Tag: Bothell

Fourth of July Fun in South Snohomish County

Carl Setzer
Shots from a fireworks show

Though fireworks are illegal in a good portion of the county, there are plenty of events to enjoy. Far more than just fireworks!

What are you most looking forward to? I also enjoy the fun in Edmonds.

I hope you have a safe and fun Fourth!

Thinking About Bothell Real Estate

Carl Setzer

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A few weeks ago I was enjoying a weekend afternoon with friends. I got to talk with some folks looking to buy a home in the area. As is often the case right now, they were frustrated with their agent. They had narrowly missed the cut on several homes, and they kept hearing about multiple offers and such. They weren’t convinced their agent was completely leveling with them. I was glad to let them know that, actually, their agent was spot on. Most well priced homes will get >1 offers. My record in 2016 has been 14.

Anyway, I took some time this evening to dive into Bothell’s current real estate market trends. So, the basics.

  • The median house price in May was $541,788.
  • 139 new homes came on the market, while 160 sold. Yes, more sold than came on the market. Quite the burn rate!
  • Layered with the above, Bothell has .9 months on inventory. If no new him need came on, we’d sell everything currently on the market within 27 days
  • The average days on market was 20.7 days! That speed is shocking

It’s helpful to remember that the city is in two counties: King and Snohomish. Which plays a piece in pricing. While the median price for the whole city of $541,788, the median in Snohomish county Bothell was only $524,950, yet the King county side was $650,000. As the adage good, “location, location, location!”

Bothell, in many ways, is the northern most frontier of the Eastside. Snohomish county is where that ends, as we see with the price delta. It’s a very neat community, though. Northshore schools are some of the best. Bothell is close to Lynnwood’s Alderwood Mall, and the niceties of Bellevue, etc. Pretty close to I-5, thus had solid access to Seattle. There are lovely parks, bike trails, and so much more.

Take a look at what’s available in Bothell and let me know what you like. Think of me and my team for all your real estate needs

Driving in Bothell

Carl Setzer

One of the students at my taekwondo school needed a ride home. I never want something as basic as transportation to prohibit participation. So, I find myself driving down old Filbert Road after dark.

I’ve driven this road countless times. It’s a part of the area that, on the surface, doesn’t look much different. But I see through the trees. There are many lights where, once, there were none.

Filbert is long and narrow, and quite dark. I remembered many dark drives over the years. Yet the twinkling of progress lurks nearby. For the good, and the bad, this duality of life.

There are times I miss the old, but I delight in the new too much to be put out. Life’s too short for misery 

Why’s It Called Nike Hill, Anyway?

Carl Setzer

This morning I drove out to Bothell from Lynnwood. As I hate the freeways, especially in the morning, I back-roaded it out there. Passing a number of construction sites out there didn’t surprise me. This area is quite high in demand, as it’s really the furthermost north end the East-side. One thing in particular stood out: some houses  on Vine Road with fencing around them.

I first remember seeing these decades ago. These looked just like all the military housing I’d grew up around. At first that seemed strange, then I learned about Nike Hill. Named after the missile silo not-so-secretly placed on the summit of the hill, I believed the housing was originally for those soldiers. They were built in in 1950, right around the time the silo first came online. Also, the street (technically 216th Pl SW) is Nike Manor Rd. So, viola!

Now, the buildings are owned by the Navy, so my guess is that they were housing sailors stationed with the Everett Homeport. Today, fenced off and vacant, I wondered if they’d been sold to private developers, but they still show as owned by the LLC that the Navy set up to manage properties in the region. So, perhaps they’re going to upgrade these. As they’re pretty much unchanged from the 1950s, that should be rather welcome.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what’s to come there.

 

Sidebar: Here’s an interesting article about the site, and how it became the FEMA regional headquarters it is now.

BOTHELL’S NIKE HILL HOME TO REGIONAL FEMA HEADQUARTERS