A unique collection of tiny homes built across a single lot in Seattle has just hit the market for the bargain price of $900,000. That boils down to just $300,000 per home.

Located on the outskirts of Puget Park, the properties have been meticulously restored in recent years, having previously been used as accommodation for staff at a nearby industrial estate.

“When the sellers bought the property, they were three little huts that were falling apart,” says listing agent Patti Hill of John L. Scott–West Seattle.

“They were used as workers’ homes. The sellers rebuilt them between 2021 and 2023, and now they are way cool.”

Originally constructed in 1907 in the gated Industrial District West, the multifamily cedar-sided cottages have come a long way from the crumbling structures that the sellers found in 2015, when they purchased the property for just $60,000.

Today, the three dwellings boasts modernized spaces with loft-style interiors and a world of opportunity for their future use.

Each Pigeon Point residence offers one bedroom, one bathroom, and a kitchen space, meaning that they can operate as entirely independent properties.

Hardwood and concrete floors, exposed beams, sleek kitchens and bathrooms, skylights, and energy-efficient thermal windows can be found throughout the interiors. Each tiny home also has a private deck.

For the past few years, the compound has operated as a kind of micro-neighborhood, with each dwelling serving as a private residence for a long-term renter.

“The sellers have long-term renters using them,” Hill explains. “I think the next buyer will probably be an investor who will keep it as a rental property. It could also be someone looking to live in one of the cottages as a primary residence and rent the other two out.”

Alternatively, the compound would be a unique multigenerational abode. Or if a group of friends are looking to get onto the property ladder for a lower price, it could be turned into a kind of modern commune.

“An ideal setup for investors, owner-users, or anyone looking for a unique multi-home property in a prime Seattle location,” the listing notes.

Located on just one fully fenced-in lot, the triplex community is centered around a patio, offering a “shared community vibe,” while also maintaining the privacy of each resident.

“All of the residents get along, and there is a fire pit that everyone uses,” Hill says.

What’s more, because the homes all occupy a single lot, the taxes are incredibly low. Records show that 2025 fees were just $8,106 for all three properties.

“It’s one lot. We didn’t split the lot, so it’s one tax parcel,” the listing agent confirms.

Almost as intriguing as the three detached cottage assemblage is the compound’s unusual site.

“It’s an interesting location that is very industrial,” Hill reveals. “There is a working waterway a block away where ships come in and load containers.”

Kellie Speed is a contributor to Realtor.com. As a writer and editor, she has worked for a variety of online and print publications, including Forbes Global Properties, Inked magazine, JustLuxe, and U.S. Veterans Magazine. A Massachusetts native, Kellie attended Northeastern University for journalism, was previously the Boston editor for Haute Living, and contributed to the Moon Metro Boston guidebook. Kellie writes celebrity profiles and covers restaurants, travel, and lifestyle.

SAN DIEGO, CA — The former owner of a San Diego residential care facility who pleaded guilty to elder abuse charges related to neglect of the business’ residents was sentenced Tuesday to one year of home detention and two years of probation.

Maria Erolina Delgado, 62, was charged last year by the California Attorney General’s Office for leaving the facility, J & M Happy Guest Home, “severely understaffed,” prosecutors said, resulting in multiple residents suffering from bed sores, dehydration and malnourishment.

The AG’s Office also alleged some residents were left in soiled diapers for days at a time.

The charged conduct occurred in 2020, according to the criminal complaint filed against Delgado last fall.

She pleaded guilty earlier this year to two felony elder abuse counts.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Late every summer, hulking white bears gather outside a tiny Alaska Native village on the edge of the continent, far above the Arctic Circle, to feast on whale carcasses left behind by hunters and to wait for the deep cold to freeze the sea.

It’s a spectacle that once brought 1,000 or more tourists each year to Kaktovik, the only settlement in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in a phenomenon sometimes called “last chance tourism” — a chance to see magnificent sights and creatures before climate change renders them extinct.

The COVID-19 pandemic and an order from the federal government halting boat tours to see the bears largely ended Kaktovik’s polar bear tourism amid concerns that the tiny village was being overrun by outsiders.

But Kaktovik leaders are now hoping to revive it, saying it could be worth millions to the local economy and give residents another source of income — provided the village can set guidelines that protect its way of life and the bears themselves.

“We definitely see the benefit for tourism,” said Charles Lampe, president of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corp, which owns 144 square miles (373 square kilometers) of land. “The thing is, it can’t be run like it was before.”

Visitors overwhelm a tiny village

As far back as the early 1980s, anyone in Kaktovik with a boat and knowledge of the waters could take a few tourists out to watch the bears as they lumbered across the flat, treeless barrier islands just off the coast or tore into the ribs of a bowhead whale left by subsistence hunters.

Tourism in Kaktovik soared in the years after federal officials declared polar bears a threatened species in 2008. The rapid warming of the Arctic is melting the sea ice that the bears use to hunt seals, and scientists have said that most polar bears could be wiped out by the end of the century.

As visitation boomed, the federal government imposed regulations requiring tour operators to have permits and insurance, and that began to squeeze locals out of the industry, Lampe said. Larger out-of-town operators moved in, and before long, crowds of tourists were coming to Kaktovik — a village of about 250 people — during the six-week viewing season.

The town’s two hotels and restaurants lost out on some business when large operators began flying tourists in from Fairbanks or Anchorage for day trips. Locals complained that tourists gawked at them or traipsed through their yards.

Small plane capacity became an issue, with residents sometimes battling tourists to get on flights to or from larger cities for medical appointments, forcing those left stranded in the cities to get expensive hotel rooms for the night.

Renewing polar bear tourism, with changes

When the pandemic struck, Kaktovik paused visitation. Then in 2021, the federal government, which manages polar bears, halted boat tours, mostly over concerns about how tourists were affecting bear behavior and overrunning the town.

Alaska Native leaders are now in talks with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to address those concerns and reignite the industry, perhaps as early as 2027. The agency told The Associated Press in a statement that it’s working with Kaktovik “to ensure that any future opportunities are managed in a way that prioritizes visitor safety, resource protection, and community input.”

Among the changes Kaktovik leaders want to see is a limit on how long a boat can sit in the water near the bears. Too long, Lampe said, and the bears get used to humans — making for a dangerous situation when bears wander into town looking for food.

During the height of the tourism boom, it became tougher to haze bears out of town, even with the town’s bear patrol shooting at them with nonlethal rounds. The patrol had to kill about three or four bears per year, compared with maybe one per year before the boom, Lampe said.

“Our safety was at risk,” Lampe said.

In 2023, a 24-year-old woman and her 1-year-old son were killed in a polar bear attack in Wales, in far western Alaska. It was the first fatal polar bear attack in nearly 30 years in Alaska, the only U.S. state home to the species.

Since the boat tours in Kaktovik were halted, the bears once again seem more fearful of humans, Lampe said.

Encouraging respectful visits in the Arctic

Polar bear tourism coincides with Kaktovik’s subsistence whaling season. When a crew lands a whale, it’s usually butchered on a nearby beach. While the community encourages visitors to watch or even help, some were recording or taking pictures without permission, which is considered disrespectful, Lampe said.

Sherry Rupert, CEO of the American Indigenous Tourism Association, suggested that Kaktovik market itself as a two- or three-day experience.

Native communities that are ready for tourists “want them to come and be educated and walk away with a greater understanding of our people and our way of life and our culture,” she said.

Roger and Sonia MacKertich of Australia were looking for the best spot on the planet to view polar bears in the wild when they came to Kaktovik in September 2019. They spent several days in the village, took a walking tour led by an elder and bought souvenirs made by local artists, including a hoodie featuring a polar bear.

For Roger MacKertich, a professional wildlife photographer based in Sydney, the highlight was the boat tours to see bears roaming on the barrier islands or taking a dip in the water. The bears paid them no attention.

“That’s nearly as good as it gets,” he said.