A 3 Story Home in the Sequim area is a rarity. Retirees just do not build a 3 story home, at least until now. Why? The obvious. Retirees do not like stairs. Most of my buyers are in their 50s and 60s, and while they are pretty healthy, they usually say something very similar, “We’re healthy now, but we’re thinking about when we are in our 80s. We don’t want to be walking up and down stairs to the master bedroom.”
3 Story Home a Novelty in Sequim
So when I saw this 3 story home going up in Sequim, I was fascinated. Unless there’s an elevator shaft I do not see, this home has stairs galore. It appears fairly narrow, especially when you allow for staircases inside, which always take up a lot of square footage. There are both advantages and disadvantages to a 3 story home.
The chief advantage is the view you get from the top floor. In this case, this 3 story home is facing the Olympic Mountains, and the view will be wonderful. On this particular lot, you needed a second floor or a third floor to capture the majesty of the mountain view they will have, but on many lots that are positioned with a grand panoramic view, you get an incredible view from a single level home.
3 Story Home Disadvantage
There are significant disadvantages. The building costs increase dramatically with a 3rd floor, the heating is not as efficient as a single level, and there is the loss of useable space because of all the staircases, not to mention having to climb up and down all those darn stairs for the rest of your life. But the biggest disadvantage in an area like Sequim is that retirees don’t want to buy a 3 story home. While a 3 story home may be the cat’s meow while owned by the original builder/owner, reselling a 3 story home may be nearly impossible in Sequim. That’s just the reality of our demographics. I’m glad my home is a single level, but I’ll certainly have fun looking at this 3 story home every time I drive past it.
Last Updated on September 6, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
