Hail and Farewell!

Blogger decamps to Santa Fe

Valedictory Posting by Bryan Tagas

This is my final posting as the Madison Park Blogger.  For six years, beginning in April 2009, it was my joy, privilege, and occasional burden to be a purveyor of neighborhood news to that very select (meaning self-selected) group of Madison Parkers who chose to read what I chose to write. While MPB began as something of a lark (with an initial readership of just four or five neighbors), it rapidly grew by word of mouth to become something more serious.  At last count, the blog was reaching over 1,000 regular readers, including 669 email subscribers through Google Feedburner and 421 Facebook friends. With only one exception, there hasn't been a posting on the site since March 2015; yet new subscribers are still signing up for emails and others are still finding and liking the blog's Facebook page. According to Feedburner, there have been 415,153 views of the 803 stories I've posted over 71 months for Madison Park Blogger. In light of this great support, it's particularly sad for me to say it's over.

Here's the thing: after spending our entire lives in Seattle, my wife and I absconded to New Mexico in October. For the both of us 2015 was one hell of a year. And without going into the personal and professional details, let's just say we each felt it was time to move on.  Unfortunately, there was no elegant solution to the problem of maintaining Madison Park Blogger, either from long distance (though that idea was suggested to me by several readers) or by anointing a surrogate poster "on the ground" in Madison Park who could be trusted to maintain the journalistic standards I established for the blog and tried to adhere to.

The website will continue to exist as a historical record of the early 21st Century in Madison Park, searchable for clues to the neighborhood at time when it was losing its "village" identity but still retained the vestiges of what it once had it. During the fifteen years I lived in The Park the demolition of cottages and their replacement by megahouses accelerated;  businesses, restaurants in particular, fell by the wayside as the business district lost what little remained of its onetime status as a "destination" shopping area (anyone remember The Yankee Peddler?); and Madison Park became increasingly rarefied as the cost of housing made the place all but unaffordable for even renters.  Lola McKee's semi-facetious comment of several years ago, ("Madison Park is becoming a place where about the only things you can come here for are get your hair done, get a good meal, or cash a check") had become a virtual statement of fact by the time I left Madison Park. Madison Valley during this same period seemed to gain some of the vibrancy that Madison Park had lost. 

It was great fun chronicling the neighborhood over those six years and getting to know many residents and business owners that I may otherwise never have met. For that I am very grateful. I hope these personal connections will remain even though I am geographically distant (those who would like to keep in touch may email me: bryan dot tagas at gmail dot com).

I did a lot of legwork for many of the stories I posted on the blog.  For example, I took several months to write the three postings on what defines "Madison Park" as a distinct Seattle neighborhood.  I also did several investigative pieces along the way, my favorite of which was an expose of the fact that some wealthy Madison Park property owners had for decades blocked public access to one of the neighborhood's six waterfront road ends by paying nominal fees to the City for that right ("East Mercer Street: no trespassing").  The stories I had the most fun writing, however, were not always the ones that got the most readership.

These are the ten most-read stories ever posted on Madison Park Blogger:

1) "Feds shutdown Lakeside Capital" (7/17/14) [1,622 views], about the travails Dennis Daugs (with plenty, indeed too much, reader commentary thereon).

2) "Cyclist severely injures pedestrian in crosswalk" (8/23/13) [1,621 views], about the Madison Park resident who was run down in front of Wells Fargo (but who ultimately recovered).

3) "Wells Fargo branch robbed" (4/3/14) [1,567 views], about the cross-dressing sous chef  killed by police in Denny Blaine after an hours-long manhunt. 

4) "Armed robberies put neighborhood on edge" (11/24/14) [1,467 views], about two scary gun-related incidents in Denny Blaine.

5) "Weekend hit and run leads to arrest" (1/22/13) [1,450 views], about the Broadmoor teenager who crashed into several parked cars while allegedly intoxicated, later reporting herself to police as the victim of a hit and run.

6) "Waterfront project riles some neighbors" (1/17/14) [1,350 views], about the proposed development of a waterfront property on 43rd Avenue E., a project which apparently has yet to be approved by the City.

7) "Goodbye village, hello 'contemporary styling'" (10/11/13) [1,312 views], my later-regretted stab at architectural criticism, involving the design of a neighborhood residential development.

8) "Tully's to close Monday" (10/10/12) [1,275 views], about the sad end of a neighborhood hangout.

9)  "Keira Knightly movie filming in Madison Park" (6/11/13) [1,267 views], which though clicked on by Knightly fans from around the world, did not include a picture of the actress--a failure for which the blog was roundly condemned.

10) "The shooting: pondering the imponderable" (4/5/14) [1,237 views], a followup to the Wells Fargo robbery story, discussing the background and presumed motive of the robber.

Madison Park was and will continue to be a great place to live, and I value the time spent with you. 

It's been a blast.  Thanks for the ride!

Sidebar:  Why Santa Fe?

My wife and I each lived in Seattle since birth. That's over 63 years in my case. Here's what Santa Fe offers, for those not in the know:

1)  320 days of sun annually, on average

2)  dry air

3)  four distinct seasons (on a par with Eastern Washington--not too hot, not too cold)

4)  a very developed arts scene

5)  world-class cuisine

Of course New Mexico is backward in many respects, including the fact that it is in the economic doldrums. It is one of only three states that experienced a net out-flow of population last year. Also, the state government here appears to be somewhat corrupt and was just named the worst in the country by one national ranking organization. Furthermore, we now find that you often can't get decent fresh fish in the grocery store!

Well, you can't have everything...

SR-520 Arboretum ramps finally coming down

Western exit from 520 to be replaced January 6

It's been well over five years since Madison Park first learned that the Arboretum ramps to and from the 520 floating bridge would ultimately be just a memory (see our May 2010 posting on that subject here.)  Next month, the neighborhood will begin to see the consequences, for better or worse, of this historic highway reconfiguration. The Westbound 520 exit to Lake Washington Boulevard will be permanently closed on January 5 at 11 p.m. Beginning at 5 a.m. on January 6, drivers wishing to exit 520 to head South at Montlake will need to use a new Westbound ramp to Lake Washington Boulevard, which will channel traffic onto 24th Avenue E. (as shown below):

At least initially, there will be two stops associated with this exit, one at 24th (to allow construction vehicles easier access to a staging area) and one at Lake Washington Boulevard, which will be permanent.  Drivers may turn either East or West onto the Boulevard, which will be a new four-way stop at that point.  For those interested, here's a nifty traffic animation from WSDOT showing how this will all work.

As most readers will recall, WSDOT has had its issues with the new exit ramp from 520 to Montlake Boulevard, which opened earlier this year.  WSDOT is already noting that "as drivers adjust to the new [Lake Washington Boulevard] off-ramp, WSDOT will work with the City of Seattle to monitor traffic conditions and adjust signal timing on Montlake Boulevard as needed."

Ultimately, all of the Arboretum ramps will be outta here, of course:

The contractor has already demolished part of the "Ramps to Nowhere" configuration (a remnant of the never-built R.H. Thompson Expressway) and the final removal of these unconnected ramps is expected to be completed by the end of Spring 2016, according to WSDOT.  Meanwhile, no firm date has been established for removal of the existing Eastbound entrance ramp to 520 from the Arboretum.  This will happen no earlier than the fall of 2016, though more likely in 2017.  

The Westbound ramp needed to be replaced now because it is in the path of the new SR 520 West Approach Bridge North, which will connect the three Westbound lanes of the new floating bridge with 520 in the Montlake area:

Completion of the new approach bridge is scheduled for the summer of 2017.

Who moved our inventory?

Hot market outpaces listings

If you’d like to sell your home in Madison Park, now is clearly the time.  In fact the opportunity seemed so good to my wife and me that we decided to sell.  Our house was on the market for exactly a week. Now we’re living in a Madison Park rental.

Our quick-turn experience was not particularly noteworthy among recent sellers of Madison Park real estate.  The area’s frothy market just doesn’t seem to be abating. There are simply too few listings for the many interested buyers waiting to pounce.

Winter is usually the slowest period for moving real estate; but even so, the inventory level in the neighborhood is shocking low. There are only 13 houses for sale in Madison Park as we go to press, and only two of these are located outside the neighborhood’s more-exclusive enclaves of Washington Park and Broadmoor.

With houses selling in record time the current listings are relatively fresh, with an average time on market of just 41 days.  Almost half of those listings, six of thirteen, have entered the market within the last month.  Meanwhile, there are just three condos for sale here.  That’s perhaps a record low.  For comparative purposes it’s worth noting at this same time of year in 2012, during the dead winter of the down market, there were 22 condo listings.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the housing that’s currently available for purchase in Madison Park, courtesy of Redfin:

Houses

Listings:  13
Median List Price:  $2,890,000
Median Sq. Ft.:  4,590
Median Price per Sq. Ft.:  $630
Average Days on Market:  41
Percentage with Price Reductions:  8%
New Listings:  6
Pendings:  7

Condos/Townhouses

Listings:  3
Median List Price:  $700,000
Median Sq. Ft.:  1113
Median Price per Sq. Ft.:  $629
Average Days on Market:  102
Percentage with Price Reductions:  66%
New Listings:  1
Pendings:  3

The accelerating sales pace of Madison Park’s real estate market is evident in several ways.  In 2014 the 80 homes that sold spent a coincidental 80 days on the market, on average.  Although more houses were sold in the previous year (103 to be precise), those 2013 sold homes remained on the market almost 20% longer: 98 days.  There was also a compression year over year of the average discount at sale compared to the original listing price.  The discount for 2014 was just 4.2%, compared to 6.9% in the previous year.

Here’s the breakdown of 2014 home sales:

Houses

Sales:  80
Median Sale Price:  $1,434,000
Average Sq. Ft.:  3,425
Average Price per Sq. Ft.:  $475
Average Days on Market:  80
Average Discount from List Price:  4.2%

Condos

Sales: 21
Median Sale Price:  $475,000
Average Sq. Ft.:  1,122
Average Price per Sq. Ft.:  $486
Average Days on Market:  78
Average Discount from List Price: 6.6%

Although for the full year the average days on market for sold houses was 80, that waiting period declined to just 40 days during the fourth quarter. During that final fall/winter period, 17 houses changed owners, more than half in fewer than 30 days (with seven of those going pending in two weeks or less).

The average price per square foot of sold houses increased 13% year over year, from $421 in 2013 to $475 in 2014 (click to enlarge):

I always caution that this kind of comparison can be misleading since the mix of houses sold (lower market versus upper market) is different from year to year, making it difficult to extrapolate given how small this market is.  But the trend is certainly in the right direction, and those who want to compute their own home’s value based on the market rate can use the $475 number as the best current approximation for the neighborhood.  House sales in 2014 ranged all the way from $254 per square foot to $947, proving an often-made point about the variability of housing choices in the Park.

Zillow uses current sales prices to compute a home value index for various Seattle neighborhoods. For Madison Park (exclusive of Broadmoor), the median home value is now just shy of $1 million, according to Zillow.  As you an see from the chart below (click to enlarge), Madison Park just about back where it was at the height of the market in 2007:

The most expensive house sold in 2014 was a 6,155 sq. ft. modernistic mega-house in Broadmoor at 1515 Parkside Drive, which sold for $4,200,000.  That works out to $682 per square foot.  The five-bedroom/five-bath home sold in just 14 days, which is not typical for Broadmoor, where 196 days was the average in 2014.  Twelve houses were sold in Broadmoor during the year, with a median sales price of $2,326,750.  One of these houses sold after 1128 days on the market and another after 907 days. Excluding these two outliers, the average on-market time for sold houses in Broadmoor was only 32 days.

1515 Parkside Drive East

In Washington Park the most expensive house sale was a 5,500 sq. ft. Georgian Colonial house at 1133 McGilvra Boulevard E.  This five-bedroom/3.5-bath home sold for $3,803,000, $689 per square foot.  The median price of the 26 houses sold in Washington Park last year was $1,512,500, and the average square feet of these was 3,730.  These homes sold in 74 days on average.

1133 McGilvra Boulevard East

For the rest of Madison Park, the 41 houses sold in 2014 averaged 2,794 square feet. At a median price of $1,200,000 this is an average of $470 per square foot.  These houses also had the lowest discount at sale from the original list price, just 2%.

And here’s a very interesting fact:  of the 80 houses sold in Madison Park last year, 34 of these (43%) sold at or above their original listing price.  Of the 23 houses initially priced at $1 million or less, 17 (74%) sold at or above list.  There must have been a bidding war for some of these.  For example, one house listed at $625,000 ultimately sold for $755,00 and another house that was listed at $629,000 sold for $765,000.  This kind of premium to list did not occur as often in the upper market, but a house listed at $1,850,000 did sell at $2,200,000, 119% of original list.

By the way, the least expensive house sold in Madison Park last year was a 1,450 sq. ft. two-bedroom on E. Madison Street, changing hands at $524,000.  There were 11 houses that sold for under $800,000 during 2014, but the days of a “cheap ticket to Madison Park” may be behind us.  There is only one house priced at under $1 million in today’s market—and that’s a two-bedroom 1923 cottage (shown at top) which is listed at $840,000.

Expect that baby to be gone soon.

[As always, thanks to Laura Halliday of Windermere Real Estate, for her assistance in compiling market statistics for sold homes, utilizing data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Lower two photos courtesy of Redfin.]

Develop or not develop?

A quick trip around the neighborhood reveals that there is plenty of development currently in progress here, all of of it involving the construction of single-family residences.   In our part of town it’s unusual for there to be new office or multi-family developments underway.  This is principally due to the fact that the few blocks that are zoned for commercial or higher-density residential buildings have already been developed.   Here and there, however, there are some pockets of real estate that could be developed on a grander scale than what currently occupies the space.  Right now there are several separate plots in Madison Park that could see something other than single-family-residence development in the next year or so.

In general, higher-density residential buildings in Seattle can only be built on properties in areas specifically zoned for that purpose.  Madison Park has several areas near the Lake that are designated as available for lowrise development, which includes cottage housing, rowhouses, townhouses and three-story apartment buildings.   Most of the Park is designated either SF 5000 (meaning zoned for single-family residences on average 5,000 sq. ft. lots) or SF 7200 (which encompasses all of Broadmoor and most of Washington Park).  There are also some SF 9600 lots in the neighborhood, along the water south of E. Prospect Street and continuing south through Denny Blaine.  Very little commercial/retail zoning exists in Madison Park, with the area along E. Madison Street between 41st and 43rd Avenues constituting the vast bulk of these properties. Such development is also allowed along 42nd 43rd Avenues between E. Blaine and E. Newton Streets and along E. Madison Street between 31st and 33rd Avenues E.

With the recent sale of the building that housed Café Parco (1807 42nd Ave. E.) there was speculation that the property would be slated for development.  But as we previously reported, that is apparently not going to happen.  Rehabilitation is going to happen, however, and the space will house the personal office of a Madison Park resident who would like to both live and work here.

At about the same time the Café Parco space turned over, the neat 1929 brick building just to the south also changed hands.  It was purchased by third-generation Madison Park resident Brad Augustine, through a real estate holding company.   We quizzed him on whether he has any development plans for the property and he responded that he doesn’t plan to do anything more at the present time than remove an underground storage tank that’s on site.  The building currently houses two office tenants and Augustine says he will continue to manage the property as a commercial building.  His property management/development company, Madrona Real Estate Services, is known for developing some high-quality projects in the area.

One new low-rise development that definitely is on the drawing boards is slated for 2307 43rd Avenue E., the property across from Swingset Park from which a 1920s Craftsman-style residence was lifted and then barged away several years ago.  The property has sat forlorn since that time, awaiting a new owner with a plan.   That plan has now been filed and, assuming the City approves the project, a three-unit residential structure will be built on the site, including parking for six vehicles.

Finally with regard to potential neighborhood development, we note that the city’s Department of Planning and Development is apparently still deliberating over the proposal to build a six-unit apartment building at 2346 43rd Avenue E., the site of Madison Park’s only over-water single family residence.  We reported on the controversy surrounding this proposal when the plans were made public last January. To date, it looks like the review is continuing.  A check of the DPD website shows that the permit status for the project is nothing more advanced than “Application Accepted.”

[Illustration courtesy of E. Cobb Architects.]

Area artists converge on Madison Park

"Holiday Handmade" show at Pioneer Hall upcoming

Multiple local artists (meaning ten or twelve) have banded together to present their "handmade" wares at a show in Pioneer Hall (1642 43rd Avenue E.)  this Friday and Saturday.  Of course it's about more than just displaying the art:  it's all for sale.  And just in time for the holiday-giving ritual.

Here's a list of the artists who will be showing: Barbara Clark (Ceramic Tiles), Marin Curry (Vintage Inspired Jewelry), Linnea Donnen (Handwoven Textiles), Debbie Ellis (Art Yarns & Accessories), Paula Gill (Ceramic Tiles), Beth Hall (Beadwork), Molly Hashimoto (Paintings & Blockprints), Virginia Hungate-Hawk (Etchings), Dorothy McGuinness (Sculptural Basketry), and Elena Louise Richmond (Watercolors).

The show runs 11 am to 6 pm on Friday and 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday.

[Art by Molly Hashimoto.]

We've been hacked!

A warning for Madison Park Blogger readers

Earlier this year Yahoo! announced that the usernames and passwords of some or all of its 273 million subscribers had been hacked.  It's now clear that the Madison Park Blogger's account at Yahoo! was compromised.  If you receive any email from our Yahoo email address that contains a link, do not open it.  Subscribers to this blog are not directly impacted by this hacking situation since the blog-posting emails are sent by Google from our gmail.com account.

Although Apple technical support has determined that there is no malware on MPB's MacBook laptop, the fact that all of the email addresses stored in our Yahoo! account are in the hands of hackers means that madisonparkblogger@yahoo.com is no longer a trustworthy source.  We no longer send emails from this account, though you may still communicate with us using that address.

We apologize for trusting Yahoo! with our email account.  Who knew?

Armed robberies put neighborhood on edge

Two scary incidents in two days

It's unusual for gun play to occur in Madison Park, so the two holdups that took place on Friday and Saturday kept the neighborhood buzzing over the weekend.  The police action late on Saturday evening, involving multiple squad cars with sirens blaring, necessarily focused a lot of attention on the second crime, but it was the earlier broad-daylight incident that initially stoked the fears of many area residents.

To begin at the beginning:

On Friday evening, those on the distribution list for the Denny Blaine/Washington Park Block Watch received this disturbing email from a resident reporting on an incident occurring earlier in the day along Hillside Drive, just above Bush School:

"This afternoon around 1:30, two men walked into my neighbor's front courtyard and held a gun to her gardener's head ordering her to her hands and knees.  We think they thought she was the owner of the house, they ordered her to empty her pockets, give them her wallet and car keys.  She did and also said 'I'm just the gardener'.  The men ran off, past my house and got into a waiting van at the end of the street.  The police also got a call around the same time, someone calling in saying they saw 2 guys running down the street and jumping into a waiting blue van, it appeared suspicious they commented.  Both men had guns but only one pointed it at her." 

This email was forwarded to many who were not on the original distribution list (including the Madrona Moms, who then gave it wide circulation). By Saturday morning the robbery was the talk of much of the neighborhood, at least south of Madison.   By that night, however, a wider swath of the neighborhood became aware that Madison Park had suddenly become less of a crime oasis than normal.

At around 10:00 pm, according to unverified reports, several teenagers were "assaulted" near Bert's Red Apple by several (three or four) African-American men with a gun or guns.  The 9-1-1 call elicited a very large police response, with patrol cars combing the neighborhood for at least an hour.  The police did not discover the suspects.

Update: The SPD's public information officer confirmed both incidents this morning, adding a little color to the narrative surrounding incident involving the gardener who was accosted on Friday afternoon.  According to the investigating officer's report, the two suspects---after learning that the gardner was not the homeowner and that she had no money---ran from the yard, one of them yelling back to the victim, "Sorry, ma'am."  According to a witness, the two teenaged black males then jumped into a waiting silver and blue minivan and were quickly driven from the scene by a young white woman with "dirty blond" hair.

With regard to the Saturday incident, the SPD report adds few details to what was already known. The crime, which occurred at 9:59 pm, involved several victims who were "threatened, assaulted, and robbed" by multiple suspects.  The perpetrators fled on foot, southbound on McGilvra Boulevard, after committing their crimes, and were not captured by the police dragnet.  One of the victims had a "bleeding bump on the left side of his head" as a result of the assault.

Also this morning, Bush School's principal, Dr. Percy Abram, sent an email to Bush parents and guardians in which he reported that in the Saturday incident "three students--including a Bush freshman--were robbed at gunpoint while walking in Madison Park near Bert's Red Apple.  Two of the boys were assaulted during this incident."

Art Messer dead at 65

Local artist succumbs to cancer

We're very sorry to report the death last week of Art Messer, a Madison Park artist known both for his cheerful, colorful paintings and for his outsize personality.  He was a regular fixture on the neighborhood scene for many decades, once having operated a frame shop/art gallery in what is now the "black hole of Madison Park" building on Madison.  Messer died after a year-long battle with leukemia.

Messer, who described his art as "Fauvist", was intimately involved in organizing the Madison Park Art Walk, in which his works were always featured---and over the years he often engineered impromptu installations of his art on the walls of various Madison Park businesses (sometimes in empty storefronts).

Although he himself would probably have agreed that he was "a difficult personality," many who knew him could testify to his gift of friendship and his generosity of spirit. He will definitely be missed.

No new restaurant here

Foodies and those concerned about the shrinking retail core of Madison Park will be saddened to know that there will not be a replacement restaurant for the late Cafe Parco.  We have it on good authority that the building, located on 42nd near Madison, has been purchased by someone, apparently a Madison Park resident, who is going to renovate the space and transform it into his personal office.

Building owner Karen Binder, who for a couple decades operated Madison Park Cafe from the one-time residential building, did not respond to our request for confirmation.  But it's clear that the place is being emptied of restaurant paraphernalia. One of the problems with operating a restaurant in that space is that the kitchen was inadequate, both in terms of size and the age of its equipment.  Extensive work would have been needed to make it efficient.  Even if that obstacle had been overcome, the limited seating indoors was always a problem with no solution. We've been told that in the restaurant's final years in particular, the outdoor good-weather seating and the weekend brunches were what made Madison Park Cafe profitable. Cafe Parco, as was evident to anyone who wandered by regularly, was unable to achieve the same results.

The brick building to the south of the old Cafe Parco location has also been recently purchased, but there's no indication that it will be used for anything more than offices. The same situation is true for the building that housed the now-notorious Lakeside Capital offices on 43rd. That space had been marketed as a potential retail location, but that's not going to happen according to the word we've received.  The building changed hands recently and the new owners will not be adding to the retail space along that street.  As others have found, in any event, it's tough to do retail off of Madison.

Meanwhile, there's a now-empty shop where Ann Marie Lingerie used to be, in the building that also houses Starbucks.  It's unclear from the sign posted in the window whether the current tenant plans something else for that space.  For some reason, the Madison Park Blogger was unsuccessful in getting any response from Ann Marie concerning their abandoned location.

Perhaps we're losing our touch.

No cheap ticket to Madison Park

Affordable houses are a thing of the past

A current snapshot of Madison Park’s real estate market reveals an extraordinary and perhaps unprecedented situation:  there is only a single house available for sale at under $1 million—and that one is priced at $900,000  Moreover, there is virtually no other inventory of housing available close to the million-dollar mark. The median price of a listed house in Madison Park is over $2.7 million. That’s the highest median value for listings we have seen in the more than five years we’ve been covering the neighborhood’s real estate scene.

Of the 19 single-family residences currently for sale here, there are only two that would pass as “affordable” (using the Madison Park definition of that term).  Those two are priced at $1,082,000 and $1,328,000 respectively.  You’ll have to pay almost $2 million for any one of the next four higher-priced houses on the active list, with the remaining 13 for-sale houses ranging in price from $2.4 million to $4.5 million.  And as might be expected, all of these houses are big.  There is only one residence on the market boasting less than 3,000 sq. ft., and the median size of the 19 homes is a whopping 4,200 sq. ft.

As is obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention, Madison Park has increasingly become “rarified” in recent years, bungalows making way for mega-houses. Based on current listings, it’s clear that the audience for single-family homes in Madison Park today is principally divided between the pretty wealthy and the very wealthy.  Of course Madison Park wannabes can still rent an apartment here or even purchase a condo at a relatively low price point.  Of the five condos currently available for sale, four range in price from $300,000 and $400,000, with the remaining condo listed at just under $1 million.  The median size of the five condos, however, is just 970 sq. ft.

This house at 825 Hillside Dr. is priced at the median for listed homes: $2,745,000.  

Here’s the state of the market as we head toward winter:

Houses

Listings:  19

Median List Price:  $2,745,000

Median Sq. Ft.:  4,200

Median Price per Sq. Ft.:  $653

Average Days on Market:  64

Percentage with Price Reductions:  26%

New Listings:  9

            Pending Sales:  4

Condos/Townhouses

Listings:  5

Median List Price:  $400,000

Median Sq. Ft.:  970

Median Price per Sq. Ft.:  $412

Average Days on Market:  172

Percentage with Price Reductions:  60%

New Listings:  1

Pending Sales:  1

House sales in the third quarter exhausted the available inventory of lower-priced abodes.  The median sales price of properties sold during the quarter was $1,475,000.  That is $1,300,000 (or 48%) less than the median price of houses currently available in the neighborhood: $2,745,000.  Seven of the 28 houses sold were under $1 million and only one house sold last quarter for more than the current median list price for houses in this market.

This is the breakdown of sales during the last quarter:

Houses

            Sales:  21

            Median Sale Price:  $1,475,000

            Average Sq. Ft.:  3,430

            Average Price per Sq. Ft.:  $431

            Average Days on Market:  48

            Average Discount from List Price:  1.7% 

Condos

            Sales: 7

            Median Sale Price:  $365,000

            Average Sq. Ft.:  949

            Average Price per Sq. Ft.:  $385

            Average Days on Market:  56         

            Average Discount from List Price: 4.0%

One of eight under-$1 million sales last quarter: 1031 32nd Ave. E.

Here’s a critical data point about third-quarter sales in Madison Park: houses sold in just 48 days on average, with condos taking only slightly longer to change hands (56 days).  Of the houses sold there were only two outliers in terms of time on the market.  No houses other than these took more than 60 days to sell, and the back story on one of the two is pretty good: the seller held out for the original list price and won the bet after 455 days.  That house sold for $2,250,000.  This was clearly not what’s referred to as a “motivated seller”.

And speaking of successful, we should include the sellers (eight of the 21) who sold their houses at their original list price or at a premium to list.  The biggest winners in that regard were two sellers who achieved more than an 8% premium on their houses, selling them in 6 and 8 days respectively.  Most houses that were sold were very well priced to market, with only two homes taking a double-digit hit: 12% in one case and 13% in the other.  These houses both sold in less than 30 days, proving either that there are some motivated sellers still left in the market or perhaps just some who are not keeping up on what’s possible in this inventory-challenged environment for sellers who are willing to wait.

Condo sales were also brisk (only one outlier among seven sales taking longer than 75 days), and the sold properties for the most part changed hands at or above their original asking prices.  The sales ranged from a 680 sq. ft. unit going for $335,000 to a 1,113 sq. ft. unit unloaded at $705,000.  The sold prices of condos, on average, achieved 99.88% of the final list prices of those properties, which is a pretty good statistic for any market.

[Photo at top: 1535 Parkside Drive E., a 7,020 sq. ft. mansion on a Broadmoor golf course fairway, is the most expensive house currently on the market, listed at $4,500,000. All photos via Redfin.]  

[Thanks to Laura Halliday of Windermere Real Estate for her help in compiling the sales data. Listing data courtesy of Redfin, using information from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.]