Don’t get too excited — this is NOT our new house. Bummer, right?
All photos in this post are listing images of Seattle homes we saw online or in person while house hunting. Some properties were contenders, others were out of our price range or in the wrong location, and some simply weren’t the right fit. These homes illustrate the ups and downs of searching in a competitive market. The house we chose is not shown here.
So, if you’ve been following our journey, you know we sold our house. It was a difficult decision, but ultimately we felt peaceful about it. For months I’ve written about our desire to move closer to family in the Seattle area. Moving to a city like Seattle is a big step — it affects family life and comes with a high cost of living. The local housing market can be especially challenging if you’re not coming from an even hotter market.
A few weeks before our deadline, we put our house on the market to see what would happen. We had a deadline of September 1 because of the new school year, so there was pressure to sell quickly. If it sold in time, great; if not, we’d stay put.
We’ve had tough selling experiences before — deals falling through at the last minute — so when we received an offer this time we tried not to celebrate until everything was finalized. If you want to read more about that part of our story, I previously shared details about the sale and moving day.
Even before our sale was certain, we began house hunting in Seattle the previous spring. We didn’t expect to buy before selling, but we wanted to understand the market, explore neighborhoods and see what might be realistic for our budget.
My husband and I spent a few days driving around different neighborhoods, getting a feel for them. The house at the top of this post was my dream home — instantly loveable — but at over a million dollars it remained out of reach.
That was OK. This move wasn’t about finding a perfect dream house; it was about creating the right life for our family. For someone who loves houses as much as I do, that required leaning into contentment and prioritizing lifestyle over idealized curb appeal.
Buying in this market is stressful. With so few available homes, competition is fierce and buyers often pay well above asking price. You have to be realistic about what you’re willing to pursue and accept that luck and timing matter. We reminded ourselves often that simply being in this position was a privilege, and we stayed grateful through the uncertainty.
We focused our search on Magnolia, Queen Anne, Ballard, Sunset Hill, Greenlake and nearby areas — neighborhoods we liked for different reasons. That concentration made the search harder because these are desirable and competitive parts of the city.
Proximity to family was our top priority. Our girls live in Magnolia and our son’s school was an important consideration, so we wanted to avoid long commutes. We were open to any house in the right area that fit our needs.
We weren’t looking for a full-on fixer-upper; we needed a home we could move into and live in while making improvements over time. Cosmetic updates or modest renovations were fine, but a complete rebuild was more than we could handle while living there.
Many homes looked great online but disappointed in person, which helped us become more pragmatic. Photos can be misleading, and we learned to look beyond staging and listing descriptions to assess real potential and functionality.
We liked the Sunset Hill area of Ballard because it offered walking access to water views without the higher price tags of some waterfront streets. Queen Anne was appealing because of school ties, but many houses in our price range needed more work than we were prepared for and would likely attract higher bids.
We weren’t willing to get into a bidding war. Our budget and circumstances didn’t put us in a position to outbid everyone else, and that constraint proved helpful — it kept us realistic and focused on what we truly needed.
Many charming houses sold far above asking prices, sometimes more than $100,000 over. Even properties that needed significant repairs attracted high bids. It was eye-opening and a reminder that the market was intense.
Because we weren’t finding the right fit in our initial neighborhoods, we expanded our search slightly outside those areas. We discovered a quiet neighborhood within five miles of everything we needed — close to water and a beach — where the prices felt a bit more reasonable for what you get. That area ultimately became the neighborhood where we found our house, which confirmed that looking a little beyond the most popular pockets can pay off when you’re on a budget.
After months of researching and previewing homes, we finally listed our house. When it sold quickly, our search intensified. I briefly traveled for work right after we received an offer, and while I was away we found a house that had been beautifully remodeled and seemed full of potential. We made an offer but were outbid.
While I was out of town, our daughters toured more houses with our realtor. They felt discouraged at first — many listings were either in poor condition or too expensive — but they found one property that excited them. They sent me photos and details, and I arranged to see it as soon as I returned. That house turned out to be the one we chose. I can’t share photos yet until everything is finalized, but I’ll post details as soon as I’m able. Thank you for following along — we’re excited for this next chapter.
If you want to read more about our move, check the moving posts on the blog and start from the beginning to follow the whole story.
PS. If any large ads have appeared on the site and covered your screen this week, I’m sorry — it’s just as frustrating for me as it is for you, and we’re working to have them removed.