet young mothers like herself: the pool. Geographically, the Olympic View and Normandy Park swim clubs sit at opposite ends of this posh hamlet of 6,000, but metaphorically, they’re the twin social suns around which everything else orbits. During the day, stay-at-home moms ferry their tykes to the water refuge for dishing (the moms) and splashing (the kids), and on Friday nights Olympic View’s members bring potluck dinner for end-of-the-week get-togethers. In fact, the only major event that doesn’t seem to revolve around the pool in family-oriented Normandy Park is the Fourth of July parade, which starts at Marvista Elementary and wends its way through town to the waterfront.
By the numbers Asking prices for homes listed in 2009 were consistently above $700,000 and even topped $800,000 in the first four months of the year … Median price of homes sold, however, dropped as low as $260,000 in December.
What you’ll find A planned community that—thanks to the Great Depression—didn’t quite end up as planned, Normandy Park is for the most part a collection of big homes built on big lots in the ’60s and ’70s. Although the area’s most recent residential project, a development of 26 million-dollar homes five blocks north of Nature Trails Park, stalled last fall, majestic views of Puget Sound and two beaches (the Cove up north and Marine View Park to the south) are feathers in Normandy Park’s cap and promise to keep values relatively stable. Says Tony Hettler of John L. Scott, “It’s still considered the most desirable area in southwest Seattle.”
WOODINVILLE
The sales pitch For oenophiles, Woodinville is Western Washington’s Walla Walla: More than 45 wineries located within 30 minutes of downtown draw drinkers from every corner of the country. “We just had a couple in here from Vermont,” boasts Mike Stevens of Brian Carter Cellars. For longtime residents, though, it’s a rural sanctuary with good schools (the Northshore School District scored 9 out of 10 on greatschools.org) and cozy, small-town character that they’re not keen on sacrificing for wine-country cred. So far, the two sides have kept things copacetic—thanks, in part, to regional development code. “Some land-use decisions that King County has made—like maintaining a rural designation along the Sammamish River Valley—will keep some of that character intact,” Stevens says.
By the numbers Average sales price dropped beneath $400,000 in only three months in 2009.
What you’ll find The recession wasn’t kind to Woodinville. Mike Petryszak, a John L. Scott broker, says prices for million-dollar homes in the Eastside wine country have seen a 12 to 15 percent decline as of late. But homes valued in the $400,000 to $500,000 range look to remain steady—or slightly increase. Go ahead and scoff at those seemingly low-end prices, but $450,000 can get you 2,000 square feet of new construction on 10,500 square feet of land. And the community may just have its wineries to thank for attracting buyers. “People will be out doing the wine tasting,” Petryszak says, “and they say, ‘This is nice. We didn’t even know Woodinville existed.’ ”
RICHMOND BEACH
The sales pitch They’re crazy for community events in Richmond Beach. If the residents of this picturesque, 120-year-old pocket neighborhood in west Shoreline aren’t munching cookies in the sand as the Argosy Christmas ships drift by, they’re running their kids through a haunted house gauntlet at the annual Halloween carnival at Syre Elementary School. But this month’s Strawberry Festival—which, ironically, has more to do with live music than fruit—takes the shortcake for its public-gathering mojo. “There’s not a time when you go to one of these events that you don’t see a million people you know,” says Sheri Ashleman, the neighborhood’s events coordinator. Heck, Richmond Beachers are so eager to assemble publicly that, for the last three years, on a day when they should be in the throes of a tryptophan-induced coma, they’ve gathered—in various costumes—for the 3.4-mile Turkey Day Fun Run. “I think it just shows how much our community loves to come together,” Ashleman says. Or how much they like to play dress-up.
By the numbers Average price per square foot of homes sold in Richmond Beach fell below $175 in only three months between January 2008 and December 2009.
What you’ll find Even with Puget Sound views and access to the recently renovated Richmond Beach Saltwater Park, home prices in this waterfront enclave aren’t nearly as expensive as you might expect. In Innis Arden—the planned community to the southwest, homes routinely top $1 million—but here streets are full of everything from $400,000 three-bedroom ramblers to 2,700-square-foot Northwest contemporary properties for $550,000. Says John L. Scott agent Christine Huffstetter, “You can find some pretty solid property that has enough square footage so you can stay there for a while.”
Published: May 2010
I live on a floating home. I consider all of the other floating home residents as part of my neighborhood. They might be on Portage Bay, Westlake, Northlake or Eastlake but we all have the same fantastic place to live. Maybe they should call Lake Union a neighborhood and see how it stacks up.
I’m biased as I’ve lived there about 10 years or so, but Juanita/Kenmore area is absolutely stunning, reasonably priced, SAFE, one of the best school districts in the state and you have 300+ acres of hiking, mountain biking trails right down to Lake Washington and nobody realizes it!!
You can file BARGAINS here! My house even post-bubble is still worth 3x what I paid for it 10 years ago. It’s incredible.
For you commuters, you are going to find a better spot (unless you are rich!) for a family with someone working in Bellevue and the other person working in Seattle.
It only takes me 20 minutes to get to downtown Seattle and my girlfriend only has to drive 20 minutes tops to get to Factoria.
Kirkland is a 5 minute backroad drive. We have 5 parks right on Lake Washington within a 5 minute drive for the farthest park!
We never get any respect with these polls because nobody realizes the scoop about this area.
You can jump on the other areas “holding steady” or you can jump on an area that will appreciate in value big time in the coming years. You decide… :P
P.S. If you are a crappy neighbor, please disregard this comment. It’s terrible here, please go live in Alki or somewhere else! hahahaha!
Hi Seattle Met,
I live in Columbia City and couldn’t help but notice how incredibly incorrect your statistics are for our neighborhood! 1 % non-white? Spend 5 minutes in Columbia City and you can see that stat is wrong! Also 0 percent kids under 12? O percent of our residents have B.A. degrees? Don’t know where you are getting your stats but I do hope the other neighborhoods are more correctly portrayed!
I have lived in Columbia City for 2 years now and could not be happier with our choice…. the downtown is adorable, has lots of restaurants, a bakery, a meat shop, banks, coffee shops, the farmer’s market is great, tons of parks (Seward, Genessee, Lake Wash boulevard near by and the new Jefferson Park going on on top of Beacon), a great dog park, the light rail is awesome for us since we work downtown, and the central location makes it easy to zip north or south on I-5 or hop on I-90 to the eastside…. love this neighborhood…. 5-7 mins to Capitol Hill…. I could go on and on…. thank you for mentioning us.
Edmonds doesn’t make the list? What’s wrong with Bellevue? Oooooh, take that you old money people!
They should have given more affordable neighborhoods some credit. Parts of Burien are pretty good. Des Moines and even SeaTac, too. (McMicken Heights) Lynnwood has some choice places. (Lynndale Park, Meadowdale)
I might choose Snohomish over Woodinville.
I enjoyed both the writeups and charts, but it would be nice to know where some of the statistics come from. Also, the article might be better titled “Best Places to Buy 2010” since it entirely focused on for-sale property. That got a little strange for places like Capitol Hill, where it’s much more common to rent, especially among young families who are just beginning careers.
So a few of you want to know where they got the statistics & demographics?
It’s on the right side of the web page (silly).
http://www.seattlemet.com/real-estate/articles/neighborhoods-by-the-numbers/
Thankfully I read all the comments. This site is misleading.
Thank you for the article. My family of three is looking to relocate from Spain to the Seattle metro area prior to the 2011 – 2012 school year. Are there any residents in need of a multiple month house sitter?
looking to relocate to Seattle area next summer and need guidance on best programming available for my two autistic sons….appreciate any guidance.
Kathleen Brennan- I would love to assist your real estate needs. I am a broker in West Seattle, a resident of North Seattle and a fun of many neighborhoods!! Please feel free to check out my website www.bigsoundhomes.com. Take care!
Weird that Wallingford and Fremont aren’t mentioned since they are such great neighborhoods. But then again, this is entirely focused on housing sales, so that probably explains it.
What areas have some of the best schools for children?