James bought at Expo 62 and has had his reservation canceled as the building has been sold to someone who will convert to apartments. He blames the ‘Daddy-0′ marketing:
I’m one of the 17 buyers whose purchase and sale agreement is no longer reserving a unit purchased for Expo 62.
They only sold 17 of 114 units since April 2007 so certainly not that surprising. I know when I visited it I was underwhelmed though I would have picked Domaine to go apartments first.
This certainly must be disappointing for the 17 buyers, specifically James and Mike. I know if I had made a deposit in April and then found out eight months later that I’d be upset as I likely would have passed up other opportunities. On the other hand I’m sure Trio buyers are rejoicing over the lack of competing neighboring inventory.
Update: Coincidence? 4 days ago Elizabeth Rhodes answered a question about condo complex bankrupty on her Home Forum Extra blog:
What happens when you’ve bought a unit in a condo complex and the thing goes bankrupt before many of the units are sold? As an owner can you be liable for costs associated with the bankruptcy?
Popularity: 13% [?]
Comments so far ↓
1 bitter stinking renter // Jan 14, 2008 at 4:22 pm
The Seattle condo market is just fine, Daddy-O!
2 Mike D. // Jan 14, 2008 at 4:43 pm
There are Trio buyers? Where!?
3 Roger // Jan 14, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I actually had walked into there about half a year back and they told me that I had to have an appointment even though there was only 1 other person being shown the tour in there. Needless to say, I didn’t feel like they cared about a sale so I never went back. I’m glad I didn’t buy into it now that it’s screwed.
4 Justin Bowers // Jan 14, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I agree with Stroupe. The marketing just wasn’t that appealing. Overall, the building’s amenities, location and design were VERY appealing. But, compared to other projects, the lifestyle concept they conveyed seemed a little flamboyant.
5 tomasyalba // Jan 14, 2008 at 6:42 pm
I wonder about the marketing being determinative. To a truly cautious buyer, a pig with tacky lipstick remains a pig. I wonder if we’ve reached the point where buyers are identifying greater risks in new developments than in resales? Time will tell, I guess.
6 newbuyer // Jan 14, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Thanks for the news. I was wondering what was going on with that building. It seems like it’s been in a standstill for some time now. (We live close and see it everyday) Hopefully people who rent there will be happy with their new digs.
7 Matthew // Jan 14, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Is this the first major condo project to switch from condos to apartments in this area in the last few years?
8 tomasyalba // Jan 14, 2008 at 10:44 pm
That it is Intracorp that made this switch seems pretty significant. They’re no greenhorns. If the smart money’s doing this, how long until the dumb money finally follows?
9 Mike // Jan 15, 2008 at 1:24 am
Thanks for the heads up Matt. I wonder when Intracorp was going to tell me. They had until January 15th to back out free.
Oh well, I was beginning to second guess buying another wood frame condo after my experience at Athena. I really did like the unit I had reserved at Expo though. I’m sure the new church being constructed just south of Expo on Denny didn’t help sell views.
expo-62.com for sale :)
10 j // Jan 15, 2008 at 6:38 am
matt,
you had a great link to a report on existing condo projects and their sales-to-inventory ratio. I’ve tried to find it. Do you mind posting it again?
11 andyf // Jan 15, 2008 at 10:29 am
Any thoughts that this is part of a bigger trend? I’m a buyer in Trace North.
12 uptown // Jan 15, 2008 at 5:23 pm
James should be thankful they didn’t let him close, and then sell the unsold units to an investor for apartments.
13 Bob // Jan 15, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Intracorp may or may not be veterans but they sucked at this one. Their marketing material was geared more towards high school students than people who could afford a $500k condo.
14 mike2 // Jan 16, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Well, in their defense when they launched the project high school students could buy $500K condos.
15 fooman // Jan 16, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Is Hjarta going to suffer a similar fate? I don’t think they are getting many bites and the place looks more or less complete. How long can a developer bleed with a 1/4 (or less) sold building?
16 Eric K // Jan 17, 2008 at 12:40 am
Yeah, it looks like Hjarta is going to need some hjelp.
What’s the concrete-and-steel building going in across the street? I drove by there on Friday and they were putting up the concrete pillars for the third story, so it looks like the whole building will be concrete (instead of just a 2+5 wood frame building.)
17 nitsuj // Jan 17, 2008 at 9:47 am
“Well, in their defense when they launched the project high school students could buy $500K condos.”
Quote of the month by far
18 downtown // Jan 18, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Hjarta stands as is….they will wait it out to sell the units…trammell crow is building apartments across the srreet which will destroy the hjarta’s view to the south….I believe wells fargo is the lender on Hjarta…..Pryde had better luck with Florea at Greenlake….
19 Mike // Jan 19, 2008 at 3:30 pm
My earnest money refund showed up today, but only my earnest money sans accrued interest. Granted, Escrow only had my funds for 2 months and interest would have only been like $50, but accrued interest was in the PSA. This is just another odd Intracorp move that has really rubbed me the wrong way.
Intracorp has offered Expo buyers a $10k “Future Purchase Coupon” for other Intracorp projects. At first, this sounds great, but the fine print stipulates that the developer can apply this $10k towards HOA, upgrades, closing costs, or any “similar item of ascertainable value” not just purchase price. The only other interesting project Intracorp has going is Parc, which I’m not terribly fond of. Resale units at the Parc are already discounted much more than the $10k off of 2007 developer prices that this Intracorp coupon is worth, rendering it useless in my eyes.
I believe that Intracorp’s aggressive pricing and strategy of offering Expo units in phases, least desirable units first, set them up to fail. Sure the marketing creative was cheesy, but there’s no worse marketing strategy than refusing to sell people what they want when they want it. The site agents were just as frustrated by this as potential buyers – probably more so now that they won’t be seeing any commission from the 10 months Windermere On Site spent staffing the sales office. Katy Lassey is the most accommodating site agent I’ve ever spoken to. The first time I walked into the Gallery sales center (also Windermere On Site) I was greeted by a skyward nose that told me it wasn’t an art gallery.
This whole thing is just a cluster :) My co-workers frequently ask me why I don’t work in real estate since I am so interested in it. This experience really highlights the reason why. If it’s this frustrating trying to buy from these firms, just imagine working for them. Matt, I hope Redfin is better!
20 Lael // Jan 21, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Re Hjarta: Why do you say 1/4 or less sold? I see only six units for sale on Redfin.
21 Notallbad // Jan 21, 2008 at 9:01 pm
It is very unfortunate that Intracorp handled this situation in a matter that wasn’t satisfying to you. There are many great developers and real estate companies out there. They aren’t all bad.
22 Nick // Jan 23, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Instead of signing away any further rights by accepting the rescission agreement I opted to contact a lawyer.
There are at least two versions of the PSA, one with a specified date of rescission – Jan. 15th – and one without. Fortunately I purchased into Expo 62 early enough to have received the latter contract. BUT, I suspect that Intracorp may have blown this stipulated date as I know I received my rescission agreement on the 18th postmarked – and this is the critical date – the 16th.
Language in the contract stipulates that Intracorp must make a “good-faith” effort to complete the sale – clearly they did not.
The pricing for my unit was offered below market-value. As such, I feel that by failing to close this sale I am out an appreciable sum.
Further, I feel insulted and irritated by Intracorp’s miserly offer of compensation- 10K off my next Intracorp purchase – and the, to date, 4 phone calls asking my fiancée to send in the rescission agreement, the 3 latter calls made after she clearly stated we needed time to review the document.
As such I feel it is wholly appropriate to pursue legal remedy. The attorney I have spoken with is interested in possibly pursuing a class-action suit against Intracorp.
If you are interested in what legal standing your case may have please contact me via email: njcenac@gmail.com and I will pass your information along to my attorney.
In the interest of full disclosure, I happen to work at a condo law firm. This is the firm I’ve gone to for legal advice.
23 Affluent Bitter Renter // Jan 24, 2008 at 7:22 am
“Instead of signing away any further rights by accepting the rescission agreement I opted to contact a lawyer.”
“As such I feel it is wholly appropriate to pursue legal remedy. The attorney I have spoken with is interested in possibly pursuing a class-action suit against Intracorp.”
Ah, America. Better pursue that class action suit quickly – a year from now purchasers at Expo62 will be thanking God that they didn’t go through with the purchase, given what is going to happen to the condo market. At that point, calculation of damages in the lawsuit may become pretty amusing…
24 nitsuj // Jan 24, 2008 at 9:03 am
So an attorney at your own firm is interested in a class-action suit? Go figure. I thought ALL attorneys were interested in landing a class action suit seeing as typically they are the only ones to benefit from them.
25 EconE // Jan 24, 2008 at 1:35 pm
“The pricing for my unit was offered below market-value. As such, I feel that by failing to close this sale I am out an appreciable sum.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…below market value? ROFLMFAO! I’ve got some lint in my belly button that I’ll sell you at “below market value”
Is Nick a “flipper”?
26 Nick // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:29 am
I just wanted to take a second to let everyone know that Intracorp met with me and my fiancée today. Together we came to a satisfactory resolution of our issues with them. We are both now happy with how this situation has worked out.
Nick
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