The Kirkland waterfront, from an office in the middle of it
Walkable, restaurant-dense, and fifteen minutes from every Eastside campus, Kirkland's waterfront has become a natural landing spot for founder wealth. My office is at 15 Lake Street, #200, and this stretch of shoreline is where I do the largest share of my work.
Lumpy income meets real property
Founder and early-employee wealth arrives in spikes: an acquisition, a secondary sale, an IPO window. The 2025 surcharge made those spike years more expensive. A $5M realized gain in securities carries roughly $430K of state tax; the same gain realized in property carries none. Founders here increasingly treat waterfront real estate as a planned destination for exit proceeds rather than a purchase made after the fact. Sequencing the purchase against the exit — financing arranged before liquidity, closing after — is where the planning value sits.
Street-level Kirkland
Lake Street and Lake Avenue West command the walk-to-everything premium. West of Market is the established flat section. The Market Street corridor trades some access for value. Condo stock at Marina Park and Portsmith offers lock-and-leave convenience for parking exit liquidity. Some waterfront blocks carry train-noise and summer-crowd tradeoffs that are priced in; which blocks those are is local knowledge, and I am happy to be specific in person.
The STR and cost segregation overlay
Kirkland remains one of the strongest short-term-rental micro-markets on the lake. For W2-heavy households not yet at an exit, the strategy this practice was built on — a short-term rental with cost segregation offsetting W2 income — still applies, and it builds wealth in the asset class the state tax does not reach.
This is not tax or legal advice. Aditya Kasturi is a licensed real estate broker, not a CPA, attorney, or financial advisor. Figures are illustrative, based on Washington and federal law as understood at the time of writing, and laws change. Confirm any strategy on this page with your CPA and, where relevant, your estate planning attorney before acting.
Common questions
Does Washington's capital gains tax apply to selling my home here?
No. Sales of real estate are exempt from the Washington capital gains excise tax at any price. Federal rules, including the primary-residence exclusion, still apply. Confirm the details with your CPA.
Which Kirkland blocks work best for short-term rentals?
The ones with walkability to the waterfront core and parking that actually functions. Permit rules and HOA restrictions vary block by block; I keep a current map and screen candidates against it before you tour anything.
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