What Is That?! $295K Hobbit-Esque House in Washington State Inspires an Offer

Finding the right words to describe a unique dwelling on Camano Island, WA, isn’t easy. But people have tried.

“It’s kind of fun to see how people react,” says owner and listing agent Eva Croasdale, with Windermere Real Estate/East – Yarrow Bay. “It’s almost like a Rorschach test, because the way people see it is varied. People have said it looks like something out of ‘Star Wars ‘or ‘Lord of the Rings.’ My favorite [comment] is, ‘It looks like an igloo and a pizza oven had a baby.’”

But no matter how you describe the 590-square-foot home, it’s already pending sale just weeks after it was listed for $295,000.

“It has been fun to read the comments and see it through many people’s eyes,” says Croasdale, who has owned the house as an investment property for about a year.

The rustic and whimsical home was built in 2008, with CalEarth—a SuperAdobe building system that uses earth-filled sandbags and barbed wire to create coils that are sealed with a substance, in this case cement.

‘A little wonderland’

“It’s the most unique thing I’ve ever seen,” Croasdale insists. “When you walk inside, if feels really magical. It, surprisingly, has high ceiling heights because of the dome structure, and there’s an oculus at the top. It feels like you’re in a little wonderland.”

The interior sleeps five people in a bunk room, tunnel room, and a lofted bed with a ladder—all pretty quirky spaces.

“There’s the little bed that you have to crawl through a tunnel to get into, and then there is a loft bed in the main space with a ladder that goes down,” Croasdale explains, adding that the bunk room has a tempered-glass ceiling for stargazing. “When you lay on the top bunk and look up, you can see the trees swaying and can see the stars at night. It’s really beautiful.”

The space is a bit rustic, with only a sink (with cold and hot water, thankfully) inside the house. Other facilities, including a shower and bathtub, are outside. Guess what else is outside.

“There is no bathroom inside,” Croasdale reveals, noting that the buyer could add a septic system. “There is currently an outhouse with an unboxed composting toilet.”

The home has a wood stove for additional heat, if necessary.

“This kind of architecture is just naturally insulating, so on a hot day it never feels hot inside,” she says. “It feels nice and cool; and then in the winter, if you put on the heat, it really holds it.”

The 1-acre lot has beach rights, which allow access to the community shoreline nearby. And there are currently some vacation rentals in the area.

The perfect buyer “is someone that loves whimsical and unique structures,” Croasdale explains. “During the open houses, it has been really fun to see the people this home attracted.”

The post What Is That?! $295K Hobbit-Esque House in Washington State Inspires an Offer appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.