Mar
29
2008
The development team of ESCALA, the 31-story mixed-use luxury condominium project in downtown Seattle’s Midtown district, celebrated a construction milestone this week as the building rose above street level.
The eight floors of underground parking at ESCALA are complete and the ground floor of the project has been poured. The crew is currently pouring the mezzanine level and will next start work on the second-story level to be fully occupied by the private city club Club Cielo. The construction rate will proceed at a little over a week per floor for the residential units after Club Cielo’s level is complete.
“This is a major milestone for ESCALA and urban living in Seattle Continue Reading »
Tell a Friend
Mar
25
2008
Recently I was to speaking to several buyers who indicated they “didn’t care” about if their unit came with a parking space because there was plenty of on street parking when they were driving the neighborhood. I reminded them of what’s happening in certain areas of the city were they are installing parking meters and parking would not be as easy. One such place is South Lake Union where you can see more and more meters springing up. Several units in some of the bigger Seattle Condo buildings do not come with a parking space. I guess this is alright if your a out of townee who’s buying the condo to have a place to stay while you are in the City. But be warned, Continue Reading »
Tell a Friend
Mar
21
2008
In a project update from the city this month for the proposed East Link project, which would connect the light rail from downtown Seattle to the Eastside the Sound Transit board is reviewing options on the content and timing of a future Ballard measure.
Why are they doing this, well they believe we will have an additional 1.2 million more residents by 2030. I wonder where all these new residents are going to live. Continue Reading »
Tell a Friend
Mar
18
2008
There was a email sent to me today from the Ava sales team informing me that the Executive Group and Fana Development Group received the Master Use Development Permit with unanimous support of the Seattle Design Review Board for Continue Reading »
Tell a Friend
Mar
18
2008
Seattle condo buyers don’t get too excited yet, because even though the fed cut the rates it does not mean the mortgage rates will go down the same amount to buy that Seattle condo.  Investors don’t want to get locked into long term investments with low interest rates if we have high inflation. Despite a reduction of 2.25 points since September in interest rates we have seen little fluctuation in l Continue Reading »
Tell a Friend
Mar
17
2008
There is a free downtown condo tour so potential buyers can see the latest new developments and conversions that are or will be available in the Seattle Condo market. They are also providing participants with a complementary shuttle service to take you from one sales center to the next.
Buyers should put their realtors name on the sign-in forms, so they can be represented and have a realtor of their choosing to represent them. Many projects have restrictions on your realtor representing you if you did not include their name on the first visit and registering is a way for them to monitor this.Â
The Seattle Condo tour provided me with this press release:
Fisher Communications is proud to announce that the Seattle Condo Tour is back and Continue Reading »
Tell a Friend
Mar
14
2008
Rumor is that some  builders in the Seattle and Bellevue area are offering price guarantees for units in their buildings. I wanted to find out exactly how this worked so I contacted the Trio Sales center to find out right from the source. The Trio is located at Denny and Western where Belltown, Queen Anne and the waterfront converge. I was informed this is how the guarantee works: Continue Reading »
Tell a Friend
Mar
13
2008
Children’s Hospital in Seattle is looking into expanding. The only problem is land is not available, so what the solution. The solution is buy a condominium complex and potentially use the site for the expansion. But how do you get those condo owners to sell their condos. Well you offer them Continue Reading »
Tell a Friend
Mar
13
2008
Spring is approaching for Seattle condo buyers and its seems as though more first time buyers are starting to search for Seattle condos. Tracking how many buyers are requesting showing appointments is a good metric to see which way the Seattle market is heading. In my opinion buyers who were waiting for long term interest rates to come down drastically don’t see this happening and realize we have some of the lowest rates since 1983. With the dollar declining versus other currencies you have to ask yourself Continue Reading »
Tell a Friend
Mar
09
2008
A bill that is proceeding through the Washington State Senate and house that will protect current renters in apartment buildings that will be converted to rentals by the owners is in its final stages.
The bill would require building owners to give tenants a longer notice of the actual conversion. Currently the notice is 90 days and that would increase to 120 days.   Relocation assistance would be increased from Continue Reading »
Tell a Friend
