Who needs furniture when you’ve got a good book and light to read by?
I’d say that this place is bigger than it looks, but…
…it’s not.
Listing: 9155 SW 283rd Ln., Vashon, WA 98070
Found by: Marty E.
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Marty E.
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First thought… “I’m sorry, what now?” I believe we’ve hit a new low on size/quality-to-price ratio.
I’m now very curious to know what sort of price tag the same piece of land without any “improvements” (and I use the term so loosely it’s falling apart as I type) would cost. Waterfront and unbelievable views (at least until Rainier blows) might just merit the cost for the land alone, with the cabin being an “incidental.” Although… it would make a nice closet/storage area for that trailer they mentioned there being parking room for. It’s not like you’d be able to use the cabin anyway to take a shower or, hell, even take a… well… you know… give there’s no water supply.
If it does sell at this price (one that’s appx 3X what it sold for in ’99), then I’d love to meet the buyer. See, I have this bridge I’ve been trying to sell…….
It’s an incredible piece of property. It would be cool to build a better cabin with a woodstove, outhouse, the whole thing. I love it. If one were willing to rough it a little, it could be amazing.
I am with K. If I had 99k burning a hole in my pocket I would gladly pick this place up and head there from Friday night to Sunday night nearly every weekend (it’s about an hour and a half from where I live). A couple thousand more in basic improvements would make it very nice even in the cooler months.
Put a real cabin on it and you could rent it out. It would pay for itself pretty quickly I think.
It is a dramatic property with a stunning view, but the key is what they aren’t showing you:
I reckon the road goes by less than thirty feet from that “secluded” cabin, just outside that bamboo “screen easily removed for auto access.” The fact that they actually call it a screen is a red flag that, without it, passersby would be looking straight down your secluded shirt collar and including you in their conversations.
Carefully parsed, the cabin area appears to be the only scrap of ledge between the road and the steep drop to the beach, and in fact comprises the “off street parking” to which the listing refers. If – and I do say, if – one could pour (or even permit) enough of a foundation to seat anything larger than what we see here, one would perforce have to build up rather than across… thus setting you at eye-level with passersby.
But hey, it’s a killer view – and you could always sell ice-cream out the kitchen window. :D
I went to zillow and zoomed in.The property seems to be better than I thought. There are large houses on the beach to either side, and the listing says it includes 80′ of beach. The beach area is where you would develop. The 1300 sq ft house in the lot next to it was built in 1923 and is valued at 389k.
The street next to the hut is a dead end and the only house farther up the road is the 389k one so there should be very little traffic if you live in the hut. If you built a house on the beach the street traffic would not bother you at all.
The only odd thing to me is that Zillow puts the lot at 29k which is what it sold for a while back. I am guessing those lots are terribly difficult to build houses on with that crazy slope.
@Samme and K – I agree the land alone may well be worth the price. If so, and I were the one trying to sell it, I would definitely concentrate on the land and its potential and perhaps only mention the cabin in passing. Focusing on the cabin is not doing any favors for the saleability of the package as a whole.
@Anodean – Good catches. I sure missed them. But then in general, usually nothing is entirely as it seems in real estate listings.
@ Samme again – Thanks for looking further. It’s good to know there are some decent structures nearby and that there’s something other than Anodean’s “ledge” to build on. If the zoning allows, one might also consider putting in a dock and using one’s boat as the sleep/eat/potty spot rather than spending the money on a new structure. Same view, same property, plus convenient mobility. :)
*Sigh* … Inspired by your ideas and Samme’s mad research skills, I google-mapped the street address and zoomed in via satellite image – because let’s face it, if there were any way to put a dwelling there, we’d all be chipping in and figure out the residency rota later. :D
It is indeed precipitous – and the “beach” could be more reasonably described as “the place where the waves meet the rock face.” It’s basically an unbuildable tent site with beach walking privileges, which makes me curious why it was divided from the adjoining properties – but I have an idea.
Both neighboring houses (not at all surprised to hear “built in 1920s, Samme, think grandfathered) look like they’ve got trouble: eroding shoreline. The waterline seems to be even with the drip line of the eaves of the house on the right, while the one on the left seems to have acted in time to build a substantial, three-sided breakwater that’s still juuust defending the footprint. I’m thinking that cost about what the parcel in question sold for, back in the day… and justified the nuisance of granting beach walking access. Some places don’t allow you to cross structures like that. :D
@anodean: So…. that boat dock is looking better and better, amiright?
That boat dock idea makes it even better. I could get off work Friday, take my boat over from the east side where I live and spend the weekend fishing on my boat, and sleeping with my boat docked on my own parcel. Man I wish I had thousands of dollars burning a hole in my pocket to get me a boat and a parcel of land and put a dock on it.
Good eye on the erosion, I didn’t notice that. Though the water in this area is pretty calm it does storm here occasionally.
Have to admit, a private mooring with a view like that – plus a “sturdy staircase” up to “off street parking” where you could keep a bike (your gateway to the little general store and other pleasures of the island) could be really sweet. If you were into boats. Boats and I don’t really get along.
Though I could see where you could have a lot of fun saluting the neighbors with the traditional steam whistle blasts of a docking (and departing) vessel. Might even get them to buy you out at a premium when you were tired of it. :D
@anodean: Does your average boat (or yacht, as I was imagining) still come with a steam whistle? Or any kind of whistle? What’s the protocol these days for required shipboard noisemakers? Are they required as a means to warn other vessels? Is there a decibel requirement commensurate with the power of the boat?
The only thing I personally know about shipboard noisemakers comes from my one and only cruise, part of my honeymoon, aboard the Disney Magic. Hubby and I were exploring the various decks the first morning and to the misfortune of our hearing and sanity we happened to be standing practically atop the damn thing when it went off at rock concert volume, surrealy playing out the first few notes of “When You Wish Upon A Star.” To paraphrase… damn right it makes no difference where you are ’cause that puppy had to have been heard all the way to Jamaica. (O_o) Needless to say, we were prone to overactively jumping at any even remotely loud sound for some time after that. I pity your dock neighbors if you ever get over your dislike of boats, Anodean.
I know formal maritime law and protocol require certain sensible, time-out-of-mind practices… and that modern equipment capable of producing a that profound, basso HUU-WAAAAAH now runs on a compressed air bottle you could stow in a canoe…
My entire sympathies on the aural hot-foot. I had much the same experience on dry land, while nosing out into the traffic circle at the center of a quaint old town (gazebo in the middle and everything) whose rural/industrial heritage turned out to include the town hall blowing such a signal at certain times. Just then. Beside me.
My entire spinal column locked into the startled-baby response in sincere, reptile-brain belief that I was about to be run down by a large ship with right-of-way. There were big ships and little bridges where I grew up… and they blow that signal to drawbridge operators in a prescribed request for passage.
A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and…
Well, you’ll have to wait outside until I finish dinner.
Looks like a great location for a crummy piece of property. The windows look great, but I’d hate to try to sleep in that cabin with the safety light keeping me up all night shining in mere FEET OUTSIDE THE WINDOW.
@Frodo: Wow… I never even noticed that. It’s odd that there would be a safety light – presumably wired – on the property yet no one saw fit to extend the wiring a few more feet to the cabin for something like, say, a space heater (or more lights). But since they didn’t, I’d take the safety light, which is better than nothing, and also invest in a good window shade for getting some sleep. Given that I would ever sleep there, which I wouldn’t.