West Redmond Real Estate Buzz

Come on down to the City of Redmond Maintenance Operations Center at 18120 NE 76th St on July 19th, 2008 from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM.  Bring all those items you’ve ever wanted to get rid of, but were afraid to do.  Here’s your chance to unload household items.  Go for it!

For more details, check out the City of Redmond website.  More specific directions are given regarding the recycling event on the site.  Happy recycling!

Need to leave some things at the curb?  Now through August 1st, Redmond single family home owners who live within the city limits can leave electronic units at the curb for pickup.  Check the link above for more complete details.

Don’t forget, all drivers must make sure their loads are secure.

Will you know what to do if a disaster, a wind storm or earthquake hits Redmond, Washington?  Redmond is sponsoring a disaster preparedness program to help you get ready and be prepared.  The program, Pass It On, will hold a seminar on July 15th from 6:30-8 PM at the Redmond Regional Library, 15990 NE 85th Street in Redmond.  Contact Tom Osborn at tosborn@redmond.gov or at 425-556-2276 for more information.

In times of disaster, we always think the police and fire departments will be there for us, and they will.  However, they’ll be attending to the largest and most serious problems in a city and may not physically be able to get to individuals for several days.  It is up to you to be prepared!

Derby Days?  Do you know where this annual Redmond, Washington festival got its name?  Do you know how many years the festival has been going on? Here’s a bit of the history of the 68 year Derby Days Festival in Redmond.  The festival got its start in the Depression, in the 1930’s and was a civic attempt to raise some money for Christmas decorations.  A Bicycle Derby was born.  The route has changed many times over the years and is now a Bicycle Criterium.  Redmond Washington, the bicycle capital has had the longest running bicycle race in the country.

Now Derby Days has a Kids Parade, a General Parade, and an amusement park and a sound stage.  Come on down and dance to music from the 50’s, the 70’s or the 90’s.  Fun will happen all day long and finish with a fireworks show.

The numbers are Thursday’s totals.  Oh by the way, I took last week off because of July 4th, so this is a compilation of two weeks worth of data.

 The area represented by the statistics posted below is Redmond, 98052, south of highway 908.  The neighborhoods are all within shouting distance of Microsoft. In real estate terms, we call this area 530.  The area on Education Hill is called area 550 and is not part of this report. The numbers in parentheses show last week’s totals. All numbers are gathered mid-day on Thursdays from NWMLS information.  
Active Listings:  73(68) 

New listings:   7(7)

Pending inspection: 8 (4)

Pending: 2 (5)

Closed Sales: 2 (4)

Sold Contingent: 1(3)

Rented: 0(0) 

Price Reductions:  3 (4)

Price Increases:     0(0)

Expired Listings: 1 (2)

Cancelled Listings:4 (1)

Temp Off Market:  0(0)

Back on Market: 0(0)

Rented  0 (0)
———————————

$0-$349,999:             0(0)

$350,000-$499,999:  6(6)

$500,000-$749,999:   42 (36 )

$750,000-$999,999: 13(14)

 $1,000,000- $1,499,999:  7 (8)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 3(4)

$3,000,000+                     2 (0)
———————————–
Average Price:    $869,127  ($852,514)

Median Price: $677,000 ($683,000)

Average Days on Market: 62(62)

Highest Priced Listing: $3,950,000 ($3,080,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $379,950($379,950)

This week’s closed sales:

$639,000  Spiritbrook two story,  list price of $650,000, original list price of $728,000 on the market for 188 days sold 13% below asking price. 

$700,000  Sheffield Greens two story home  original list price of $738,000 on market for 176 days.  sold 5.1% below asking price.

Redmond Washington shines with concerts and movies throughout the summer.  From July 10th to August 28th, there are tons of great outdoor activities.

The following is a list of activities from Paint the Town Redmond website:

Summer Nights in Redmond 2008

Dates:

• Starts: 07/10/2008
• Ends:  08/28/2008

Time:

• Time Varies: 7pm-9pm

Price:

• Free

WEDNESDAYS
King County Parks’ Movies@Marymoor
Marymoor Park Concert Venue
Seating opens at 7 pm, movies begin at dusk
$5 per person/$15 per family suggested donation to support the parks
July 16: Anchorman
July 23: Juno
July 30: Monsoon Wedding
Aug 6:   Singing in the Rain
Aug 13: Hairspray
Aug 20: Muppet Movie
Aug 27: Viewer’s Choice

THURSDAYS
Redmond Town Center’s Summer Concert Series
Center Street Plaza
7-9 pm
July 10: Mango Son
July 17: The Nowhere Men
July 24: How’s Bayou
July 31: Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin’ Daddies
Aug 7:   Michael Powers
Aug 14: Raucous
Aug 21: The Daily Flash
Aug 28: Eduardo Mendonça & Show Brazil

FRIDAYS
Redmond Arts Commission’s Arts in the Parks
Redmond City Hall
7-9 pm
July 18: Carrie Clark & The Lonesome Lovers
July 25: GreenStage - Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night
Aug 1: Wooden O Theatre - Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet
Aug 8: Los Flacos
Aug 15: Redmond Teen Night
Aug 22: Arts Jam III

Redmond, Washington was listed as one of the top neighborhood spots in the Seattle area in the July issue of Seattle magazine. The magazine did a pretty thorough study of what each city or neighborhood has that sets it apart from the other areas.  Redmond showed up on both of the magazine’s top ten lists.  One list included all neighborhoods and cities in the Seattle area, and one list was just suburban cities. Of the 110 top Seattle neighborhoods and suburban cities, Redmond came in at #6.  When compared to other suburban cities, Redmond came in at #4. 

The magazine found people who live in Redmond:

• Ride Horses
• Play soccer
• Rollerblade
• Play tennis
• Rock climb
• Race bicycles
• Walk
• and are often Techies.

Redmondites are a very smart, athletic bunch!

 Check the magazine’s July issue out. Every area of Seattle is measured for affordability, crime, WASL scores, minutes to downtown Seattle, and % of home appreciation. 

These are important things, but what’s important to you?  What are your favorite reasons for living in Redmond, Washington?  There are a lot of great reasons why people have chosen to live here rather than in other parts of the country and other Seattle area neighborhoods.  What’s your fave reason for living in Redmond?

Redmond’s portion of the Sammamish River Trail, the  Riverwalk, is just gorgeous.  My interest was piqued by an article in this weekend’s Seattle Times regarding the $10 million dollars worth of improvements and ten years of work done to the trail.  I hadn’t realized how long it’s been since I’ve been over on the Redmond part of the trail, and it is really different and wonderful.  It’s a  peaceful, beautiful, and relaxing walk.  We saw ducks and a blue heron parked on a rock on the river. People were biking on all sorts of bikes, inline skating, using ski poles, walking, walking with baby strollers, wheelchairs.  For me, it was a great way to multi-task: spend time with my husband, my Dad, my dog, get exercise, be outside, enjoy Redmond, and do a blog post!

Check it out, it’s a real asset to the City of Redmond.

It’s almost ready.  I stopped by Grasslawn Park in Redmond, Washington the other day and it’s looking pretty great.  The new basketball court is ready and the park is almost done, just in time for summer.

This just in from Timothy Cox of the City of Redmond:

The numbers will now be a reflection of totals from Thursdays.  This will help get the data to you before the weekend, whenever possible.  If the sun is out, I imagine you’ll want to be out and about, rather than looking at real estate data!

 The area represented by the statistics posted below is Redmond, 98052, south of highway 908.  The neighborhoods are all within shouting distance of Microsoft. In real estate terms, we call this area 530.  The area on Education Hill is called area 550 and is not part of this report. The numbers in parentheses show last week’s totals. All numbers are gathered mid-day on Thursdays from NWMLS information.  
Active Listings:  68(68) 

New listings:   4(5)

Sold subject to inspection: 1(4)

Pending:  3 (1)

Closed Sales:  1(2)

Sold Contingent: 0(0)

Rented: 0(0) 

Price Reductions:  7(0)

Price Increases:     0(0)

Expired Listings: 2(0)

Cancelled Listings: 1(4)

Temp Off Market:  0(0)

Back on Market: 0(0)
———————————

$0-$349,999:             0(0)

$350,000-$499,999:  4(5)

$500,000-$749,999:   38(36 )

$750,000-$999,999: 14(14)

 $1,000,000- $1,499,999:  7 (9)

$1,500,000- $2,999,999: 4(4)
———————————–
Average Price:    $819,028 ($847,153)

Median Price: $675,000($683,000)

Average Days on Market: 62(61)

Highest Priced Listing: $2,995,000 ($2,995,000)

Lowest Priced Listing: $379,950($379,950)

This week’s closed sale was at $719,000 down from $749,000 with an original list price in the mid 800’s.  It was on the market for 108 days.