Comments on: Brix & Gallery Condo Auction Wrap Up

By: nsr

nsr — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:52:24 +0000

I looked at the Gallery books and saw the same thing. This is the financial document I examined, titled Gallery Belltown Treasurer's Report for month ending July 31, 2009

As of July 31, 2009, operating cash totaled $10,692, unpaid assessments (receivables) totaled $136,758, and other cash (or cash equivalents) totaled $82,835, for total assets of $230,285.

You tell me what it means. My initial take was the HOA is six figures in debt already.

By: nsr

nsr — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:52:24 +0000

By: dildough

dildough — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:57:42 +0000

I didnt look at anyone's books and I wasn't at the auction. I've seen the Brix. Its a very average building with another condo going up across the street that will block all western dusk light and views. It doesnt take a genius to know anyone who buys a condo for over 250k in that building got hosed. It is on Broadway, a fairly entertaining pedestrian option, although the southern end would be more fun, thoguh less quiet. Volunteer is real close to the Brix and its a well-patrolled area, so criminals won't find it a good place to hang. A good location, I will give it that, but nothing special about that building. Besides, economic armageddon is still in the cards. Commercial real estate is tanking. People need to get the smoke out of their eyes. This market has not recovered because the economy has not recovered. Finally, I found a blog with some honest talk about condos in Seattle. It is really tough info to find…

By: joel13

joel13 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:16:22 +0000

Asher. Did you look at the books? If yes, did they explain the current set up for the HOA? My understanding is the building hasn't been handed over from the developer yet. No-one is paying HOA fees yet and the developer is paying for the running of the building. Under this set up, there can't be any “fees” owing. Either the developer is paying running costs or it isn't.

By: asher

asher — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:51:48 +0000

Anyone who looked at the books for Gallery would see the HOA already has $130k in unpaid feeds.

By: menace2200

menace2200 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:43:53 +0000

The auction group did a great job for the developer. They created enough excitement that many buyers simply paid way more than the home was worth. This statement is compounded by the fact that there is still risk with the building not being sold out. With nearly half the building unsold, there could be more downside leaving these auction buyers with negative equity.

By: Strike

Strike — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:33:38 +0000

Shill bidding is common at real estate auctions, and it's perfectly legal in many states. Here's a recent guide on how to spot it.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1021608/secrets...

It is possible to setup the auction room so it can't easily be spotted, by limiting access, prohibiting use of cameras etc.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:42:38 +0000

I was at the Gallery auction, and I can't say if there were shills or not. I know one guy who may have overpaid for a unit early on, and he was no shill (perhaps he got shilled, though?). I found it interesting that they passed out cards after the auction for people that would be interesting in buying any units in the event that the sale does not go through. Perhaps that's normal, or perhaps that what you do if you have "agents" in the room. I would be interested in a follow-up in a month to see how many of the units actually changed hands from Schnitzer to auction winner.

Overall, I thought the prices were high; I went with the idea that the units would go for 10-20% less.

I also hope that the 820 buyer knew what they got. One really needed to pick apart each unit and not make assumptions based on floorplan.

By: rossjordan

rossjordan — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:26:07 +0000

If you read the (extremely one sided) terms for the REDC housing auctions, they specifically note that they can use agents to increase the price. I don't know about this Brix auction, but shill bidding seems to be at least somewhat common in the housing auction industry.

By: finntheFinn

finntheFinn — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:08:19 +0000

On who's next to go, I think it has to be Escala & Olive 8. It would be healthy to clear the deck of all the dead wood, even if it means extreme deals for some lucky buyers. How can these two behemoths pretend they're having a great go at it when they don't have any presence in the market & apparently no sales whatsoever? they say they won't lower prices to find the market- what other option is there? I'd like to see it get back to normal but until there's a reckoning we're all fucked.