Earlier this year, a 1920s brick building on Grand Avenue, in Everett's Bayside neighborhood, went on the market with a listing description that leaned into what's possible: zoned R5, which permits mid-rise residential development up to five stories, and it name-checked Everett's 2044 Comprehensive Plan, effective July 2025, which expanded density allowances across the downtown core. Exposed brick, tall ceilings, big windows, a blank canvas for a developer with vision. Then, a few lines down, three words that don't get much attention in the marketing copy: sold as-is.
That phrase is doing more work than it looks like it's doing. On most listings, as-is is a hedge against an old furnace or a roof that needs replacing in five years. On Grand Avenue, and on the handful of Everett neighborhoods that share its geography, as-is is quietly pointing at the ground itself.
Grand Avenue runs along the western bluff of Bayside, and Grand Avenue Park at the top of that bluff overlooks Port Gardner below. The city has treated this hillside as a geologically hazardous area since at least 1991, when its consultants first mapped the slope for the same reasons that still apply today: it's steep, it has a documented history of slope failure, and it sits directly above a shoreline. That mapping is the foundation for Everett Municipal Code Chapter 19.37, the section of city law that governs what you can and can't do on this hillside, whether you're building new or just cutting down a tree.
The Deed You Don't See At The Open House
Here's the mechanism that matters. Under city code, any development proposed on or within 200 feet of a mapped hazard area has to be supported by a geological assessment, usually a geotechnical report prepared by a licensed geologist or geotechnical engineer. If the city approves an alteration to that hazardous area, the approval comes with a condition: a critical area protective covenant, recorded on the property's title documents and filed with the Snohomish County Auditor.
That covenant isn't a form you sign and forget. By definition, it prohibits alteration of the protected area and stays attached to the deed permanently. It doesn't expire when the current owner sells. It doesn't require a new signature from whoever buys next. It's already part of the public record, sitting in the title chain, waiting for a title company or a permit reviewer to find it.
This isn't limited to one address on Grand Avenue. Rucker Hill sits on the same hillside a few blocks over, and the Bayside blocks facing Port Gardner carry the same designation. Everett's code applies the same requirement across all of it: a covenant recorded before you cut a hazard-adjacent tree, a covenant recorded before you add a deck, a covenant recorded before you touch the slope in almost any way the city considers meaningful.
The City Treats This Hillside As Infrastructure, Not Scenery
The clearest evidence that this isn't a theoretical risk sits below Grand Avenue Park itself. The Grand Avenue Bridge carries storm drainage and sewer pipelines across that same steep slope, connecting the park to the waterfront below. In June 2026, the city walked public works professionals through a completed project replacing deteriorated underground pipelines running down that hillside, a tour hosted with the Washington chapter of the American Public Works Association.
If the city needs an engineered bridge and a pipeline replacement project to keep its own utilities stable on this slope, that's a useful data point for anyone eyeing a private lot on the same hillside. The view is real. So is the engineering underneath it. Everett's own landslide FAQ page exists because the city fields these questions regularly enough to need a standing answer.
The Question Waiting In Every Seller's Disclosure
None of this happens in a vacuum at closing. Washington requires most residential sellers to complete a Seller Disclosure Statement, known as Form 17, under RCW 64.06.020. The form asks the seller to disclose known material facts about the property, including settlement and soil stability, based on the seller's actual knowledge at the time of signing. Buyers get three business days after delivery to review it and, if something concerns them, rescind the agreement.
Form 17 doesn't ask by name whether a critical area protective covenant is recorded against the property. But a seller on this hillside who has genuine knowledge, a past geotechnical report, prior stabilization work, correspondence with the planning department, has real information the form is designed to surface, whether or not the word "covenant" ever appears on the page.
A 2026 Washington Court of Appeals decision put a finer point on how this plays out when it goes wrong. In that case, a homeowner had foundation settling caused by unstable fill material. A contractor installed helical piers to stabilize the foundation. A follow-up engineering report recommended additional subsurface work to stop the fill from continuing to slide, but that second phase was never completed. Years later, the home sold. The seller's disclosure statement noted the fill material and the helical piers, and the buyer later argued that wasn't enough given what the seller knew about the unfinished recommendation. When the dispute reached the Court of Appeals, the court clarified what counts as a buyer's reasonable duty to investigate once there's visible evidence of a possible defect, before a seller's silence can be treated as fraudulent concealment.
The lesson cuts both ways for anyone transacting on Everett's bluff. Sellers need to disclose the full history of stabilization work, not just that work happened. Buyers who see the words "as-is," or who find a recorded covenant during title review, take on a duty to ask follow-up questions rather than assume the silence means there's nothing to ask about.
Before You List On The Bluff
If your home sits on Grand Avenue, Rucker Hill, or anywhere along this hillside, it's worth pulling these together before you sign a listing agreement:
- Any geotechnical or geological assessment reports from past permit work, even if the project itself never got built
- A copy of the recorded critical area covenant, if one exists, pulled from the Snohomish County Auditor's office
- Correspondence with Everett's planning department about any prior proposal, approved or not, for the hazard-adjacent portion of the lot
- A clear, specific answer to the settlement and earth movement questions on Form 17, rather than a default "don't know"
Before You Write An Offer
On the buyer's side, the same information is available before you ever get to an inspection contingency:
- Order a preliminary title report early and look specifically for a critical area protective covenant
- Ask the listing agent directly whether a geotechnical assessment exists for the parcel, and request a copy if one does
- Treat "sold as-is" language on hillside listings as a specific signal to build your inspection period around soil, drainage, and slope, not a reason to waive it for speed
- Remember that recorded covenants are public documents you can review at the Snohomish County Auditor's office before you're under contract, not after
Does every bluff-view home in Everett have a recorded covenant? No. The hazard designation applies to the hillside broadly, but the covenant itself only gets recorded when a specific project has gone through city review. Some lots have never triggered that process, which means the underlying hazard still applies even without paperwork on file yet.
Can a homeowner remove a recorded covenant? Not unilaterally. It runs with the land and can only be modified through a new geotechnical review and a new city approval, not by a future owner deciding they'd rather not have it there.
Does this slow down closing? It can. Lenders and insurers sometimes ask for a current geotechnical letter once a hazard covenant shows up in title work, and that request can add real time to a transaction that would otherwise move quickly.
The five-story zoning on that Grand Avenue building is real. The view from up there is real too. But the number that actually decides what gets built, renovated, or even landscaped on this bluff isn't the story in the comprehensive plan. It's whatever the geotechnical report says about the slope, and whatever's already recorded against the title before you ever write an offer.
If you're weighing a listing in Bayside, Rucker Hill, or anywhere along Everett's western bluff, The Erickson Group can help you pull the recorded covenants and permit history before you commit to a listing agreement or an offer. Get Your Free Home Valuation and start with the facts already on file.
