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.
How about a ride from up by Green Lake's community center to downtown Seattle? Route 26 takes a nice tour through the trendy neighborhoods of Green Lake, Wallingford, and Fremont on its way to towers of Seattle. No need to worry about inching through traffic or watching for people learning to parallel park.
↑ Craftsman, there's a lot of those in the neighborhood. Were there really that many living there in 1922, or was that just a convenient label? In any case, there is considerable craft in this $900,000, 5 bedroom, 3 bath house that has 2,990 square feet. Was that the original footage? If so, that craftsman needed a lot of room. The house has been finely remodeled, keeping the elements like the leaded windows and the wainscoting. The footed tub could be original, or a very modern homage to the era before showers were popular. After all this time you still get to be the owner who finally finishes the basement. How'd that stay untouched for almost a hundred years?
↑ 99 years old and looking renovated enough to survive another century. This craftsman, yes another one, has an asking price of $849,000. That has less to do with the 3 bedrooms, 2.25 baths, and 2,300 square feet, and more to do with the style and manner of the place. The porch is big enough for relaxing without having to squeeze out of the way if someone wants to use the front door. The leaded glass includes soft curves, some with stained glass accents. The bath has a very modern shower, definitely not from 1916. And, there's a media room and office downstairs, which probably wasn't the original intent; but which makes sense now.
↑ Buy this house and paint a smile on it. The windows are the eyes. The chimney makes a nose. Add some shrubbery and get a moustache, or just a curve of white tiles to make it grin. Artistic statements aside, it's another Craftsman! In 1924 the craftsmen built what has become a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2,160 square foot house that has an asking price of $629,000. How much of Seattle could they have bought for that much back then? Elements like the tapered chimney, tiled fireplace, art alcoves, and coved ceilings remain, with a few updates to keep them company. Buy it and make it, or at least the seller, happy.
↑ Here's a radical notion. Buy a house near Green Lake that wasn't built a hundred years ago and isn't a craftsman. Yes. They do exist. Here's one from 1985 for $550,000. It has 3 bedrooms and 1.75 baths in the 1,600 square feet. A main selling point in the listing is its potential as a lucrative rental. That somehow seems appropriate for something built in the mid-eighties. It's also a fine house, with much more modern wiring, plumbing, and built to codes that were imagined in 1915. It may not have that old house charm, but wait a few decades and see if people eventually are impressed with housing from the Reagan era.
↑ Oh dear. The description starts with the idea of transforming this house. Well, eventually every house that lasts finds someone who renovated and remodels it. These 2,110 square look liveable, and any need to change is based on personal style, and talent and funds. Speaking of funds. Start with an asking price of $499,850, which buys 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, and the rest of a reasonable house. There's a porch for relaxing, but may benefit from refinishing. The wood paneling might be just what you like. The unfinished basement is an opportunity, for whatever. They suggest an indoor garden down there. Sounds like an investment in grow lights might be necessary for the herbs, or something.
· Route 26 [Metro]
· All Bus Tours coverage [CS]
Written by Tom Trimbath