urbnlivn, a seattle condo blog

Charles Mudude at The Stranger writes the article I wanted to write if I knew how to write (I know it’s not an excuse but I have a degree in mathematics), Where’s the Party? I Went to the Condo Expo and All I Got Was a Pamphlet and a Bottled Water:

Why was the event so […]

Popularity: 9% [?]

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Given how rainy it was today I didn’t feel guilty spending a few hours at the Seattle Condo Expo.

Overall the Expo was a bust but the talks were good. To get a sense of who was all there I uploaded the map of the showroom floor. As you can see there were a lot […]

Popularity: 7% [?]

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Here are my notes from Dean Jones of Realogics talk on market trends.
He started with a slide featuring four buildings - Escala, 1 Hotel, 1521 and Four Season:

Average price: $1.6 million/unit
50% pre-sold
Completion: Winter 08/09

These are grand estates in the sky and show that there has been pent up demand at the top end of the […]

Popularity: 7% [?]

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Here are my notes from Blaine Weber’s, of Weber + Thompson, talk on high density housing trends.
There are three ideas that are big picture trend drivers in high density housing.
1. Sensibility

Good design has demonstrable value
Buyers will pay premium
Market is responsive to innovation, authenticity, elegantly simple design
Modern design is back in style because […]

Popularity: 7% [?]

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Here are my notes from Matthew Gardner’s of Gardner-Johnson talk on Seattle area economics and real estate market forecast.
He started with a brief photo history of condos in Seattle. Things got started in 1982. In 1990 One Pacific Tower was built. Average unit size was 1,200 square feet. There were 4000 units in the […]

Popularity: 7% [?]

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I went to the Expo today. Here’s an update on sales numbers.
1 - 143 reservations for 208 units
1521 - 131 of 141 units sold
Brix - 68 of 141 units sold
Domaine - 10 of 92 units sold. I heard a rumor they took all the units off the market but they haven’t. They have switched […]

Popularity: 65% [?]

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