Pros and Cons of Buying a House in Seattle, WA
If you’re considering buying a house in Seattle, you have come to the right place! Seattle is a beautiful city with tons of natural surroundings, vibrant culture, and a booming economy. Vayna Jerabek, the real estate team leader here in Washington talks about the Pros and Cons of buying and living in Seattle. Being born and raised here, Vayna loves the city, rain and all. She also invests in the Seattle real estate market. So from a buyer, investor, and resident perspective, here’s the lay down on Seattle.
Pro #1: Seattle has a strong job market. Seattle has a robust job market, with many major companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Starbucks headquartered in the area. So there are plenty of opportunities for employment and career advancement.
Pro #2: Beautiful surroundings and diverse neighborhoods. Seattle is surrounded by the Huge Sound, the Olympic and Cascade ranges, tall evergreen trees, and nearby national parks. If you love the outdoors, there is no shortage of activities to enjoy in the area. Hiking, snowboarding, skiing, boating, jet skiing, sea planing, we’ve got it all. We also have tons of diversity in our neighborhoods, each with its own character and charms. We’ve got a video of the breakdown of Seattle’s best neighborhoods here on the channel - from trendy Capitol Hill to family-friendly Ballard, there’s a neighborhood for every lifestyle and budget. If you’re relocating here and not quite sure which neighborhood might be for you, there’s a link to schedule a call with our team to start that conversation.
Pro #3: Appreciation and investment opportunity. City of Seattle is doing a lot of things right now to encourage density and building, so there’s are tons of building codes that encourage converting garages, building detached units on single family zoning, and condoization to separate out parcels. If you’re an investor, again I’m happy to have that conversation with you about what you can do with the property here but the other thing that’s great about Seattle is the appreciation. Seattle averages 8.5% appreciation year over year, so property here essentially doubles in value every year. Seattle is a great place to invest your money for the long run, and as the zoning code becomes more inclusive there will be more and more opportunity to improve property with density. Even if investing for the long run is not your main focus and you’re just looking for a house for you or your family, you will likely find out down the line that there’s a lot more you can do with your property to improve the value.
Con #1: Seattle has a pretty high cost of living. We are one of the most expensive cities in the country - we have a high average salary, but if you’re coming from another state you might be shocked by the high cost of living and housing prices. In 2023 the average sale price in Seattle is about $770,000, and the high end is in the millions.
Con #2: Traffic and rain. These are the two complaints we hear the most about living in Washington in general, is we have California-level traffic where rush hour slows down your commute, and then it rains a good amount here. About 9 months out of the year. BUT, the 3 months of summer we get is well worth the 9 months of dreariness. Seattle in the summer is unmatched - it gets in the 80’s and 90’s, the water is amazing, there’s tons to do. But traffic and rain are things you just have to deal with here.
Con #3: Lastly is the homelessness and affordability crisis. The rise of homelessness rate and lack of affordability has posed challenges to the average resident here in Seattle as you can imagine, and it has affected the city’s livability. So while appreciation is great and City of Seattle is doing everything it can right now to battle the homelessness issues, for the time being they are something to factor in where you live.
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