By Molly Cartwright, Realtor, Cooper Jacobs Real Estate, Molly@CooperJacobs.com, 206-841-6800, on June 27th, 2010%
I wrote a blog earlier about Backyard Cottages in Seattle or Detatched Dwelling Units. Since then, I’ve had numerous questions about them.
Whether you are considering a Backyard Cottage on your at least 4,000 square foot lot as a rental property, for an elderly family member, or a grown child you need to know the max square footage the structure can be is 800 sq ft. This includes any carport, attached garage, or storage.
You can decide to go through a contractor and architect or get a panelized or modular fabricated design. Fabricated is the fastest, and designed much like building blocks. Panelized takes a little more time and can be more customized.
It’s no secret adding a Backyard Cottage on your property can add extra monthly income. However there are some costs involved. Here is a link to a handy worksheet that breaks down Hard Costs and Soft Costs. Example of a Hard Cost is demolition or site preparation. A Soft Cost is a mortgage, or fees for utility hookups. Which aren’t cheap, by the way! Seattle City Light recommends separate electricity meters. This will save you way more money in the long run.
Make sure you save room for a parking space for your Backyard Cottage – this is a requirement!
For more information regarding Backyard Cottages and self help steps to diagrams, permits, and more – this site wins, hands down.
Check back frequently to www.cooperjacobs.com for our Backyard Cottage listings in Seattle City Limits.
By Molly Cartwright, Realtor, Cooper Jacobs Real Estate, Molly@CooperJacobs.com, 206-841-6800, on June 24th, 2010%
Green Lake Sales For June 2010:
The June rain might have been coming down this month but not home values in Green Lake. Just in the month of June, six homes have sold in Green Lake, All of these Green Lake homes have been on the market for an average of 22 days and capturing 99.52% of the list price.
Price range of these Green lake homes?
They all were hovering around a $625,000 price in the MLS with a range from$453,000 to $770,000. This tells me that Green Lake has the quinessential properties for sale attracting all ranges of buyers from the solo professionals to the family of five. There really is something in Green Lake for everyone!
It’s affordable whether you rent or own. Have you checked out Green Lake real estate today for your next home?
By Molly Cartwright, Realtor, Cooper Jacobs Real Estate, Molly@CooperJacobs.com, 206-841-6800, on June 19th, 2010%
Top 5 Selling Improvements On A Budget: You should know putting on a new roof or stainless steel appliances in the kitchen won’t necessarily sell your home faster and you definitely won’t recoup the cost.
So what does help improve our home when it’s up for sale that won’t cost an arm and a leg?
Number 1: CLEAN UP. I mean take your home to the next level. Hire a pro and give it a deep cleaning. Remember how great it looks and smells afterwards? Keep that up with a weekly clean (either you or a pro) and it will really pay off with first impressions. Also make small repairs, ie: broken outlets, door latches, flaws that the buyer views as signs of deeper problems.
Number 2: STORE YOUR CLUTTER. $100 a month for a storage unit (or a good friend or relative’s use of their garage) to store those holiday decorations, extra kitchen pots and pans, arts and crafts, and extra clothes in the closets. It will make your house look bigger, brighter, and more valuable.
Number 3: TIDY THE YARD. Again, first impressions and curb appeal. It’s not necessary to uproot the junipers and jack hammer the cement pathway. Simple put color spots or planters in empty places, rip out any weeds and mow any grass.
Number 4: PAINT. Interior and exterior. It’s likely to cost less for you to do it before selling. You’ll recoup more in the long run.
Number 5: REPLACE HARDWARE: Instead of remodeling that kitchen, just paint cupboards and pick out new hardware.
For most, the value added is a mere fraction of the cost. So it’s in your best interest to do these small steps above by honing in on attention to detail for a greater return.
For more tips on selling or buying your next home feel free to contact us at Cooper Jacobs Real Estate!
By Molly Cartwright, Realtor, Cooper Jacobs Real Estate, Molly@CooperJacobs.com, 206-841-6800, on June 15th, 2010%
Green Lake Neighbors: Isn’t it funny how each neighborhood in a metropolitan city has zig zag borders and fuzzy lines? Are you one of those who lay in the “middle”?
 Green Lake Bar & Grill People tend to get possessive, don’t we. Yes, I’m guilty too. But Seattle’s neighborhoods are so tightly woven together, it’s hard not to know what’s going on in more than 3 neighborhoods at one time.
Since Seattle went to mail-in ballots, we can only assume the safest way to know which neighborhood you live in is to locate the closest public school. This Fall the Seattle Public School District will be utilizing a new assignment plan. Students will be attending the closest local public school to their home. The reason? Schools need to adhere to budget cuts. Less time driving a school bus saves us a cool $2.2 million bucks.
So the next time you’re searching for Green Lake properties in the MLS, make sure it’s in the Green Lake public school zone. THIS is a great site where you can find the boundry for your child by typing in your home address.
 Green Lake Elementary
I cannot leave without a quick look at the real etate action in Green Lake! There are 68 handsome bungalow and craftsman style Green Lake homes that are actively on the market. Some might say they’re in Green Lake, but we know it’s a close call. Median days on the market is a cool 53 days for a 3 bedroom $384,950 beauty! There are Green Lake townhouses and condos available too but at these prices, a single family residence makes it so affordable.
Green Lake is active and full of life! Let us show you with your next visit to the Green Lake neighborhood.
 Green Lake High Ropers Practicing
By Courtney Cooper, Realtor, Cooper Jacobs Real Estate, courtney@cooperjacobs.com, 206-850-8841, on June 15th, 2010%
 Green Lake Blog: Let’s go ahead and look at the current Seattle Green Lake (Greenlake) real estate market for June 2010:
Well, even though we all woke up to a lovely gray day, Green Lake real estate is moving and that is what I want to touch on for this beautiful non summer June day. As expected Green Lake MLS listings are up due to the fact that this is prime Seattle real estate selling season. There are 67 Active residential listings in the Seattle MLS for Green Lake right now excluding town homes (Green Lake Town houses are dealt with separately for my purposes although some agents sneak them in as “multi levels” instead of townhomes as they should be for residential property type.).
Side Bar: Green Lake Neighborhood: Where is it and what are the borders? Now because as we have said before Green Lake has subjective borders depending on who you talk to, the Seattle MLS community Green Lake is what I am using to get the numbers. Until someone comes up with some concrete non shared Seattle neighborhood borders and until agents who have listings that are clearly in Licton Springs or Greenwood stop marking them as Green Lake, I have to include them all in the numbers. I know that the general feeling is that if you can walk to Green Lake (the actual Green Lake park with the loop in it), you are in Green Lake – I also think that is a subjective approach, but I agree with it.J
OK – Back to Green Lake Active MLS listings (but feel free to let us know where you think the Green Lake borders are). The Green Lake listings of homes for sale in this neighborhood range in price from $337,157 to $1,300,000 with a median list price of $499,950 which is about what I expected. The average  square footage of these is 1950 square feet and the average dollar per square foot is $252.95.
Pending Green Lake properties: There are a variety of Pending statuses – Green Lake homes that are Pending Inspection are subject to inspection. Pending- Back Up Requested is when the agent or seller have a contract but are looking for back up offers.
Another Side Bar: To me,
Pending BU Requested is the most ridiculous status and highly abused. Of course as listing agents we are ALWAYS looking for a back up offer so you should only really use this status if you think things are going to go down the drain with your current buyers. Instead there are many Seattle real estate agents who use this status a common practice most likely just to try to attract unrepresented buyers. If your listing agent is using this tactic you should ask them why. What is common when this status is used is that your current buyer who you have a contract with to buy your home will see the status in the public real estate sites and get mad. They will get upset that you do not trust them to close the deal or do not have confidence in them and as a result start to get second thoughts on following through with the purchase. It is a backfire trap and really does not help you unless your current buyer is that shaky on financing or commitment.
Back to the homes that have offers on them – There are currently 19 Pending homes waiting to close, 3 Pending BU Requested homes, and 13 Pending Inspection homes for a total of 35 Pending Green Lake homes under contract. They range in price from $249,000 to $1,250,000.
Green Lake Real Estate Sold Update June 2010: In the last 30 days, 13 Green Lake homes for sale have closed in escrow according to data I compiled from the NWMLS. These homes ranged in price from $330,500 to $963,000 with a median of $428,888 and average days on market of 38 days. The average dollar per square foot of these sold Green Lake homes was $233.24. Median list price on these was $509,648 and median sales price was $508,065.
Overall Green Lake real estate numbers? 115 Green Lake residential properties, $243.29/per square foot average, median price of $523,114. Let us know if you are curious about what your home is worth – realestate@cooperjacobs.com
(You can usually find Molly running around the lake if she doesn’t answer her phone right away and Courtney walks the lake at least twice a week).
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