Is the worst over for Madison Park real estate?

Madison Park was one of the very few neighborhoods in the Seattle area to experience an increase in home values during the last quarter, at least according to a new survey issued by Zillow. Madison Park had an actual 4% increase in median house value, says Zillow, compared to the last quarter of last year. The next highest neighborhood on Zillow’s list was Vashon Island, where house values were up 1.7% for the quarter. Of the 137 neighborhoods surveyed by Zillow in the Seattle/Bellevue/Tacoma region, only 13 experienced an increase in house values. These include North Beacon Hill, Lower Queen Anne, and Meydenbaur (Bellevue). For the 98112 zip code area as a whole, there was a quarterly decline of 2.1%, according to Zillow.

The median value of a Madison Park home now stands at $885,000, down only .2% from one year ago. This compares with a median value of $379,013 for Seattle as a whole, where overall values declined 2.2% during the quarter and by 14.6% during the past year. The bottom line is that Zillow, at least, believes that Madison Park is doing quite well relative to the rest of region and the country as a whole. Madison Park‘s median home value of $885,000 represents 7.6% average annual appreciation for the past decade. Not bad.

For comparative purposes, it is interesting to note that only three Seattle-area neighborhoods in the Zillow analysis show a higher median home value (the point where half the homes are worth more and half are worth less) than our community: Medina ($1,431,018), Clyde Hill ($1,287,403) and Market/Downtown Kirkland ($939,417).

Kathryn Lister, a realtor at Coldwell Banker Bain, says it may be too early to say for sure whether the market has really turned in Madison Park. What she’s seeing is reluctance by some buyers to make a move right now. “On the upper end of the market,” she told me, “we’re dealing with savvy people,” the kind who are willing to wait to see if the interest rate and requirements for jumbo loans are eased by the banks in coming months. While prices may be at a good point, she said, there’s still the issue of how to finance. She believes that the differential between a conventional mortgage and a jumbo mortgage loan rate (5.0% versus 6.5% as of today) is too big, and the down-payment requirements for a jumbo (in the 25-30% range) also make this kind of loan problematic for many people. So there’s perhaps a wait-and-see attitude on the part of some buyers.

On the other hand, Madison Park is a special community “with a great neighborhood feeling,” she notes, and this just may be a big differentiator for houses in the Park, relative to other Seattle neighborhoods.

We will be providing an in-depth look at real estate sales and trends in Madison Park on a regular basis beginning next week, including statistical reports and analysis by area realtors. Stay tuned.

Zillow’s US real estate market surveys are available here: http://www.zillow.com/reports/RealEstateMarketReports.htm

[Photo of 1427 39th Avenue E., listed at $1,675,000, courtesy of Kathryn and Wendy Lister, Coldwell Banker Bain-Bellevue.]

Elephant causes pandemonium in the Park!

Well, it was exactly one hundred years ago today that it happened, but on May 28, 1909, a circus elephant named Queenie escaped from her handlers and ran amok in Madison Park for awhile before being recaptured. Queenie was one of the many animal attractions of a short-lived amusement park called White City located right here in Madison Park for several early years of the twentieth century.

As told by Alan J. Stein in an essay on HistoryLink.org, Queenie’s adventure started when a couple of little white dogs crept too close to her while she was being moved from her tent to another location in the park. The handler lost control, and the spooked Queenie gave chase to the dogs. As she rumbled through the park she managed to crash into the merry-go-round, breaking some of the wooden horses. Giving up on the dogs, which had broken to freedom by scampering under a fence, the pachyderm decided to take a break at the fruit stand, where she helped herself to a selection of apples and oranges. While she was munching away, she allowed a chain to be attached to her leg so that she could be tethered to the ground until her trainer arrived to lead her back to her assigned place.

The Seattle Times report of the incident has two women fainting as a result of the ruckus (this was apparently considered perfectly understandable female behavior in those days). It is lucky the two ladies did not stay around after their ordeal to witness a much more horrific event. Later that day, “a fox terrier owned by the manager of the animal menagerie wandered too close to a cage containing a Bengal tiger. In a flash, the feline reached through the bars, pulled the dog inside, and…” well, let’s just say that the poor terrier had a fate that was quite different from that of the two little white dogs that got away from Queenie.

Located south of Madison Street on the shore of the Lake, White City was a rather brief affair. It was apparently opened to take advantage of the crowds flocking to Seattle for the Alaska-Yukon Exhibition, which ran at the site of the University of Washington from June 1, 1909 until October 16, 1909. The Exhibition was Seattle’s first world’s fair and brought visitors from around the globe.

Admission to White City was ten cents; and in addition to its merry-go-round, the park boasted a Ferris wheel, side shows, and a miniature train ride for children and adults called the Lake Shore Railway. Some of the attractions were apparently brought over from the site of the Alaska-Yukon Exhibition after the fair closed.

White City appears to have lasted as a summer attraction only until 1912, when the park’s owners, the Borderland White City Co., finally called it quits. Queenie’s later career is not chronicled.

[Picture of Queenie pushing a White City concession building on rollers is from the Seattle Times May 30, 1909, courtesy of HistoryLink.org. The White City postcard courtesy of Jim Abbate.]

Citizen journalism alive in Seattle

Although most of us are well aware of the recent demise of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer print edition, there are many who probably don't know that in addition to keeping the on-line P-I website in operation, Hearst has indirectly spawned a second web-based news source for the Seattle area, the Seattle Post Globe. Hearst's role in helping create this new site, of course, was by firing most of the P-I staff, many of whom are now tying to make a go of this non-profit alternative.  The site is being operated in partnership with KCTS-TV. Post Globe editor Kery Murakami assesses the situation bluntly when asking for donations to keep the site up and running: "the future of journalism is now in your hands."  Among the staffers of the Post Globe are writers Art Thiel and Mike Lewis and Photographer Grant Haller.  

Murikami reports that at this point they have enough funding to operate the site for one month, so success will only come with a quick rise in readership and donations.  I recommend you check out the Post Globe by taking a look at Kathy Mulady's great story, Tracking Down Seattle's Vintage Street Cars.

POLICE BLOTTER
MAY 18-21

There were several car prowl incidents in the area during the past week, including a report by one of my neighbors that Friday night at about 11pm they discovered that several men were going through their car, which was parked on the street. The men got away, but not before taking a digital camera from the glove compartment. In another incident, thieves stole a cell phone and GPS system, gaining entry to the car by smashing the passenger side window. Another smash-and-dash incident occurred in the Arboretum parking lot, where a car was broken into and a debit card was taken, along with other items. Charges of $400 were made on the debit card before the card was reported stolen.

The bottom line appears to be don’t leave valuables in your car, especially if it is parked on the street or in another public location. One of my fellow bloggers who does the blog for Wallingford (wallyhood.org) raised the issue of car prowling with the Seattle Police earlier this Spring. In response he was sent a document entitled Preventing Car Prowl, which he describes as “more depressing than helpful.” His summary:

· Thieves will break into your car and there’s nothing you can do about it
· Your best bet is to remove every worldly possession you have from your vehicle
· Even so, they’ll assume you’re hiding something under the seat
· It doesn’t matter how crappy your car is, they’ll still break in
· They’re going to wreck your window and probably the door.

If you experience a car prowl incident please do report it to the police via 911. As noted by Wallyhood, the police state that "part of the calculation used to determine how many officers to assign to an area is based in part on reported crime."

If you’d like to read Police’s official document, you may do so here: Preventing Car Prowl.

Madison Park was apparently fairly quiet, crime wise, during the past few days. Here are a couple of out-of-the-ordinary crime reports:

In the wrong place at the wrong time: The manager of an E. Madison Street apartment building in Madison Valley called the police to report that he had seen a woman enter an apartment using a key! He supposedly felt this was suspicious since the apartment in question was not rented by the woman. The police came and made contact with the woman, who told them that she had sub-let the apartment from a man who had later assaulted her. She said she had a restraining order against the man, which the police were able to verify. However, while doing this verification, the police also did a check on the woman and discovered that there was a warrant issued by the Spokane police for a woman using that name as an alias. The description on the warrant seemed to be “very similar” to the woman in question, so the police promptly arrested her and transported her to the police station. After some delay, the arresting officer was able to examine a photo of the woman described in the warrant, finding the woman to be “markedly different” from the woman just arrested. She was released. Her commentary on the incident was not recorded in the police report.

Am I missing something?: A Madison Park resident reported to the police that in early April he had answered an ad on Craig’s list to become an “executive driver” for Victoria’s Secret. The ad stated that the job would entail providing limousine service for Victoria’s Secret “executive family members” when they flew into western Washington. He later was contacted and told he had won the job and that he would be receiving advance payments for taking the assignment. He did receive a $4,000 check, following which he said he checked with both Victoria’s Secret and the issuing bank to determine that the check was good. He was assured that the check was valid. He later received additional checks from the same source, but he told the police that he didn’t deposit them because he had become suspicious. Sure enough, his bank soon informed him that the original $4,000 check he had deposited was fraudulent. The “victim” then sent an email to the source of the check stating that he was reporting him to the police “and never to contact him again.” All of this happened over a two week period. There was no information in the police report on whether or not the man's limousine services were ever utilized by Victoria’ Secret executive family members while in Seattle.

McGilvra’s reconsidered

In the month since we reviewed McGilvra’s (Much needed addition?) the new bar and eatery seems to have hit its stride. Reviews of the restaurant on Yelp during the past month have been significantly better than when the place first opened (the last seven reviews have averaged almost four stars out of five, whereas the average of the early reviews was only one star). Meanwhile, Urban Spoon Seattle gives McGilvra’s a 91% favorable rating, with 23 reviews to date (Urban Spoon voting is on an I Like It/I Don’t basis).

Someone who recently ate at McGilvra’s just commented our own review, stating that while the food and atmosphere were good, the staff seemed young and inexperienced (the food took 45 minutes to arrive). So perhaps there is still some inconsistency in the service, depending on whether things are particularly busy (as on a rare sunny day).

A friend and I checked out the lunch scene at McGivlra’s last week and found the service and the food excellent. He had the fish sandwich and pronounced it very good, and I had the toasted BLTA (A for Avocado) sandwich and rated it a 10. Personally, I think they’ve got their act together and the jury is now in: worthwhile addition to the neighborhood.

Filling a void or just filling time?

Today marks the one-month anniversary of this blog! When I began this project I didn’t intend to do a blog about Madison Park at all. The title of the blog was chosen simply because I wanted to be Seattle Blogger and that moniker was already taken. So, I chose Madison Park Blogger just as a way of designating where I was blogging from, not what I planned to blog about. Actually, my vision was to give myself a platform for broadcasting my jaded views on life, along with occasional diatribes about the maddening world in which we live. That, at least, was the plan.

About a half week into my blog experiment, however, it was pointed out to me that Madison Park doesn't really have any timely source of information about what’s happening in the neighborhood. The Madison Park Times, a worthy little publication, only publishes monthly, and its coverage area also includes Denny-Blaine, Madrona, Leschi, and Madison Valley. Additionally, the staff of the paper was recently decimated and the editor removed. The new editor handles five separate publications, and it is not clear that the paper currently has a reporter who actually lives in Madison Park. Worse yet, many of the news stories and editorial content of the MVT are from the publisher’s other Seattle neighborhood papers (for example, a recent story on Megahouses had a picture of a Madison Park house with a story which quoted sources in Ballard and Capitol Hill, but no one from the Park.)

It seems that the only way to disseminate information on a timely basis in the ‘hood is to post a note on the board at the hardware store or at Starbuck’s, put a flier in the windows of those retail establishments that will allow them, or staple notices on telephone poles. Otherwise, it’s word of mouth.

So this blog is now designed to fill that void. My intention is to meet the need for a central source of information on Madison Park issues and events. But if this is to be a successful operation it will depend upon your help in getting the word out. If you think this site is valuable please let your neighbors know about it (and if you haven’t done so already, please also vote in the reader poll situated in the right-hand column of the blog). If you can think of additional ways for us to publicize the site please forward your ideas (our email address is also in the right-hand column). To date it has been suggested that I use the methods listed above as well as setting up a table at the Music in the Park concerts and at the Sidewalk Sale and Parade. I will also be placing an ad in that old-fashioned medium, the Madison Park Times.

We did hit some milestones in the last month that make me cautiously optimistic that this blog is for real. We were picked up as a media source for EveryBlock.com, and we were reviewed and rated by Blogged.com (to put this into perspective, that team has rated 26 Washington blogs, with this blog ranking 9^th on their list). We were also accepted for inclusion as a “hyperlocal" blog by BlogCatalog, which gives us some additional exposure. We had the first referral to our site through both a Google search and a Yahoo search, and somebody in Tunisia (believe it or not) actually spent 14 minutes reading blog posts on the site earlier this week! The average daily number of visitors to Madison Park Blogger is now 25, up from just 2 during the first week (just me, and perhaps my wife). Stats for the site, by the way, are measured by SiteMeter, and you can click on the icon at the bottom of the right-hand column for up-to-date traffic information if you’re interested.

Thanks to all of you who through email or in person have encouraged me to continue my efforts. I appreciate your support, and it’s nice to know that someone out there is reading this stuff. Please continue to provide your input (both complimentary and critical) and send me your story ideas. Please comment on the posts (you can do so by clicking on "Comments" at the bottom each story). Your tips are always welcome!

Boo hoo! Boo hoo! FOTF no more

Last Friday, when the WaMu sign came down from Chase’s Madison Park branch, I wrote a blog entry talking about the days when WaMu was known as the Friend of the Family (FOTF for short). My photographer neighbor, Bob Peterson, now provides us with a Madison Park connection to WaMu’s 20-year FOTF ad campaign, featuring character actor Booth Coleman. Coleman personified the Bank’s then-folksy image; and he was famous in Washington State, at least, for his mastery of the avuncular role. It seems that several of the FOTF TV commercials were shot in Bob’s front yard, right here on 42nd Avenue E. And Bob’s got a photo to prove it:

Bob reports that not only is the 86-year-old Coleman still alive, but he’s still acting. A native Northwesterner (born in Portland, Oregon), Coleman has a long and distinguished film, TV and stage career to his credit, including a role as one of the apes in the TV version of Planet of the Apes.

Coleman and the Friend of the Family tag line epitomized Washington Mutual for about two decades, ending in the early 1990’s. At the time the Bank was seized by federal regulators last summer in what is to date the largest bank failure in U.S history, the Bank’s official tag line was Whoo hoo! Whoo hoo!

Need I say more?

[Photo of TV Commercial © Bob Peterson: http://www.bobpeterson.com/]