Outpriced? Check out these affordable homes

Budget-minded home buyers — and let's face it, who isn't? — may find themselves despondent at their stereotypical choices: the ramshackle fixer or deeply dated home in a choice neighborhood; the spacious but charmless barracks at the edge of suburbia; the transient-feeling condo or townhouse; and the too-small or too-weird or too-smelly home that can't be redeemed with paint and yard-sale knickknacks.

The occasional gems that do hit the market seem to come and go as fast as sun breaks on a Puget Sound day.

The median home price in King County clocked in at $469,000 in May, according to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, meaning that just getting into a home — much less one with nice finishes — is increasingly tough for buyers on even solidly middle-class budgets.

But hope awaits — and it's on parade this weekend and next at The Parade of Affordable Homes, a two-weekend tour of affordable homes throughout King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, with prices ranging from $69,900 (no, that's not a misprint, though it includes only the home, not the land) to $350,000.

Most of the homes featured in the parade are newly constructed and situated in communities or buildings where there are often multiple budget properties available, meaning these well-appointed abodes aren't the only game in their ZIP code.

Housing resource fairs in Lynnwood, Seattle and Tacoma offer maps to these featured homes and the chance to chat with representatives of loan programs and other service organizations directed at buyers with sub-median or just-over-median incomes.

What you'll find

Parade of Affordable Homes


Hours and dates: Noon to 4 p.m. today, Sunday and June 23-24.

Locations: For directions to homes on the tour, go to www.affordablehomeparade.org or visit one of three housing fairs for a map and directions.

Housing fairs:

• Lynnwood Senior Center, 5800 198th St. S.W., Lynnwood.

• Thurgood Marshall Elementary, 2401 S. Irving St., Seattle.

• Portland Avenue Community Center, 3513 E. Portland Ave., Tacoma.

So what will buyers see during the parade?

Condominium properties include such homes as a 580-square-foot Capitol Hill unit in the historic Press building for just over $300,000 to a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit priced at $349,000 in the newly-built The Verge Condominium near Alki Beach.

Single-family home shoppers can browse a new 1,446-square-foot home in White Center that has three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms for $339,950, or an 1,852-square-foot home with a three-car garage in Everett for $349,950.

Those who want a custom-built home in Pierce County or in six other locations outside the Seattle area can tour a $69,900, 1,716-square-foot model home in Puyallup available from HiLine Homes. The home's price assumes buyers will buy their own lot, but once they do, they can have HiLine custom-build a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a double garage.

How do the homes look?

Based on a downtown Seattle check, these homes' finishes indicate that "budget" need not mean "boring." Downtown condos featured in the fair offer all the interior "bling" a well-heeled buyer would expect: granite countertops, hardwood floors, stainless-steel appliances, warm wool carpets and more.

Take Capitol Hill's The Press building, which used to house a printing press. Studios start at $201,000, while one-bedroom units begin in the $300,000s. Homes feature kitchen spaces with granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances and hardwood floors; living and bedrooms offer high-end Berber carpet; and bathroom spaces boast earth-toned floor tiles. One-bedroom and larger units include parking spaces.

The Decatur Condos on First Hill showcase a 625-square-foot unit on the eighth floor that features stainless-steel appliances, slab granite countertops, Brazilian cherry wood floors and retro bathroom touches such as subway tile and octagonal floor tiles — for $299,950.

The Trace Lofts building on Capitol Hill offers $250,000 loft studio units featuring building-wide touches like reclaimed fir floors, and finishes such as bamboo, terrazzo, basalt and unique vinyl materials as well as parking and storage. Larger one-bedroom units run about $350,000.

The Tobira condominiums, located between the International District and Pioneer Square, offer homes at prices starting under $200,000. The tour showcases a home for $339,500 that includes two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen stocked with stainless-steel appliances and illuminated with designer lighting; a living room flanked by a built-in room divider; and a parking space.

While inexpensive homes are hard to come by in Puget Sound, these might be worth a look — or more. .

Jane Hodges is a freelance writer in Seattle. Her e-mail is janehodges@hotmail.com.