Condo Auction at The 400

[Lake Hills Renter]

Looks like the big condo auction at The 400 is happening tomorrow: . Good thing our market is so strong, otherwise that might be seen as a sign of a downturned market.

[TheMarcoCat]

How did the auction go ? Were the reserves met on any of the auctions ? It looked like a nice project.

[The Tim]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

So, $225k instead of $337k? That's almost exactly a 33% decline. For anyone doubting how far prices will fall, this tells you that in Bremerton prices in a liquid market are already off by a third (for condos). I suspect we can use these liquid transactions as road maps for the illiquid transactions where individuals are selling by choice.

My take, don't be shocked when condo prices fall 33% or more top-to-bottom (assuming Bremerton can be correlated to King County).

[Cougar]

Bremerton has been in a downward spiral since 1982. It became a ghost town when all the business moved to Silverdale. A developer trying to cash in on the equity train got caught with his pants down plain and simple. I lived in Bremerton and owned a business in Silverdale. No one wants to live in Bremerton. These condos were built next to the ferry terminal offering a shimmering opportunity to live next to the water for an outlandish price who no one in Bremerton can afford. It's a navy port! It is not a fair comparable to condos in King County, they were overvalued for the area to begin with. Don't get to excited that it's a "33%" decline that creates the "OMG syndrome prices are falling". This is a "who can we sucker in" decline and the new owners wake up wondering where the hell are they!

[SeattleMoose]

In a year or so those who bought at these "fire sale" prices will realize that they STILL caught a falling knife.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Cougar]

RCC,
Living in downtown Bremerton, you have got to be kidding. When was the last time you visited Bremerton? Tell me where you are going to shop for food and clothing? Oh, Silverdale. Gee, and our aging fleet of ferries, ask Port Townsend how that's going for them. Why do you think the condos went to auction? Nobody wants to live in Bremerton and pay 325K for a condo for a two hour round trip commute to Seattle.

[perfectfire]

[sorin]

I would be interested to know how many of the high bids are actually being honored if most didn't meet the reserve prices, but I haven't yet seen any followup articles. I went and took a look at these condos. They are very nice construction, better than most of the new stuff I've seen going up in Ballard, ala Canal Station and Hajarta. But, they're in Bremerton, and they were asking what seem more like Ballard/Magnolia prices. I would think that people that bought pre-auction must be kicking themselves already.

[TJ_98370]

I live in Kitsap County and I share Cougar's opinion. The condos were part of a "downtown revitilization project" for Bremerton where I think the idea was to get people who work in downtown Seattle to buy these condos. They are located right next to the terminal for the ferry to Seattle. Other than providing a convenient alternative to commuting to downtown Seattle, these condos have nothing going for them IMO. As Cougar implies, Bremerton is not the hub of Kitsap as it once was.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Lake Hills Renter]

For what it's worth, I have a friend that commuted to seattle by ferry and loved it, despite the ever-rising price. But then he lived in a SFH on the water instead of a condo.

[TJ_98370]

RCC & LHR -

There is a relatively new Safeway about twelve blocks west of these condos on 11th & Callow. Generally, most Kitsap people do their shopping in Silverdale or in the East Bremerton / Central Kitsap area anless you live on Bainbridge.

Back when I was a poor student living at home, I actually commuted to UW every day using the Seattle-Bremerton ferry as a walk on. I would ride a bus to / from the campus / terminal. The trip really wasn't that bad. On sunny summer days sitting out on the deck sure beat sitting in your car gridlocked on the freeway (not that there were alot of sunny days).

[sorin]

If I were looking for a ferry commute to downtown, and to live in a high end condo on or near the waterfront, I'd be looking at Bainbridge, not Bremerton. Especially since the prices seem to be comperable.