Kirkland Highlands Real Estate Buzz

Kirkland, Washington rocks!  According to the July issue of Seattle magazine, Kirkland is just behind Queen Anne as the best overall neighborhood in the Seattle area. According to the magazine, we are Seattle’s Sausalito, a suburb with great access to the water.  Kirkland has:

• great Lake Washington access
• good schools
• compact, walkable downtown
• restaurants
• outdoor public pool
• parks, some right on the water
• reasonable access to Seattle

Seattle magazine picked the Top Ten Best Neighborhoods and Kirkland came out #7.  The ratings are based on a study of 5 issues: housing affordability, WASL scores, minutes to downtown, crime rates and % of home appreciation. 

All of these are great considerations, but what are your favorite reasons for living in Kirkland?

Not able to see last night’s Fourth of July fireworks over Lake Washington in downtown Kirkland?  Here’s a few minutes of the great show.  It was the first time I had seen the show from the water and it was terrific.  My friends came by and picked us up on their boat and we had a front row seat.  Out on the lake, you could see some of the fireworks from the other shows over in Seattle on Lake Union, the WaMU Family Fourth and theJul-Ivars Fourth in its 44th year over Elliot Bay.

Not only is it sunny in Seattle, but now it’s photography season for me.  I’ve started doing my “summer outdoor” run all over the area.  It’s great to be outside and Seattle and Seattle’s Eastside cities are the perfect summer places.  

 On Father’s Day, I  jumped back on the MV Kirkland with my husband and Dad and took the afternoon Lake Washington cruise from the Kirkland docks.  You get great views of the Bellevue, Kirkland, Mercer Island, and Seattle lakefront. The tour is usually narrated by one of the Argosy Cruise staff. This week’s trip incorporated a bit more of the history of Kirkland.  There are always some little known facts revealed that make this an interesting tour.  If you buy a captains’ pass from Argosy Cruises, it allows you to take as many trips as you want for a year.  It ends up being an inexpensive way to get on the water, relax and enjoy the sun.  A great to have some fun on the water without having to own the boat!

  The Montlake Cut was hopping with boats coming in and out of Lake Washington.

Ok, so I did not do the weekly real estate stats for The Kirkland Highlands last week, you caught me!  Actually, I was rather busy at my high school reunion back in Connecticut.  Frankly, I was having so much fun, real estate statistics went out the window.  But the real estate market is still here and still moving along. 

This report shows this week and last’s real estate numbers. I will continue to report the number of new listings, pendings, days on market, etc.  However, my weekly updates will report the specific information on closed sales only.  These are the sales in which the sale has closed and the new owner has taken over.  Sales prices are public information and can be easily shared. In this market, I find it helpful to see the original price of a listing, its final list price, and the actual sales or closing price. 

In addition, the numbers will now be a reflection of totals from Thursdays.  This will help get the data to you before the weekend, whenever possible.  If the sun ever comes out here, I imagine you may want to be out and about, rather than looking at real estate data!

(Numbers in parentheses are for last week’s data.  This week’s data is reported through Thursday.)

Active Listings:  26 (25)

New listings:  1(0)

Re-listed properties:  0(0)

Sold subject to inspection:  0(1) 

Pending:  2(2)

Closed Sales:   1(0)

Contingent sale: 0(0)

Number of Price Reductions: 0 (2)

Cancelled listings 0(0)

Expired Listings: 0(0)

Temporarily Off Market:  0(0)

Price increase:  0(0)

Back on market: 1(0)

———————————–

0-$349,999:   0(0)

$350,000-$499,999:  4 (4)

$500,000-$749,999:    5 (5)

$750,000-$999,999:  9 (9)

$1,000,000- $1,499,999:  4 (4)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999:   4 (3)
———————————–
Average Price: $959,507($924,887)

Median Price:   $869,475($869,000)

Average Days on Market: 83(76)

Highest Priced Listing: $2,299,000($2,299,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $399,500 ($374,500)

_____________________________________________

Townhomes:

7 Active, One sold subject to inspection and one expired.

I realized this past week what we in Kirkland, Washington could lose when I was standing in the middle of a new shopping/destination center, Blue Back Square, in my home town, West Hartford, CT.  I was back east for a high school reunion (which could be another complete blog post. Yes, it was only yesterday!)  

West Hartford is a suburb of Connecticut’s capital city, Hartford.  It boasts a wonderful center (it’s never referred to it as downtown) which has reinvented itself over the last 20 years as a destination place.  Growing up, West Hartford Center had a department store, lots of shops, and few restaurants.  We went to the center to shop, not to dine. Today, it’s a hopping, happening place with a multitude of great restaurants, coffee shops, and stores. 

 On a warm summer’s evening, you can find people flocking to the center to walk, have a glass of wine or dinner. Blue Back Square is a recent addition to the center. 

It continues the theme of a community based center.  Stores, restaurants, apartments, and condos are all there.  Community plazas exist for people to sit and have lunch or for the local students to present a concert.  The community feel is such a welcoming feature.

The characterization of the town is very similar to how I view Kirkland, Washington. When I moved out to the Northwest, I immediately fell in love with Kirkland.  It felt like home to me because the town had a soul, a “center”, like West Hartford.   Today both cities have morphed into destination places while, keeping their unique identities and small town flavors intact.

We are poised to lose this soul of our community, the essence and character of Kirkland, if we are not careful in our choices.  We have one of the few towns with that “small town” feel while being close to everything on the eastside and Seattle.  We must preserve this as we grow.  Kirkland should grow and change, but not at the expense of our identity and our community.  Development should enhance the city, the services and amenities available to its citizens.  Development should not be at the expense of Kirkland and only for others who commute to or through the city.

Tomorrow, the 12th of June, more important decisions are being made that will affect Kirkland’s future.  Come to City Hall at 7 PM to hear the latest. Parkplace, Touchstone Corp., is presenting two options to the community:  One is an 8 story office complex with a  myriad of retail outlets, restaurants, and a movie theater.  The other is a 5 story office complex with limited services and opportunities for community involvement.  Whatever Kirkland decides, the community element must not be lost.  Whether there is an 8 story building or a 5 story building, we must not lose our soul, a gathering place for the community or our identity.  What a shame it would be if people flocked to Kirkland to work at Parkplace and left immediately after work to return home.  What a loss it would be if there was no vibrant community life at Parkplace both during the day and at night.

My thoughts continue with the trail possibilities.  An examination of ways to improve transportation is vital to the growing eastside.  However, decisions to improve transportation must be made responsibly.  While analysis is being done, the BNSF corridor should be used as a trail for all the eastside, but particularly for Kirkland.  What a gorgeous, fabulous asset it would be for our community.  A train line would be cost prohibitive with little impact on traffic.  The train line would cut Kirkland neighborhoods off from each other.  Let’s not lose this opportunity, too, to enhance the livability of Kirkland.  Let’s make sure Kirkland is a better place for the people who live here, not just for the people who commute through and work in the city and leave everyday.

Picture a commuter train whizzing by in Kirkland during the morning commute on its way to Bellevue.  The tracks completely separate the Kirkland Highlands neighborhood from Peter Kirk Elementary School and Kirkland Junior High.  There’s no other way to walk to school and Peter Kirk is a “walking” school.   Picture kids crossing the tracks to visit friends after school hours when there’s no supervision at the crossing.

The following videos show school children crossing the railroad tracks on the way to school from the Kirkland Highlands neighborhood.  The entire neighborhood of over 600 homes is separated by the railroad tracks from the school.  The kids cross over 110^th Ave NE and the railroad tracks behind Peter Kirk Elementary to get to school.  As you can see, the kids are walking and running to school.

 The crossing guard raised her concern about kids walking down the tracks to get to school in the morning.  Someone can come to educate the kids about railroad safety, but having worked with middle school kids for 13 years in the past, I’m familiar with typical teen and “kid” behavior.  Kids won’t remember what someone told them three months ago about not walking on the railroad tracks. Walking on the tracks is more of a problem when kids go from neighborhood to neighborhood to see their friends or  walk to downtown Kirkland, not just to school.  There are no crossing guards watching over them at those times.

From the Highlands neighborhood, kids also cross over the railroad tracks in Cotton Hill Park, a few blocks north, to get to Kirkland Junior High.  That crossing is far more concerning because young teens tend to be busy multi-tasking as they walk to school.  Picture typical teen behavior and you see teens talking to friends, talking on cell phones, running, and listening to IPods.  You do not picture kids paying attention as well as they should to their surroundings.  How many teens do you know who think they are invincible and will try to tempt fate by running in front of a train as they are rushing late to school?

If a fence is erected to stop people from walking down the tracks, kids will be cut off from their friends.  Walking paths will be cut off to schools. Neighborhoods will be cut off from each other.  Not only is the rail line as a commuter line a safety hazard, it will hurt the fabric of the community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNNotGSiTqA