Wellcraft19 t1_j5sepbx wrote on January 25, 2023 at 5:49 AM

Reply to comment by cusmilie in Washington state might nix-single family zoning by magenta_placenta

Recent transactions; old house on 1/4 acre lot purchased for $1.4M. 6 months later, older fixed up house on now 1/8 acre is sold for $1.3M. The other half (1/8 acre) will get a decently sized house, likely to sell for $2.3M (even in this market once construction completed).

Kirkland is to a large part (expensive) single family houses on decently sized lots, and that’s unlikely to change, as long as people love the area (views, lake, parks, close to everything, good neighbors, etc) and willing to pay for it.

Legislature would be making a grave mistake if nixing single family zoning.

cusmilie t1_j5sg5zv wrote on January 25, 2023 at 6:05 AM

1/4 acre would sell for $1.4mil+ and they’d probably squeeze in 3 homes minimum if city allowed. The homes they are building on 8k-10k lots are usually around $3.2mil still. Decent sized lots are pretty much gone from most of the area unless you are in a $2mil+ home. Developers went bonkers during Covid.

I understand they want to make money, but the city has to put some limits. The developers have a ton of buildings sitting empty as they are waiting to build and bought up the area not only last year, but years prior. My friend had rats come into her house because a developer has left the building behind her house empty for years. She’s tried to get it condemned with no luck. The small town feel of Kirkland is quickly disappearing and not the same anymore.

Wellcraft19 t1_j5sgrk3 wrote on January 25, 2023 at 6:11 AM

No longer a small town when it’s not uncommon for houses to sell in the $5M to $10M range. Still truly an awesome town though.

But yes, with cottage zoning, there is a change to squeeze in three ~1,400 sqf houses on something close to 1/4 acre (driving up the purchase price for that lot vs if only two houses, etc).

cusmilie t1_j5sij1x wrote on January 25, 2023 at 6:31 AM

I’m not sure what the solution is. I just know that this was passed last year and probably talked about for years as a solution. The intention was to come up with a solution for more housing (and hence more affordable housing), but made the problem worse. 🙁 I will admit I thought it would help, but I was under impression that they would build up to $1mil 1600 square ft homes on 1/8 acre lots. Oh how I was wrong. I could never have thought of ways to squeeze in homes like they do.