About Seattle's Wedgwood

Yesterday it snowed in Seattle! Okay, it wasn't a lot of snow and it didn't stick, but it was snowing/raining while we unloaded our truck with the inventory to stage this cute 1940's bungalow in the Wedgewood neighborhood. Thank goodness for our cheerful and patient moving crew (a.k.a. our husbands).

Not only is this this a story of "before" and "after" staging, but it really is also an example of how professional photos and staging are so important when marketing a home for sale. The "before" shots are not taken by a professional and the "after" photos are all taken by our pro photographer, Rick Landreth of Windermere Real Estate.

Enjoy the tour!

Living & Dining Rooms:

Breakfast Nook:

Master Bedroom:

Additional Bedroom:

Home Office:

Staging by SISTERS Interior Redesign, Edmonds, WA, 425.776.7890, sisters@sistersredesign.com

Give your listing the advantage of professional staging. Contact us today for a complimentary quote.

We look forward to working with you!

I admit, I've driven by here every season and never stopped ... what a mistake.

This has to be the best place to get your Christmas tree in Seattle:7744 on NE 35th in Wedgwood, next to the post office.

Hunters Christmas Trees has everything:

and for reasonable prices.

They even have a live reindeer on the weekends! And great customer service. I was greeted just steps from my car. They cut the end off the tree, wrapped it and carried it to my car.

Where is it:

Like all Seattle neighborhoods, Wedgwood has no official agreed-upon borders. The unofficial boundaries are:

North - NE 95th Street; East - 45th Avenue NE; South - NE 75th Street; and West - by a route coming north from NE 75th Street along 25th Avenue NE, then jogging west along NE 85th Street and winding up Lake City Way NE to NE 95th Street.

Why it is a Great Neighborhood:

• It is a pocket of affordability among more expensive neigborhoods. Single family residences are currently selling from $283,000 to $1,050,000.
• The schools have a good reputation for high academics and parent involvement.
• Easy access to I-5 and the 520 Bridge make it within minutes to Downtown Seattle and Bellevue.

• Dahl Park is on the western border; The Burke-Gilman Trail and Magnuson Park are just a few blocks east. "Downtown" Wedgwood has all the necessary amenities and more: Two grocery stores, a Post Office, banks, gas stations, a Seattle Public Library, a dry cleaner, yoga and dance studios, hair salons, a variety of churches, a bakery, a community p-patch garden and even Seattle-based Top Pot Doughnuts. The Fiddlers Inn, a cozy, live music venue sits near the Northern boundary.

Neighborhood Trivia:

The Wedgwood neighborhood is named after the English bone china-maker of the same name.

Started sometime in the 1960's, the P-patch garden is the oldest community garden in Seattle.

The Wedgwood neighborhood branch library is the largest branch library and the 2nd busiest public library in the city.

When the neighborhood was developed during the 1940's, many of the large trees were preserved.

There is a lot of buzz in the Seattle media about short sales.  So what the heck are they anyway, and how can they save you tens of thousands of dollars on a home? 

Put simply, a short sale is when a home owner is trying to sell a house, but the proceeds from the sale of the house will not be enough to cover the loans currently owing on the home.  So the seller will need to get bank approval once a buyer makes an offer on the home, because the bank will not get all of their money back when the home sells. 

Why is this a big deal?

A short sale situation can be a big deal as far as the time it takes to close on the house.  Because of the extra step of having to get bank approval, the process can take several extra weeks to several extra months to complete.  Each bank has its own process for considering short sales and not all of them are very efficient.  Part of the problem is the volume of short sales that many banks need to consider.  There are a lot more now than a few years ago.

The time lines are a serious consideration.  Take a client of mine right now.  They are first time home owners who don't have a lot to spend on a home.  They found a house they like but it is a short sale situation.  They decided to move ahead with the offer.  We agreed on terms with the seller, did an inspection and the offer went to the bank.  The timeline has been delayed several times by the bank.  First they told us a few weeks now it is looking more like about a month and a half.  In this situation the bank has all the power and can take almost as long as they want to make a decision. 

So why would anyone consider buying a home that is subject to a short sale?

Quite simply price!  If a seller is not going to make any money on the sale of their home anyway, you can imagine they are much more flexible on terms and price of the sale of their home.   If you are the only person making an offer on the home, the bank will need to take the offer seriously, even if you offer significantly less than the asking price for the house.   In many Seattle neighborhoods, short sales represent some of the best deals around.   In the case of my buyers, we will get the house for nearly $75K less then what the house was refinanced for just a year and a half ago.  Well below market value.  (I won't tell you the value of the home because the negotiation is still going on, but it is well below $300K) 

In short (pun intended) there is no reason to be afraid of a home that will be subject to a short sale.  In fact they may be some of the best values out there.  Just be prepared for a longer timeline, a little more hassle and be sure to use an escrow company, mortgage company and if I may be so bold, real estate agent with some experience in short sales.  You may just find that hidden gem at a bargain basement price.

Happy Hunting

Seattle based Starbucks is hosting a promotion to try to encourage or at least reward people for voting. If you go into a Starbucks tomorrow and tell them that you voted, they will offer you a free coffee.

Can I vote more than once?

http://www.starbucks.com/