Jay Agoado’s Homefront

Wednesdays are Broker’s Open House days on Mercer Island and I decided to tour 10 homes today.  Many interesting homes out there, and surprisingly a number of them were under $1.5M.  I’m finally starting to see opportunities for buyers to find an “affordable” home on the Island as long as they’re willing to invest some money into it over time.  A few of the homes I saw actually have nice flat lots, which is great for resale value.  You can always remodel a home but you can’t change the street it’s on or the topography of the lot.  But, I’m still having a difficult time finding that “perfect” home, where it’s priced right, on the right street, has the right topography, updated/remodeled, and is under $1.5M.  It will happen as Summer tends to bring out more inventory.  Maybe something good will hit the market tomorrow for my birthday?  

Mercer Island Real Estate Statistics  I’ve been selling for real estate for 12 years, and have sold various homes on Mercer Island over the years, but am now trying to focus more on the island since I am living here and have changed offices to the local John L. Scott office.  It just amazes every week, when I go on our office tour and the broker’s open houses, and see how different this location is compared to other areas across town.  We currently have 19 homes (excluding condos) under $1,000,000!  If you saw those homes, you would say that at least 1/4 are tear downs!  Can you imagine an $800,000 tear down???  If you look between $1,000,000-$1,500,000 you pick up an additional 22 homes for sale.  Most of those homes are in dire need of updating or are in some type of an adverse location (busy street, etc.).  I just happen to be working with various buyers in these price ranges so it’s been a bit frustrating to say the least.  Luckily, inventory tends to pick up toward the summertime and my buyers should be able to get into something soon.