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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Sign of the Times

posted by on October 7 at 12:24 PM

Prime Capitol Hill location:

sign100708.jpg


The site says they were previously priced at $389,950. What will they go for now?

RSS icon Comments

1

Old news!

Posted by old news! | October 7, 2008 12:37 PM
2

the sign is a little misleading without the context...

Posted by lurker | October 7, 2008 12:37 PM
3

Is this necessarily good? I don't know anything about the ins and outs of condo ownership but it seems to me even if you get one of these, wouldn't you still depend on the building's owner or developer to not pull the plug and sell/demolish the building?

Posted by laterite | October 7, 2008 12:40 PM
4

laterite, there should be explicit consideration in the how owners contract that forbids that kinds of malarkey.

a 66% haircut to the floor is a very telling sign.

SRS long.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | October 7, 2008 12:43 PM
5

On the site it says the units were originally priced UP TO $395000. Some were much less than that, and the minimum bids go up according to the size of the unit. Starting bids for the 2BR untis will be $215K accounting to http://seattlecondosandlofts.com/2008/09/capitol-hill-condo-auction. Still a good price, but not the bargain basement the sign implies.

Posted by genevieve | October 7, 2008 12:47 PM
6

Thanks BA; at face value this could be an interesting auction to participate in, but like I said, I know nothing about the particulars of condo ownership so wasn't sure. Looking into the actual verbage at the auction site, the $95,000 min bid applies to the studios, which were asking 199,000 to begin with, so only a 50% cut (LOL, "only"). And of course, as many people in the last few years have forgotten, somethign that is too good to be true usually is.

Posted by laterite | October 7, 2008 12:54 PM
7

Burn motherfuckers burn.

Posted by Greg | October 7, 2008 1:07 PM
8

If that's the building I think it is, I had a friend that lived in those when they were apartments. The units were depressing, low-ceiling, "feels like my upstairs neighbor is walking on my coffin lid while I try to sleep" kinda rentals. I'd be surprised if you could remodel your way out of that.

They'll ultimately go for maybe 20% less than what was originally asked, regardless, is my guess.

Posted by Dougsf | October 7, 2008 1:08 PM
9

I saw an ad on TV for a similar (if not the same) auction. I had a good laugh; the kind of laugh that only vindication can summon.

Little did the developers who bought my apartment and kicked me out on my destitute ass know: I cursed them good and hard. I cursed them and buried that shit at the crossroads at midnight.

Oh yeah, they'll say it's the "economy". They'll blame it all on a "weak market". It was black magic, assholes. Lick my wrath.

Posted by tabletop_joe | October 7, 2008 1:08 PM
10

I wouldn't be surprised if this was as much about finding new target prices in a topsy-turvy market as it is about actually selling units. I think -20% is a good guess.

Posted by Fnarf | October 7, 2008 1:41 PM
11

And probably also about selling those units immediately. Better to sell at -20 right now than wait 6 months to sell all of them at the same discount.

Posted by keshmeshi | October 7, 2008 1:46 PM
12

The website for the auction has floor plans showing 17 of the units are unsold, with only 19 sold. Does anybody know what happens to a construction financing loan if the developer can't sell enough units to fund a payoff by x date after completion? Is that foreclosure? And does it happen to the whole property, or just the unsold units? Hmm?

Posted by tomasyalba | October 7, 2008 2:22 PM
13

"luxury"! LMAO


and BA: how *dare* you prey on our weak and fragile economy with your ultrashort etfs! Why do you hate america?!?! [/sarcasm]

Posted by happy renter | October 8, 2008 8:58 AM

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