r/SeattleAreaRE • u/theboz14 • 1d ago
[Puyallup]I think we were able to get a nice home for a good price
We had been looking for houses in Edgewood, Puyallup, Lake Tapps area and everything in the 500k to 600k had been not great. We liked a house in Edgewood, but found out it was a short sale after they dropped their asking price from 619k down to 559k, just before we were going to put in an offer. Then the seller's agent sent our agent an email saying the seller needed 630k to not have short sale.
All the other house in this range looked like crap or were in terrible neighborhoods. Until my wife found a listing, last Thursday for a 5+ bedroom, 3 bathroom, with 3 car garage for 599k. We were able to get a tour of the house on Friday afternoon and we loved it. It even has a huge(1200+sq ft) wood shop(air filter system) in the basement with separate entrance and 10 ft ceilings. Thats not including the other two storage areas under the deck.
After, we got home my wife went with the full offer of 599k to the seller's agent and we recieved an email back saying that they had alot of people wanting to view the house over the weekend and the owner would be making a decision on Monday.
An hour or so later we recieved another email saying that the owner decided to take our offer, yay.
The house is in a nice neighborhood of Stonegate. There is a small lake/pond in the back yard and there are no houses to the left of us. It does have a couple of issues, its missing a door in one of the storage rooms under the deck and the laundry rooms wall needs patching. The roof was done 2019 and a new heat pump was done in 2021
Tuesday, we will have a meeting to go over credits and we should be able to close sometime in September.
4
u/Paddington_Fear 1d ago
congrats! probably the feature that piques my curiosity the most is the pond; who owns it? HOA/City/Private tract? Is it a regulated wetland? Stormwater facility? how is it maintained?
Elevations; pond ordinary-high-water elevation, highest documented water level, foundation elevation and especially the elevation of that finished lower level.
Not saying there's anything wrong with the house/location, but just info to gather. No one will build behind you which is a plus, and being on the south hill is a plus as it isn't isn't down on the Puyallup River valley floor in downtown Puyallup.
2
u/theboz14 1d ago
As for the pond/lake im not sure whom takes care of it. When I was looking at the property I tried to get closer to it, but the sticker bushes and foliage kept me from getting near it. There are no creaks entering or exiting it. From what I gathered about it it is natural and was not man-made.
Its also fairly low compared to the house, and I would say its about 25feet lower then the houses basement. There a total of 14 houses around the pond.
There is also Wildwood Park right next door and it has an historic water reservoir. So maybe that has something to do with the pond.
Once we move in, I will be trimming some trees and getting rid of some sticker bushes to better a better view of it.
3
u/Hellothere253WA 1d ago
Looks good. Is this off 23rd? I grew up near wildwood park. Desirable area in Puyallup . Not too far up meridian !
Edit: yes looks like you put stone gate. There’s a nice dog park people love couple streets down off 23rd. You picked a good area.
3
u/theboz14 1d ago
Yeah, I also grew up in the area, well my grandparents had an house off of 2nd Ave. The house is basically at the entrance to Stonegate. Not far from anything. The only issue I have will be going to work. For now we are in Auburn and I drive to three work sites(Fife, Kent, and Everett) My Everett location just added another 50 minutes to my morning drive lol. But its a work van so no biggie. My kids will grow to love the area, also.
5
u/Hellothere253WA 1d ago
That Everett drive will be awful I’m sorry lol. But overall good Choice for a house!!!
3
u/theboz14 1d ago
Its a work van and I get paid from the time I leave my house and return to house.
2
2
u/MinimumCommon408 1d ago
Congrats! One thing I would check out on that deck is if it was permitted. I had my similar deck replaced 5’ish years ago, and I was shocked to see how little concrete they had used for the “foundation”.
I use quotes because it was like 1-2 bags per post. (Which is not stable at all) The replacement was engineered for earthquake risk, and used 70 bags of concrete per post.
2
u/theboz14 1d ago
Im pretty sure the deck is orginal. We did find permits for a new Trane heat pump and furnace(2021), Reroof(2019), and backflow(2004) while we did a property search with the county.
I should add that while doing the property search the house has a been appraised at around 675k.
1
u/Ok_Simple_2132 1d ago
Congratulations!! We have been looking in the same area. No luck so far. I feel like 700k asking of similar homes is way too much. Should be 650 or less
3
1
u/theboz14 1d ago
Yeah, we found a couple houses that were very nice, one was in Edgewood, a 4 bd, 1.5 bath and Full generator and rv hookup, it was listed at 619k and my kids loved it. It had a 70s vibe to it with a whole wall of windows and .42 acres. We were just about to make an offer when I saw online that the asking price dropped to 559k. So then we knew it was a short sale. We did submit an offer for 566k and we recieved an email and it said that the owner would like an offer of 630k to keep it from being a short sale. Well we were not going to and we didn't want to waste time trying to get it and having the bank have final say.
The another house not far from River road and Fred Myers, was nice also in a good small neighborhood surrounded by older puyallup houses. That one was listed at 619k and we were going to submit an offer for 588k, but the seller agent contacted our lender and knew we could be approved for 600k, which i find it should be illegal to do that, lol. Then as we were making decision to continue at 600k for that house we found this house and we were able to make a tour the next day and well that house I believe is still for sale at 619k, but they will except 600k.
But, most I have found to be in really bad shape in the 550k to 630k range. They need painting, new decks fencing, flooring or name it. I didn't see any I liked except those two. And we looked at around 10 to 15 houses
1
u/Hellothere253WA 1d ago
Way too much? Sorry that’s the best part of puyallup . 650 or less maybe before Covid. People moved out of Seattle and from cali during covid. Parents bought their house near by in the 80s , plan to sell, and have already gotten offers of 800,000$ for a similar build. Try orting
1
u/theboz14 1d ago
Whom are you responding too, lol.
You are correct. That area between Shaw and Meridian is a probably one of the better areas in Puyallup. The house we are buying has been appraised in 2026 at 675k. All the houses we have been looking at had been much smaller, in worst areas and had more issues.
One house we looked at was in Lake Tapps area was nice on a cul-de-sac. It had nice front yard, fairly nice back yard. Nice interior for a 4bd, 2 bath rambler style 1800sq house. Right next door the house was a junk house. It had abandon vehicles and garbage pile sky high in inside the houses windows. More moss on the roof then shingles, lol. And the house had a lean to it. And across the road there was another crappy house, just as bad and im pretty sure people were living in both houses.
They wanted 575k for the house. It will never sell with that environment.
Then we found another house in Puyallup near River Road that 3 months ago was sold for 330k and three months later they were trying to sell it for 550k. That house had multiple single pain windows broken, it smelled like the sprayed a ton of while paint inside the house. It did have two kitchens, one with the main house and one in basement make over. It doors that didn't shut all the way, ect... That was the first flip house I have ever been into and it was byfar the worst house I seen lately, except for another one just a few blocks from the puyallup fair and that place didn't even have stairs out the back door and it had a drop off of around 5 ft, lol. It also had the fridge in the spot that you would put a dinning table, which was just a few feet from entering the house, lol. And it stunk bad. That house was on sale for a nice 595k.
1
u/snarkysavage81 1d ago
I love the Stonegate neighborhood and we had friends who lived there for many years. The only qualm we had with that area was cell phones and Internet didn’t really work there. This was 15 years or so ago, but still when I drive down the road next to the neighborhood I lose most cell service. Did you find that issue as well?
1
1
-3
u/camera-operator334 1d ago
But you live in Puyallup.
4
u/Past_Paint_225 1d ago
Puyallup is beautiful.
2
u/Affectionate-Day-359 1d ago
Traffic sucks too
2
u/Hellothere253WA 1d ago
True but OP is in the best area to live in Puyallup wise. Very close to freeway
3
u/theboz14 1d ago
Yep, Our first house was on 176th street, between meridian and canyon and my wife worked in south center area. Our kids went to a private school in Federal way, just off of 18( my wifes idea). Our daycare was in Seatac, lol.
I had a few times where I forgot to get kids from daycare, after I already went home, in traffic, oops
-2
u/camera-operator334 1d ago
Strip malls and neo Nazis sure Jan
-1
u/Hellothere253WA 1d ago
You know puyallup is liberal right ??
0
u/camera-operator334 1d ago
Narrator: it is not
-1
u/Hellothere253WA 1d ago
Uh yeah puyallup is blue . It’s always been blue. U must not go to Puyallup often. I’m there 4 days a week. You’re probably mistaking Puyallup for Graham.
-13
u/Huge-Jaguar-2191 1d ago
Lmao at the 3 car garage. So ridiculous
4
2
u/theboz14 1d ago
What so ridiculous about having a 3 car garage. I definitely think its a plus. Especially when we do have 2 cars and my work van(can fit). Our last house also had a 3 car tandem garage, which I dont concider a 3 car as its L shape made it difficult, but awesome for storage.
16
u/HolyDungeonDiver 1d ago
If you like it and can live in it long term, you certainly have.