Get To Know the Education Hill Community in Redmond

By Ken Urman, Realtor

The Education Hill community is a beautiful and large community in Redmond. The current name reflects a preponderance of schools within this community. In keeping with Redmond’s reputation as a sort of high-tech enclave in the Seattle-Bellevue-Lake Washington area, 40.6 percent of Education Hill Residents (according to the 2010 Census) work in computer and mathematical occupations (33.9% of men and 6.7% of women).

The city’s website (Redmond.gov) describes Education Hill as “primarily residential, consisting largely of low – moderate density residential housing. There is some high density residential in the southern portion of the neighborhood, the western edge and along the eastern edge.” The single-family houses in the community range from old to new homes.

According to Sarah Stiteler, one of the city’s planners, “One of the interesting things about

Education Hill is that it isn’t one big subdivision. It’s a larger community connected by churches, schools and trails.” This neighborhood is known for wide tree-lined streets, modern schools, spacious homes, lovely parks and trails. It is a friendly community where homeowners are likely to know most of their neighbors.

Shopping is located in close proximity, with a small commercial area opposite the neighborhood’s northeastern border and in Redmond’s downtown, which the community borders.

Education Hill occupies 2.5 square miles (about 11 percent of Redmond’s land area). The surrounding neighborhoods are North Redmond, Bear Creek, Downtown Redmond, Southeast Redmond, and Sammamish Valley. The name was chosen when the community was incorporated by the City of Redmond in the 1950s. In its earlier history, the community was called Poverty Hill because its residents had to journey up and down the hilly roads of the neighborhood to get water.                                     

              

Demographic information

Population: 14,244
Population density: 4680 people per square mile
Median household income in 2011: $94,983
Median age of residents: 34.7 years for males; 35.7 years for females
Average household size: 2.3 people
57.3 percent of households are families
The average value of detached houses in 2010 (52.1% of all units) $430,833
Houses in the area date back as far as 1939 or earlier (83 homes). The vast majority of homes were built between 1970 and 1999.

The top employers in Redmond, according to the City’s 2013 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report:

·         Microsoft

·         Terex/Formerly Genie Industries

·         Eurest Dining Services @ Microsoft

·         Nintendo of America

·         AT&T Mobility

·         Volt Technical Resources

·         Physio-Control

·         Honeywell

·         United Parcel Service

·         Lake Washington School District

Residents of Education Hill can easily avail themselves of activities, concerts and events in Seattle and Bellevue. However, Redmond is a thriving city that offers a broad range of activities for its residents, including

·         An extensive system of trails for walking, bicycling and horseback riding

·         Numerous parks designed to meet the needs and interests of all of the city’s residents

·         Redmond Derby Days, an annual community festival held every July, that began as a bicycle race around Lake Sammamish in 1939. It has become a major event. 

·         Performing arts: the Eastside Symphony, the Second Story Repertory Theater Company, artists performing at the Redmond Performing Arts Center, and outdoor sculptures throughout the city streets and parks.

·         Redmond Lights – an annual community festival held the first Saturday in December

·         The Old Redmond Firehouse, a center for local teens that has become a hub in the Eastside independent music scene

·         Concerts at Marymoor - an annual summer series of concerts at the amphitheater in Marymoor Park. Since 2004, Cirque du Soleil has set up in Marymoor when visiting the Seattle area.

If you are interested in learning more about Education Hill, or if you are interested in selling or buying a home in this beautiful neighborhood, call me. I’d love to help you.

How Coffee Affects Home Values

By Ken Urman, Realtor

Believe it or not, coffee and coffee shops affect home values in nearby neighborhoods. Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff revealed in his recent book, Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate," that houses located within a 1/4 to 1/2 mile radius of a Starbucks coffee shop are most likely to appreciate in

value the most and the fastest.

Before you laugh and shrug this off, please keep reading. There is scientific analysis behind the claim.

As you might know, I really enjoy a great cup of coffee. And in keeping with my general desire to support local businesses and companies headquartered in the area, I am a loyal Starbucks customer. You also might have noticed that I bring coffee when I meet with clients. A hot cup of great coffee is a terrific ice breaker.

The folks at Zillow (headquartered locally) have developed a very scientific system to determine where to open each coffee shop. If we are willing to trust their claims, they also have a way to predict the next hot spot neighborhoods. As for Realtors, they would have us believe we need only to follow their lead.

Nichole Goodkind, writing at Yahoo Finance, reports that Zillow analyzed the prices of homes located within a ¼ to ½ mile radius of Starbucks locations for five years after each shop opened. “They found that homes closest to Starbucks appreciated by 21 percent, while homes a bit farther

away grew in price by under 17 percent.” Specifically, according to the article, “they found that in 1997 a home within ¼ mile of a Starbucks sold on average for $137,000, while a home not near a Starbucks sold on average for $102,000. Today, the average home has gone up 65% in value to $168,000 but homes near Starbucks have tone up 96 percent to $269,000.

Zillow also addressed the obvious question, “is this a generic coffee shop effect?” They discovered that homes near a Dunkin Donuts appreciated 80 percent over the five year period, while those near a Starbucks appreciated by 96 percent.

If you are in the market for a house near an existing coffee shop, I would be delighted to share my vast knowledge of all coffee shops in the area and I would enjoy helping you drink (coffee) your way through neighborhoods within a ¼ to ½ mile radius of various coffee shops, including Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and other brands. Call me – I’ll bring the coffee!