Old Town · Selling Your Home
Selling Your Home in Old Town, Anacortes
A pricing strategy built on your net, a 360° marketing campaign paid for up front, and weekly reporting so you always know where things stand.
Selling your home in Old Town is a condition conversation first
Selling your home in Old Town means selling a house on the original city plat, the lettered avenues and numbered streets the county still records as the Map of the City of Anacortes. These homes were built when fishing and lumber were king. A lot of them are still standing, still loved, and still carrying a hundred years of decisions made by people who are no longer here to explain them.
That history is the asset and it is also the pricing problem. An older home priced like a renovated one sits on the market and quietly loses its negotiating position. The same home priced for what it truly is finds its person quickly, because the buyer who wants a walk to Commercial Avenue and a house with a past is not a hypothetical. That buyer is already looking.
Selling an Old Town home runs in a different order from anywhere else in town. Condition first, story second, price third, photographs fourth. I would rather have the difficult conversation about the roof, the foundation, the knob and tube, or the single-pane windows in your kitchen in week one than watch a buyer's inspector deliver it in week six, when your negotiating position has already moved. The number that matters is your net, and in Old Town the net is decided by what the inspection turns up.
Why Old Town sellers choose DiAnn Sager
I am DiAnn Sager, a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Gateway, and my office is at 914 15th Street, a few blocks from the neighborhood I am describing. I have closed 125 homes and more than $72 million in sales since January 2018, and I represented the buyers of a 1920 home on D Avenue here, on lots taken straight from that original plat. Buying an old house teaches you exactly what it takes to sell one.
Here is where I earn my keep in Old Town. I price against the real recent sales of comparable older homes rather than against the renovated one down the street that had a new foundation and a new roof. I recommend a pre-listing inspection on almost every home here, which puts the surprises on your calendar instead of a buyer's. I document what has been done and when, because a buyer paying for character wants proof that the bones were cared for. And I photograph what is actually special: the millwork, the light in the afternoon, the porch, the street.
One of my sellers, Kelsey Pennington, wrote: "DiAnn helped us sell our home in only 3 days! She knew what we could price our home at while still being competitive in the market." That sale was fast because the price was right on day one, not because of anything magic. Your starting point is the same one hers was: a free EPIC™ Home-Selling Report, built by hand for your address, showing your equity position and your likely net under three different plans.
How an Old Town listing runs, step by step
The method behind every listing I take is on the how we sell a home page in full. What follows is how it lands on a hundred-year-old house on a small lot.
We start with your position. You see three pricing strategies with the trade-off and the realistic timeline attached to each, built from what comparable Old Town homes actually closed at rather than what the neighbors are asking. Working out where you stand is the equity step, and the decision is yours to make with your eyes open.
Then condition. A pre-listing inspection, an honest repair list sorted into what pays for itself, what merely reassures, and what should simply be disclosed and priced. You choose from that list. I bring the stager and the trusted contractors, and on a smaller lot and a smaller floor plan, editing is usually worth more than adding.
Then presentation, because a buyer buys a story about a home before they buy the home. In this neighborhood the story is genuinely about the place: the walk to the Saturday market at the Depot on R Avenue, Causland Memorial Park, the water at the end of the street. Getting that in front of people who were not searching yet is the impact step, and it runs on paid digital advertising I have already funded before your home goes live.
Then the launch on a calendar, the first weekend planned rather than improvised, and a weekly report from me with showing data, market movement, and one clear next step until it closes.
Local context and proof for Old Town
Buyers form an opinion of this neighborhood on foot, so the marketing has to work on foot too. Old Town is the part of Anacortes toward the water, north of the Historic Downtown arch over Commercial Avenue. The arch is the boundary, not the neighborhood, and plenty of listing copy gets that wrong.
Inside the neighborhood, not near it: Causland Memorial Park at 710 N Avenue, two acres of 1920s mosaic stone walls, terraces, a bandstand, and an amphitheater listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Kiwanis Waterfront Park at 1708 6th Street, looking across Guemes Channel at the island and the boat traffic. The Depot Arts and Community Center at 611 R Avenue, the old Great Northern depot, where the farmers market sets up on Saturdays from May through October. The Anacortes Museum in the historic Carnegie Library building at 1305 8th Street, the W.T. Preston and the Maritime Heritage Center at 703 R Avenue, and the library at 1220 10th Street. The Tommy Thompson Parkway starts at 11th Street and runs 3.3 paved miles down Fidalgo Bay and across the old railroad trestle to March Point Road. The Skagit County ferry to Guemes Island leaves from 500 I Avenue.
The honest trade-off, which I put in the listing rather than hiding it: character and the best walkability in the city in exchange for older-home upkeep, salt air, and small lots. Sellers who want more ground are usually looking at Stittwood or the rest of Anacortes, and I sell those too. The neighborhood itself is on the Old Town page, and the campaign behind every listing I take is on the selling your home page. See my current work on the listings page, then tell me about your Old Town home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I fix up my Old Town home before selling it?
Some of it, and not all of it. A pre-listing inspection sorts the list into what pays for itself, what only reassures a buyer, and what should simply be disclosed and reflected in the price. You decide from that list, and I bring the stager and the contractors without taking a cut of their work.
Will an older home in Old Town sell for less?
It sells for what its condition and its location are worth, and the walkability here is genuinely valuable. The costly mistake is pricing an unrenovated home against a renovated one, because it sits, then reduces, and ends up below where an honest price would have landed it.
Where exactly does Old Town start?
At the Historic Downtown arch over Commercial Avenue. Old Town is the part toward the water, north of the arch; downtown is everything up Commercial from there. Listing copy gets this wrong often enough that it is worth stating plainly.
How long will my home take to sell?
In June 2026 the Anacortes median home went pending in 11 days while the average sat at 48 (NWMLS InfoSparks). Priced-right homes move in about two weeks and the rest wait for a reduction, which is why the pricing conversation happens before the sign goes in the yard.
Old Town
What selling your home looks like in Old Town
The historic core of Anacortes, close to downtown and the waterfront.
The full picture of the place, the homes, and the trade-offs is in the Old Town area guide.
The method
How we do it in Old Town
Selling Your Home: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with DiAnn Sager?