urbnlivn, a seattle condo & real estate blog

Talk of Offers, Appraisals & Hjarta Leasing

May 14th, 2009 · View Comments · By Matt

There’s a few interesting condo discussions on the Redfin Forums.

First up is, how much would your offer be for condos just under 400k?

One of our agents has this to say:

The condo market is definitely soft in these neighborhoods, and I am finding developers being negotiable; however many seem to only be coming down about 4%-8% off of the list price. Most developers would rather reduce their price by 5%-10% to draw a larger audience before they accept an offer 15% below list price or lower.

With a recent buyer writing about his experience:

For me, after reading a bunch of different sites that are both bullish and bearish I figure that Seattle area has another 5-15% drop still. With that in mind I figured as long as I got a minimum of 10% off the asking I was getting a decent deal. So I tried for 15% and ended up settling with about 13.25% / $53K off asking. In the end all the concessions stayed and we only haggled on the purchase price.

Second post is, Why do appraisals seem so scam like?

Also, I noticed that the NoHo Townhomes have only 1 unit left. Back in the middle of March they had only sold 1 unit.

And I know if this is news or not, but I drove by Hjarta in Ballard (80 units) yesterday and they have a bunch of lease signs up. This must totally suck for the 20 people who bought there and won’t be able to re-sale.

Gotta run and catch a flight to the Bay Area…

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Tags: Hjarta · NoJo

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  • Benton
    Hi Matt- Hjarta is offering leases as a medium-term solution to let the financing system recover some. They will not be permanent.

    They are offering normal leases and leasing-to-buy options. Either way, the building is still going to be buyer-owned.

    Sam, the sales agent there, has all the details over there if you want to learn more.
  • fooman
    I remember Sam.

    He had all the 'details' back in 2007 too. Too bad those details all turned out to be wrong. I always felt like taking a shower after walking out of that sales office.
  • GoCougs
    Benton,

    Don't know if you are an agent, but you can't just "offer leases" when a project is underwritten by lenders and equity sources as a condominium project. This is a last resort solution and is a violation of loan covenants and requires equity cramdowns, new underwriting etc.

    This is not a short-term solution, they are giving up on the project.
  • EconE
    Lease-options are for suckers.
  • jcricket
    What happens if you own a condo in a building that the remainder of the units turn into apartments? I know if it's pre-close (like Rollins Flats) you can get out of the deal, but what if you're living in a place?

    Are you stuck with an unsellable condo? Or do you get to walk away?

    Just curious (not having ever owned a condo)
  • GoCougs
    They create an individual tax parcel within the apartment complex that you own. Realistically, you are correct, the unit is basically unsellable and you are screwed.

    If the developer (or purchaser of the building) is solvent, they will most likely buy you out of the condo at the appraised value, as having owners within the building would create headaches. Anyone who is smart would take this offer and run.
  • jcricket
    Thanks for the info - I can't imagine being in that situation (and again, buying pre-sale has always seemed scary to me).

    But you're right - if you get an offer, even if it means taking a loss, it has to be better than what you'll get as one of 5 condos in a 100 apartment building down the road.
  • Spotlight
    You are usually stuck. The corporation who buys up the unsold condo's at a discount now controls the HOA and they vote in new rules that allow them to turn all of the condo's into rentals.
  • That's a good thread, thanks for posting. I've been wondering about how placing low bids is accepted, and how low is acceptable.
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