Modern architecture aficionados are a very discerning group. They appreciate the nuances and small design touches in the creation of a modern home that can take a look from cold and sterile to stunning and edgy with a slight adjustment. Home buyers who truly appreciate modern architecture view their homes as a showpiece--more of a work of art than just an abode to reside within. Finding modern Seattle homes for sale can sometimes create a challenge, however, as most generic real estate searches don't suffice.
When searching for modern homes, you'll find that there are very few standardized searches to identify solely modern homes. Modern style, after all, is many times in the eye of the beholder. One person's modern townhome may appear to another as just a contemporary new construction home. Some buyers may feel that mid-century modern homes with their wide, shallow rooflines encompass the modern style far better than their flat-roofed contemporaries.
In the Seattle area, modern homes can be singled out in a few ways. None of these are totally inclusive, but they do provide a framework for covering the majority of modern Seattle homes that will fit the tastes of a home buyer who appreciates this modern architecture.
Search by Modern Architectural Style
The NWMLS allows for Seattle-area listing agents to designate a home's architectural style as "Modern". Unfortunately, some modern listings, for one reason or another, do not have this designation and do not show up in the list. This data can be publicly displayed on real estate websites by member brokerages, although most sites currently do not display it. A few of the newer Seattle real estate searches do.
Seattle Modern Homes by architectural style
Search by Age of New Construction Homes
New homes have a larger percentage of homes with modern styling than those from recent previous decades and those from the historic Seattle building era of the 1910s-1940s. When searching homes for sale, a potential modern home buyer may want to select from homes built in the most recent years of new construction, giving them a higher likelihood of finding modern styling.
New construction Seattle homes
Search by Age of Mid-Century Modern Homes
Modern home buyers have a particular affinity for homes built mid-century, mostly in the 1950s but also some 1960s and 1940s homes. These homes exhibit many of the design details necessary for a true modern remodel: clean lines, open spaces, modern simplicity, vaulted ceilings, etc. By searching homes for sale and restricting the search to this timeframe, a large number of mid-century modern homes--some previously remodeled--will allow the modern home buyer a larger pool of potential homes.
Seattle mid-century modern homes
Of course, in the end, a modern home buyer will save himself or herself a lot of time by contacting their real estate broker and having a professional do the search for them. For the daydreamer, browser, or someone just putting his/her toe into the water, these criteria should get you started in finding a better inventory of modern homes.
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