5/2 House Hunting: House 1 (Now it’s for real)

With apologies to friends in West Seattle and on the East side, we have decided to narrow our search for a house down to North Seattle. We’re finally at the point where looking is not just academic. We have money in the bank. We have the pre-approval from our mortgage guy. We are good to go.

With that in mind, we say four houses on Saturday, one with our real estate agent and three open houses. Every house had some really great things about it, but ultimately, none ended up being a contender for us, though we try awfully hard to talk ourselves into one house.

The first thing to know is that even this late in spring in Seattle, there have not been that many beautiful days, and Saturday was a gorgeous day. In that sense, it switched a lot of our focus from the interior space of the houses to the exterior space. And while there are parts of yard space that are important to us (dogs and all), we have to remember that more than half the year, the outdoor space will not seem appealing at all, and we will be stuck inside the house.

House 1: $449,950 3 bed / 1.75 bath / 2,330 square feet / 6,005 square foot lot / 1 car garage

The Good:

Easy commute over the freeway. The neighborhood feels very residential, but it is not far at all from a major mall and pretty much anything we would need.

The front yard is cute but the back yard is a true oasis/retreat space. It has a fountain, and a deck built around a mature tree. There’s a little garden area, a greenhouse, and a covered hot tub. There’s not a whole lot of grass space in the back, but there’s nice grass in the front. And with the exception of one gated area, the back yard is dog friendly (as in no escaping) pretty much from the get go.

Inside the kitchen is nice and includes a gas stove. The master bedroom is huge. And the living room space has been really nicely done. (Though we actually think the photographer made it look nicer in the pictures than it looked in real life.

The Bad:

It technically has three bedrooms, but it is not a three bedroom house. It is a two bedroom house with a nice den/office area.

The public spaces don’t really flow very well at all. The kitchen is secluded from the living room and there is not even good flow from the living room to the dining room area. Plus, the living room is small. And given that there is not another even family space where video games could be played, it is too small. (No good for the Kinnect.)

The master bedroom is too huge. They redid the basement in order to add the master, and it is about twice the size it needs to be. It is kind of obvious that the people who live in this house (or at least the ones who did this renovation) were a couple with no kids or perhaps empty nesters.

The Verdict:

We need an actual three bedroom house. As lovely as the back yard was, as much as we would love a covered hot tub, this was not the right house for us.