Seattle Bubble Forum Archive

Matt at Urbnlivn posted a great bit of salesmanship from Ryan at the Parc condos. Buy now or be priced out forever, baby!

You really should read the whole thing, but here are some snippets...
To date we have received 9 offers and have 6 sales pending (still working through additional interest)....
Although we anticipated a favorable response, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the value was immediately recognized at The Parc...
We recognize that there is a tremendous amount of pessimism out there and many homebuyers are waiting to see if we've hit the bottom. I can tell you, we have at The Parc. Those looking to buy should really take advantage of these incredible offers. The supply of condos downtown is diminishing—new projects are on hold (or worse) and some are converting to apartments, so selection becomes key.

http://www.urbnlivn.com/2008/12/20/parc ... ing-sales/

I heard the same thing from another high-end builder:

I like to remind them to think about how long they are planning on living in this home. Most often, buyers are on a 5-8 year schedule. Many would say that I'm just a self serving builder by saying the following, but I give this information out to my friends and family regardless of who they are purchasing from, that now is a great time to buy. Trying to time the market when the prices are at its lowest and so are rates, is relatively impossible. I agree trying to save as much money as possible during these times is optimal, but I also refuse to pay any sort of rent, as I know I'm not getting anything when all is said and done.

This is a builder who is on the brink of having every development they own repossessed, and is still refusing to budge on pricing.

Buy at yesterday's prices because 5 to 8 years from now your home's value will finally recover back to that level!

From the article
"Customers need reminding that Belltown properties command a premium over less preferred neighborhoods"

Like we need reminded that one has to pay extra to have hookers and heroine dealers within crawling distance.

kporn and Allan, good catches. The conversation with this builder was amazing as it all started with them advertsing zero down, no PMI, low interest financing. Out of curiousity I asked about it, and after looking at a house was told by their agent (and I kid you not):

"Sooo, how much can you bring in? The price of the home exceeds the programs limit, so In order to qualify for the zero down we need you to bring in 20 to 40k. I'm even willing to lower my commission to make it happen."


haha, and Belltown, yeah...Haven't the read the recent Seattle PI series about how bad it is?

Maybe the money they are asking for is really a "finders fee" and isn't applied to the sale price on the house.