Welcome to Tiny Homes, an idea that is more popular with minimalists than with neighborhood associations and zoning boards. We'll point out the fun parts. You'll have to check out the logistics and legalities - but this one's been around a while, and your neighbors may celebrate the sale.
If that price is right, then it is under the tax assessor's value for the last ten years. But enough about the price, except to mention that this 696 square-foot house has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, and is for sale at $230,000. Either that's a great deal, a typo, or there's a story that doesn't show up in the listing. Real estate is also about location, and being close to the Vashon Ferry, Lincoln Park, and Morgan Junction sounds good. So, what else is going on here?
This is what "before" looks like. Buy it and create an amazing "after". Like maybe after you replace the period carpeting, after you paint over the stains on the walls, after you clean up the kitchen and the bathroom, and after you check that woodstove to see if it meets code and whether the chimney's been swept recently. If that's all it takes to create an after image, then it might just take a checkbook and a lot of trips to the big box stores.
The house was built in 1943 so there's more than seventy years of wear and repair to check. But, hey, it's lasted this long, something must be working well enough. Get ready to crawl into the attic, and the crawl space if there is one. Check the wiring. Check the plumbing. If all systems are good, then the rest is decorative.
You also get a two-car garage with extra space at either end for workbenches and storage. The house is small enough that you might need the storage, unless you're already a minimalist. In any case, the garage is about the size of the house. Rationalize that as getting twice the square footage.
If you buy it and get extreme, maybe the house will join our list of Extreme Makeovers.
· 6012 47th Ave SW [Zillow]
· All Tiny Homes coverage [CS]
Written by Tom Trimbath