Hotel 1000/Madison Tower
There’s so many multi-million dollar condos to choose from these days. Here’s one more. Unit 2401 is just under $7 mil for 3,740 square feet.
Cristalla
Erica Clibborn, the listing agent, has been talking about unit #1408 for quite some time now. It’s now on the market for $640,000 which buys you a 887 square foot 1 bed unit with 2 parking spots and a lot of upgrades:
A penthouse on the 14th floor. $200,000 in designer-selected finishes-there is nothing else like it. Exotic mahogany-wrapped columns & detailing, Lutron shades, Full media system with 3 flat screen TV’s, Dornbracht fixtures, slab countertops, lavish spa bath.
Here’s the living room + kitchen. Click through to some more photos. Is that a clear bathtub in the bath room?
The unit last sold for $640,000 in 2006 and originally sold for $354 in September ‘05.
On the other hand… After 188 days on market and spending most of the summer at $399k, another one of her listings, unit 101 has raised it’s price $100,000 to $499,000. The place last sold April 30th, 2008 for $475,000.
Both places are in the $720’s a square foot.
Popularity: 12% [?]
14 responses so far ↓
1 DT // Dec 1, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Good luck selling that million dollar penthouse.
At nearly $2000 a sq ft, chances are it will still be for sale in 2012…
2 jo // Dec 1, 2008 at 1:08 pm
pft…by 2012 all these sellers will be paying us to live in those units
snow in whistler stunk
3 nitsuj // Dec 1, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Wonder if that unit finally sells for $354k again?
4 Matt // Dec 1, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Yeah, Whistler was pretty disappointing. However, we did get in 3 good runs early Thursday morning before our legs gave out and the snow disappeared.
5 The MD // Dec 1, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Well, #1408 is now for sell at $640K, or for what it was purchased way back in January 11, 2006. Prior to that, it was bought for $354,000 in September, 2005 by one of the developers/builders of the Cristalla. The current owner lives in Texas most of the time and uses the unit when he’s in town on business. By the looks of it, he put down 10%-11% on the purchase price of $640K back in ‘06. So, he probably owes less than $560K on it now. Anyone that’s looking to make a deal may want to consider this property right now. Or, you could just wait another two quarters and buy it for around $530K. :-) In that “K” stack, which unit/floor has sold for the most since the Cristalla first opened its doors?
6 jo // Dec 2, 2008 at 10:53 am
Some people just need a hobby…
7 Downtown Guy // Dec 2, 2008 at 11:14 am
jo, you’re right. You should go get yourself a hobby…
8 CameronRex // Dec 2, 2008 at 1:53 pm
‘penthouse on the 14th floor’??? Isn’t Cristalla higher than 14 floors? I’ve always considered penthouses to be on the top floor (or floors if more than one level).
9 The MD // Dec 2, 2008 at 3:44 pm
C’mon, now. Go easy on jo. jo just doesn’t want to watch his investments’ values go down the drain. Perfectly understandable.
10 EconE // Dec 2, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Cameron Rex…
I think they’re referring to the “nifty” penthouse-like finish upgrades.
I certainly don’t see 200k of extra value there.
It’s like a used car…are you going to spend extra because somebody thought that plating everything in gold was “da bomb”? Is an acura worth more with a carbon fiber hood, a huge ass exhaust tip/rear wing and a trunk full of subwoofers?
Wood veneers? Meh.
Goofy glass bathtub? No thanks.
Fancy Faucets? big whoop.
A bunch of frivolous upgrades are usually worth a fraction of their value and sometimes negative value. Especially if the person making the offer has different tastes and has to consider what it would cost to strip the place of the previous owners “preferences” and redo it.
#1908 recently went sold in the neighborhood of $515k.
The Studio is a Realtor/Flipper. Let him keep it.
11 christiangustafson // Dec 2, 2008 at 10:38 pm
What EconE said …
12 Mark W // Dec 2, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Back in 2002 I sold a newer 2200 s.f. 2-story, 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, +full basement, 2-car attached garage, 1/2 acre lot home for $185K. It was in suburban Dayton, OH, which explains the price, but I still haven’t mentally adapted fully to Seattle area housing prices.
Given that background and mindset, the notion of $200K in “designer finishes” is a bit jaw-dropping.
13 The MD // Dec 3, 2008 at 8:17 am
Mark W, I do understand what you are saying and I agree with you. Let’s evaluate this condo at Cristalla, #1408. First of all, this was a developer/builder-owned unit. The upgrades that were made in the unit of the standard K plan at Cristalla is as follows, and I am throwing out some builder’s cost (I am going to be generous):
Heated Floors in the Bathroom $400
Dornbracht Fixtures $6,000
Rain Shower Head with Control $1,600
California Closet $3,500
Fully-tiled shower enclosure $1,500
Glass Bath Tub w/ tile surround $8,000
Overhead lighting above bed $1,800
Lutron lighting $3,000
Lutron shades $14,000
3 Flat-panel T.V.s $4,000
In-wall sound system $4,800
Granit back splash in kitchen $800
Thicker granite in kitchen $1000
Built-in desk with thicker granite $7,000
Wood-wrapped columns (2) $6,000
Paneled wood walls $6,000
Wood floors in bedroom $1,500
Raumplus doors with Lumicor on office $3,600
Additional parking space $25,000
That’s all the upgrades that are in this particular unit at the Cristalla. Everything else was standard finish as it was included in the $354,000 purchase price. Total upgrades were somewhere around $99,500 - NOT $200,000.
Someone, for the life of me, tell me where the RE Agent is coming up with $200,000 in upgrades? The prices I quoted above are actually closer to retail prices as opposed to builder costs.
14 The MD // Dec 3, 2008 at 8:24 am
Then again, I suppose “what difference does it make?!?” Econ E’s point above is spot on. Most of the “upgrades” were very personal choices and add little to no value to the unit for the resale market (other than that additional parking space).
Leave a Comment