Mukilteo Musings

Seattle Area Real Estate

"They" say that our real estate market continues to go up and up. I do know that our investment in three different homes in the Puget Sound area has been positive for us. Taking a look at real estate sites like Zillow is kind of fun to see how valuable our previous houses are.

1. Our first house in Seattle:
Built in 1980, no view
Bought new in 1980
1680 sq. feet
3 bedrooms, 2 baths
Purchase Price in 1980: $94,000
Sold in 1989: $127,000
Current Value: $445,288

2. Our second house in Mukilteo:
Built in 1989, no view but green belt
Bought new in 1989
2670 sq. feet
3 bedrooms, den, bonus room, 2.5 baths
Purchase price in 1989: $177,000
Sold in 2003: $390,000
Current Value: $635,991

3. Our third and current house in Mukilteo:
Built in 1990, Sound and mountain view
Bought it in 2003
3600 sq. feet
4 bedrooms, den, bonus room, 2.5 baths
Value in 1995: $440,000
Our purchase price in 2003: $599,000
Current Value: $883,627

We are in the process of adding another full bathroom next to our daughter's bedroom and we are adding some space to the master bath and updating it. Also, when the tax man did a second appraisal after we appealed a couple of years ago, he gave us a break on the value of our house when I invited him in and explained we would have two kids in college, etc, etc,....Ah, I sort of sweet talked him to keep our property taxes down and I notice our house has one of the lowest values in our neighborhood because zillow is heavily based on property tax appraisal. In other words, what I am trying to say is that our neighbors' houses with less or equal view and similar size and age are valued at $1 million or more. Once our bathroom remodels are done, we likely could sell the house for over $1 million.

Up and up it goes.