Comments on: The Press on Capitol Hill Auctioning 18 Units

By: Thomas Richardson

Thomas Richardson — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:30:51 +0000

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?

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:37:19 +0000

Conversion.

Looks like Wells Fargo is providing financing.

By: ADS

ADS — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:41:23 +0000

Was this a conversion or new construction?

Also, in an auction do buyers can buyers finance the purchase or is it all cash?

By: William C Bonner

William C Bonner — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:16:02 +0000

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.

By: Scott Forcier

Scott Forcier — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:47:00 +0000

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.

By: nitsuj

nitsuj — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:07:51 +0000

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.

By: ssilvy

ssilvy — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:42:11 +0000

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.

By: Pisit C

Pisit C — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:21:46 +0000

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!

By: ssilvy

ssilvy — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:10:33 +0000

Another strong reason may be that their bank ordered them to.

By: vanderleun

vanderleun — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:31:52 +0000

“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.