Take a look at this listing...

[newbee]

Bought for 869K on 2005.
On market for 899K now.
http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/print ... -id=731141

Why do you think it did not appreciate as much as many definitely uglier houses?

[Locust]

It may be that the price paid in 2005 was pretty premium for the time. That certainly seems like a nice house for the money in today's market.

[biliruben]

New homes carry a premium. You often get to pick and choose the finishes, and it has that new home smell! Once you take it off the lot, however...

The PI did a study a year or 3 ago that showed that older homes appreciated at a far greater clip than new homes in the Seattle area.

If I recall right, this is contrary to national data. Part of the reason may be that the older homes are in better locations, and location is everything in Seattle with our varied geography. If it was a beautiful place to build, somebody did it 50 or a 100 years ago. If it is in a swamp, under high-tension power lines, or is in a gully that shortens your day by 2 hours, then Pulte homes built there last year.

In the case of this house, it looks like they jammed it in shoulder-to-shoulder with another McMansion, so that they are sharing a driveway.

If I'm going to be a debt slave, paying off a million dollar mortage, I better at least get a little privacy, so I can moan about my monthly nut in peace.

[newbee]