Seattle area condos a reasonable option?

[dls]

I'm curious as to the state of Seattle area condo market. I've seen the posts that The Tim has made on the downtown condo market, however, I'm not interested in downtown Seattle. Areas of interest would be Greenwood/Green Lake/Ballard, or even Wallingford in Seattle, City of; or downtown Edmonds. West Seattle is a thought, but not all that 'between' South Everett and the Boeing Field area where I work. There are a few condos on Greenwood between 80th and ~70, near the Ken;' Market/74th St. Ale House (yum) area that look interesting, or at least somewhat convenient to various places in the north-of-the-ship-canal area of Seattle, and not all that hard to get to So. Everett or Boeing field. Ballard is a bit more of a drive, but also a little quieter. Green Lake is somewhat more crowded than I like, but it looks to be fairly easy to get to I-5 and Hwy 99.

[tomtom]

Plenty of new expensive condos sitting on the market. The Florera near Green Lake would love to sell you a unit, since they've only sold 14 out of 59 and the last one sold 7/1/08.

[Dave0]

I'm watching the same market, North Seattle condos, with the idea that I might buy one someday. With these it's easy to compare the condos to something that would rent for similar. From what I've read, a fair price for a property/condo would be 150-200 times what a similar place would rent for. I personally wouldn't pay more than 150 times comparable rent in this market, and have a feeling that I might be able to pick one up for 100-120 times comparable rent when things hit rock bottom. For example, I just moved into a new place in Ballard, brand new apartments that were condos and went into foreclosure late last year, paying $1225/month with the first 2 months free. Comparable places are currently sitting on the market at $267,000 to $300,000. This is a ratio of 218-245, so this market (new condos in Ballard) are still clearly overpriced in my opinion. When they come down to $183,750 - $245,000 I think they will be fairly priced (assuming rents don't change), but I think they may go as low as $122,500 when all is said and done.

[uwp]