Know thy Neighborhood

How well do you know the existing inventory in your local market area? If you had a potential client that wanted to find a home in this neighborhood what you have to tell them?

Eastlake... Seattle, WA 98102

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Eastlake Neighborhood Residential Sales (click for 2010 sales)

Sales are all arm length conveyed by warranty deed, no REO, Short Sales, or Forclosures.

The Eastlake Neighborhood is one of Seattle’s oldest neighborhoods. It’s also one of the more clearly defined neighborhoods because of its distinct boundaries; Lake Union on the West, Interstate 5 on the East, Portage Bay on the North... and E. Garfield St on the South.

Right now homes in several Seattle in-city neighborhoods are beginning to appreciate. I’d venture to guess it’s fueled by those who work long hours downtown and have decided to move into the city to eliminate the long commutes. Prices are good and loan interest rates couldn’t be better.

A little research of in city purchases over the past year revealed that several were by people that sold their homes in the areas suburbs and did a lateral move into town. Commutes from Auburn, Tacoma, Carnation, Lake Stevens, and Woodinville can often be an hour one way, depending on the traffic. Many live even further out. With the price of gas now around $3.00 (+ - $.10) a gallon you could easily save $250 to $300 a month living in town. They’re also gaining back a couple of hours a day. Although life is more expensive in the city, freeing up $300 a month would certainly help offset some costs, let alone those who have to pay for parking downtown. 

Eastlake is just a few minutes from downtown, even by bus.

So what’s here to live in?

148 single family dwellings of which 88% were built before 1930. They’re about 2300 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath on average.

56 townhouse units, most of them built in the past 10 years.

315 condos + 150 mixed use units (residential with commercial on the street level).

71 duplex, triplex, fourplex buildings, 47 houseboats and 147 apartment buildings, most of them small ranging from 5 to 12 units, to largest at 94 units.

My office is in the heart of the Eastlake Neighborhood and if you lived here you'd have a walkscore of: 71

For any serious grocery shopping you'd have to leave the neighborhood and go to close by Wallingford, University Village, up to Capitol Hill, or maybe swing around the south end of the lake to lower Queen Anne Hill. The cool thing is, you're already in town, so the choices are abundant. You're not far from the Pike Place Market, Uwajimaya, Trader Joe's, PCC Natural Markets, and many more.

When you do 'Know thy Neighborhood' and converse about it online, you offer great value. Anyone looking to move into a 'new to them' neighborhood is going to have a lot of concerns. Real Estate has used the term "Location, Location, Location" for many decades and the term never rang more true. The better you know the neighborhoods you service and share what you know, the more opportunity you create not only for yourself, but for the buyer who wants to live there.