MID-FEBRUARY 2018
facebook.com/CityLivingSeattle
@clnewsseattle
Home & Real Estate www.CityLivingSeattle.com
S E R V I N G
N O R T H
S E A T T L E
N E I G H B O R H O O D S
S I N C E
1 9 2 2 :
BALLARD, FREMONT, GREEN LAKE, NORTHGATE, PHINNEY/GREENWOOD, RAVENNA/ROOSEVELT AND WALLINGFORD
When is the best time to list your home?
Yes in my backyard Backyard cottages can add living space and extra income BY DENNY CONNER, CRD DESIGN BUILD Imagine having a private getaway or guest house tucked neatly into your own backyard. Since 2009, when the city started permitting this new type of development, hundreds of Seattle homeowners have chosen to invest in their very own backyard cottage retreat. If you’ve ever wished you had a way to earn some rental income with your home or simply had more space, a backyard cottage might be a dream worth exploring. However, the regulations can be a bit confusing, and Seattle is in the process of changing them. First off, what is a backyard cottage? Detached accessory dwelling units, or DADUs, as the city of Seattle calls them, are small, standalone houses built behind your main home. They allow you to maintain your privacy and all the square footage in your main house, while creating extra living space. Some homeowners opt to build them over a new or existing garage. Backyard cottages provide many of the benefits of single-family homes, with no shared walls and a lower-density-neighborhood lifestyle. They can promote economic diversity in neighborhoods that might be out of range for average-income renters. Backyard cottages can provide passive rental income for the homeowner. Some are renting right now for between around $1,200 and $2,000 per month, or up to $24,000 per year. As a vacation rental, a cottage could earn you even more. This can help homeowners of modest means stay in their homes or simply put extra cash in your pocket to pay the mortgage or for home improvements. An often-overlooked benefit is that backyard cottages can help reduce sprawl by slowly increas-
ing density while taking advantage of existing infrastructure. When compared to high-rise developments, backyard cottages help preserve the character of our beloved Seattle neighborhoods.
Seattle’s changing regulations
If you are thinking about building a backyard cottage, the first step is to make sure you know all the rules. There are some major changes in the works, but let’s look at the current regulations. Lot size: Your lot must be 4,000 square feet in a single-family zone. Cottage size: Only 800 square feet is allowed for cottages in single-family zones. Codes: Like any construction project, your cottage must meet current land use and building standards. No surprise there. Parking: You must create one off-street parking space for your new backyard cottage. As of 2017, only 579 backyard cottages have been built in Seattle out of approximately 75,000 potentially eligible lots. To put that into perspective, Portland already had 720 in 2016. To encourage more to be built, the Seattle City Council is considering changing the regulations, such as increasing the maximum square footage of cottages and removing the off-street parking requirement. The Council is currently pursuing an environmental impact statement.
No bed, it’s a studio
If your plans for a backyard structure do not include a sleeping area, there are some permitting alternatives you may be able to consider. For standalone backyard structures under 750 square BACKYARD Page R6
Homeowners often ask if there is a best time to list their home. Homes are no different than anything else in that you will receive the most money when the demand is high, and the supply is low. Think about selling a boat in the winter or a sports car when it is snowing. The supply might be low, but there Kris Hendricks is not a high demand. In the north Managing Broker end of Seattle, we continue to experience a high demand for homes WINDERMERE with a very limited supply of new REAL ESTATE/ listings. WALL STREET GROUP November and December are QUEEN ANNE typically our slowest months in real estate. When the new year preparation (a good Realtor will begins we start seeing a few list- give you suggestions as to what to ings the first week and then they do), but it also takes a lot of physisteadily climb until June or July. cal and emotional energy to move. Listing and sales activity typically You want to list your home when slow a bit through the end of the you are ready to start your next adsummer, pick up in the Fall and venture, whether it be retirement, then slow again in winter. One a bigger or smaller home, or a new way to gauge a very hot market is community. that it doesn’t slow down in AuOnce you know you are ready, gust or Decemthen I would ber. listing You get the idea— suggest Many people it as early in believe that we have been Spring as possummer is the sible. The numbest time to sell discovered! How do ber of listings because chil- you take advantage typically peak dren are out of in June—yes, of all the media school. But, Seyards look good attention that is attle is a young and school is city where the helping to bring out, but you also median age is 37 have more comand many of our approximately 500 petition then. home buyers are people per week to We are alnot are not yet ready starting the area? constrained by the year with school schedules pent up demand and can buy any time of the year. from buyers and the stories of Other homeowners might think multiple offers and buyers doing they want to wait until their gar- pre-inspections and waiving conden is in full bloom, and that is a ditions prior to bringing an offer great idea, but everyone else’s gar- are true. 2018 is starting where den is peaking at the same time. 2017 left off-- with high demand You may want to list while the and low supply. bulbs are in bloom but perhaps not No one has a crystal ball tellwait for the peonies. ing us when the market is going I think we are all beginning to to slow down. But I do know that lose count of how many “Best of...” this is the best seller’s market that lists that Seattle is on. “Best place I have seen in over 25 years of sellfor young professionals” (Forbes ing real estate in Seattle. 2017), “# 2 Coolest city” (Forbes I suggest that if you have been 2017), “#6 Best places to live” (U.S. thinking of selling your home for News and World Report 2017), the past couple of years, then you and “Fodor’s 1 of 52 top destina- should seriously consider selling it tions to go in the world”. this year. And if you can put your You get the idea—we have been home on the market this Spring, discovered! How do you take ad- when there are plenty of buyers vantage of all the media attention and not enough sellers, you may be that is helping to bring approxi- in the desirable position of having mately 500 people per week to the to decide which offer to accept. area? We might complain about Kris Hendricks is a managing brothe traffic that our new residents ker with Windermere Real Estate/ bring, but let’s not forget that we Wall Street Group, Queen Anne ofare also getting a young, highly ed- fice. 206 755-5757 email: khendri@ ucated, well-paid work force who windermere.com prefer to live near the urban core. Selling a home takes a lot of