Queen Anne Boulevard: Seattle's Queen Anne Neighborhood Real Estate Blog » Queen Anne Boulevard

Backyard Cottages In Seattle

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 03:09:59 +0000

I wrote a blog earlier about Backyard Cottages in Seattle or Detatched Dwelling Units. Since then, I’ve had numerous questions about them.

Whether you are considering a Backyard Cottage on your at least 4,000 square foot lot as a rental property, for an elderly family member, or a grown child you need to know the max square footage the structure can be is 800 sq ft. This includes any carport, attached garage, or storage.

You can decide to go through a contractor and architect or get a panelized or modular fabricated design. Fabricated is the fastest, and designed much like building blocks. Panelized takes a little more time and can be more customized.

It’s no secret adding a Backyard Cottage on your property can add extra monthly income. However there are some costs involved. Here is a link to a handy worksheet that breaks down Hard Costs and Soft Costs. Example of a Hard Cost is demolition or site preparation. A Soft Cost is a mortgage, or fees for utility hookups. Which aren’t cheap, by the way! Seattle City Light recommends separate electricity meters. This will save you way more money in the long run.

Make sure you save room for a parking space for your Backyard Cottage – this is a requirement!

For more information regarding Backyard Cottages and self help steps to diagrams, permits, and more – this site wins, hands down.

Check back frequently to www.cooperjacobs.com for our Backyard Cottage listings in Seattle City Limits.

Queen Anne Boulevard: Buying a Home Along Queen Anne’s Boulevard

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:31:40 +0000

Queen Anne Boulevard: Buying a Home Along Queen Anne’s Boulevard. I have been writing about the various highlights along Queen Anne Boulevard on Queen Anne’s crown, but it is amazing how many people I show Queen Anne homes to that have not heard of this 80 plus year old loop around the top of Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood.

Queen Anne Boulevard has been the source for much love and hate through the years and a big part of that involves the fact that very little people moving into the area have even heard of it. It is now largely marked by trees and various signage you might miss if you sneeze, but Queen Anne locals know all about it…hopefully.

The trees are gorgeous, but what do you really need to check for when it is time to buy a home along Queen Anne Boulevard? Buying a Home Along Queen Anne’s Boulevard. It is important to really look at that title report you get when you are buying Queen Anne real estate along the Boulevard so that you know exactly what you are getting. The city condemned sometimes as much as 16 or 17 feet on either side in some places as part of public lands turned over to the parks department. Many Queen Anne residents have gone through the years not knowing that half their front yard is fact not theirs at all. Many Queen Anne home buyers have been quite surprised to find out that they bought a home along a Boulevard they had not heard of and that they don’t own part of their property.

If you are interested in reading more about this great neighborhood, QueenAnneBoulevard.com is a funQueen Anne Blog! Let us know if you have something to post or if you have had an experience with real estate along Queen Anne Boulevard!

Queen Anne Yesteryears Revisited…

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:53:57 +0000

Yesterday we visited two sets of great grandparents on Bainbridge Island and I got the chance to talk to my husband’s Grandfather about growing up on Queen Anne. It is funny because the two houses he grew up in are on the historic registry and his gandfather’s house is also on the historic registry. Unfortunately, his “Uncle Joe’s” Queen Anne house hadn’t gotten there yet before the disaster when it was knocked down a few years ago on a long holiday weekend to make way for the new buyer’s “new home”. Now it is the the site of a planned townhome community (google the JC Black house sometime if you want to hear more about that one).

West Queen Anne Love: I recently wrote a post on Betty Bowen Viewpoint and was completely drawn to a particular house right across the street. That shouldn’t be too surprising because West Queen Anne is full of gorgeous homes, but this one really brought me in and while I normally would take the time to take a picture of a house so that it looked good on my blog or website, I just snapped a quick photo of this house because I LOVED IT.

I was completely taken in and drawn to this house. I will go ahead and show you the photo I took, but it really doesn’t do the house justice:

It turns out that this very house was my husband’s grandfather’s house when he was 17 and his parents had it built especially for them! I could not believe it!

The house is something like 6 beds and an unheard of 3 car garage in Queen Anne. My husband’s great grandfather had it custom built in 1939-1940 and they moved into it when his grandfather was 17 from their home a few blocks over on West Prospect which they had lived in for the first 17 years of his life. The West Highland house was built for my husband’s great grandfather and mother and the name on the historic registry is the Lyman H & Marion Black Home.

This house on West Highland is only a couple blocks South of my husband’s great great grandfather’s house, the CH Black house on Lee Street which takes up an entire city block. It is also right across the street from Betty Bowen Viewpoint and the West Queen Anne Walls. In listening to my husband’s grandfather’s stories yesterday, he said his dad used to have a light he would switch on in the 1940s whenever couples were hanging out at the Viewpoint for too long after dark. He remembers that his parents would always know he came home safely because he would come in and play Moonlight Sonata at the Grand Piano after a fun night out. He KNEW Betty Bowen!

I had heard the piano story before but it was so amazing to find out that this particular house that I obviously did not photograph for any purpose except that I loved it happened to be the house where all this happened. I also find it amazing that not one, but at least four of their family homes are on the historic registry in family names – even if one other is gone now.

If you are interested in West Queen Anne real estate or other Queen Anne real estate, please feel free to get in touch with me. Queen Anne has a rich history and I would love to share with you some of my favorite spots!