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Common Architectural Styles for Seattle Homes
July 21, 2017 /When I was younger, my mother and I used to spend Sunday afternoons driving around looking at houses in pretty neighborhoods. At the time, we lived in a small home in the Des Moines/SeaTac area. Today, my mother has worked her way up to a beautiful rustic cabin-style home in Gig Harbor. However, when we get together, we still love to admire the gorgeous houses in Seattle and the way they look in the Northwest’s unique silvery light. If you’re interested in buying a home in the Seattle area, here’s a quick guide to some of the common architectural styles that you’ll see around the city. Be sure to contact Pickett Street at at (425) 502-5397 or info@pickettstreet.com to get started finding your home. 1. Victorian Often found around the Queen Anne neighborhood and mostly built during the 1880s and 1890s, these elegant homes are among the oldest in Seattle. Common features of this style include a gabled roof, scalloped shingle siding on the upper level, covered porches with round columns, and a round or octagonal turret. Check out this gorgeous, romantic, and renovated Victorian in Capitol Hill. 2. Tudor Built in Seattle through the 1930s, Tudor homes are known for…Read more
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Do you want a discount from your Real Estate Agent?
September 2, 2016 /What You Get When You Work With a Discount Agent Here’s a hint: it’s not much. While discounted brokers might seem attractive (who isn’t attracted to a lower price tag?), a lower cost does not often equal a better experience in the real estate world. Before jumping on the discount bandwagon, take a minute to read our reasons why traditional realtors are still the kings (and queens) of the real estate world. Traditional vs. Discount Before launching into a discussion about why the traditional model trumps discount upstarts, it’s important to understand the distinction between the two. A traditional broker is a tried and true real estate agent - he or she will charge a standard commission fee (often 6% of the sales price), but will not charge any other fees. Traditional brokers generally control all aspects of the real estate transaction, such as advertising your home, working with the MLS in your state, negotiating offers, helping you discover anything unique about certain properties, developing individualized marketing strategies to ensure that a homeowner’s property gets maximum market exposure, and finding properties for prospective buyers. A discounted broker, on the other hand, charges a lower commission, often around 3-5%, but sometimes even lower. Some…Read more
