The Friday Kirkland Highlands Real Estate Buzz, August 31, 2007

Remarks in red show last week's activity

New listings: 0 (1)

Active Listings: 18 (20)

Sold subject to inspection: 0 (0)

Pending: 0 (1 at $579,000)

Closed Sales: 1 at $750,000 (1 at $759,000)

Number of Price Reductions: 1 (0)
-----------------------------------
Number of homes available: 18 (20)

0-$349,999: 0 (0)

$350,000-$499,999: 2 (1)

$500,000-$749,999: 7 (9)

$750,000-$999,999: 6 (6)

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 2 (3)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 1 (1)
-----------------------------------
Average Price: $717,808 ($792,087)

Median Price: $639,990 ($750,000)

Average Days on Market: 62 (67)

Highest Priced Listing: $1,895,000 (same)

Lowest Priced Listing: $419,000 (same)

(data from NWMLS)

My analysis of this week's real estate buzz: There's been little change in the activity since last week. There are two less listings on the market now. One listing expired and is has been rented. The expired listing was priced at $570,000 and was on the market for 250 days, which is an usually long time in any market. The rental had been priced at $1,149,000. In the last two weeks there has been one sale in the Highlands. A home sale did close last week at $750,000. The home was a newer style two story that had been on the market for two months.

Ler me know if you would like other information or if you have any comments.

Meet and Greet the Teacher Today at Peter Kirk Elementary

At 11 AM this morning stop by Peter Kirk to get your child's classroom assignment as the new classroom lists will be posted. At the same time, you can meet your child's teacher. From 11 AM to 12 noon, parents and children can meet the new teachers at Peter Kirk Elementary.



***Don't forget to provide a family email address to the teacher on the first day of school.


To find out more about Peter Kirk Elementary, check out this link.

Peter Kirk Elementary
1312 6th St.
425-822-7449

The Friday Kirkland Highlands Real Estate Buzz, August 24, 2007

The Highlands weekly real estate buzz for the week of August 17-24

New listings: 1

Active Listings: 20

Sold subject to inspection: none

Pending: 1 at $579,000

Closed Sales: 1 sold at $759,000, asking price was $765,000

Price Reductions: none
-----------------------------------
Number of homes available: 20

$350,000-$499,999: 1

$500,000-$749.999: 9

$750,000-$999,999: 6

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 3

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 1
-----------------------------------
Average Price: $792,087

Median Price: $694,995

Average Days on Market: 67

Highest Priced Listing: $1,895,000

Lowest Priced Listing: $419,000

The number of homes on the market remained the same as last week's total with 20 homes for sale. There was one new listing and one home that went pending, keeping the total of active listings to 20. This week's new listing is the least expensive property in the neighborhood priced at $419,000. Although there is a home on the property, the price is based on the value of the land, not the home. (This report is based on inventory at 10:30 AM, August 24th,2007)

Let me know if you have any questions or comments about the market performance. I am happy to answer them,

What were the chances of a home selling in Kirkland in July, 2007?

Sellers had a 22% chance of selling a home, DOWN slightly from 23% last month and DOWN slightly from 25% last year.
(Information obtained from MLS and Windermere data and are for pending, not closed sales.)

Median price climbed by 15.8% to $757,475 from $654,250. Inventory is up by about 21%.


Kirkland started the year off with 278 homes for sale in January and in July there 366 homes on the market.

January, 278 homes listed
February, 275 homes listed
March 290 homes listed
April, 305 homes listed
May, 341 homes listed
June, 383 homes listed
July, 366 homes listed

Month with most homes on the market? June.

The peak of sales activity, the best month to sell, so far this year? The month of May, when 31% of the homes sold. With the increase in inventory brought on in June, the percentage of sales dropped by 10% to 21% in June and to 22% in July. Competition to get sold increased dramatically with the increase in inventory.

The peak of the inventory, thus far, was in June. Will this be the peak of the inventory for single family homes this year? Stayed tuned!

Lunch By Lake Washington in Kirkland

It's never supposed to rain between July 4th and October 15th in the Seattle area, but today is a dark and rainy day, something we rarely see this time of year. Here is a reminder of how wonderful Kirkland is on our beautiful summer days. These photos are from Kirkland on Tuesday, August 14th. We had a glorious day here. Luckily, I was able to take advantage of it and meet a client for lunch at The Yarrow Bay Cafe in Carillon Point, right on Lake Washington. The weather was perfect, the company divine, and the food was not bad either!

Carillon Point is one of the true gems of Kirkland and Lake Washington. It is a true piece of Kirkland history. Here one can find a 4 Star hotel, The Woodmark. The only hotel on Lake Washington comes with a great restaurant and a relaxing bar. Waters, the hotel restaurant, is usually not crowded and has wonderful food. It's tucked away on the lower level of the hotel and has a nice view of the lake. Two secrets about Waters: it's rarely crowded, so if you want a nice, quiet meal with a view you can get it here. Secondly, if you have a Passport Unlimited Card, you can get two entrees for one. The hotel bar feels as if you're having drinks in a private home. They have a great happy hour with some tasty food. The hotel has a spa with a wide variety of services. Check out their monthly special treatments.

Other hot spots in Carillon Point? Try The Yarrow Bay Grill, a long time Kirkland institution, a great gourmet restaurant with fabulous views of the lake, mountains, and city. In the fall you can take advantage of their football shuttles via boat to Husky Stadium for Husky football games. There is no better way to travel!

BluWater Bistro is a Seattle eatery that has been open less than a year. It's a nice, casual setting with good salads, sandwiches, and pastas. It took the Cucina, Cucina spot.

Do you need moorage? There is a fabulous Marina at Carillon Point, one of the few moorage spots on Lake Washington. It is a premier location with slips for 200 boats and top of the line services.

Want to try kayaking?

Summer time brings special events to the Point. Outdoor movies on Saturday evenings and The Concours d'Elegance car show are some of the events.

But what about the history of Carillon Point? It was not always known as Carillon Point and has gone through several renditions over the years mirroring the changes that have occurred on the Eastside. First developed in the late 1800's, the area, known then as Pleasant Bay was developed by the Curtiss family. Over the years, the area has been a shipyard for boat building, a winter docking area for a salmon fleet, and a tie-up area for ships from The Alaska Steamship Authority. During World War II, the shipyard boomed, employing about 9000 people, making a major contribution to the war effort. Lastly, we must not forget before the area was developed as Carillon Point, it was the home of the Seattle Seahawks!

Carillon Point is now a place of relaxation and fun, a centerpiece for Kirkland. With 6 restaurants from Starbucks to The Yarrow Bay Grill, a marina, shops, and offices, it is a gem of Kirkland.

Introducing: The Friday Kirkland Highlands Real Estate Buzz

Everyone wants to know the latest real estate happenings in the neighborhood. Here is the answer. If you follow the numbers listed here each week, it will be easier to understand the market trends specific to The Highlands. There are overall trends in real estate, but not all neighborhoods perform in exactly the same way at the same time. Here is your chance to see only the Highlands activity on a weekly basis.

If you look at the articles every Friday you will find:

total number of homes for sale
Number of homes available in each price range
Most expensive home for sale
Least expensive home for sale
if inventory is up or down from the previous week
Number of homes receiving offers that week (pending or sold subject to inspection, STI)
Number of closed sales

Average days on the market
Number of price reductions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Highlands weekly real estate buzz for the week of August 10-17th ( 8:30 AM)

Active: 20 homes

0-$499,999: none

$500,000 - $749,999: 10

$750,000 - $999,999: 6

$1,000,000 - $1,499,999: 3

$1,500,000 and above: 1

Least expensive home: $500,000

Most expensive home: $1,895,000

Pending sales: 1- $889,000

Closed sales: 0



Average days on the market: 67

Price reductions this week: 2
one reduction of $2,000 and one of $10,000


My general impressions: For sale signs have sprouted all over the Highlands and market time has increased dramatically since the first quarter. O the 20 homes listed, 11 have had price reductions since being listed, including the above 2 homes. Two homes have been on the market for a few months with no price reduction, 1 home is a new listing. The Highlands "bread and butter" price range is between $500-$1,000,000, but competition amongst homes in this price range is much stiffer than during the first quarter.

The Kirkland Highlands-Are We Getting Rails or Trails or Both?

In last week's Seattle Times, Larry Phillips, Jane Hague, and John Creighton all weighed in with an opinion and an update for the eastside rail corridor, the BNSF tracks. Jane Hague and Larry Phillips are King County Council members. John Creighton is a member of the Seattle Port Commission.

How quickly things have changed in a few weeks. Earlier in July, I reported that the railroad was dealing exclusively with the county and the Port of Seattle to do a three way deal which would give the tracks to the county for a trail. The railroad is still working with the county, but it appears that King County Council's plan has changed. Ron Sims has signed a "Principle of Dual Use" agreement which is looking to both rails and trails. Kirkland is considered part of the Sound Transit region for review. This agreement was signed on June 13th of this year. I never heard any press about it and I am wondering if anyone did. The newspapers were still talking about the trails only and the fact that the railroad was going to deal only with the county. I talked about this in my previous post just about a month ago.

The Roads and Transit package, which is to be voted on this fall, includes funding not only for Sound Transit, but also for a study of the joint rail and trail operation on the BNSF line that goes by The Highlands. Issues being looked at for this line are whether it works as a trail, for high capacity transit or freight mobility.

Ironically, I noticed several freight trains coming by the last few days with Boeing fuselages. The fuselages are probably going down to Renton from Everett. The freight trains are moving at a reasonable pace and are not very long. They always blow the whistle when they cross over the intersection that is near my home.

Issues to consider:

The intersection behind Peter Kirk Elementary is key because many children cross the tracks on the way to school.

Can you imagine room for a trail and a train along the same line? It does not appear to be that big of an area.

Where would commuters park? Where would there be train stops?

Eastside development will focus first on a commuter rail line along highway 520 between Seattle and Redmond. This has been on the books for evaluation for quite sometime. However, this change in BNSF railroad is something that appears to be very new.

I mentioned this issue to several Highlands people. One person felt there would be quite a bit of development needed to create safe passage for people and cars. I met with another Highlands resident who works on environmental issues. She thought it would take 20 years just to do an environmental study alone, never mind building the rails and trails! Her thought was the combined rails and trails theme was very far off, if it ever happened.

What are your thoughts?

What is the walkability of your home in The Kirkland Highlands?

One of the best things about living in the Highlands is its accessibility to everything, particularly to downtown Kirkland. Kirkland's Parkplace is in easy walking distance to many of The Highland's homes. It's great to be so close to so many things here and this is one of the top selling points of the neighborhood.

How walkable is your home? There's a new website, Walk Score, which will tell you. Here is how it works: plug in your address including city and zip code and a map showing the location of your home will appear. The site will then calculate how close you are to entertainment and services. My home is located .48 miles from 24 hour fitness, the west side of Parkplace,

and .52 miles from the movie theater. However, walking around the corner of Parkplace to go to QFC or Starbucks is .57 miles away.

My home in The Highlands came out with a total score of 49. What does that score mean? According to Walk Score:

90-100 is walking nirvana, with everything really accessible. I would imagine the Tera Apartments across from Parkplace would fall in this category.

70-90 very walkable

50-70 some walkability with the need for a car for some basic services

25-50 a more limited walkability

0-25 Get in your car now!

I still think being 1/2 mile from Parkplace is pretty terrific and I believe many home buyers who want convenience will agree that the location of The Highlands is a strong selling point to living here. So check out the walkability of your home, print out your walk score, and use that data as a marketing tool when selling your home.