Seattle Condo Blog and Community Information

I’ve been watching an interesting chain of events unfold since attending the highly successful Gallery and Brix Auction. In the 10 day since, Brix has sold ten more condo homes and Gallery, eight. The pricing set at the auction remains in place and, with the seller determined to fill the buildings in the next couple of months, patient buyers who have held out for fair deals are being rewarded.

Excited auction buyers came well prepared, most putting down 20 percent – certainly the tax incentive was part of the motivation. And, very few investors bought units, which in other times would be the other way around. As Ken Stevens, CEO of Accelerated Marketing Partners, put it: “The auction added a dimension of transparency to the process and sellers aren’t going to go right back to the original pricing… they are now willing to accept the mandate for this new pricing for the remaining inventory. It’s the only way the trust factor will return.”

For those looking to purchase a condo home at this time, there are two big incentives to consider (not including the $8,000 tax credit due to expire in November): the first is that in my opinion there is no way these buildings can be replaced for the cost at which the condo units sold. Which leads to the second: that buyers can feel really great about making a very secure investment. Gallery currently has about 15 condos left to sell, and Brix, about 20. Going…going….?

While TIME Magazine’s latest issue puts Seattle in the better-to-rent-than-buy-now category, it may be wise to question that thinking before putting down that first, last and security deposit. True, pricing still seems to be on the downward trend, especially in the condo world. In fact, July was the second month in a row to see prices continuing to dip––3.6 percent from June and a whopping 10 percent from July 2008. And, the condo inventory has gone up slightly.

What this means, if you can boldly look past the numbers, is that buyers actually may have the advantage. Even though prices may still have a short-term slide, today’s condo prices reflect those of three to four years ago, just before the bubble got out of hand. Add those numbers to the incredible variety of choice available in the market––think views, decks, downtown living, and neighborhoods you might not have dreamed you could afford––and buying vs. renting just might be starting to feel smarter. To top it off, don’t forget there’s the $8,000 first-time homebuyer credit offered until November 1. In the case of Seattle’s amenity-rich condos, we’re not exactly talking cash for clunkers.

Although the housing sales pendulum is still swinging, we Seattle area residents are starting to feel a little less dizzy these days. Because the Northwest market has not fallen nearly as far as other areas – like California, Arizona, and Florida, for instance – our rebound has been a little quicker. That all has to do with the fact that the economic climate here was not quite as stormy as in much of the rest of the country. Knock on wood.

One buzz word that seems to be surfacing these days is “overvaluation” – that is, that with the big boom in tech and other industry in the past five to eight years, housing prices climbed much faster than anywhere else. So right now, given the bust in some of those industries, our market is Continue Reading »