Seattle has buses. Use them! In which case you might as well find a place to live along a line. One line at a time. Here's the next one, selected at random for the fun of it.
Your idea of 'downtown' may be Kent. It has one, you know. The commute from Maple Valley can be a lot simpler if you can take Route 168 along Kent-Kangley and past Lake Meridian. Let someone else deal with all the stop lights.
↑ The more you pave, the less you mow; but there's a big yard out back of this 3 bedroom, 2.25 bath house with 2,240 square feet. They're asking $645,000 and emphasizing the 1.08 acres which can possibly be subdivided into 6 lots. That's the difference between 1981, when the house was built, and now. Then, the extra land provided enough space for privacy, landscaping, and acoustical separation. It also meant there was enough for an extra large garage and enough pavement pavement to make it easy to store and maneuver an RV. Now, divide that six ways and still get lots of over seven thousand square feet. Or, leave it as is, and enjoy a spaciousness and a style from the Reagan era.
↑ New can mean a big house (3,114 square feet) on a smaller lot (5,009 square feet) and appliances that have never been used. Everything is still bright and shiny, unless it isn't supposed to. They're asking $567,500 for this 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath house in Rock Creek Reserve. It isn't the only new house, as you'll see if you continue to read the next listing, but every house is different. The builders placed great emphasis on the kitchen and bath, possibly to leave the rest of the decorating decisions up to the people who will live there first. Get a chance to define a space, and get busy keeping up the polishing. At least there's a lot of room for storing foul weather gear.
↑ If it seems like new houses all look the same, don't be surprised; especially, if they're in the same development. Here's another in Rock Creek Reserve, but it is different. The price is $575,000 and has 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths and 3,102 square feet. The lot is a bit bigger, 5,837 square feet. See. Different. Every house is different, of course, because every lot is different and every owner is different. A few months after being occupied, every house will begin to shift. The walls, appliances, and roof may stay the same but get out the paint brushes or plant some other shrubs. Your neighbors will thank you.
↑ Empty houses can seem cavernous. This 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house has 2,600 square feet and is on the market at $390,000; but with the right lens and nothing in the room, it looks much bigger. It was built in 2008 on a 4,310 square foot lot. Since then, it's been lived in long enough for someone else to work out the kinks. Hopefully, that's not why they're selling. Probably not. With white walls, beige trim, and light carpeting it is a bright house. Wear your shades indoors and maybe bring in some color.
↑ This 5 bedroom, 3 bath house in Wilderness Rim Estates is already marked down $20,000 to $375,000 after being on the market for a few months. It was built in 1996, and by now has a lot of the extras that were probably added by the residents: an extended patio out back, wallpaper trim inside, and landscaping that's matured enough to possibly survive our occasional droughts, even if it does look a bit brown in the photos. There's also room for what might be called a maker space now, but was just called a shop then. A useful feature for people with projects.
· Route 168 [Metro]
· All Bus Tours coverage [CS]
Written by Tom Trimbath