The Frelard Success Story

Last week, we listed a home in that “sweet spot” of $1M. Our sellers had already done the heavy lifting by remodeling the main floor, opening up the kitchen, and updating the bathroom. To bring it over the finish line, we handled:

• Full interior and exterior paint
• Fresh landscaping
• Staging
• A pre-inspection to reduce unknowns and contingencies

The Result: 44 showings, 50 groups through the open houses, and 9 offers yesterday. The winning offer was almost 20% over the list price.

The Single-Family Home Market Takeaways

• For Sellers: The “Three Ps”: Prep, Presentation, and Price still reign supreme. A turnkey home in a hot neighborhood is a magnet for multiple offers.
• For Buyers: To win, you need to be ready. This means waiving all your contingencies, having a lender who can close in 14 days, and being prepared to swing for the fences on price. It also doesn’t hurt to release a large amount of earnest money to the seller.

We weren’t the only bidding war

We spent yesterday in the trenches with our buyers (which is why this newsletter is hitting your inbox a day late!) and traded notes with fellow agents:

• Capitol Hill: We bid on a home with 10 offers; it likely closed at 20%+ over asking.
• Ballard: We narrowly missed out in a 3-way bidding war at the $1.75M price point
• Highland Park & Seaview: A home in Highland Park saw 3 offers but held near list price, while a Seaview home had 5+ offers.
• The Wildcard: A Magnolia condo recently sold for nearly 40% over the asking price!? It’s a clear signal: we desperately need more boutique condos with larger floor plans in core neighborhoods.

If you have a home in Ballard, Capitol Hill, Madrona, or Fremont, we have buyers looking! They’re happy to buy off-market, saving you from doing any prep work.

A Silver Lining for Buyers

It’s not all bidding wars. We just handed over the keys to our 13th buyer at Spire. He secured a stunning NW corner unit on the 29th floor for $200K, well below the price the seller paid in 2022.

🏠 Listings that caught our eye last week

• Most expensive pending: Yarrow Point west-facing waterfront at $8.8M
• Highest % over asking sale: Magnolia condo for 38% over
• Most expensive sale: Yarrow Point waterfront for $7.8M
• Least expensive sale: White Center condo for $215K
• Most popular Seattle listing on Redfin: Phinney Ridge remodel for $1.3M

📰 Must-read real estate news

• The single-family home gets caught in a political vise (NYT)
• Developers want rollback of Seattle affordability program as construction stalls (Seattle Times)
• Bellevue developer secures $88 million loan for apartment project to light rail (PSBJ)
• King County ranked sixth among all counties in the U.S for numeric growth from July 2024 to July 2025, and was the only county outside the Sun Belt in the top 10, writes FYI guy (Seattle Times)
• Philanthropy exec sells Mercer Island home for $9.9M (PSBJ)
• Number of people leaving WA jumps (Seattle Times)

👀 Buyers are putting fewer homes under contract

Seattle: 330 new listings last week, down 9.6% w-o-w
Eastside: 280 new listings last week, up 8.5% w-o-w

Seattle: 194 pending last week, down 5.8% w-o-w
Eastside: 126 pending last week, down 7.3% w-o-w

🔥 The hottest new listings

$6.5M Issaquah modern

$6M Kirkland modern

$2.5M Woodridge midcentury modern

Check out last week’s market update, Inventory is up 18%. Why are there still bidding wars?

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