Attic is far more important than walls. As weed eluded to, insulation is far more important in the winter. The cool effect in the summer has a lot more to do with shade and windows, the coolness of the night and the thermal mass. I'll just throw a couple of things out there. Seattle has vastly different weather than the majority of the country so you really need to check on the locals and what they do. You also still have pretty low electric rates I think. It may actually not be cost effective to blow the walls with foam. It might cost you $5000 and save just $300 a year (whether or not you find that cost effective is a topic for another discussion). Money may not be the only concern and sound abatement would improve. You are a remodel. The tax credit for insulation expires 12/31 - don't miss it. This would certainly count.

Items that are "standard for the area" are already priced into the sales price and that of comparable homes. You can't take 2 identical 50 year old houses and say 1 sold for 150k but the other should sell for 150k minus 5k because it had "old pipes." Actual defects are another matter. A leaky water heater is a safety concern and needs to be replaced. A heating system should be functional in every way, including the duct work. It is a pretty inexpensive fix though - some screws, maybe a couple hangers, some tape, and a few feet of new ducting. As for the rusty water, galvanized pipes rust. There is nothing the homeowner can do short of replacing the entire plumbing system in the house. That is obviously a major expense. re: weed30 - no, you have that wrong. Closing costs are paid to the lender and other professionals you use in closing - appraiser, lawyer etc. Somebody has to pay them. There are 3 options. The seller can agree to pay them out of the proceeds of the sale. The buyer can agree to bring money to the table to pay them. Or, the lender can agree to add those costs to the loan principle and pay the cost upfront in exchange for 30 years of interest.

Re: the comment about shutters being a decorative element and not intended to fool anyway - Im LOL and slapping my forehead - of course! When's the last time anyone has shut their shutters to.... I dunno, what did they use shutters for in the 1600s anyway, to conserve heat or did they not have glass windows? Anyway.... I tdaresay theyve been purely decorative forthe last 100 yrs. TM not seeing any shutters in your pics. OP, what a beautiful house - all the elements fit together so well. Including shutters! When replacing windows stick to a dark tone - looks so much classier with red brick than the ubiquitous and overdone white.

Simplifying with larger, bolder elements would help the landscape read from a distance. The beds around the trees seem to honor the ancient Chinese practice of foot binding, being too small for those large trees. Enlarge to be a more correlative proportion. Try to make the trees be more in the center, which means that the circle bed at the left side is a "D" shape, on account of the drive passing nearby. The lone circle bed at the center would be squeezed out, which is a good thing. Of the dated characteristics, it seems like a brooch pinned on the lawn. What the picture needs instead is a clearer path to the front entrance of the home. It should be visible from the street. Making the path too it more visible would be a big plus, too. Definitely, the shrubs flanking the walk should be done away with. They not only obscure the entrance but "say" it probably requires a special badge or password in order to enter. The jail bars say it's going to be hard to get in ... maybe hard to get out, too. I think they would be less visible if a darker color. Large patches of seasonal color flanking the entrance (not in front of it) would add some cheer and an inviting quality to the front entrance. With such low windows, beds of perennials or groundcover would be a better, low maintenance choice. The shrubs get too tall. They might be better flanking the windows instead of underscoring them. The house would look more well connected to the surroundings if it had small trees, with groundcover below, off of its front corners. Repair the lawn where it is scarred. It will make a big difference to the overall picture to get the grass in good condition. If it were ever a possibility, a porch roof would be a major upgrade to the whole house.