Debra Sinick

Archive for the ‘Kirkland News’ Category

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Is Kirkland, WA Filled with Rich, Single People?

In Kirkland News, Kirkland WA, Kirkland, WA Real Estate on September 28, 2011 at 9:53 am

Kirkland made the news  because someone out there (CNN)  thinks it’s a great place to live if you’re young, single, rich, and maybe even famous.

I’m here to tell you that Kirkland is a great place to live for a lot of people, no matter whether they are rich, not rich, married or single.  You don’t have to be rich or single to live here and enjoy Kirkland.

Perhaps with the presence of a huge Google office and the games division of Microsoft, people feel Kirkland is filled with young singles.

If you drive around town, especially along Lake Washington Boulevard and by Marina Park, you’ll see people of all ages. Some are single and some are not.  Some have families and some don’t.  Stop by any of our parks and you’ll see singles, families, young kids, teens, young adults, and seniors hanging out and enjoying the day.  The boulevard is a popular place for people to stroll, some with baby carriages, some with pets, some in groups, and some by themselves.

So Kirkland is filled with people of all ages, not just the young and single.

People of all ages enjoying Kirkland

Having fun In Kirkland

Relaxing along Lake Washington Boulevard in Kirkland

Relaxing in the Park in Kirkland
Downtonw Kirkalnd on a sunny, summer's day

Enjoying Downtown Kirkland

What about being rich in Kirkland?  Sure there are waterfront properties, mega-mansions, and tony condos.  But there are condos and homes in Kirkland that start at $45,000 for a one bedroom, 1 bath in Kingsgate to a waterfront property priced at$7 million that’s subdividable into 4 lots, two of them being waterfront.  There is only one home priced above $5,000,000 and it really is several waterfront lots.

Kirkland is a wonderful place for a lot of reasons.  Many of the reasons it’s wonderful is because there is such a variety of people who live in the city, even if you’re single! What do you love about Kirkland?

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Huge Kirkland Highlands Neighborhood Garage Sale This Weekend

In Garage sales, Kirkland Garage Sale, Kirkland News on July 28, 2011 at 4:12 pm

The Kirkland Highlands is having a huge garage sale this weekend where you can find some great treasures and some good deals.   There will be garage sales all over the neighborhood.  I hear there are going to be some great items out there from clothes to kids’ toys and lots of household items.  The sale is from 9AM to 2 PM.

For those of you who live in the Highlands, feel free to post comments here about what you might be selling or on our neighborhood Facebook page.

Come to the Highlands just north of Central Way (85th Street) at 114th Ave NE and follow the signs.


View Larger Map

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Do You Know How Many Firefighters There Are In Kirkland?

In Kirkland News, Kirkland WA on January 27, 2011 at 5:46 pm

How many firemen work for the city of Kirkland?

How may fire stations are in the city?

Kevin Nalder, Kirkland’s fire chief attended the Kirkland Highlands most recent neighborhood meeting and came armed with the answers to these questions and more.

Chief Nalder wears a few different hats in Kirkland.  Not only is he Fire Chief, he manages the Building Department and Emergency Management Services.  His job is to reduce risk to the community and respond properly to our needs.

His goal is to develop a strategic plan for the city since the last time one was done was back in 2000.  He’ll be looking at immediate, mid-range, and long-term community needs.  The plan will conduct a long term analysis of the of the fire department:  the age of the stations and equipment, and the human resources needed.

Some facts regarding our fire department:

  • 81 fire fighters
  • 5 stations manned by 3 or 5 fire fighters on a shift.
  • Shifts are 48 hours with 96 hours off.
  • 70% of the calls are medical
  • 10% are actual fires
  • 20% are hazmat (hazardous materials)
  • 5300 calls were for medical
  • 2700 were for transport
  • 153 calls required the overpass on 100th across 405 to be used.
  • 1 ladder truck
  • The city’s insurance rating is 4 out of 10, with one being the best.  This affects both the city and individual home owner cost for  insurance.

VERY IMPORTANT: The fire department is a career department and does not solicit funding through the mail or over the phone.  Chief Nalder said if anyone receives such a request for funds that it’s a scam.

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Hot Kirkland Real Estate Prices of the Week, 12-1-10

In buyers, Kirkland News, Kirkland, WA Real Estate, market statistics, sellers, Weekly market update on December 3, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Kirkland WA Home Sales

Kirkland WA Real Estate Sales, 12-01-10

This week’s hot price for Kirkland, Washington home sales:

$300-399,999   2 sales

There were a total of 5 Kirkland home sales.

  • The price range with the most Kirkland homes for sale: $300-399,999   43 homes. 
  • There were a total of 295 homes for sale in Kirkland and 5 homes sold.

The number of sales is not really much of a surprise given the snow and Thanksgiving holiday.  Between these two things, I’m glad to see that some real estate was happening!

Over the last month the number of Kirkland homes for sale has dropped  by close to 40 homes.  It’s been many months since we’ve seen this number below 300.  I expect to see it dropping more as we follow the typical trend for this time of year.  This is good news as there are still a number of homes for sale. There’s a good selection, but it’s a little less competitive for sellers, although it is still a very challenging market.

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  • Here’s how the chart is set up: The colors show who has the advantage in a particular price range.
    • Green means the buyer has the advantage with many homes to choose from and not that many selling.
    • Yellow means the number of homes for sale and the number of sales in the price range is balanced between the buyer and the seller.
    • Red indicates a sellers’ market where the seller may have the advantage as more homes are selling when compared to what’s available.

Down the side of the chart, the home sales activity is broken down into a price bracket of $99,999. All the homes priced between $400,000-499,999, as an example, are put together in one price category in the chart.

Across the top, the chart is broken down into real estate activity for the week.

There are three columns under each week. On the left side of the column is the number of homes for sale in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft.  The middle column shows how many homes sold that week, and the final column under the date shows the months supply of homes for sale.  In other words, if no other homes came up for sale, it would take 3.7 months to sell all the homes in the $400-499,999 price range.

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Peak  of homes and condos for sale in King County in 2009?

  • July 27th marked a high of 13,861 homes and condos for sale in King County.

In 2010?

  • 1-4-10    9726
  • 7-26-10       14,639
  • 11-29-10    12,119


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Hot Kirkland Real Estate Prices of the Week, 11-3-10

In buyers, Kirkland News, Kirkland WA, Kirkland, WA Real Estate, market statistics, Real estate, sellers, Weekly market update on November 5, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Kirkland WA Home Sales

Kirkland Real Estate Sales 11.03.10

This week’s hot price for Kirkland, Washington home sales:

$400-499,999   5 sales each

There were a total of 10 Kirkland home sales.

  • The price range with the most Kirkland homes for sale: $400-499,999   42 homes.  Thirteen less for sale than the previous week, a huge drop!
  • There were a total of 340 (down 20 from last week) homes for sale in Kirkland and 10 (down 3) homes sold.

All of the homes sold were priced below $899,999.

There are 36 less homes on the market than a few weeks ago.  The number of homes for sale in Kirkland has dropped about 10%.

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  • Here’s how the chart is set up: The colors show who has the advantage in a particular price range.
    • Green means the buyer has the advantage with many homes to choose from and not that many selling.
    • Yellow means the number of homes for sale and the number of sales in the price range is balanced between the buyer and the seller.
    • Red indicates a sellers’ market where the seller may have the advantage as more homes are selling when compared to what’s available.

Down the side of the chart, the home sales activity is broken down into a price bracket of $99,999. All the homes priced between $400,000-499,999, as an example, are put together in one price category in the chart.

Across the top, the chart is broken down into real estate activity by the week.

There are three columns under each week. On the left side of the column is the number of homes for sale in East Bellevue and Redmond, near Microsoft.  The middle column shows how many homes sold that week, and the final column under the date shows the months supply of homes for sale.  In other words, if no other homes came up for sale, it would take 4.5 months to sell all the homes in the $400-499,999 price range.

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Peak  of homes and condos for sale in King County in 2009?

  • July 27th marked a high of 13,861 homes and condos for sale in King County.

In 2010?

  • 1-4-10    9726
  • 7-26-10       14,639
  • 11-1-10    13,049

We’re heading towards the downward slope in the number of property sales in King County.  Good news!  Buyers still have a top notch selection of homes with great interest rates and sellers are starting to have a little less competition.  It’s still a challenging market, and will be for a while, but it’s a healthy sign to see the drop in number of homes for sale.

***This weekly post has a new look! The full 7 week chart has been difficult to read, so I will report week by week instead.***

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Latest Kirkland Highlands Real Estate News, 10-25-10

In buyers, Kirkland News, Kirkland WA, Kirkland, WA Real Estate, market statistics, Real estate, sellers on October 26, 2010 at 9:36 pm

The Kirkland Highlands weekly real estate “buzz” is now the “news.”  I looked at a headline analyzer website and tried different titles.  News seems to be more popular than buzz, so to help more readers find this post, I’ve changed its name!

There’s been a fair amount of real estate activity in the Highlands over the last few weeks.  Four homes received offers and are working on building inspections and one home has had the inspection satisfied.  There were several homes taken off the market and several price reductions.  All in all, not a bad few weeks for real estate in the Kirkland Highlands.

The real estate statistics below reflect the activity in The Kirkland Highlands for the past three weeks. All data is taken from the NWMLS through Monday of this week.


View Larger Map

The map shows most of the outline of Kirkland’s Highlands neighborhood. The map address is simply for a street corner in the middle of the Kirkland Highlands. For those not familiar with the neighborhood, it’s a pocket of unique homes close to downtown Kirkland. In some ways it feels like an island, because it’s separated on the east by 405, the south by Central Way (the main route to downtown) and the west and north by the BNSF corridor. The neighborhood has the best of both worlds, a little isolation without any through traffic, but just seconds from everything.

Numbers in parentheses are from the last report:

Active Listings: 30 (31)

New listings: 4 (1)

Pending inspection: 4 (0)

Pending: 1 (2)

Closed Sales: 1 (1)

Number of Price Reductions: 3  (9)

Price increase: 0 (0)

Homes off the market that did not sell: 3 (1)

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0-$349,999: 2 (1)

$350,000-$499,999: 5 (7)

$500,000-$749,999:  14 (16)

$750,000-$999,999: 4 (3)

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 5 (4)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 0 (0)
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Closed Sales:

Sales price: $516,600 Last asking price: $544,900 Original asking price: $624,950, sold in 157 days for 18% below the original asking price.

KIRKLAND HIGHLANDS TOWN HOMES:

3 town homes for sale, 2 are re-listed

1 pending inspection, which means the town home has an offer

1 pending, which means the inspection has been dealt with and the buyer and seller are moving on towards closing.

1 sold and closed.  Original price of $525,000 and sales price of $515,000.  Sold in 20 days for 2% below the original asking price.

Peak in the number of King County homes and condos for sale in 2009:

7-27-09  13,861

Start of 2010:

9,726

Now:

10-25-10  13,643

The numbers are starting to drop from what most likely was the high for this year, which was the last week in July.  The number of King County properties for sale is down by almost 1000 since the end of July.  Plan to see more homes coming off the market as the year ends.

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Hot Real Estate Prices of the Week In Kirkland, WA 10-6-10

In buyers, Kirkland News, Kirkland WA, Kirkland, WA Real Estate, market statistics, Real estate, sellers, Weekly market update on October 8, 2010 at 4:35 pm

This week’s hot price for Kirkland Washington home sales:

$500-599,999   6 sales.

This price range was the most popular last week, too.

  • The price range with the most Kirkland homes for sale: $400-499,999   57 homes.  Three fewer homes for sale than last week.
  • There were a total of 374 (down 13 from last week) homes for sale in Kirkland and 23 (up 12) homes sold.  The numbers are going in the right direction for both!  Inventory is down and sales are up.
  • Week with the most number of homes for sale in the last 7 weeks:   393 homes for sale,  9-15-10
  • Week with the highest number of homes sold in Kirkland in the last 7 weeks:  10-6-10, with 23 sales.
     

  • Peak  of homes and condos for sale in King County in 2009?
  • July 27th marked a high of 13,861 homes and condos for sale in King County.
  • 1-4-10 9726
  • 10-4-10  13,869

This represents a big drop in the number of King County homes for sale, the second biggest of the year with over 400 less homes on the market.  It’s also nice to see the number below 14,000.  Hopefully, we will continue to see more of a drop.

The chart below is updated weekly by (Windermere Real Estate/East, Inc., using MLS data) to show the price ranges of the homes sold each week.  Here’s how it’s set up:

The colors show who has the advantage in a particular price range.

  • Green means the buyer has the advantage with many homes to choose from and not that many selling.
  • Yellow means the number of homes for sale and the number of sales in the price range is balanced between the buyer and the seller.
  • Red indicates a sellers’ market where the seller may have the advantage as more homes are selling when compared to what’s available.
 

 

 

 

Kirkland WA Home Sales

Kirkland WA Real Estate Sales, 10-06-10

 

Down the side of the chart, the home sales activity is broken down into a price bracket of $99,999. All the homes priced between $400,000-499,999, as an example, are put together in one price category in the chart. 

Across the top, the chart is broken down into real estate activity by the week. If you take the $400-499,999 line and follow it across the chart, you’ll see what has happened each of the last seven weeks.  There are three columns under each week. On the left side of the column is the number of homes for sale in Kirkland.  The middle column shows how many homes sold that week, and the final column under the date shows the months supply of homes for sale.  In other words, if no other homes came up for sale, it would take an average of 7.9 months to sell all the homes in the $400-499,999 price range.

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Go To The Supermarket in Kirkland on Saturday & Donate Food!

In Kirkland News, Kirkland WA on October 8, 2010 at 12:58 pm

Tomorrow, October 9th is the second big Saturday push for the Eastside Month of Concern for the Hungry. Your food or money donations are needed by many different food banks on the Eastside.  The food will be distributed to Hopelink, Mercer Island Food Bank, Issaquah Food Bank, Renewal Food Bank, Emergency Feeding Program, the ARAS Foundation.

Please don’t forget many of our local citizens.  People who live down the street or have kids in your child’s class could be some of the people who need your help. Volunteers will be collecting tomorrow at many supermarkets all over the eastside.

Not going to the supermarket tomorrow?  Here’s a list of the places all over the eastside where you can donate food or money from now until October 23rd.

In Kirkland you can donate at:

Hopelink – Kirkland
11011 120th Ave NE

Kirkland City Hall
123 5th Ave

Kirkland Fire Station 21
9816 Forbes Creek Dr

Kirkland Fire Station 22
6602 108th Ave NE

Kirkland Fire Station 25
12033 76th Pl NE

Kirkland Fire Station 26
9930 124th Ave NE

Kirkland Fire Station 24
8411 NE 141st St

Kirkland Fire Station 27
11210 NE 132nd St

North Kirkland Community Center
12421 103rd Ave NE

Peter Kirk Community Center
352 Kirkland Ave
Join us on Facebook, support the food drive and keep up with the latest news on the event.

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Latest Kirkland Highlands Real Estate Buzz, 10-4-10

In buyers, Kirkland News, Kirkland WA, Kirkland, WA Real Estate, market statistics, Real estate on October 5, 2010 at 9:32 am

Wow, a huge number of price drops happened in The Kirkland Highlands over the last two weeks.  Nine homes have a reduced price.  Several of the homes are bank owned, new construction, but reductions happened in a variety of price ranges.  There were no offers accepted on homes in the Highlands neighborhood this week.

Fortunately, the number of homes in King County took a huge drop.  I expect to see that continue overall and in Kirkland as we head to the end of 2010.

The real estate statistics below reflect the activity in The Kirkland Highlands for the past two weeks. All data is taken from the NWMLS through Monday of this week.


View Larger Map

The map shows most of the outline of Kirkland’s Highlands neighborhood. The map address is simply for a street corner in the middle of the Kirkland Highlands. For those not familiar with the neighborhood, it’s a pocket of unique homes close to downtown Kirkland. In some ways it feels like an island, because it’s separated on the east by 405, the south by Central Way (the main route to downtown) and the west and north by the BNSF corridor. The neighborhood has the best of both worlds, a little isolation without any through traffic, but just seconds from everything.

Numbers in parentheses are from the last report:

Active Listings: 31 (33)

New listings: 1 (3)

Pending inspection: 0 (0)

Pending: 2 (0)

Closed Sales: 1 (0)

Number of Price Reductions: 9  (1)

Price increase: 0 (1)

Homes off the market that did not sell: 1 (2)

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0-$349,999: 1 (1)

$350,000-$499,999: 7 (7)

$500,000-$749,999:  16 (16)

$750,000-$999,999: 3 (4)

$1,000,000- $1,499,999: 4 (5)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 0 (0)
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Average Price of homes for sale: N/A with new MLS system*

Median Price of homes for sale: N/A with new MLS system

Average Days on Market:  N/A

Highest Priced Listing: $1,450,000 ($1,450,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $234,900 ($234,900)

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Closed Sales:

Sales price: $392,750 Last asking price: $399,000 Original asking price: $459,000, sold in 144 days for 15% below the original asking price.

KIRKLAND HIGHLANDS TOWN HOMES:

3 town homes for sale, 1 back on the market

1 pending sale, which means the town homes have an offer

1 expired listing, which means it was taken off the market.

Peak in the number of King County homes and condos for sale in 2009:

7-27-09  13,861

Start of 2010:

9,726

Now:

10-4-10  13,869

Good to see the numbers starting to drop.  Ironically, we’ve dropped the second most number of homes this year, but we are down to the high of last year.  So there are still a number of homes for sale in King County.  It is nice, though, to see the numbers dropping.

* The statistics portion of the new NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) is currently not working.  Our new system is having the kinks worked out.  Stay tuned!

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Hot Kirkland Real Estate Prices of the Week, 9-29-10

In buyers, Kirkland News, Kirkland WA, Kirkland, WA Real Estate, market statistics, Real estate, sellers on October 1, 2010 at 10:23 am

This week’s hot price for Kirkland Washington home sales:

$500-599,999   4 sales

  • The price range with the most Kirkland homes for sale: $400-499,999   60 homes.  One more home for sale than last week.
  • There were a total of 387 (down 4 from last week) homes for sale in Kirkland and 11 (down 6) homes sold.
  • Week with the most number of homes for sale in the last 7 weeks:   393 homes for sale,  9-15-10
  • Week with the highest number of homes sold in Kirkland in the last 7 weeks:  9-22-10, with 17 sales.

  • Peak  of homes and condos for sale in King County in 2009?
  • July 27th marked a high of 13,861 homes and condos for sale in King County.
  • 1-4-10 9726
  • 9-27-10  14,269

Hopefully, we’re on the downward slope for the number of homes on the market this year.   It looks like 14,639 homes available for sale in King County back in July might have been the peak of homes for sale.  We can hope the number keeps going down!

The chart below is updated weekly by (Windermere Real Estate/East, Inc., using MLS data) to show the price ranges of the homes sold each week.  Here’s how it’s set up:

The colors show who has the advantage in a particular price range.

  • Green means the buyer has the advantage with many homes to choose from and not that many selling.
  • Yellow means the number of homes for sale and the number of sales in the price range is balanced between the buyer and the seller.
  • Red indicates a sellers’ market where the seller may have the advantage as more homes are selling when compared to what’s available.
Homes Sales in Kirkland, WA

Kirkland Real Estate Sales, 9-29-10

Down the side of the chart, the home sales activity is broken down into a price bracket of $99,999. All the homes priced between $400,000-499,999, as an example, are put together in one price category in the chart.
Across the top, the chart is broken down into real estate activity by the week. If you take the $400-499,999 line and follow it across the chart, you’ll see what has happened each of the last seven weeks.  There are three columns under each week. On the left side of the column is the number of homes for sale in Kirkland.  The middle column shows how many homes sold that week, and the final column under the date shows the months supply of homes for sale.  In other words, if no other homes came up for sale, it would take an average of 9.5 months to sell all the homes in the $400-499,999 price range.
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