Mercer Island Stats

Why would a Seattle real estate investor be interested in Mercer Island?

Let's start with demographics.
Median household income in Mercer Island is $126,399, as compared to $58,405 for the rest of Washington state.

Median age is older at 45.2 compared to Washington's median age of 37.4 years.

So Mercer Island is a growing community of affluent, older residents. They are less diverse, better educated and more white than elsewhere. Crime on the island is significantly lower than the national average.

Mercer Island is on several "top" lists:

• #78 on the list of "Top 100 cities with highest median house value (pop. 5,000+)"
• #83 on the list of "Top 100 best educated cities (highest percentage of bachelor degree holding residents) (pop. 5,000+)"

within a County that is generally healthy:

#2 on the list of "Top 101 counties with the highest percentage of residents that exercised in the past month"

#12 on the list of "Top 101 counties with the highest percentage of residents that drank alcohol in the past 30 days"

#41 on the list of "Top 101 counties with the best general health status score of residents (1-5), 3 years of data"

And the population is growing, along with increasing property values. The median home value of a MI home in 2013 was over $860,000. Today the median home price in MI is approximately $1,220,000 - an increase in value of almost 42% in two years!

If we look for houses at 2/3 of median value, we would be looking for houses priced under $813,000. The least expensive listing on the NWMLS is for a 1997 house on the south end for $899,000. Zillow has one home at the "Make Me Move" price of $875,000 (but Zestimate is only $855,000; Realist puts the value just over $540,000). There are no houses currently on the market below this price. If there were, they would likely be located in the center of the island, with pricier homes along the water, particularly on the west and south sides of the island.

So an investor interested in Mercer Island might set up a search for any listings priced under $1 million. But be sure to check the comps in close proximity to see whether or not it is a good value.

There are no current listings under $2million that have been on the market in Mercer Island for more than 90 days.

However, there were four listings under $2million on Mercer Island that failed to sell in 90 days and expired some time in the past six months. None of them were owned free and clear, each had a bank mortgage to be covered.

There are 10 current active listings for rentals on Mercer Island priced from $1800 -5700/mo. One of them was owned free and clear by a long-time owner. Would any of these owners be willing to consider a sale instead of a rental?

All in all, this is a pricey market, and any buyer needs to be a savvy investor when looking at making a purchase here. For a free list of Mercer Island properties matching your criteria, please message me at HomeLandInvestment@gmail.com or leave your contact information on my recorded hotline at 888-621-4999.

Happy Investing!