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Seattle Times Article on Buyers Backing Out

April 24th, 2009 · Comments · By Matt

Seattle Times finally clued into the closing problem at the big shiny new downtown condos, At pricey high-rise Seattle condos, some buyers back out:

At Fifteen Twenty-one, developer Opus Northwest says more than one-quarter of the original buyers have walked away, some forfeiting deposits of $100,000 or more.

At Olive 8, at least 10 percent of the project’s buyers, who either can’t or don’t want to close, have retained lawyers in hopes of getting their earnest money back. “We’re talking $20,000 and up,” says Craig Blackmon, who represents five buyers.

Though the article does point to other problems with buying pre-construction:

Fifteen Twenty-one presold 138 of its 143 units. Parsons says 37 of those buyers have backed out — not all for financial reasons. “We’ve had six divorces,” he says. “We’ve had one death

What is going on at Rollin? Seems like all the buyers have been in limbo for a few months now…

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Tags: 1521 · Olive 8 · Seattle Times

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  • But I thought Fifteen Twenty-One was designed exclusively for the confident few?

    Making the decision to live only with that which brings pleasure, ease, and joy is one of life’s greatest moments. At Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue, the exclusive amenity offerings include discrete service and security, shared spaces designed for those with educated tastes, a roof-top terrace sited a spectacular 38-stories above the city. Do continue on to learn more.

    At Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue, the gracious lobby in all ways speaks to the educated tastes of the resident profile. Each refined design feature, material, color, and texture was carefully selected to convey a sense of calm in contrast to the activity of the city. Nice, too, is the sophisticated welcome the lobby will extend to friends and associates who visit.

    Too funny, folks!
  • Math
    the exclusive amenity offerings include discrete service

    Because, after all, you wouldn't want continuous service...
  • Other Chris
    The problem is that the construction lenders are not forcing the issue with the developers because, by and large, they are in over their heads in non-performing loans. Until the FDIC or someone else (in the case of non-banks, investors) tells them that they have to liquidate, they have no incentive to turn a paper loss into a real loss. We won't get this stand off between sellers and buyers settled until the lenders take write downs - either by choice or by force.
  • The MD
    Jesus H. Christ! Are you kidding me? You can't be serious about your comment about how great sales are right now, can you Marco? Sure, all presale buildings may have fall outs between 15%-30% (I question those percentages, but I'll play along with it for now), but those fallouts have been easily absorbed in a relatively short time period in years past. In this particular instance, Marco, some of these buildings have been sitting for MONTHS without having the fallouts absorbed, and they may sit for MONTHS on end because of new financing laws that are now in place. Did you miss the point of the article? For the love of God, can we please stop allowing realtors to post on this site as all they do is try to spin anything into good news? Just kidding, I know that wouldn't be fair. But seriously, do they realize how transparent they are?
  • nokoolaid
    couldnt have said it better
  • Jeff
    Yep. Escala has pre-sold only thirty percent of their units, nothing closes until October, and the word on the street is that the building will probably sit vacant for another year or two.

    Inventory is still way too high, everything is overvalued, and the developers are willing to play chicken with the market for a while longer. Eventually somebody is going to have to blink, and prices are going to plummet.

    Nobody is going to convince me that a $200k condo is really worth $400k. I'm more than happy to continue renting until the market gains a semblance of reality.
  • Peckhammer
    What's up with Veer? How many units have been sold?

    I thought about buying there, but I had this vision of the LLC going tits up and leaving the homeowners in a world of hurt.
  • marcok
    "I'm not sure where the news is here - all presale buildings have fall out rates of between 15-30% but I suppose it could be higher today given financing challenges. It's important to note that both 1521 and Olive 8 had sold many units before adopting new investor policies in early 2006 and may need to sort through some dead wood. Every other condo presale since then has guidelines that really discourages investor sales, which partially explains the lower sales abosrptions since 2007 onward. The silver lining is there's new inventory available that was locked up so I'm not surprised 1521 is selling 4-5 per month today. Rather than focusing on "demand" from two or three years ago, the story should have focused more on the new sales. It's like reporting job losses when 90% of our market is still working."

    Marco Kronen
    urban condominiums
  • Joel
    So you think 10% unemployment is a non-event?
  • Danile
    Ha. Nothing to see here move along......
  • uwp
    lol
  • EconE
    word
  • newbuyer
    STILL IN LIMBO. Absolutely no communication. Could be like this until July per our contract. IT SUCKS> our building is sitting there. It's finished. It's empty. It's an eyesore to all of us presale buyers at this point. Most of us are in the process of contacting lawyers.
  • kent
    Most Purchase Sale Agreements have a timing clause, whereby the developer refunds deposits if the contract unit is not delivered by a specific date. Check to see if there is a date in your contract.
  • Chris
    There is. It's July 1, although Vulcan can extend the contract in writing for up to a year on a day-by-day basis due to "force majure".
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