Comments on: Enso Pushes Back Move In Dates

By: to buy or not to buy...

to buy or not to buy... — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:29:13 +0000

i'd tend to agree, but i think there's a subtle difference here worth debating. the agent community tells me that olive8 is “standing firm” and consequently presale buyers were not offered either a larger unit or lower pricing after the market fell out. if you went into contract 2yrs ago and then walked on your earnest money, then yes, presales mean JACK. enso however, is/has approached all of their presales that went into contract prior to the market disruption and made the above offer in order to incent them to close now.

of course this is all 3rd hand, so… subject to the usual caveats. if you're an olive8 walker, it would be nice for you to confirm whether my depiction of olive8 is accurate. conversely, it would also be nice to hear from an enso buyer if vulcan is indeed renegotiating w/older presale buyers.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:19:51 +0000

They've been “days away” for a month or so now.

By: lookylu

lookylu — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:14:15 +0000

doug, why woldn't enso qualify for fha? as i understand it from a legal perspective, vulcan has created a condo within a condo so the residential portion is separate from the office/commercial. btw, the onsite sales mgr says enso is “days away” from approval (for what its worth).

By: to buy or not to buy...

to buy or not to buy... — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:29:13 +0000

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:19:51 +0000

They've been “days away” for a month or so now.

By: lookylu

lookylu — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:14:15 +0000

By: doug

doug — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:34:45 +0000

People Enso said they will never be approved for FHA. That is because they have too many office spaces in the building.

By: The MD

The MD — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:31:23 +0000

Vulcan Fan, correct me if i am wrong… If you've had your earnest money in a Purchase and Sale agreement in excess of two years, by law you have the right to get your earnest money back on demand if they have not or cannot deliver your final product. Is this the case with you as you stated your money has been sitting there for over three years? Or, was a portion of that three years the reservation and not the Purchase and Sale Agreement?

By: Vulcan fan

Vulcan fan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:39:10 +0000

The condo market has become the least attractive than ever before, and the deadline for the 51% Fannie Mae condo sales requirement is almost here. Is Vulcan OK with turning Enso into their 5th apartment community in South Lake Union? If that is what they are planning on doing, they should just refund the pre-sale buyers their earnest money back instead of holding on to it for unreasonable lengths of time; we cannot just wait for undetermined number of months to see something come out of the significant sum of the earnest money (a whopping 5%!). Enso's delay after delay has robbed some pre-sale buyers of their rightful First Home Buyer $8,000 Tax Credit by making it impossible to close by Nov 30. of this year. By holding onto the earnest money (for almost 3 years or more now) and no word about refunding them even though the condo is not even half sold to comply with the SM guidelines, Vulcan is on the verge of upsetting more pre-buyers who want to go purchase other homes with that money. Please, close with a lucrative deal by this month or give our money back! We will not wait until February OR December!!

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:47:12 +0000

This is just like what happened in Miami in 2007 (I know, I was there.)

Closings get pushed out and the pre-sales evaporate at the same time, leaving the building empty. Next thing the bank or some private equity vultures step in for cents on the dollar, or it goes to auction. I guess Vulcan will be OK regardless, but you have to wonder how long Escala, Olive 8 etc can hold out.

Resales of new condos are already at least 10% in the red, and most of the inventory isn't selling – check any 2006/2007 era condo and you'll see properties unsold for up to six months despite being below what their owners paid. With a market like that, who would buy new condos like Enso where you have no bargaining power?