"Realestalking."
That is what a Laurelhurst couple did when they found a home they fell in love with and bid on in 2007, but lost out because their offer was 30 minutes late. They never forget the house of their dreams and in 2008, they had their realtor send a letter to the owners when the house wasn't on the market and the owners sold it to them for $840k.
Happy ending!
The family that bought the house in 2007 bought it for $750k and owned it for 10 months before selling to the current couple according to the King County Public records.
This one story house, was built in 1943, but you'd never know it. After it's remodel in 2004 it ended up ultra modern. The house is located on 47th Ave NE just a block south of Sandpoint. It's 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms and 2190 square feet on a 4600 square foot lot.
I remember when it was a plain 1940's home, just like the others around it. I went in it when it was an open house before being remodeled then a few years later after it had been purchased and turned into a cool modern home. Quite a one of a kind home. You can't miss it when driving down 47th towards Sandpoint. There's a cool garage in the back that looks like a work space.
Next time one of our staffers drives by it we'll post a better picture. The one posted is from the Seattle Times.
Here's some of the Seattle Times article. The entire article can be found here.
"Shelley Saunders and Andrew Benjamin fell in love two years ago — with someone else's house.
At first the relationship was simply one of admiration for the Laurelhurst home, which emphasized metal and industrial lighting, so different from their own art-deco- style house 10 blocks away. But one thing led to another, and admiration became a desire to possess.
'We've become — maybe me a little more than my husband — a little fixated on this house,' Saunders confessed.
When Saunders and Benjamin originally bid for their Laurelhurst dream home in 2007, the offer was rejected by a seller who wanted to avoid a bidding war, having been involved in an unpleasant one when buying the house. 'We were crushed,' Saunders said. 'Our hearts were set on it.'
They tried to move on. After their son left for college, Saunders and Benjamin hired Windermere agent Maggie Weissman to help them downsize. They began seeing other places, and even had a brief flirtation with a houseboat. But whenever they saw another property, they would look at each other and say, 'It's not the one on 47th,' the one that got away, Saunders said.
Finally, she asked Weissman to draft a letter to the home's owners with an offer to buy it.
'I think she said yes because she thought it would give us some closure,' Saunders said.
The new owners, who were about to go on abroad on a trip, said they would consider it. Four days later, they wrote from Ireland, accepting the $840,000 for the home, according to county records.
'We haven't regretted it,' Saunders said. 'It was a great move for us, even though it was a terrible time to be putting our house on the market.'
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