Downtown Seattle Condos | Blog & Reviews by Wendy & Marco

Condo Review – Madison Tower in Downtown

Madison Tower is a condominium community perched atop Hotel 1000 in Downtown. Built in 2006, this building has modern interiors, great amenities and many of the units boast lovely water and city views.

The stats:

• 47 units
• 25 stories
• Built in 2006
• Units range from 1-3 bedrooms and have 1.5 or 3.5 bathrooms
• Range in size from 805 to 3,740 square feet
• All have 1, 2 or 3 parking spaces in the Valet  run garage
• 5 units sold in the last year ranging in price from $425,000 to $4,000,000
• 1 condo is available at the time of this article – 1 2bd 2.5ba home listed for $899,000
• Amenities: Rooftop deck with BBQ, fire pit, pet area and water views, gym, business center, priority for meeting room bookings and hotel restaurants reservations, 24 hour concierge (shared with hotel) and access to the hotel amenities (for a discounted fee) including virtual golf simulator, room service, in home catering, housekeeping, laundry and dry cleaning, in home massage, car wash and treatments at Spaahh in the hotel
• HOA dues include: water, sewer, garbage, central hot water, cable TV, earthquake insurance, 24 hour concierge, master insurance policy

2200 Condominiums in South Lake Union Settles with its Developer

After approximately two years of warranty investigation work and negotiation, the 2200 Residential Homeowner Association and the 2200 Master Association (that represents the hotel, retail and the Whole Foods) received an early holiday gift of sorts. A settlement was reached for the 2200 Association's claim for repair of construction defects. The settlement summary was discussed with owners at the annual meeting of the HOA held earlier this week. The $26 million dollar settlement represents what is rumored to be the largest construction defect settlement of its kind in the state for a residential condo building.

This settlement comes at a good time for the owners in the 2200 complex who have been somewhat limited from being able to refinance or sell condo units for some time due to the fact the resale certificates and condo questionnaires needed by lenders disclosed issues related to the construction defects and its mediation.  These can now be changed, which should open up some possibilities for sales and refinances to happen since buyers and their lender might be more confident about the long term financial health of the building and the HOA.

Early indications are that the 2200 community will start to see the work start some time in 2013 but it’s not known exactly when, nor exactly how long the work will take.  It also remains to be seen which of three condo towers will be first and if a full wrap of each building will be needed. The board indicated at the meeting they will be working hard with the project contractor to try to make the repairs as efficient as possible and with the least amount of impact on the residents and businesses within 2200 as possible. It is not yet officially known who that contractor will be.

Although none of us owners at 2200 are looking forward to the inconvenience of the repair work that follows, it is likely that the settlement amount will cover the expenses of the needed repairs and there will not be a need for additional funds from the owners through an increase in dues nor a special assessment, which is the silver lining to the whole thing and a relief for many. In fact, the new budget for 2013 reflects a decrease in dues now that the settlement has been finalized.

By Marco Kronen with Seattle Condo Review: A guide to Seattle Condos exclusively for buyers and sellers

Olive 8 Update - Including its Debut on Top Chef Seattle

You may or may not already know but the Bravo show, Top Chef, was recently filmed in Seattle for season 10, which is now airing.  The chefs compete in a number of challenges that feature local cuisine, restaurants, and events in the host city. The show also puts the chefs up in a posh residence for their stay during the competition.

Guess where the chefs stayed? Downtown Seattle’s Olive 8 Condominiums! The “cheftestants” all lived in a unit on the 38^th floor of the Olive 8 tower giving this condo a great national stage to be seen on. The program showcases Olive 8 with scenes of the chefs lounging around, using the gourmet kitchen and shows off the beautiful view as the chefs sit out on their private deck. Olive 8 was a good choice, I would say.

So what’s going on at Olive 8 in terms of condo sales you might ask? Here is the latest update on Olive 8’s Developer owned condo units:

• 90% sold
• 196 closed sales
• 9 pending sales in November
• 19 developer owned units left: 10 one bedrooms and 9 two bedrooms (all on floor 30 or above)

There are also a couple of units being sold by individual owners (resales) in the building:

• 1 active resale unit
• 2 pending resale units

Client Question of the Week: My condo's tax assessed value went down, does that mean my condo value decreased?

Recently a client emailed me a great question that we felt many people would benefit from knowing the answer to.

“Marco, I recently received a tax assessment notice in the mail and it showed my condo value has gone down since I bought it earlier this year. But I'm seeing condo prices in the area are increasing. Should I appeal to the tax assessor’s office to increase my tax assessment to be more in line with recent market sales, as I'm afraid this might hurt my condo's value now and in the future? I realize this might mean my annual taxes may go up, but I'm just not sure what is best.”

Great question!

2200 Westlake Condos: Humble Beginnings, Bright Future

2200 Westlake is a building that I feel might be misunderstood and I believe this is due to its market timing. Let me explain.

2200 (along with Cosmopolitan and Madison Tower) was one of the first pre-sale new construction projects to hit the scene after the Cristalla (pre-sold in 2003; completed in 2005). When Cristalla was completed it was the first new construction project to have been completed in Belltown since the Bellora in 2003 and buyers were excited to get into something new and shiny. The market was booming and everyone was trying to buy. Oh the good ole days.

When closings began in 2005 Cristalla, owners were being approached to sell their condos for much over their purchase price (I know, because it happened to me!). This created the expectation that if you purchased a new condo, you could turn around and sell it immediately for a hefty profit. Investors jumped on the chance to make a quick buck and were a large percentage of those who bought at 2200 in pre-sale. Unfortunately, by the time 2200 purchases began to close in 2006 and into 2007, the market had started to cool and buyers were wise to the ‘flipping’ that investors were doing in buildings such as Cristalla and they were not having it. So, when the investors went to sell off their units right away, there were not enough takers. As a result, many of these units then became rentals and still are rentals. Other condo owners who needed to sell walked away and foreclosed or short sold, which affected the condo values.

2010 Seattle Condo Market in Review

The Seattle condo market has definitely gone through a lot in the last few years.  Looking at 2010 as a whole, it did not preform as well as 2009 but it wasn't too far behind.

During the first 6 months of 2010, we saw a higher number of closed sales compared to first half of 2009.  This may have been due to the extension of the tax credit from October 2009 to April 30, 2010 which gave the market a boost in activity.  In addition to the original $8,000 first time home buyers' credit, a $6,500 tax credit was passed for repeat buyers as well.  Buyers had to be under contract by end of April, 2010 and closed by June 30 (the closing date was later extended to September 30, 2010) in order to qualify for this tax credit.

The strongest month was April; probably due to many buyers trying to meet the tax credit deadline closing date.  

Olive 8 and Fifth & Madison Update

The Seattle Times covered the Olive 8 auction last weekend.  According to  David Thyer, president of developer R.C. Hedreen,  all but 4 homes (out of the 32 auction homes) were accepted by the seller last Sunday.  

"Before Sunday, Olive 8 closed deals for 74 of its 227 units, mostly on the building's lower portion between floors 18 and 26.  The 32 units auctioned off Sunday represent nearly all of the unsold inventory on that lower portion, so "we'll no longer have prospective buyers going through those floors," Thyer said last week.  Olive 8 still has a little more than 100 unsold units on the top floors, with price tags from $500,000 to $6.9 million."

This made me wonder if all the Fifth and Madison auctioned homes actually reached the closing table.  I managed to pull some information and put together this updated sheet.  Out of the 16 auction homes, 13 closed within 60 days.  The three homes (#1102, #1200 & #1805) that went back on the market after the auction were subsequently closed within the next five months (presumably, not to bidders).  Out of the 13 homes  that closed within 60 days, a few of them were sold at a higher price.  They are #1803, #2200, and #2202.  The average closed price is still about 66% of the original listing price.  So, in Fifth and Madison's case, they managed to close ~81% of their auction homes, not a bad way to unload a big chunk of unsold inventory in a day.  

Related posts: 

Seattle Condo Auction Roundup
Seattle Condo Auctions: Equivalent of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sales?
5th and Madison and Trace Lofts Update
Queen Anne Auction- By the numbers
Lumen Auction Results
Brix and Gallery Auction Results
Press Auction: Going once, Going twice, Gone!

 -Wendy 

Olive 8 Auction Results

Olive 8's auction event was this afternoon.  Thirty two homes were auctioned off by Kennedy Wilson.  They initially had thirty-four homes for auction but two of them, #1902 and #2102 were removed from the list.  The homes were sold for an average of 66% of the previous listing price, which is very close to the average of the last few auctions (Queen Anne High School, Lumen, Brix, Gallery, and 5th and Madison) since 2009 at 67%.  The average price per square sold for the auction was $450.78.  This is by far the highest average price per square foot sold for all auction events. 

Olive 8 Auction Results

Here are some highlights of the event:

1.) One bedroom's were sold for an average $462.69/sq.ft. and the average winning bids were at 68% of the previous listing price.  Two bedroom's were sold for an average of $415.06/sq.ft and the average winning bids were at 60% of the previous listing price. 

 2.) One of the largest two bedroom homes sold for $625,000, 54% of the previous listing price.

3.) The lowest price one bedroom was sold for $297,000 (650 sq.ft.).  One couple won the bid for a two bedrooms, two bathrooms for $702,000 (1,586 sq.ft.).  It was the highest bid for the two bedroom homes but they were very pleased with the price.  It's going to be their 2nd home.  

Each home has an unpublished reserve price, which means that the seller has set a minimum selling price.  In the event the winning bid was lower than the reserve price, the winning bid is subject to acceptance by the seller.  It would be interesting to see how many of these homes will make it to closing.  

Related posts:

Seattle Condo Auction Roundup
Seattle Condo Auctions: Equivalent of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sales?
5th and Madison and Trace Lofts Update 
Queen Anne Auction- By the numbers
Lumen Auction Results
Brix and Gallery Auction Results
Press Auction: Going once, Going twice, Gone!

 -Wendy

 

Four Seasons Hotel/Condo New Prices

Four Seasons Private Residences announced this week that they are extending some special pricing on selected remaining homes.  22 out of the 25 sales have closed so far with 11 remaining.  The price drop for some of these homes varies from 15%-25%.   

Condo Updates

I've been working OT on a few deals so have a lot of catching up to do for the blog.  Here is some of the latest Seattle condo market news:  

First off, The Schuster Group's proposed project on the corner of Elliott and Cedar St (previously named as Bellora 2 at UrbanCondominiums.com in 2007) is heading for Downtown Design Review Board on June 23rd.  The proposed project will housed 120 condos and may go as high as 14 stories.  The last time I spoke to the developer's office, they were waiting for the market to recover.  Construction may not start for a year or two.  So, it will be a few years before we see this project.  Read more here.