Seattle Condo Blog and Community Information

The stranger has a good writeup on the recent auction of the Press Condominiums on Capitol Hill in Seattle.  The auction took place at the Grand Hyatt on 7th and Pine in Seattle on Sat December 13 and attracted many buyers looking for a good deal.  Many buyers were disappointed and did not get the great deal they thought they would because the condos were bid up from the original asking price.    In the current market there are many condos that are priced aggressively.  I recently had the opportunity to put an offer on a condo at the 2200 building that was priced below market.  It received several offers above the list price.

The Moda condominium entry level condo development in the Seattle Area was switched from condos to rental apartments as reported in the Seattle Times.  The building was offering 250 condominiums that were as small as 296 sq ft and started at approximately $150,000.  Many building slated for condominiums are switching to apartments or are not being built .  In my opinion in the long run if this continues it will cause a shortage of available condominiums in the area with projected regional area growth predictions.  Vacancies in the area are quite low and rents are rising.  Rent in one of the condominiums I own in Downtown Seattle increased about 20 percent from last year and.  Buyers are currently waiting for prices to drop significantly and in a growing area like Seattle with new supply being eliminated has to ask will that happen.   

    

The Cosmopolitan was built in 2007 and located in the new and upcoming South Lake Union Area.   Unit 1611 in the Cosmopolitan building was just reduced to $499,950.  This Condo faces lake union and the space needle and comes with 2 storage units (your always looking for space in these new condos) and parking.     The unit is close to 1000 square feet in size and has one bedroom and a den

 The amentities of the Cosmopolitan building include a 24 hour concierge who keeps you abreast of activities in the area, a gracious lobby entrance, game/recreation room, business center and meeting room, a guest suite you can rent for visiting guest, and a roof-top view terrace. .

Its very close to restaurants, shopping, and freeways.

The unit itself is not on the side of the building with views blocked by new construction like many of the other units listed. It has forced air Continue Reading »

Mosler lofts is the latest new construction condo building to be hit by a lawsuit in the Seattle area.  There was an excellent story in the Seattle PI concerning details of the issues.  Many wonder what will happen to the new owners who purchased recently in the building.   Will they be able to refinance?  Will they have to pay a huge assessment?  In my experience during time of lawsuits prices of the condos decrease until it is finally settled

Mosler Lofts also has been hit with a separate lawsuit from Kroll Map Co., whose is located adjacent to Mosler lofts. The lawsuit indicates the builder did not do promised work on Kroll’s Map building.  It also failed to properly protect the building from construction related impacts.

Received a call today from Bernard Troy of King 5 news.  He is doing a story on Madison lofts and how prices are dropping.  I gave him inputs about other projects where we are seeing price drops also.   One of the projects I mentioned is the Cosmopolitan where I happen to own an investment unit.  

 Buyers might be able to get a better deal on a condo that is 2-3 years old than buying new.  But isn’t this the case with buying a new car!  If you buy a car a couple of years old you can get a significant price savings,  but car buyers do buy new cars.  Why?  because they like the feel of a new car.   This seems to be the case with condos and houses.   

Escala, a condominium tower now under construction in the heart of Midtown, recently reached a milestone as more than 50 percent of its Premier Sales Release has been sold. More than $6 million in sales were recorded in the last month alone, resulting in an Encore Sales Release happening now.

     Escala developer John Midby of LEXAS Companies says the new inventory actually represents the last near-term opportunity for new condominiums in downtown Seattle, given the reported 95 percent drop in new construction deliveries anticipated by 2010.

The Clise family who owned a big chunk of prime real estate in the Denny Triangle close to the Valcan projects currently under construction has decided to remove the land from the market due to the recent change in the real estate and financing markets.  As reported in the Seattle Timesit could take up to 15 years to develop a property that large.