We’ve seen plenty of houses with actual windows and bedrooms sell for way more than they’re worth in the real estate madness that has gripped Seattle in recent years. But a boarded-up 1901 looker in the city’s Ballard neighborhood might just define how crazy things have gotten.
Listed as a “hot home” by the Seattle-based real estate company Redfin, the 1 1/2 story, no-bedroom house on 11th Avenue NW is going for $595,000, and Redfin’s site estimates it will get $626,331. These days, that seems like a steal in a tech-boom-fueled market that is the hottest in the country.
It’s been online for five days, but the house has sat empty for years. I remember walking past it in February 2015 and snapping a picture, figuring it wouldn’t be standing for long in a neighborhood and city where old houses go to die.
A similar house - a 117-year-old, boarded-up, overgrown two-bedroom in Ballard - recently sold for around a half-million dollars.