urbnlivn, a seattle condo & real estate blog

The Press on Capitol Hill Auctioning 18 Units

November 14th, 2008 · Comments · By Matt

A reader sent in the following photo:

417092209 SPFTH S The Press on Capitol Hill Auctioning 18 Units

Looks like 18 units, 1 and 2 bedrooms, starting at $185,000. The auction date is December 13, 2008. For more details call 800-522-6664.

This sucks for existing buyers but The Press has had a hard time moving units for a long time now and has gone through several different marketing firms. I’m a little surprised they aren’t waiting until the spring but I guess they have their reasons for doing an auction during one of the slowest real estate months of the calendar year.

Recent sales at 1610 Belmont:

#504 – $359,000 – 2 bd / 2 ba – 870 sf – Sold in October
#301 – $390,000 – 2 bd / 2 ba – 890 sf – Sold in September
#403 – $300,000 – 1 bd / 1 ba – 670 sf – Sold in August
#502 – $310,000 – 1 bd / 1 ba – 670 sf – Sold in August

There haven’t been any recent sales at 1620 Belmont.

Update: Here’s the Press auction info page.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Tags: The Press

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  • Thomas Richardson
    i just took a look at the condos available for sale, my interest, 2b 2b, or 2 b 1 b - as minimum bidding prices are terrific for Cap Hill - how realistic is it that any would be sold for min. bidding? Do you think there is much interest out there for these units at much higher than minimum required bids given today's market?
  • Conversion.

    Looks like Wells Fargo is providing financing.
  • ADS
    Was this a conversion or new construction?

    Also, in an auction do buyers can buyers finance the purchase or is it all cash?
  • William C Bonner
    Generally the HOA dues are based on square footage, or a percentage of the entire property. If the developer still owns 25% of the units, then they would actually be paying the HOA dues on that portion.
  • Scott Forcier
    The recent auction @1707 produced quite a number of sales. The prices were lower then the list prices, but considering they were NET to Seller prices, they really only ended up being within 90% of the list prices. That's an offer you could pretty much put out to any builder or bank and they'd probably accept. Why wait for an auction? Find what you'd like to buy and sink your teeth in.
  • nitsuj
    How does HOA work for an auction buy? Is it some % of selling price, % of original asking price, or just some arbitrary number the sellers came up with? Would suck to not only be down 50% in equity but also be stuck paying 2x the HOA as your new neighbors.
  • ssilvy
    Pisit, I think he means it sucks for whoever mortgaged themselves up to "buy" a unit at what the market price used to be. The auction may reveal current value, so that current owners get to see if they're as underwater on their mortgage as they suspect.
  • Pisit C
    Matt - I have been a long time fan of your site. Thanks for creating an informative and fun blog!

    I'm interested in some of the units over at the Press for a while but totally new to real estate auction - so sorry for stupid questions here...

    Which buyers did you mean in "it sucks for the current buyers"? I believe you meant the buyers who are closing the deal with the builder now?

    Also, in this kind of economy, should we expect to see significant difference in price (say 30%?) between successful bid and the listed price?

    Thanks!
  • ssilvy
    Another strong reason may be that their bank ordered them to.
  • vanderleun
    "I’m a little surprised they aren’t waiting until the spring but I guess they have their reasons"

    I'm guessing their reasons are that they have already gone through the first two stages of financial disaster:

    Stage 1) Set your hair on fire and run from the room screaming, "I got the fear!"

    Stage 2) Shapen two chopsticks and jam them into your pupils so you won't see the encroaching flames.

    and are now at

    Stage 3) Self-Bobbitization.

    Man, the sound of that clever on the woodblock makes me wince every time.
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