It is possible to buy a house on Mercer Island for under a million dollars. There's a 1997 contemporary (at least contemporary for 1997) with an asking price of $899,000. It is a 3 bedroom, 2.1 bath, with 2,082 square feet; but the real reason to look up to it is because of the slope. The front drops away leaving the balcony perched over the road; which means you don't have to watch the cars go by. The back of the 0.45 acre lot climbs up immediately from the back porch. The good news, views of the lake - at least while the trees have shed their leaves. The rest of the time, you lose the view, but are surrounded and buffered by forest. From the inside, the master suite can feel like a tree house without all that pesky climbing up ladders and trunks. The rest of the house maintains that clean, simplistic style that can be easy to take care of and that emphasizes what's outside the windows. You might want to draw the curtains sometimes; someone on the road may be looking up to or at you.
· 8415 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island [Windermere]
Written by Tom Trimbath