No-Ma Ballard condo close-out.

dls

I looked at the No-Ma condos in Ballard a couple of times a year or two ago and am still on their email list. I recently got an announcement that they are closing out the last 2-Br units for $399,950. They say that that price is $125,000 off list. So, assuming other similar units sold at/near (above?) list during the height of the bubble, does that mean that some current owners have just 'lost' $125, 000?

Also kinda of curious as to whether the Canal Station development sold their units (it is a BIG development) readily or are they also 'closing out' units.

The_Tim

dls wrote:

I looked at the No-Ma condos in Ballard a couple of times a year or two ago and am still on their email list. I recently got an announcement that they are closing out the last 2-Br units for $399,950. They say that that price is $125,000 off list. So, assuming other similar units sold at/near (above?) list during the height of the bubble, does that mean that some current owners have just 'lost' $125,000?

Well, let's see. Here's the King County property records for the building, with the linked list of all units at the bottom.

Taking a look at one of the units for sale at $400k, we have Unit #615: top-floor, 1,056 sqft, 2-bed, 2-bath.

A comparable sold unit would be Unit #616: top-floor, 1,070 sqft, 2-bed, 2-bath. Sold for $535k in August '07 (almost the exact peak of the market, in terms of price). So yup, buyer of #616 has lost $135k of equity.

On the other hand, Unit #315 just sold last month for $362k, so $400k may actually be a bit optimistic in this market.

EconE

Unit 527 in Canal Station 1 sold originally for 499 and was resold this month for 375k.

Interesting thing is that the person who took the 125k bath on the unit is selling a unit at 2200 currently listed at a loss from original purchase price. The Realtor said that there was an "offer" on it when I toured it but it has been posted on Craigslist since that tour.

They've got a ways to fall IMHO. Give it time for all the flippers Option-ARMs to reset and buy from the bank at a huge discount. It's a timing thing. If they bought in 2007...a 3 year flipper ARM will reset in 2010. I'm noticing the trend now down in SoCal for the condos that were purchased in 2005. Many many speculators being flushed out. And the condos still aren't moving even at heavily discounted prices.

Please remember...I'm using Canal Station as a reference but I can't see it being much different than the plethora of homogeneous Ballard condos attempting to be flipped. :roll:

WestSideBilly

The Tim wrote:

dls wrote:

I looked at the No-Ma condos in Ballard a couple of times a year or two ago and am still on their email list. I recently got an announcement that they are closing out the last 2-Br units for $399,950. They say that that price is $125,000 off list. So, assuming other similar units sold at/near (above?) list during the height of the bubble, does that mean that some current owners have just 'lost' $125,000?

Well, let's see. Here's the King County property records for the building, with the linked list of all units at the bottom.

Taking a look at one of the units for sale at $400k, we have Unit #615: top-floor, 1,056 sqft, 2-bed, 2-bath.

A comparable sold unit would be Unit #616: top-floor, 1,070 sqft, 2-bed, 2-bath. Sold for $535k in August '07 (almost the exact peak of the market, in terms of price). So yup, buyer of #616 has lost $135k of equity.

On the other hand, Unit #315 just sold last month for $362k, so $400k may actually be a bit optimistic in this market.

#315 going for $362k would seem to make #616 at $400k a pretty fair price (relatively speaking of course).