Seattle Condo Review: Blog with News & Advice about Seattle Condos

Thanks for pointing that out. I've posted the chart for April.

Wendy,
This chart looks like the same chart you had posted on April 9, 2008.

In keeping with the openeness of the blogosphere, I'm gonna have to decline the requests to remove the post or delete its associated comments.

Nevertheless, since all sides of this discussion have clearly made their points and the general tone of the comments (from both sides) is starting to get repetitive and a bit more heated, I'm closing off this post to future comments.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their perspectives.

Wendy please remove this post, the majority of the posts appear to be coming from Tika Bordeleon (board member)at the Elektra. He has many issues and one of them is not intelligence. He fails to realize the damage he is causing our building and to all of our property values. I beg you to remove this blog. It is not as active as it appears because it is mostly the one person. If you refuse I will see if I may take this further with your broker or the MLS.

Thank you for your consideration.

if the place isn't a hotel, why is it being advertised on trip advisor as being one?

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60878-d248123-Reviews-Seattle_Suites-Seattle_Washington.html

Someone on there has already posted a negative review. I would suggest you all do the same so hopefully possible guests will not want to stay there.

Fellow VRU Owners and Opponents - please stop the prattling (meaningless babble). There is no need to continue this nonsense publicly.

The fact is we all have one thing in common in our gem - The Elektra.

The City's Ruling will be in a few weeks - let's stop damaging the image of our building.

I can only speak for myself, but I plan to continue to follow the law and will respect and follow the City's pending decision - no matter the outcome.

I've read through the comments and find it to be a cowardice to slam each other and our building publicly without naming yourself.

For this reason, my name is listed.

If you'd like to discuss my post, I'm up for meeting in person. Posting your boorish comments on this silly site without naming yourself isn't only damaging our building image - these are acts of petulant children.

The Elektra is a wonderful building - let's stop this vitriolic nonsense.

What in the world does stating the name of the board president and the fact she went through foreclosure have anything to do with this?

The fact that it's in the declaration means nothing. The city has the final say.

I can't wait to see the city uphold this ruling and these scummy VRU owners be forced to sell. haahaahahahaahahaaha

Would you all PLEASE take this bantering offline! This is ridiculous, especially each of you blatantly calling out names in this blog! Grow up and respect the rest of the residents in the building!

I have read all of the posting here, I am not surprised.

Facts:

1 )The declaration states that there is a three night minimum for rental units. Every owner purchased this at signing, with a full understanding of this.

2) There has been no complaints of vomitting, people passing out, and other accusations made to the Stranger; and who are the strange people that is mentioned in the article?

3) The VRU's have been a part of the building since it was converted with eveyones knowledge and approval.

4) out of 200 units only a handful people made complaints to the city, four of which are on the board.

5) This issue is between the VRU owners and the City.

6) There are wonderful people who live in the Elektra and if buyers want a good deal "This is there one chance".

7) The City of Seattle was provided an interpretation of their opinion on this matter by a low level DPD official, which is now in appeal.

8) While the city makes there interpretation of the zonning definition the VRU's are not illegal.

9) If there was illegal activity, people would be in jail by now.

10) I respect all opinions.

11) The president of the board Elva Gonzalez just got out of foreclosure just a couple weeks ago.

What is the matter with you people?!?!? You are all acting like a bunch of children with your snide comments and remarks. Maybe everyone should start acting their age or like REAL adults and stop posting these childish comments for all the world to see. If everyone is so worried about the image of our building, then maybe you should STOP blabbing building business all over the internet!

I would highly recommend against the Ellington. It is a beautiful condo with very friendly concierges, however, the homeowners association is very fine-happy and will attempt to levy stiff fines for ridiculous things (based on hearsay) instead of inquiring informing you directly.

Hi Wendy, thanks for hosting this dialog between the residents and the illegal hotel companies at the Elektra. As you can see, they are very controlling and manipulative. If you have any other buildings with hotel unit problems, please direct them to this site and show them how disruptive illegal activity can be. The hotel companies are bullies and disrupt our board meeting. They lie and spread false accusations about our board and residents. They took control of our key/lock box that was intended for real estate agents and give the code to their clients online so they can check themsleves in. What this does is give the impression that we have many more units available for sale than we do, thereby lowering our prices. Our credit reports show that we live in a "mixed use" building because the hotel units also operate here, thereby lowering our credit scores. It is unfortunate but now with the help of the city, we're finally removing this criminal activity once and for all. what a RELIEF!

First the hotel owners try to control the board (Doug as president/Michelle as secretary. The two largest hotel companies at the Elektra) and they lost. Now they are trying to control this site! There are more hotel haters than not: we have you outnumbered and we have the city on our side. Please, just sell your hotel units and leave this building. You are not wanted here.

Whether you are in favor of one side or the other in this matter - please take this offline as this truly is an inappropriate forum for such. Thank you.

Posted by: Elektra Resident | May 6, 2008 10:24:09 PM

Posted by: I HATE THE HOTEL UNITS | May 6, 2008 7:32:43 PM

The posts above are from the same people.
So, Tika Bordelon - are you now saying you're in favor of VRUs - you slippery viper.

Blew your position in the first post by coming down midway attempting to support your position - it didn't work, nice try.
Your little fragile and inept mind forgot your own position.

Are you that hard-up for support that you feel the need to log in with different names to support your position?

Note: I'm working on an April summary this week so the comments below only take March and prior trends into account.

Interesting question. I'm not an economist but here are some potential explanations:

-Sellers are confident that demand will pick up again / are convinced their property is worth a lot more than the market is offering and are willing and able to wait or only adjust prices slightly instead of dropping prices dramatically for an immediate sale.

-Sellers see that many units that have dropped prices do not necessarily get sold much more quickly suggesting that buyers have convinced themselves to wait longer almost regardless of current pricing.

-The real estate market is not very fluid. Prices may indeed go down at some point but it may take some time for prices to adjust.

-A disproportionate amount of the remaining demand in the market today is going for higher end units so the median pricing is holding firm / rising slightly.

due to what happened with carbon56, i'd be skeptical on this one not turning into apartments

I’m a student at UW studying the condo market for a paper and am interested in understanding the optimist side this logic. I realize that basic supply/demand economics is not the sole driver of pricing given the elasticity of demand of houses but it’s a great indicator, especially for the condo market.

If you establish a supply/demand ratio based on the marketplace statistics – I get the following result: (note: the ratio is based on number of sales divided by number of active listings to understand what % of listings is actually selling.)

Belltown/Downtown: 2006 38%, 2007 26% - sales, as a % of inventory decreases 12% year over year
Queen Anne 2006 48%, 2007 25% - sales, as a % of inventory decreases 23% year over year
Cap Hill/Mad Park: 2006 53% 2007 31% - sales, as a % of inventory decreases 22% year over year

If I were to draw a supply demand curve – then as supply increases over demand, price shifts downward as demand controls pricing power. The anomaly in the data is in the pricing being positive at all for April. However, given that inventory (supply) is between 91-160% increase, while sales volume is dropping sharply I’m suggesting any positive return at all is unsustainable.

With all the unfinished inventory coming on to the market – one could hypothesize that the ratio of sales volume to inventory will continue to drop off substantially. When supply is dramatically outstripping demand how does any pricing power remain with the seller in the condo market?

I am curious, Wendy, where the developer comes up with figures that 4.6% higher in Sales price comes from features being Green.

I don't see where they are getting the points for the green features.

I don't know who Tika is but he is obviously bitter. He cannot and will not accept that other people make decisions in life whether they are for financial or for personal reasons. It is not illegal to rent nor is it illegal to have VRU's. When and if that day comes who is going to regulate it and how? The biggest question is why would you want the City to step in and regulate. It sounds to me that the Elektra residents need to accept where they live. If you are so upset once again MOVE! If you're lucky an investor would want to buy your unit.

So far, I have not heard of anything new yet but if i do, I'll be posting an update.

I have been watching the project develope, and it looks like the structure and the materials used are going to be outstanding. I spoke with the agent also, and she was comparing the finishing and building materials to be "Four Seasons Level". Any updates on floor plans or pricing from them?

I don't think your comment makes "sense". When someone buys multiple units in a building, they are not "taking away housing from others". This is a free market society, and anyone with the financial success and fiscal responsibility to obtain a bank loan can buy a piece of property - or two. Therefore, there is no "taking away housing from others". If those "others" can afford a condo, they can buy one. This is the key issue with Tika and a small handfull of his buddies. They are class-warriors who resent those who have more than they do. It is that simple. The incident Tika loves to refer to in the press of a disturbance he saw - - happened FOUR YEARS AGO!!!!! And he has NO PROOF it was a VRU guest. Yet, his fragile soul cannot shake this traumatic event. Poor, delicate, chinless baby...

Frankly, I don't really believe his "incident" even happened.

Tika and his buddies also insist on calling them Hotel, when they are not hotel. They are VRU - a big difference those who are informed. And, it is not ILLEGAL - it is simply a zoning question. And, the city is currently reviewing their definitions and codes, etc., which proves even the City is not sure what is correct.

This will all shake out in the end, but it is unfortunate that Tika and his small pod of haters wish to make the business of a few homeowners their business, and that they wish to repeatedly slam the Elektra in the press. They want to take the whole building down, it seems.

This now makes sense. When "investors" buy multiple properties or units in a building and run them as businesses, they are taking away housing from others. Since the Elektra is an affordable housing option located downtown, I now see why the city and residents are so upset with the VRU people.
I suppose I could be in support of them if the building was zoned for it and there was a vru limit. In the original Notice Of Violation against the VRU people, I think it listed 35 with some people owning several. If it is true that none of the VRU owners live in the building, then they don't know what it is like living with unknown people always coming and going.

Great Post, Tika -

Sorry you cannot afford more than one condo. That was your choice in life, to limit yourself to only be able to afford one residence. Why rage at others who have worked hard to achieve more success than you? Is it jealousy? I think it is.

It is NOT illegal. it is against zoning codes, but not illegal. And, there has been no zoning violation for several months. Yet, Tika and his cohorts cannot let go.

So sad to be so bitter and with so few options in life.....

Let's get one fact clear: IT IS ILLEGAL FOR THE HOTEL UNITS TO OPERATE IN THE ELEKTRA FOR LESS THAN 30 DAYS! After 30 days it becomes a "rental". The city is allowing the hotel companies to honor exisiting reservations, which are coming to an end. The fact that these hotel units have knowingly operated illegally and greedily for years and are now, finally, being caught by the city zoning laws is WONDERFUL for the residents: the people who LIVE in the building! NO hotel owners/investors actually live at the Elektra and have to deal with their obnoxious guests.
The current board has a renovation under way, so kudos to them. It looks beautiful and appropriate.
Isn't there supposed to be a follow-up story with The Stranger? Maybe I should contact all of the media and local housing groups to point out that these "investors" are stealing affordable housing from those who actually could use it.

Here I am, one of the owners at the Elektra. I love it there but can only leave the east coast during a month of the summer to live in our Seattle home. Wish I were there now, and intend to be when we retire. In the meantime, we rent it out with a property manager who takes excellent care of it. In 5 years we've had no damage to our lovely furniture or condo, something rarely heard about any rental. No complaints about our renters, either! Our renters leave comments about loving the homey atmosphere and the amenities we provide. In addition, we put everything we make above the expenses back into improvements, because it's our home.

When we're there, the staff is wonderful, and there used to be a warm community feeling. Not now, but I do believe a change is coming, because there are a lot of good folks at the Elektra.

By the way, it was painted not so long ago. Don't you like orange?

Tolstoy would ramble on and on in his descriptions of the wooden chairs, but he'd stay on point - he never jumped around in a schizo or ADD fit. It appears this post has multiple Tolstoy(s), seeing how you can sign in with any name...i.e., hijack a user-name to argue in favor of your position.

I am back! I still haven't been educated from a facts point of view. I am willing to see both sides but there haven't been many who can educate me other than by complaining about the issues that most condos go through. The fact that I have known is that the building is not taken care of and is evidently being destroyed by investors. If someone can do it without getting upset that would be great!

I was also a tenant here and can contest to the heat and noise complaint. Ever since the conversion the management has been horrible- and the sales just embarrassing. Save yourself some sanity and money and avoid this cheap flip.

The Penthouses range from $2.4M to $4.4M and will be roughly the same height as the Qwest building. The SW Penthouse will have views to the west, and will be the only plan that looks partially to the Qwest building. The NW and SE corners have amazing views. Call the presentation center at 206-382-4820, Emily and I will be happy to give you additional details. We have had an overwhelming number of owners who were shocked and excited about how great their views are!

Thanks for the update. What floor are the penthouses on and will they be higher than the Qwest building? Any ideas on sizes and prices? Their website doesn't say.

The units on the N side have big bedrooms. It's a rare chance to get the aesthetic of an older bldg plus covered parking (if you buy a stall) and in-unit laundry of *any* kind, though I'd rather have a conventional W/D in a closet and not be schlepping laundry through the kitchen.

Any substantiation of the accusations against other LH bldgs?

Re kitchens, yeah, I have yet to run across a kitchen in any potential condo seriously designed for more than making breakfast. At least in older bldgs like this the kitchen is a separate little workshop. In the newer bldgs it's just one end of the main room. If you're not cooking, then the gleaming steel and polished granite look lovely, but if you do any real cooking ...

This has made for some interesting reading...also, interesting that Tolstoy has gone silent. Sounds as though he/she should see both sides of the story and not just from the investors perspective.

I dunno. Market is going up or down or sideways for sure. And for sure I'll be watching Fourth of July fireworks from the balcony of my new condo when I visit Seattle this summer. I plan to flip it to my kids in about 20 years. Life is just too short to worry about "the market." If you can afford it, start living and stop worrying.

I have been at 5th and Madison for several months. The developers have been very good about fixing the problems we've had. The biggest problem is with CWD the property manager. Supposedly they manage over 90 buildings in Seattle but you wouldn't think they had ever does this before by the way they have behaved. I don't think they'll be here much longer.

After seeing the Marlborough, I agree that the quality is highly questionable, as has been in MANY of Live Historic's other buildings. Cracked plaster, poor finishes, and the 2 in 1 washer and dryers (look up the reviews) are notoriously faulty machines.

It's a great building, but look before you leap...

I toured these condo's last weekend. Let me be the first to say that I was less than impressed. While their lobby had nice original touches, the actual units were by no means worth the price. The kitchen appliances were TINY and not practical in the least. The bedrooms were not big enough for a queen bed. The developer left the original plaster walls that were cracked and bowed. Worst of all, when the HOA takes over the building will NOT have earthquake insurance! The Marlborough is a brick building folks - not pretty in an earthquake. Before buying here, I would do some serious research about the strength of 13 story wood and brick building.

You could put down a foot of the deepest shag carpeting and these condos will still be loud. If they tell you the walls are condo quality they're lying to you. They are nothing but steel studs and thin plaster. Some people may have gotten the rare quiet apartments but the one I had was loud as hell. I could hear EVERYTHING in my neighbor's apartments, next door and upstairs. There is lots of noise from the alley with nothing to absorb the sound. The worst problem is the lack of proper ventilation and air conditioning. They should call this place Greenhouse 56. This place had a lot of problems as an apartment building and I don't see how stainless steel appliances and a coat of new paint has fixed them. Buyer beware!

Are you a real estate agent Tolstoy...do you live in or own in the Elektra?

Educate me on the facts

That's the first new condo project that I've found nice looking in a while. Kudos to the architect for coming up with something nice to look at.

Again Tolstoy - until you know ALL the facts...

Your post three times doesn't change anyones view anymore than posting once

The facts are well documented especially since the building is getting the city involved which I believe is ridiculous! My point is that the building doesn't do anything to up its' image it is only blaming a small few for the problems that are inherent of who can afford to live in that building. I guarantee that if HOA dues were raised you would be bitching about that too. It's a perception and whether you live there or not people know that the building is old and not taken care of...Blame the board for not wanting to upgrade that old building!!

Tolstoy - you really should do some research before mouthing off. Your points definitely undermine those owners who live in the building as their primary residence...and more importantly...their HOME. Unless you live in the building, you have no true idea of what goes on and how much of a nuisance is created by the traffic that is created by the hotel transients. So, until you live in the building and TRULY understand the issues...you should keep your unfounded comments to yourself until you know ALL the facts.

Let's hope the demand in Ballard can keep up with the supply. I like the look of the building though.

I think any renters are bad news for condos. In my building, it's almost always the renters who do crazy shite like stealing plants from common areas.

sounds really cool. my only concern is the kitchens -- not sure they're big enough for my cooking needs.

call me crazy but i think both sides are wrong. the market's not gonna go up or down but be precisely where we are today.

Yah, but take into account the jobs coming into our state eventually like Yahoo (which employs thousands of people). I am trying to be a doom and gloomer, but it's sounding pretty good.