Condo sellers are getting more desperate. As the real-estate market dips, condos on Capitol Hill have depreciated in value by an average of 1.2 percent since last year. On north Beacon Hill, they’ve dropped by 20 percent. So an open house yesterday for an art-themed condo building on Federal Avenue East lured buyers with more than the requisite granite countertops, more than $5000 discounts for artists and teachers, and more than the Rutles jamming “I Must Be In Love” from a boom box. Art Haus, a condo with art hanging in the halls, offered free readings from an honest-to-Goddess “master psychic and clairvoyant.”
The sign-up list to see clairvoyant Judith Ballard was over half a page when I arrived. Waiting for my turn, I chatted with developer Alyce Conti, who bought the 81-year old brick building in October 2007 with Clay Laidig, her co-developer and husband. They put it on the market five months ago, but only four of the nine units have sold so far. And among the gimmicks to get people to into open houses, the couple has even offered massages from a licensed masseuse. “We always try to do something that is—I don’t know if it is out there, per se—but something a little out of the box,” she says.
But what is Ballard going to predict for would-be buyers… your future holds a walk-in closet? “No that’s not her deal,” says Conti. “More like she says you should have finished your degree. Maybe you should go ahead with that degree now.”
But after 30 minutes waiting in the penthouse, this high-school drop out still hadn’t been called. Some clairvoyant. Didn’t she foresee I was coming? I left to gaze into a crystal ball of pho down the street.
I am waiting for property to tank the same 80% as it did after the Japanese bubble in the 90’s. I’ll buy then.
@1, That’s what I’m waiting for!
Bring on the Depression!!!!
“As the real-estate market dips, condos on Capitol Hill have depreciated in value by an average of 1.2 percent since last year. On north Beacon Hill, they’ve dropped by 20 percent.”
And downtown they’ve INCREASED IN VALUE by 26.4% (and Fauntlleroy has INCREASED IN VALUE by 37.2%).
While its cute to pick a choose numbers to support a story line your invested in, it does seem intellectually dishonest to completely ignore the “Downtown, Pioneer Square, Int’l Dist” numbers when talking about the Seattle condo market.
Also, Citywide (certainly a relevant measure) value lost only 0.9%… from $315,000 to $312,000.
$3,000.
This is the bottom falling out?…
Hell, I left more than that on the tables last time I went to Vegas.
I don’t think I’ll start to regret owning real estate just yet if its all the same to you…
@ 3) I didn’t call it “the bottom falling out,” as you did; I called it a “dip.” Citywide, the prices a have dropped by 0.9 percent. And this building is on Capitol Hill, where they’ve dropped by 1.2 percent. That seems like a fair comparison.
I’d say that 0.9% is probably far enough within the margin of error to be statistically to flat to be considered a dip. Seems like the real story (other than psychics) is that while the national housing market has been battered, the Seattle condo market has held its value.
The psychic was kept busy with the earlier customer, who kept saying she wanted to understand the difference between property price and property value, but no matter how simply the psychic explained it, the customer kept conflating the two.
Hmm I think something smells in these numbers. Did they also factor in all of the fire sale drastically reduced auction bids, or did they include over priced buy backs from auction dumps?
I think I’ll go with my gut on this one. Werd on the street is that condos are still VERY over inflated in terms of price, and they are still VERY much on the bubble of collapsing another 15-20%. Once that happens then maybe they will reach the level they should have been at all along.
Problem is they will still be overpriced for this new deflated market we are entering.
Anything over 200,000 is extremely overpriced in this market. Anything over $305,000 is a laughing joke, and better have a dedicated parking space, hot tub, and large deck to support the justification for having a bloated price.
I can’t wait for those prices to come crashing down by the end of summer!
Can’t you?
😉
Remember, the depression you wish for will hit the lowest classes hardest.
So be careful what you wish for, our tattooed, gearless bike riding, hipster, barista friends.
No fucking way am I buying a condo for more than $200,000. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, developers.
What a LAME article, a HS dropout writing for a local rag disses the development? Huh? OOOHHH 1.2% what a crash, let me guess the loser who wrote this does not own a home? Shocker. Hope you make more than 25k at some point in your life.
“I foresee you purchasing real estate…with a down payment of 10%…and a low, low wholesale 30 year mortgage rate of 4.81%…you will receive a phenomenal bargain if you act now!”
Yep… 80% discount is coming, just be patient.
Then again, so are food lines, 20% unemployment, mass exodus from the cities, etc.. Good times!
Maybe we’ll finally get away from all this BS commercialism and people will realize the folly of the “Baby Gap”
@3: I call BS.
Downtown (area 701)’s prices dropped by 1.52% year-over-year. Where did you get 26%?
Fauntleroy (area 140)’s prices, (for condos only) did indeed increase by 37%, but that stat is based on *5* sales. If you look at the homes+condos stats for that area, prices FELL 12.42% year-over-year.
Talk about picking and choosing numbers…
The whole concept of ARTHAUS is fabricated pretentious and disingenuous.
Better to call it MAMMONHAUS.
Bring on the re-apartmentalization!