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Trace upgrades and mortgage update

August 13th, 2007 · Comments · By Matt

Two weeks to close at Trace. Time for some updates.

Upgrades

I blogged my initial reaction to the ugprades here. I’m still underwhelmed and disappointed that the ‘meet the vendors’ night was on the day before we had to decide what we were rolling into our mortgage. Recommendation for marketing companies, plan the meet the vendors night several weeks before the time we need to commit!

Closet: I talked to their California Closets rep and she produced these drawings [pdf] and this quote [pdf]. Apparently I don’t have much to work with! In talking to her I learned that the installation would happen post close and that we were receiving about a 7% discount on the work (which is apparently a little special, they usually just sell at full price with no discount when bundled with a new condo.) With a $1000 quote I sent it over to Storables who builds similar closets but you need to do the installation yourself. Their quote was $500. I am not going to go with California Closets and will figure something out once I’m settled in.

Window coverings: The estimate for roller shades in the living room and black out coverings in the bedroom was $3200 (excluding tax with ‘free’ installation.) I haven’t shopped this quote around but I suspect I can find something more cost effective. The only kink is that the Trace rules require the side of the window coverings facing outwards to be black.

Appliances: Apparently the company they did the appliance deal with didn’t even supply the stove/fridge/dishwasher so there is no official upgrade program. Looks like the whole purpose of the appliance program is to get a washer dryer. Sadly they didn’t even boil it down to a good/better/best product selection so I’ll have to spend an evening doing product research to find an energy efficient, environmentally friendly and good value washer/dryer. Recommendations very welcome. As for the other appliances, I’ll stop by Albert Lee and see what I can negotiate for unused appliances. I guess this means for the first month or so I won’t be able to use my fridge or stove.

Audio/video: After working for two and half years as a program manager in Microsoft’s eHome division I’m not stupid enough to get sucked into a $5000 Bose music system.

Mortgage

With the ‘Taj still up in the air I haven’t committed to a product yet because if I can’t get the ‘Taj locked up I’m looking at a rate that is .75% higher than if I don’t (full doc vs stated income.) However, I have decided that I will go with the onsite lender, First Horizon. In my comparison with Redfin Financial they had better rates because of the buyer’s bonus even though Redfin had a lower origination fee.

Move-in

I have my walk through this Thursday, I am going to go without a Redfin field agent and won’t be hiring an inspector. Still no official word on move-in times. Good thing I don’t have to worry about giving notice at an apartment.

Bedroom door

My bedroom door is pretty bad ass:

Bedroom door

IMGP4949

Excitement level

With the ‘Taj still on the market I’m pretty stressed and not as excited as I’d like to be.

Bonus link: Paul Graham has an essay on stuff and makes a good read as I prepare to move. Interestingly before putting the ‘Taj on the market I moved a few car loads of stuff to my friend’s basement and I haven’t even thought about what I moved. Maybe I don’t really need any of it?

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Tags: Trace Lofts

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  • richard
    At least jo keeps a consistent level of logic between her posts.
  • jo
    After reading about experiences about friends of yours, I am now fully convinced that this market is in trouble. Man I am in big trouble.
  • Peckham
    "Ive been watching with horror as a friend of mine does this with her condo. Her unit is up near 150 days on the market, 2 sales have fallen out of contract and shes dropped the price twice for a total decrease of just $10K."

    $10K is not much money. It's a long weekend with cocktails and a massage.

    My neighbor listed her unit and moved into a SFH. The unit remained on the market for 9 months, with a couple "sales" falling through. She lowered the price a couple times, eventually dropping it $90K before finally selling it. All this after pumping a lot of money into stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors and granite counter tops.

    She was getting desperate and was going to list her SFH too, moving out of whatever sold first and living in the other.

    Of the 6 units listed in the building this year, only two have sold, and only after big discounts.
  • To My Dad: If you're reading this, I need liquidity, please step in!
  • Ugh oh, I don't have a bank of mom and dad. What will I do?
  • richard
    It looks like #504 is chasing the market down. I've been watching with horror as a friend of mine does this with her condo. Her unit is up near 150 days on the market, 2 sales have fallen out of contract and she's dropped the price twice for a total decrease of just $10K. I'm afraid to ask how she's managing 2 mortgages on what she makes. I can only guess that the Bank of Mom and Dad had to step in and provide liquidity.
  • CG
    jcricket: I couldn't agree more. We all gotta have thick skins on these blogs to absorb the insightful stuff and ignore the barbs. Urbnlivn.com is such a valuable site that mining the insights doesn't seem too hard. Plus, we have the periodic "Urbnlivn Meetups" -- these face-to-face soirees really help reinforce the community-building potential of the site. Keep your ears peeled for the next announcement of our Meetup. Matt should be posting that soon.
  • jcricket
    Anyone old enough to remember USENET will remember Godwin's law - "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

    I get a similar feeling every time I read a blog discussion thread on any topic, no matter how mundane (real estate, electronics, the weather). Maybe the word "Nazi" doesn't get used, but you could literally use an "auto-comment" generator (a la Mad libs) to create the back-and-forth between the two opposing sides after the first couple of insightful comments inevitably degenerates into a predictable flame war.
  • Peckhammer
    "If you feel my blog doesnt give the right dose of reality youre welcome to start your own blog, Id be happy to link to it."

    As soon as I start a "I Love Pink Ponies" blog I'll be sure to share it with you.
  • Alrighty, I removed a few comments. I think everyone got their say in which is good but it's time to move on.

    Please don't disparage my listing or others in the comments. If you feel my blog doesn't give the right dose of reality you're welcome to start your own blog, I'd be happy to link to it.
  • I won't be backing out of the Trace purchase. I will either hold two mortgages until the Meritage sells or rent the Meritage.

    Yes, condo flipping time is definitely over.
  • kpom
    Matt - I won't be as rude as Peckham, but is there any way you can back out of the Trace purchase? Methinks Condo Flipper Time is over in Seattle, and carrying two mortgages probably isn't the best financial strategy at the moment...
  • Peckham
    "With the Taj still on the market Im pretty stressed and not as excited as Id like to be."
    Comment removed by Matt...
  • jo
    hey good you for if it's delayed til october, gives you more time to sell your place
  • Rachel
    The title company has been asked to move with the August 31st closing date at this time.
  • From talking to my agent sounds like there is a delay because they aren't ready to have the fire marshal through yet and we will be finding out about it this week. May be delayed until October. He thought I will likely hear about it in person at my walk through.

    Paul let me know that the floors are from http://www.terramai.com/ if anyone is interested.
  • Dan L
    Regarding the window coverings the price seems reasonable actually. $3200 for 10 shades = $320 each installed. Not bad for a roller system of that size. Atrim Shade in Fremont does a lot of roller shades, and I'm sure you can get a quote over the phone.

    www.atriumshade.com/
  • Rachel
    Matt, that email yesterday was from the title company (not the Trace/EK Real Estate team). I emailed her back saying that I was told we were not closing on the 31st. She didn't know anything about it. She said she would find out from them. I will let you know when she responds.

    On Friday Jim said we would be getting official notice this week about the delay. I have no idea why it takes so long for what they know to get to us.
  • jascha
    I just confirmed it. Trace never once said that there was going to be a problem as to closing and now they do not have the final Certificate of occupancy, so therefore nobody can close. The neglected to tell anyone this.
  • jo
    niiiiiiiice door.

    i received a $1500 credit towards california closets with my unit at olive8.

    $500 to install the thing? yikes...
  • Dan Ji
    http://closetsetc.com/ is pretty good as well. I got the bedroom at my condo done with them... very professional installers, and prices seemed to be competitive. I paid around $1300, which included drawers (bedroom too small to have dresser), a laundry/throw everything in basket, belt rack, sweater/shoe rack & upgraded hardware.

    Cher Ten Hoeve
    ClosetLady@comcast.net
  • jascha
    in my home in queen anne i used a company in edmonds (amazing spaces: http://www.amazingspaces.biz/) that i found via the primecard (if you work at msft) whom did the closets in an upstairs room and in walk-in closet. i was quoted $4300 for the upstairs closet from california closets and amazing spaces did it for $1300 (about the same cost as the install it myself option from storables). they use the same materials as california closets and they are locally owned mom and pop shop. i'm going to use them again for my loft and would recommend giving them a call as an option if you decide to not install yourself.
  • Rachel, that's interesting, I got an email yesterday saying I was in the first wave of closings and would be closing on August 31st. Keep us in the loop with what you hear and I'll do the same.

    Jascha, yeah it sucks. It feels like as soon as you sign purchase and sale they stop caring about you. This makes some sense but it would be better for future sales if they kept us on their side and made us evangelists for the building instead of whiners.

    I also received two emails about this post. One pointing me to http://www.industrialartifacts.com. The other wondering if $3200 was expensive for window coverings. I don't know if it is or not. But the window dimensions are as follows if any of you know about this sort of thing:

    There are 3 south facing windows measuring 6'1 1/2"x 3'6 1/4". 5 west facing windows measure in at 6'1 1/2"x 3'6 1/4". There are 2 windows in the bedroom one measuring at 6' 1 1/2"x 3'6 the other 6' 1 1/2"x 3'6 1/4".
  • jascha
    great post, I purchased 206 and have to say I was completely underwhelmed by the open for buyers being the day before we had to lock them into financing. I expected that each of the vendors would have come much more prepared too, its not like there a ton of units they had the potential to service Ive been a bit annoyed at the lack of communication regarding progress of the overall building tooeveryone (minus the Rachel on her post above) says we are ontime and leaves it at that. I have my walkthrough on Friday and would be really interested to hear what albert lee has to say about trade-ins on unused appliances.
  • Paul
    Matt - So jealous of your new place. Looking forward to getting into ours tho... :) Just got to figure out our floorplan :)

    get in touch about the drywall...
  • Rachel
    When we were there last week, no one would officially commit to anything as far as dates, but Jim said we were probably not closing on the 31st. He said he was sure it would be by the end of Sept...Which really sucks cause we have to be out of our place on Sept 6th.
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