Chris Byler Real Estate

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Chris Byler Real Estate Established in 2001, Byler Real Estate is your trusted partner in navigating the complexities of the Washington real estate market. That’s peace of mind.

Changing Lives for the Better! Chris relishes the opportunity to give back to this great area and change people’s lives for the better through his work as one of the North End’s premier real estate professionals. Chris uses his knowledge to help others when it comes to real estate in north King and south Snohomish Counties. He is a seasoned veteran who has seen virtually every type of local market cycle, and he brings unique insight into the areas of finance, insurance, construction, property management and technology. Expert Advisor Working For You! In addition, Chris is a member of the National Association of Expert Advisors, including his designation as a Certified Home Selling Advisor, as well as a Home Buying Advisor. These certifications represent hundreds of hours of training and expertise he applies to his clients’ transactions. This knowledge is your assurance that you are working with a highly qualified expert! Clients appreciate his knowledge and other advantages he brings to the table such as his 145 Point Marketing Plan, but what they really respond to is his undeniable integrity. In fact, he would rather steer a client away from buying a home if he feels it’s not the right investment or advise a seller not to sell if he feels they’d be better off waiting. Life Changing Service

If you’re planning to move to, from or within the North End, give Chris Byler a call. Through his career, he’s Changing Lives for the Better! Let him help you make a real difference in your next move. I moved to the Pacific NW in 1989, the year I was discharged from the Navy. I started college that fall and received my 4 year business degree in 1993 from Central Washington University. I started my Real Estate career in 1997 as a full-time Real Estate Agent at Prudential Signature Properties and have been with Windermere Real Estate since 1999. My success has come through long hours of hard work, dedicated to helping my clients achieve their real estate needs. For the last eight years, more than 75% of my business has come from referrals and repeat business. My clients make sound financial decisions, assisted with the market research and knowledge I provide them.

Those TEST and RESET buttons are doing more than making an outlet look different.A GFCI — ground-fault circuit interrupt...
16/10/2026

Those TEST and RESET buttons are doing more than making an outlet look different.

A GFCI — ground-fault circuit interrupter — constantly compares the electricity leaving a circuit with what comes back. If a small amount starts leaking somewhere it should not, the GFCI can shut off power extremely quickly to reduce the risk of serious electric shock.

That is why you commonly see GFCI protection around:

• Bathrooms
• Kitchens and sinks
• Garages
• Exterior outlets
• Basements and crawl spaces
• Laundry areas
• Other damp or wet locations

Older homes may have fewer because these requirements were added gradually over decades.

And one important detail: an outlet does NOT need TEST and RESET buttons on its face to be GFCI-protected. It may be protected by another GFCI upstream or by a GFCI breaker in the electrical panel.

CPSC recommends testing GFCI receptacles monthly. If TEST does not shut off the power, RESET will not work, the device repeatedly trips, or an outlet feels hot or gives you a shock, it deserves a closer look.

Selling a home with solar? The first question is not just whether the panels are “owned.”A homeowner can own the panels ...
15/10/2026

Selling a home with solar? The first question is not just whether the panels are “owned.”

A homeowner can own the panels and still have a solar loan. And that is very different from a lease or power purchase agreement where a third party owns the equipment.

Before listing, find out:

• Are the panels fully paid off?
• Is there a solar loan balance?
• Can that loan transfer, or must it be paid off?
• Is the system leased or under a PPA?
• Are there UCC filings connected to the equipment?
• What does the utility require when ownership changes?
• Do you have permits, warranties, production history, and recent power bills?
• How old is the roof beneath the panels?

Buyers will also want to know how much electricity the system actually produces and what monthly obligation, if any, they would inherit.

A solar-equipped home can be straightforward to sell. The trouble usually comes when nobody can explain the financing or find the paperwork after the home is already under contract.

Bellevue’s September market had an unusual combination: more homes for sale, fewer buyers committing — and a higher medi...
15/10/2026

Bellevue’s September market had an unusual combination: more homes for sale, fewer buyers committing — and a higher median price.

For residential homes in Bellevue:

• Median sale price: about $1.89M
• Active homes: 385 — up 53% year over year
• Pending sales: 84 — down 26%
• Closed sales: 80 — down 26%
• Months of supply: about 5.0
• Median market time: 21 days
• Sellers received about 95.3% of original asking price

The headline price is only part of the story. Bellevue’s median price per square foot was actually down from a year ago, while the amount of inventory available to buyers increased dramatically.

That points to a more balanced Eastside market: buyers have more choices and more room to negotiate, while sellers still can achieve strong prices when a home is positioned well.

Bellevue is also far too varied for one median to describe every property. A Lake Hills rambler, downtown condo, Somerset view home, and West Bellevue luxury property can all be moving in very different markets at the same time.

Mountlake Terrace light rail has been open for more than two years. Now the development around it is starting to take sh...
14/10/2026

Mountlake Terrace light rail has been open for more than two years. Now the development around it is starting to take shape.

Several major projects are in the pipeline around Town Center:

• Candela Apartments — about 425 homes + 5,000 sq. ft. of commercial space beside the station
• Mountlake Village — about 323 homes + nearly 6,000 sq. ft. of retail at the former Roger’s Market site
• Terrace Station 4 — about 223 apartments
• Terrace Station 5 — another 65 proposed homes

The City’s larger Town Center plan allows for roughly 3,000 new multifamily homes and 625,000 square feet of commercial space over time, with buildings as tall as 12 stories closest to light rail.

The streets are changing too. The next phase of Mountlake Terrace’s Main Street project will rebuild much of 56th Avenue with better sidewalks, bike lanes, trees, lighting, utilities, and traffic improvements. As of October 13, that project is out for contractor bids rather than under construction yet.

The result will not appear overnight, but Mountlake Terrace is gradually shifting from a small auto-oriented downtown toward a denser neighborhood built around light rail, housing, and walkability.

That fence may look like the property line. It may even have been there for 40 years.That does not necessarily mean it i...
13/10/2026

That fence may look like the property line. It may even have been there for 40 years.

That does not necessarily mean it is the property line.

County parcel maps are great for getting oriented, but they are not surveys. If the exact boundary matters, a licensed land surveyor is the person who can establish it.

A survey is especially worth considering when:

• You're replacing an expensive fence near the line
• You're planning an addition, garage, deck, or ADU
• A driveway or easement is hard to understand
• A shed, retaining wall, or garage may cross the boundary
• You and a neighbor disagree about where the line is
• You're selling and an obvious boundary question could come up

You do not need a new survey every time a home is sold or a fence is repaired. The question is whether a few inches or feet could change what you own, what you can build, or what you need to explain to a future buyer.

And one important reminder: an old fence is evidence of where somebody put a fence — not automatically proof of ownership.

See a crack in a wall or foundation? It doesn't automatically mean something is seriously wrong.Homes move a little over...
10/10/2026

See a crack in a wall or foundation? It doesn't automatically mean something is seriously wrong.

Homes move a little over time. Drywall seams crack, plaster ages, and concrete foundations can develop shrinkage cracks that remain unchanged for decades.

What deserves more attention is the pattern:

• A crack that is noticeably getting larger
• One side shifting out of alignment with the other
• Horizontal cracking or a visibly bowing foundation wall
• Several new cracks appearing in the same area
• Doors or windows suddenly sticking
• Floors that seem to be changing
• Water entering through the foundation

Age matters too. A crack that has been stable in a 70-year-old home for decades tells a different story than one that appeared recently and keeps changing.

If you're unsure, photograph it, date the photo, and monitor it. When cracking is progressing or appears alongside other signs of movement, that's when a professional evaluation makes sense.

The goal isn't to panic over every imperfect wall — it's to recognize when the house is telling you something has changed.

September gave Seattle-area buyers something they have not had much of in recent years: more choice.In King County, acti...
08/10/2026

September gave Seattle-area buyers something they have not had much of in recent years: more choice.

In King County, active inventory reached 8,058 homes and condos — up 31% from September 2025. The median sale price held flat at $850,000, but pending sales fell nearly 17%, showing that buyers were moving more selectively.

Snohomish County saw an even bigger inventory increase. There were 2,967 active listings at the end of September, up 44% year over year. The median price was essentially unchanged at $720,000, while pending sales also fell about 17%.

A few key numbers:

• King County: $850K median | 4.70 months inventory
• Snohomish County: $720K median | 3.85 months inventory
• King active listings: +31% year over year
• Snohomish active listings: +44% year over year
• Pending sales: down roughly 17% in both counties

The takeaway is not that prices suddenly collapsed — they did not. Instead, inventory has grown much faster than buyer activity, giving buyers more time to compare homes and making pricing and preparation increasingly important for sellers.

A shared driveway does not automatically make a Washington home difficult to sell. The bigger question is whether everyo...
08/10/2026

A shared driveway does not automatically make a Washington home difficult to sell. The bigger question is whether everyone understands the arrangement.

Before listing, find out what is actually recorded. Is there an easement giving another property the right to cross the driveway? Does your property rely on an easement across a neighbor’s land? Is there a written maintenance agreement explaining who pays for paving, gravel, drainage, snow removal, or repairs?

It is also worth comparing the paperwork with how the driveway is used in real life. Buyers may want to know whether cars can park in the shared area, who has access, whether there have been disagreements, and where the actual property line runs.

Washington’s seller disclosure form specifically asks about private-road or easement agreements, rights-of-way and access limitations, and written agreements for joint maintenance.

The best time to sort that out is before the home hits the market. Clear documents and a simple explanation usually make a shared driveway much easier for a buyer to understand than an arrangement everyone has followed informally for years but nobody can explain on paper.

What’s next for Northgate? Quite a lot.The old Northgate Mall is no longer being treated as a traditional mall site. Sim...
07/10/2026

What’s next for Northgate? Quite a lot.

The old Northgate Mall is no longer being treated as a traditional mall site. Simon has rebranded the property as The District at Northgate, with a long-term plan centered on housing, restaurants, retail, public space, hotels and the Kraken Community Iceplex.

Housing is becoming a much bigger part of the neighborhood. The 234-unit Everis project is the first major apartment phase on the former mall property, with more residential development planned after it.

Just north of there, Seattle Housing Authority is also beginning the long-term redevelopment of Northgate Commons. That 8.5-acre project could eventually bring up to 1,400 homes, including hundreds of permanently affordable units.
And the transportation piece is already here. Northgate has gone from being the end of the Link line to a major regional stop connecting Seattle with Lynnwood, the Eastside and points south.

The interesting question now is whether the streets and public spaces catch up. Northgate still has huge blocks, wide roads and a lot of leftover parking-lot geography. Seattle’s current neighborhood plan is focused heavily on making the area more walkable, connected and usable as all of this new housing arrives.
Northgate is not becoming a finished “new downtown” overnight — but the old mall-and-parking-lot version of the neighborhood is clearly disappearing.

Does your Seattle-area home have an old heating-oil tank?If the house was built decades ago, especially before natural g...
06/10/2026

Does your Seattle-area home have an old heating-oil tank?

If the house was built decades ago, especially before natural gas and electric heat became common, it may have once relied on heating oil. In some cases, the tank was removed. In others, it was emptied and decommissioned in place — and sometimes the documentation is incomplete.

A few places to start:

• Look for old fill or vent pipes near the foundation
• Check permit and property records for tank removal or decommissioning
• Look for evidence that an older oil furnace was replaced
• Ask for decommissioning paperwork if you’re buying or selling

One important Seattle wrinkle: the City historically did not require permits simply to install residential underground oil tanks, so a lack of installation records does not necessarily mean a tank never existed.

If a tank is no longer in use, proper decommissioning generally means either removing it or safely closing it in place. The bigger concern is a tank that leaked, because contaminated soil can turn a forgotten heating system into an environmental cleanup issue.

For older Seattle-area homes, an old oil tank is not automatically a major problem — but it is something worth identifying before a sale, remodel, or excavation project brings it to your attention unexpectedly.

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