Value Level: Central Luxurious Studio or Quiet 1-Bed room Condominium in Seattle
This month on Value Level, the place we evaluate two properties available on the market for across the similar value, we’re taking a look at a few properties within the elusive $400,000 vary. With that finances, which of those centrally positioned condos would you select: a brand-new studio with trendy facilities on the sting of the Chinatown–Worldwide District, or a one-bedroom condominium on a (comparably) quieter avenue in Decrease Queen Anne?
Dwelling 1: Large facilities in Chinatown–Worldwide District
This second-floor studio within the brand-new KODA constructing boasts high-end home equipment and industrial vibes. It’s proper within the middle of a bunch of meals, nightlife, and tradition close to each Pioneer Sq. and the C–ID.
At 516 sq. ft, it’s on the bigger facet for a more recent studio, though its ground plan is longer than it’s extensive. Working with one dimension means it’s comparatively simple to designate particular areas, nevertheless it additionally means the home windows are confined to 1 shorter wall. To be truthful, the home windows it does have are big.
The lengthy kitchen sits alongside one wall, however a pillar offers some visible separation from the remainder of the unit. Different areas are surprisingly spacious: The lavatory has a large self-importance and a big tub. The washer and dryer dwell in a large entryway closet with loads of room for garments, laundry provides, and a few additional storage.
KODA has a full slate of facilities you’d count on from a brand new luxurious constructing. Two visitor suites can comfortably host out-of-town guests. It doesn’t simply have a gymnasium, however presents an connected yoga room. It has a canine park and a dog-washing station. For long-term distant employees, there’s workplace house and a convention room with AV tools. The highest stage has the fanciest options, although: a fireplace lounge, a screening room, a non-public eating room, and a a lot bigger kitchen than you’d discover in-unit. All of these facilities will run you $429 a month in HOA dues.
The central location means downtown workplaces (and lunch spots) are only a quick stroll or fast bus experience away—and it helps that it’s tremendous near main transit hubs. This dwelling doesn’t include parking, however all house owners have entry to a shared Tesla Envoy.
Itemizing Quick Details
Checklist value: $389,950
Location: 450 S Foremost St
Measurement: 516 sq. ft
12 months constructed: 2021
Itemizing agent: Erik Mehr and Tatum Spalding, Erik Mehr and Associates
Dwelling 2: A bed room and a fire in Decrease Queen Anne
This top-floor one-bedroom is definitely smaller than the different studio, nevertheless it has a legit bed room with 4 partitions, home windows, and a door (we hate that we now have to specify this). A balcony stretches throughout all the width of the unit, giving ample alternative for contemporary air.
Only a few blocks from the House Needle and Local weather Pledge Enviornment, it has its personal set of neighborhood bars and eating places. The vibes are only a lot mellower over right here, though the colourful theater and artwork discovered at Seattle Middle is inside a simple stroll. The bustling foods and drinks choices on Roy Road are a fair simpler stroll.
This complicated is from 1991, however there are some benefits in residing in a well-established constructing. The HOA right here (dues: $340 a month) is well-established and has loads of money in reserves. The construction isn’t tremendous outdated and doubtless doesn’t require costly common upkeep. Many of the points that might come up have already arisen.
Whereas the ’90s isn’t the best-regarded period for dwelling design, earlier constructing developments can work in your favor; on this case, it comes by within the electrical hearth and a wider ground plan that accommodates extra home windows and a beneficiant quantity of outside house. The kitchen is semi-open.
Whereas it doesn’t have an on-site canine park, it does have a shared rooftop deck with some picnic tables and an up-close-and-personal House Needle view. It’s a comparatively simple stroll to each Belltown and South Lake Union employment facilities, and a doable stroll to downtown. It’s on transit traces—the three and 4 cease throughout the road—and has a reserved, storage parking spot.
Itemizing Quick Details
Checklist value: $379,000
Location: 420 Valley St
Measurement: 460 sq. ft
12 months constructed: 1991
Itemizing agent: Cristina Zalavarria, Windermere
Last notes
At this value level, you’re going to search out smaller properties, together with an entire lot of condos. Each of those properties are small, centrally positioned, and pet-friendly, however their variations outweigh their similarities. On one facet, you may have a brand-new studio that’s massive on luxurious, however perhaps a bit of missing in pure mild, in a really busy neighborhood. On the opposite, you may have an older one-bedroom on a a lot mellower avenue simply exterior a serious vacationer vacation spot. Whereas the latter has extra home windows, it’s additionally 56 sq. ft smaller, which makes a distinction whenever you’re already restricted in that division.
It actually comes all the way down to choice and priorities. Neither of them are precisely quiet—and each have loads of bars and eating places close by—however considered one of them is actually only a few blocks from a soccer stadium. Possibly that’s a function, perhaps that’s a bug. Possibly you want hockey as an alternative, which yow will discover a brief stroll from the opposite dwelling.
Outside house is one other factor to think about. Do you want rising your individual crops and having personal house to bask, or do you like luxurious, social environment?
Every of those properties charge decrease or increased relying on which metric you’re checking. With all of those comparisons, it actually boils all the way down to what you’re in search of in a house—and also you’ve in all probability already made up your thoughts about what is sensible for you.
