Multiple readers have sent us this Seattle Times link, and when that happens, it means it’s worth sharing, and worth a closer look. Business reporter Mike Rosenberg‘s report is really a two-part story – one part about an East Admiral house that sold for a surprising amount despite reportedly having been in poor condition, the other part about how real estate prices in general continue to rise, sharply.
First, about the house, which Rosenberg reports sold for $427,000 in May, twice the asking price, despite “crumbling floors and ceilings that could collapse at any moment, about five feet of standing water and toxic air not safe to breathe.” It was only 65 years old, built the year before this county-archives photo:
Though the plan for its site was a mystery at the Times story’s end, we found a “site plan” on file. It was filed for the house at 3243 Belvidere just before Tang Real Estate Investments closed the sale in May and it proposes not teardown, but adding another story and remodeling the interior. It’s a very early-stage plan, though, so it could change. One note of interest – county information shows the house is on 5,000 square feet platted as two lots, which could have been part of the perceived value.
The second part of the Times story is about real-estate prices continuing to rise. Rosenberg reports that Northwest Multiple Listing Service stats show: “In West Seattle, the median single-family house cost $506,600 in May, up 17.3 percent just in the past year, and up a whopping 83 percent in the last five years.”
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