Lumen announced today that they are auctioning off 19 of their remaining homes on Saturday, July 11th at 1.00pm at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. A pre-auction seminar will be held for interested buyers on Wednesday, July 1st at 7.00pm. Home buyers can learn more about the auction process during the seminar and participate in a mock auction as well.
Floor Plan Minimum Bid Square feet
One Bedroom $155,000-$175,000 629-829
One Bedroom + Loft $260,000 1,003-1,034
Two Bedroom $275,000-$325,000 1,075-,1286
Large One Bedroom + Loft $395,000 1,631
Large Two Bedroom + Den $795,000 2,082
Related Posts:
Queen Anne High School Auction
Press Auction: Going once, Going twice, Gone!
As promised, here's a neat chart I whipped up showing the original listing prices and their ultimate auction winning price. As you can see, some people picked up 2BR units for just over $300K which I suspect, at the risk of putting chum in the water for the pessimists, will turn out to be a really good price.
Continue reading "Queen Anne Condo Auction - by the numbers" »
Queen Anne High School Condo is following the foot steps of Press Condominiums and Seventeen07 and will be auctioning their 12 remaining homes on Sunday, March 22nd at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at 1:00pm.
Minimium bids for these homes start at $145,000 for the studio, $325,000 for the one bedroom plus den, $245,000 for the two bedrooms, and $650,000 for the penthouse. Click here for more details and the auction video.
I visited the project again today and took another look. Of all the homes, #367 and #402 (penthouse) seem most interesting. The penthouse was previously listed for $1.29 million and the price was dropped to $999,950. It has a great view of the city, 14 foot ceilings and large vintage arched windows (though they are single pane). As for #367, I like the fact that it is facing the fountain courtyard, well laid out, and the deck is accessible from both bedrooms.
In the last auction for Press Condominiums, 350 people attended the event and all the homes were sold within 45 minutes at ~ 92% of the asking prices. Queen Anne auction will be conducted by the same company, Kennedy Wilson Auction Group, a real estate company based in Beverly Hill, California. So far, they are not extending this type of service to individual owners yet but if this method continues to find success, I wouldn't be surprised.
I have only been away for a week and yet there were quite a number of updates in Seattle Condos. Here is a quick summary:
2.) Following the foot steps of Expo 62 (Axis Apartment) and Domaine in Queen Anne, Moda is officially converted to an apartment. Moda homes were initially sold out two weeks after the sales center opened back in 2006. Two years later, several home buyers decided to back out from the purchase because the homes turned out to be smaller than they expected. That resulted with a handful of units becoming available on the market. However, with completion just around the corner, the developer has decided to turn it into an apartment citing that many home buyers are unable to secure financing as their 2nd home or investment property and others getting cold feet leaving them with no other alternative but to convert to an apartment. The slow market conditions did not help them as well. Read more.
Previous posts:
200 West Highland is new high-end construction project on the south slope of Queen Anne and right across from Kerry Park. The project is developed by Lorig Management and designed by Mithun, who is also the architect for Mosler Lofts and Cosmopolitan. 200 West Highland is going to be a 5 story concrete and steel construction building.
The condo will showcase 25 homes catering to home buyers looking for a larger homes. Only two and three bedroom floor plans are available in this building with the smallest two bedroom starting at 1,499 square feet and three bedroom plus den at 2,852 square feet. Top floor homes come with almost 12 foot ceilings. All homes will be air-conditioned and include 2 parking spots, and most of them have outdoor terraces. Prices start from $1.2M to $3.9M (yes, that's right, they start at $1.2M). Completion date is scheduled for December this year.
Here are some of the highlights from the hard hat tour:
Spring is here so let's see how the numbers are looking. For the month of March, inventory remains high in Seattle at 52.43% compared to same time last year. Year-over-year pending sales dropped 27.76%. In fact, from January to March 08, we have seen a consistent drop in closed sales over the same time last year. However, in March, median price for Seattle condos increased by 4.11%.
Days on market remains longer than same time last year for all the neighborhoods. Months of inventory in Belltown/downtown has recovered from early this year. In January, Feburary and March, the months inventory has been shrinking from 14, to 8.3 to 7.6. It looks like we are moving from a buyers' market gradually to a balanced market in Belltown/downtown. Kudos to those buyers who picked up great deals in January.
Summary: More property is on the market and staying on the market longer than last year; however, sellers are not slashing prices nearly as much as some had expected. Most homebuyers are taking a little bit longer to decide on their purchase knowing that there is not as much urgency. Sellers on the other hand are still holding on to the prices they believe their condos ought to command and in some cases are making a symbolic reductions in the price but rarely more than 10%. For the sellers who can wait, they are opting to rent out their condo to capitalize on the strong rental market.
Flashback: I was curious how many readers were right about their prediction on the market for March 08 compared to Fall 2007? 22% of SCR voters were right that the market will perform the same in March (~5% change in median price) compared to September 07 but sell at a slower rate. About half of the poll takers incorrectly predicted in October that the pricing in the spring would drop by up to 30%.
McKean's Grand opening is going to be next Thursday (04/03, 6pm-8pm), they opened their doors to the public today. Only one model unit is available for viewing while the rest of the units are still in the works. Here are some observations from this vintage conversion:
Overall, the building is in a pretty good shape, interior work is done nicely, it's a little out of the way (from all the conveniences) but at least it comes with parking space (uncovered) which a lot of vintage conversion projects lack.
McKean vintage conversion condos set on Queen Anne (1404 Olympic Way West) will have its grand opening next Thursday, April 3rd from 6pm to 8pm. This boutique conversion project features eight one-bedrooms and one bedroom plus den homes retained in an original 1929 brick exterior. Two ground-floor homes start at $334,950. Most homes will come with views with prices starting from $409,950. Here are some of the details:
Homebuyers interested in this project can register at their website. The condo will officially open for weekend tours on Saturday and Sunday, April 5th & 6th from 12pm to 6pm.
In an interesting twist and contrast to all the aparment-to-condo conversions we saw in 2006 and 2007, Expo 62 has converted from pre-sale condos to "luxury apartment rentals" for summer of 2008. You can see their placeholder one-page website here. Read more on Seattle PI.
This unexpected change is further evidence that developers are not able to unload new condos at the frenetic pace of a couple years ago (seems like yesterday when Cosmopolitan practically sold out in 1 day before the ground was even broken). It's also another data point on the rental market becoming increasingly attractive for investors to pay their bankers' interest and perhaps earn a little income while the sales market takes time to firm up again. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they switch back to condos in a few years.
In a recent post, we looked at three projects completed last year and how closely the developers delivered on what they promised. Nothing beats hearing first-hand experience from homeowners who actually bought into these condos. I interviewed three buyers and summarized their responses below.
Two of these homeowners were represented by me and one is an SCR reader for whom I worked on a different subsequent property. If buying a pre-sale condo as your primary residence is one of your New Year's resolutions, you may want to get some insights from some folks who preceded you in the Seattle condo market.
1.) What sold you on this condo?
Primarily the location but also the price per square foot and the particular unit available.
2.) How closely did the developer deliver (concept, compared to the rendering, architectural design, model unit versus your unit, overall finishes etc.)
Very accurate on the concept. Did not review a model unit but floor plan was pretty close to the actual.
3.) How was the overall buying process for you?
Unsatisfactory delays and poor communication by developer and developer's agent.
4.) Do you have any advice for first time new construction buyers?
Review the developer's track record and also the developer's agent. Negotiate upfront remedies for delays and/or be prepared for them.
One of the questions new construction home buyers often ask is, "How do we know that the condo we are buying is going to be close to what is being promised, the perfectly lighted model unit, and dainty plastic diorama?"
The truth of the matter is that the display model, renderings, brochures and any advertising materials are tools for the developer to communicate a concept but they have (and will excercise) the right to make modifications during the actual construction. The best developers and marketers will not overpromise and stay very true to the spirit of the concept marketed. In terms of legal recourse, there's a wide grey area between the developer making some tweaks and serious false advertising. This kind of risk only increases the value of buying from a developer and the project's marketing firm which both have long, verifiable, and positive track records of promoting and delivering well-designed, quality product on spec, and on time.
So how good are developers at keeping their promises? When I started this blog almost two years ago, many new construction projects were already in the works. I thought it would be neat to take a look at a few examples: Mosler Lofts, Lumen and The Parc and compare their marketed concepts to the actual delivered product.
Mosler Lofts (Marketed by Williams Marketing, Developed by Schuster Group)
Advertised Actual
I have to say that among the three condos marketed a couple of years ago, Mosler Lofts's exterior is extremely close to what was advertised -- many people feel it looks even better than the pre-sales renderings. Its glass and brick combination has a very solid feel, almost a cross between Avenue One and Bellora condos. As for the interior, the finishes presented in the sales center are also very close. One nit: some pre-sales buyers were surprised by the large exposed metal ducts below the ceilings and unpainted concrete ceilings. (To be fair, these ducts appeared on the floor plan documentation but I've heard from a few buyers that it wasn't obvious to them when they were at the sales center.)
Lastly, Mosler Lofts was projected for June 2007 occupancy and started the move-ins in November 2007. This was partly due to a 1 month concrete strike in August 2006 and partly a bad estimate.
Avenue One Bellora
Continue reading "Pre-Construction Marketing versus Reality" »
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Wendy is not directly affiliated with the development projects reviewed on this site.
Wendy welcomes fact sheets and other pertinent information from Seattle condo marketers to be considered for reviews. To preserve Seattle Condo Review's unbiased point of view, Wendy does not accept any offers for marketing sponsorship or site advertising requests.
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