clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The five least expensive places in Seattle's Seward Park neighborhood

Of course there’s only seven homes to choose from

By Tom Trimbath

We browsed the listings to find the five most affordable houses in the Seward Park neighborhood and only found only seven homes currently listed. Don’t be surprised that the price of a view of Mercer Island redefines affordable.

Let’s start with one of the easier ways to find affordable housing in the neighborhood, a townhome. This one is new, built in 2016, and with a contemporary design with a few wood tone touches for warmth. It holds three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms in 1,296 square feet. Fresh appliance warranties can ease some homeowner headaches. They’re asking $468,800 (plus $210 per month), so you can get into the neighborhood for under a half a million.

The most affordable house is large and more than 50% jump in price, $764,900. One bonus, no condo fees. It is from the beginning of the Baby Boom era with five bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and an expansive 3,690 square feet of space distributed across multiple floors. Someone had fun with colors and paint chips because the rooms can be dramatic. The views from the 7,405 square foot lot are dramatic as well. According to Zillow it was “foreclosed to lender” in July, but you were going to ask for an inspection anyway. Right?

Just a few doors away is an impressively updated midcentury marvel with a wall of windows aligned with the view that reaches Mt. Rainier. It was built in 1958 with the low sloping roof and exposed beams of the era. Since then, it has undergone at least one remodel that turned the kitchen into a cooking arena, the bathrooms into spa lounges, and a palm-adorned lanai into a staycation destination - all on an 8,102 square foot lot. The four bedroom, two and a quarter bathroom, 2,560 square foot house is listed at just under a million, $999,000, a drop of about $160K since July.

The dining room exemplifies an elegance of 110 years ago. Oak and fir and box beams are described in the listing in words, but there’s a evocative image of the dining room wrapped in deep wood paneling under period-appropriate fixtures and framed by trimmed doorways and picture rails. The house is a 4,000+ square foot Craftsman on 5,993 square feet of property that is listed at $1,249,000. Some of the rooms have been updated, but most have been left in style. Even the old radiators remain in some of the five bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Congratulate someone who decided to expertly integrate a new house into the neighborhood’s style. This $1,395,000 Craftsman was built in 2001, but except for some of the modern appliances, both the interior and exterior look like a nicely remodeled hundred year old home. In addition to five bedrooms and four bathrooms in the 4,172 square foot space, there are two kitchens, and possibly even two sunrooms. Outside, in the rest of the 7,378 square foot property a Koi pond, grape arbor, waterfall, and fire pit encourage folks to visit a bit of nature.