Neighborhood of the week: Harbour Pointe

Not everyone who lives in Harbour Pointe has a great view. But they don't have to go far to get one.

"It's great," says Ellen Forster. "We don't have a view from our home, but every time I drive down the hill to my house if it's clear I can see the water and the sunset."

The view of Puget Sound and the snow-capped Olympic Mountains from the Harbour Pointe neighborhood in Mukilteo is just one of the many amenities that residents and boosters like to rave about. It's also the most obvious one to first-time visitors.

Some parts of Harbour Pointe — a master-planned community about three decades old and annexed by Mukilteo in 1991 — resemble a country club, with spacious well-crafted homes lining a professionally designed golf course.

Other areas look like a modern urban village with town homes, apartments and condominiums lining wide, quiet, tree-lined streets.

Harbour Pointe also gets points for its location — just down the road from the Boeing plant in Everett and near the Bothell biotechnology corridor, plus a short drive from the freeways serving Seattle and the Eastside.

But the neighborhood also is considered far enough away from the major population centers to offer more affordable prices for its homes.

"It is clearly a desirable place to live because you get so much satisfaction and convenience without the big-city home prices," said Tina Chun, a longtime Harbour Pointe resident and an agent with Windermere Real Estate Mukilteo's office. Prices for homes that were recently for sale ranged from $54,000 for a one-bedroom condo to more than $1 million for a custom home with water and mountain views.

The median value of all single-family houses in Mukilteo, not just those that recently sold, was $377,300 in December, down 10.3 percent year-over-year, the Zillow Home Value Index shows.

That compares to a drop of 11.3 percent for single-family houses in the Seattle metro area, according to Zillow.

The median value of condos in Mukilteo was $169,800 in December, down 17.2 percent year-over-year, according to Zillow.

A neighborly feel

Forster, owner of Pi Plus Tutors in Mukilteo, has lived in Harbour Pointe for 16 years. She said that she and her husband chose it for its schools, proximity to her hometown of Everett and for its small-town feel.

"It's a really friendly community, a place where I just know people so many places I go. It definitely has a really nice neighborly community feel to it," she said.

"It's a beautiful spot. We have Big Gulch [a popular city park] that people hike in and we have some nice new trails behind the library that allow you to get right into the woods. There are wooded trails throughout the neighborhood."

Like many other residents, Forster — a mother of three with one child each in the area's elementary, middle school and high school — speaks highly of the schools in Harbour Pointe, which are part of the Mukilteo School District.

"We've been really happy with the quality of the kids' education," says Forster.

The community actively supports its schools. In 2005, Endeavour Elementary School needed a new playground.

Parents, teachers and other concerned citizens raised the funds, poured a new foundation, hauled the new equipment off the cargo truck and installed and assembled it, with sandwiches, pizza and drinks provided for those who helped.

While the schools are a big draw for families, the area has much to offer singles and older residents as well.

Harbour Pointe is lined with sidewalks and full of walking trails, making the beauty of the area accessible for residents and visitors on foot or bicycle.

Many of the developments have parks built into them.

"It's a great place for kids to play and a way for neighbors to get to know each other and to build community," says Chun.

Harbour Pointe also is home to a light industrial and commercial business corridor that was designed to maintain the community's residential feel, tree-lined and well-kept as is the rest of the neighborhood.

A variety of shops, restaurants, banks, groceries and other businesses help make Harbour Pointe a self-sustaining neighborhood.

The community has a YMCA and a newer library that offers a lodge-style fireplace inside and wooded walking trails outside.

There is a new City Hall and Mukilteo's police and fire departments are headquartered in Harbour Pointe, too.

Another selling point: Mukilteo was ranked 10th on Money magazine's list of "America's best small towns" in 2009.

Variety of styles, prices

Take a drive on Harbour Pointe Boulevard, a road that gracefully loops around the neighborhood, and you'll find a wide variety of home styles and prices.

• A one-bedroom, one-bath 588-square-foot condo recently sold for $54,000.

• A three-bedroom, 2.5-bath, 1,480-square-foot town home recently sold for $247,500.

• A three-bedroom, two-bath, 2,000-square-foot single-family house with a 10,000-square-foot lot was being offered for $358,000.

• Luxury water-view condos were priced from $359,500 with luxury view single-family houses just under $1 million.

• The Crown Park development features Craftsman-style houses ranging in price from $450,000 to $600,000 for three to five bedrooms, 2.5-plus baths and an average of 3,000 square feet.

• Harbour Pointe Village has old-fashioned styled lampposts and a combination New England and Craftsman-style architecture. The homes are slightly smaller at an average of 2,100 square feet and have recently sold for a range between $375,000 to $450,000.

Crown Park and Harbour Pointe Village are newer developments and many of the homes there have what is known as a zero-lot line.

The lots begin five feet from the edge of the house and appeal to those who aren't interested in maintaining a large yard and would rather have more square footage of home for their dollar.

For those who crave land and a yard, plenty of other Harbour Pointe developments have both.

• Whidbey Lane, a more mature development with lots that include larger backyards, has average home sizes of 2,100 square feet and prices in the $300,000 range.

• One Clubhouse Lane, which winds around Harbour Pointe's golf course, has an average square footage of 2,900 with front and backyards on an average lot size of 9,000 square feet. Prices range from around $450,000 to more than $1 million.

• Homes in the hilly Chennault Beach neighborhood range from the mid-$300,000s to more than $1 million with a water view.

With home prices ranging from $54,000 to more than $1 million, Harbour Pointe promoters are proud of what they have to offer.

"There's a house for everyone here," says Chun.

Bill Kossen is a Seattle Times desk editor.