A reader emailed me an interesting little piece of marketing material from an 18-unit complex on the south side of Queen Anne. According to public records The Leona, which is being marketed by the ever-bullish Williams Marketing, has sold a whopping three of their eighteen units to date.
Nine of the fifteen unsold units are currently listed on the MLS, with days on market ranging between 90 and 328. It would seem that nearly a year of failing to move these condos has finally gotten the message through to Williams Marketing: Cut the prices, and cut them deep.
The marketing flier that was emailed out gives a sampling of some of the “dramatic” price cuts that these units have seen since entering the market nearly a year ago. One example currently listed on Redfin, Unit #4 shows an initial list price in May of last year at $475,000, a piddly $15,000 price drop in September, a more serious $60,000 price drop in January, and finally an admittedly dramatic price drop of $105,000 in April, bringing the price down to $295,000—38% off the original asking.
At $321 per square foot, it looks like prices at Leona are finally coming down from their fantasy world to meet the actual market. To give these huge price drops some amusing context, here’s a quote from Leslie Williams of Williams Marketing back in October 2007:
Leslie Williams, president of Williams Marketing, which works with condo developers, said the prices on her projects have not been cut.
“There’s no question that they’re not raising them anymore,” she said, adding that sellers who lowered their asking prices were asking for too much to start with.
Indeed, Leslie. Indeed.
