09:18 AM PST on Tuesday, November 15, 2005

By ALLEN SCHAUFFLER / KING 5 News

If you've tried to buy or sell a house in Western Washington in the last year you know that the real estate market has been crazy, superheated, with prices going up every month.

But what do you get for your money?

We took a look at what was listed one day recently in three Western Washington counties to see what was available in the half-million dollar range, at the median price for that county and the low end of the scale.

We started with an area that has some of the most expensive residential real estate in the country.

Hang on to your wallet, on Mercer Island, we found a smallish four bedroom, two-bath, 50-year-old home listing for $519,000.

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One day recently, this $519,000 rambler was the cheapest house on Mercer Island.

It was the cheapest house for sale on the island needed some work.

Broker D'ann Jackson says what you spend depends on what you want and where you want it.

That same half a million would buy you an 18-acre piece of the Cascade foothills far from the bright lights, in Carnation.

Or in the city, a 100-year-old South Seattle home with two bedrooms, and two baths and a lot about a 50th the size of that Carnation property.

Or you can buy into the upper end of a booming urban condo market.

In much of Snohomish County, your home-buying dollar will go much farther, where you can find something pretty nice for $500,000. An older family home with a couple of acres, for instance, outside of Snohomish, or a new home in a new Mill Creek or Bothell neighborhood. Expect four to five bedrooms, three baths and lots of slick finishing touches in those modern designs.

There are similar choices and there is similar value for the money in Pierce County, according to real estate agent Pat Brewer.

"There have been some pockets left out,” she said.

But she says a half-million means options.

“They can buy a new house and get a very small lot or buy an older house and get a larger yard,” she said.

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In Gig Harbor, $500,000 will be this home on a forested lot.

Maybe a forested eight-tenths of an acre in Gig Harbor with a dramatic, modern three bedroom, three bath home. The same money will buy a bigger, brand new house. There are quite a few being built in the Tacoma area.

Or you could have an expansive water view. But you'll be paying for just the lot. If you want a house too, you'll push the $1,000,000 mark.

The low end

On the lower end of the Pierce County price scale, for $145,000 you buy something that real estate agents hope to call “curb appeal.”

Great pocket book appeal too: two bedrooms, one bath for just $145,000 in South Tacoma.

That kind of money can get you a stand alone home in Snohomish County too. We found a similar home in Everett for $154,950

There isn’t a lot of home at just 635 square feet, but it's a house nonetheless.

On the low end in King County, expect manufactured homes in the $200,000 range and smaller condos outside the Seattle core.

“You have to be very, very flexible,” said Jackson.

The median

You'll have to be flexible even in the quarter million range. We found a cute, older home in Auburn for example, priced at $249,000, but it's just half a block from a busy, commercial street.

Another option: $240,000 buys a two-story, three-bedroom townhome in Bellevue. And you're bumping into small lots and very small homes in Seattle or more space, more choices, in the southern suburbs.

Outside the big cities, median price options look remarkably similar across three counties and three prices, $381,000 in King, $270,000 in Snohomish and $267,000 in Pierce County.

In Federal Way, the median home price will get you a backyard pool and three bedrooms just down the street from a saltwater view.

In Lakewood in Pierce County, the median buys three bedrooms, two baths and a home in need of a little updating. But its a tidy, 20-year-old home for a couple or small family.

The same description fits a solid home in Everett, or one we found between Mill Creek and Snohomish.

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The most expensive home on Mercer Island on the day we searched as a 22,000-square-foot home with five bedrooms and nine bathrooms for $40 million.

Now from the median to the extreme back on Mercer Island where the most expensive home for sale on the day we searched was a cheery little 22,000-square-foot waterfront rambler with five bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Price: $40,000,000.

In all three counties, the condo market is very hot.

Condominiums duplexes and triplexes are serving as starter homes for many singles, young couples, even small families..

As for the dreaded real estate bubble and what happens if that bubble bursts, our experts say they just don’t see it happening here.

Expect things to slow down a bit over the winter and pick back up next spring.