Oakes Ave · Buying a Home
Buying a Home in the Oakes Ave Corridor, Anacortes
A real consultation before the first showing, a search tuned to what you actually want, and a steady hand from offer to keys.
Buying a home in Oakes Ave means picking a side of the road
Buying a home in Oakes Ave is a choice between two very different properties that share an address range. Oakes Avenue runs from 12th Street along Guemes Channel, past the airport, out to Sunset Avenue and the Washington State Ferries terminal at Ship Harbor. Water-side lots sit on the channel. Hill-side lots look across the road at it. The first question I ask anyone shopping this corridor is which of those two they are actually buying, because the answer changes the price, the noise, the light, and the resale.
The work starts with a free consultation of 60 to 75 minutes, not a showing. We cover what your range buys on this road right now, what the search will turn up over the next few weeks, and what an offer here has to account for. You will sign a buyer agreement that states what I do and how I am paid, agreed between us. Then we go look, with a plan.
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Why Oakes Ave buyers choose DiAnn Sager
I am DiAnn Sager, a broker with RE/MAX Gateway in Anacortes, and I have worked this corridor from the seller's side. In 2024 I sold a 2015 home in the Portalis West condominium above Ship Harbor, a property the county records with a partial marine view. Having priced and marketed a home on this road, I know exactly which claims hold up when a buyer stands on the deck and which ones do not.
Knowing which view claims survive a visit is most of what a buyer needs out here. Listings on this stretch lean hard on the word view, and the difference between a channel view and a glimpse between two roofs is thousands of dollars and years of regret. I pull the county parcel record before we tour, read what the assessor actually wrote about the land, and tell you the difference standing in the room.
Craig Wells said it after buying with me: "We had not bought real estate in the last 27 years and she walked us through every step of the way." If you have been out of the market a long time, or you are choosing this town from a distance, relocation is where we start. Otherwise buying a home covers how I represent buyers from consultation to keys.
What we check before you write an offer here
The view claim gets verified first, from inside the house, at a normal hour. Then the road: we visit once on a quiet weekday and once when the ferry is loading, because those are two different streets and you are buying both of them. Summer Friday ferry lines wrap around the terminal and reach the highway, which is worth experiencing before you commit rather than discovering in July.
If the home sits in a condominium or a community with an association, the documents come next. What the association covers, what it does not, what it holds in reserve, and what it has decided recently are all written down somewhere, and we read them together before your contingency dates run out rather than after. Nobody enjoys that reading. It is still the cheapest hour in the whole purchase.
Then the offer gets built on what has really closed on this corridor, separated into water-side and hill-side, rather than on a general Anacortes average that would flatter one and punish the other. I write it, present it, negotiate it, and coordinate the inspection. After closing I check in at 30, 90, and 180 days, because settling into a stretch of road like this one takes a little while and a few introductions. What I have listed right now is on the listings page.
What is out the door on this stretch of Anacortes
You are buying proximity to the water and to the boats. The Guemes Channel Trail runs about a mile from the Edwards Way cul-de-sac toward town, with community efforts under way to connect Washington Park to the Tommy Thompson trail. Roadside Park sits at Jackson and Oakes. The Ship Harbor Interpretive Preserve holds 25 acres of freshwater wetland, 5 acres of upland, and roughly 2,000 feet of sandy beach with eelgrass. Washington Park covers 220 acres at the west end.
Getting anywhere puts you on the spur: east to 12th Street, Commercial Avenue, and downtown, or west to the ferry terminal for Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, and San Juan. The Anacortes School District serves the city, with Fidalgo, Island View, and Mount Erie elementary schools, Anacortes Middle School, Anacortes High School, and Cap Sante High School. Attendance areas are set by the district and I will get you the current answer for an address rather than guess.
The honest cost of living on the corridor is the traffic, and water-side and hill-side homes feel it differently. If the road is the part you cannot live with, the quieter grid up the hill is worth a look at the Westside, and the far west end past the terminal is quieter again at Sunset.
Start buying a home in Oakes Ave with a conversation
Read the Oakes Ave neighborhood page, then book the consultation, then tour. In that order you will know what you are choosing between before a house makes the decision for you.
Tell me what you are looking for and I will tell you straight whether this corridor fits it. DiAnn Sager, RE/MAX Gateway, Anacortes. Let's get you home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a home on Oakes Avenue noisy because of the ferry?
The road carries ferry traffic on summer weekends and Friday afternoons, and how much you notice depends on whether you are on the water side or the hill side. I take buyers by once on a quiet weekday and once during a loading window so the decision is made on experience rather than a guess.
What is the difference between a water-side and a hill-side lot here?
Water-side lots sit on Guemes Channel; hill-side lots look over the road at it. They price differently, they draw different buyers, and they resell differently. Choosing between them is the first real decision on this corridor and we make it before we start touring.
How close is Oakes Avenue to the San Juan Islands ferry?
The Washington State Ferries terminal at Ship Harbor sits at the west end of the corridor, serving Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, and San Juan. That proximity is one of the main reasons buyers choose this stretch, and it is also the source of the summer traffic.
What should I read before making an offer on a condominium here?
The association's documents, all of them, before your contingency dates run out. What is covered, what is not, what is held in reserve, and what has recently been decided are all on paper. We go through them together so nothing turns up after closing.
Oakes Ave
What buying a home looks like in Oakes Ave
The Oakes Avenue corridor on the way out toward the ferry.
The full picture of the place, the homes, and the trade-offs is in the Oakes Ave area guide.
Buying a Home: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with DiAnn Sager?