Inside the most expensive home of 2018 in Snohomish County
Published 1:30 am Saturday, March 23, 2019
When real estate broker Mark von der Burg opened the door to greet his clients, they looked right past him.
The married couple from Seattle had their eyes on the sweeping views of Puget Sound and the Olympics, which glowed through the windows behind him. The $4.235 million waterfront home in Edmonds he was showing them was designed with that view in mind.
“I could tell their eyes lit up,” said von der Burg, the listing real estate agent for the property. “They had the same feeling that I did.”
The retired couple didn’t need much more convincing than that. All other highlights of the new house — such as the wine cellar, veranda and four-car garage — were welcome bonuses.
The north Edmonds home was the most expensive house sold in Snohomish County in 2018, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Three other homes in the county also sold for $3 million or more.
“You can find fault in anything, but it would be really hard to find fault in it,” von der Burg said of the Edmonds house, which Snohomish County values at $2.7 million for property tax assessments.
Von der Burg, the senior founding broker at VDB Compass, describes the 8,000-square-foot, five-bedroom and 4½-bath home as “casual contemporary,” with a straightforward and linear design. In the current higher-end home market, the style is trending in the Pacific Northwest instead of chateau-type homes.
“It’s not ‘Miami Vice’ style,” he said. “This is our modern.”
The house has all the amenities you’d expect from a dream home: a surround sound theater, exercise room, a pub and a heated and covered porch. Outside, the property boasts private tidelands, courtyards and lawns spanning 18,295 square feet on three lots.
Every so often a Sounder or cargo train rumbles by along the waterfront tracks. Von der Burg says the buyers feel this added to the property’s beauty.
The sale of the home in November came just two months after ACH NW LLC, based in Kirkland, finished construction. The seller is listed as RDJ Group, an entity connected with the builder, state records show.
New waterfront houses are rare, von der Burg said. He estimated it would have sold for between $8 million to $10 million in more traditionally expensive real estate zones such as Bellevue.
Considering the view and all the other amenities, he was correct in assuming it wouldn’t be on the market long.
“You literally come up to the door and go, ‘Oh really?’” he said. “Somebody would buy it. Why wouldn’t they?”
Property records show the buyers as Eric and Deborah Haug of West Seattle; Eric was formerly the president of Manson Construction Co. The couple breed purebred Arabian English Pleasure performance horses as the owners of Scion Arabians.
The house was intended for a young family, but matched perfectly with the lifestyle change the couple were seeking — relief from the hubbub of big-city living, von der Burg said.
Evan Thompson: 425-339-3427, ethompson@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @ByEvanThompson.
State’s top residential sales, 2018
1. $26.75 million; Medina
2. $18 million; Hunts Point
3. $14.18 million; Medina
4. $13.25 million; Mercer Island
5. $11.244 million; Bellevue
6. $11 million; North Seattle
7. $10.96 million; Central Seattle
8. $10 million; Yarrow Point
9. $9.65 million; Bellevue
10. $9.513 million; Sammamish
Snohomish County’s highest sales
1. $4.235 million; Edmonds
2. $3.675 million; Woodway
3. $3.25 million; Woodway
4. $3 million; Stanwood
Source: Northwest Multiple Listing Service
