I came across an article this morning that sums up the Seattle growth story and the impact that companies like Amazon are having on our local economy. It is a lengthy piece, but well worth the read. We often talk about the Amazon impact on South Lake Union and Seattle as a whole. This particular piece really delves into the growth story and shares the intimate details. I’ve included a few excerpts, but I highly encourage you to read this article. Bottom line is, as a condo owner in Seattle or someone looking to buy, this kind information is priceless:

Even with increased competition for talent, Amazon is growing at a remarkable rate. Last year, the company’s employment base grew 67 percent to 56,200 employees worldwide. Just 90 days later, Amazon’s head count had jumped again, to 65,600—a hiring rate of more than 100 people per day.

Head to South Lake Union any weekday morning, and you can see it in the flesh. On sidewalks where hardly anybody walked five years ago, Amazon employees are everywhere. They come from every direction—pouring out of buses, crowding the street corners, and streaming down the sidewalks, wearing the telltale light-blue ID badges. They tend to move quickly, and don’t spend a lot of time chit-chatting. Amid the most significant corporate expansion this city has seen in years, there’s work to be done.

For me, articles like this just validate my bullish outlook on owning real estate near South Lake Union in the downtown core.  It will be exciting to see how new developments that are underway will continue to shape the future of Seattle.

Curt Woodward of Xconomy Seattle, posted “Amazon Takes Over: How A Flood of People Could Remake Seattle”

If you follow foreclosures, you may have noticed that there were a very limited number of condos in the last 6 months. That was due in part to the major settlement with the Big “6″ banks. During that time, those major banks were not filing notices of trustee. Since the settlement, its clear to me that more and more condos are headed back to foreclosure again – as this activity picks back up, we’ll obviously be following it.

There is an interesting unit head to auction this Friday. It is a top-floor 1 bedroom waterfront condo in Kirkland. Kirkland is north of Bellevue and only 15 minutes from downtown Seattle. Unit #402, is a 670 sq. ft. floor plan with big Lake Washington views. For those of you wondering what something like this would rent for, my estimation would be $1,350-$1,450. The auction price or minimum bid is set for $103,064.

Could you flip this property? Depends on how much you need to make – The unit next door to #402, unit #403 just sold for $170,000 in December of 2011.

Have questions?  We have answers - Contact us.

WALKSCORE

Bellevue Towers just set a monthly sales record of 24 units in April. The building is now 59% sold. If you haven’t had the chance to see the project yet, you should.  It is concrete and steel structure that offers amenities that rival any of Seattle’s condo projects. In addition to that, they are selling their units well below the cost to build.

Check out these pictures I took from their 42nd story penthouse a few weeks back. Pretty cool if you ask me. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe Bellevue Towers is the tallest residential structure on the West Coast.

THE MATAE

Developer: Ovation Partners, LLC
Architects: PB Architects

OVERVIEW 

The Matae is an 81 unit structure located on the north edge of Belltown. Completed in 2006, the Matae’s construction is a concrete base, wood framed structure with an exterior comprised of corrugated metal siding, exposed concrete, and fiberglass windows. It was built in accordance with Seattle City Light “Built Smart” program. The project incorporated energy efficient building materials.

INTERIORS

The six story building includes studios, one bedroom, one bedroom dens and two bedroom units. The interior feature slab granite counter-tops, stainless steel appliances, marble flooring, custom cabinetry and private decks.

AMENITIES

The building has ground floor retail, a recreation room, workout facility, rooftop deck, club room and 3 stories of underground parking,

SEARCH THE MATAE

PICTURES

UCS PROJECT GRADE

 WALKSCORE

Well, its back. The condo of convicted Ponzi scheme artist Darren Berg is now on the market. We covered this story pretty heavily around the first of the year when the 15th floor condo went to the public foreclosure auction. Now on the market at $1,199,900, the 3,050 unit will test the buying pool of million dollar buyers. I tend to think that with $1,821 monthly HOA dues it will have its challenges, but Millennium Tower has been a staple of Seattle condo luxury since it was built in 2000. The former owner was recently sent to jail for 18 years. He was guilty of defrauding his investors by as much as $100,000,000.

See the listing here: Unit #1506

Search Seattle Condos For Sale

Do you remember this unit?  We wrote about it back in October of 2011 just before it went to the public foreclosure auction. It is a 3,798 square foot loft in the Banner Building in Belltown.  It was once listed as high as $2,450,000 and now is selling it for $1,549,000.

This unit is insane. Although the pictures don’t reveal much, I can promise you that the unit itself would blow away your expectations. It is truly one of a kind and now at a price of $1,549,000 (407psf) it should attract plenty of interest. This type of unit in San Francisco or New York would sell for well over 1,400 per square foot (depending on the neighborhood my guess would be $4,000,000-$6,000,000).

(picture c/o windermere)

Although the Banner Building doesn’t offer too much in terms of amenities, this unit certainly looks like a good deal when you look at a few other sales in the 3,000 sf category. There have only been 4 sales of properties that offer over 3,000 square feet in the last year:

A different perspective on the building:

View Larger Map

It is not often that you’ll see a condo rent for $9,500 in Seattle. This 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath unit just hit the market over the weekend. It happens to be in one of Seattle’s newest condo buildings – Escala. It offers 2,442 sf with a private elevator and a 541sf covered outdoor terrace. The unit has phenomenal views of the Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains and some of Seattle’s best west facing sunsets. 28 floors above 4th avenue, unit #2803 is the the most expensive rental in the entire Seattle market. Want to see more pictures – Click here

For those you that didn’t catch the press release, Olive 8 is taking part in the spring flurry of Seattle condo sales. They are nearly 75% sold, with 12 homes going under contract thus far in April. Are you an Olive 8 owner? We would love to hear about your experience.

My love affair with Pb Elemental continues. Check out this incredible design that was recently completed in the Leschi neighborhood of Seattle. According to design-milk.com, it was the makings of a Seattle couple that just couldn’t find what they were looking for. Instead of continuing their search, they bought a tear-down, contracted PB and Modern Shelter and ended up with a gem.

Whats not to love? It has a thoughtful floor-plan and incredible design elements. It comes with 3 bedrooms on 2 levels and a stunning interior. See the pictures below.

For those of you loft lovers, check out this new listing at Veer. It just hit the market today.  It is a top floor, 2 story floor plan with pretty incredible views of the Space Needle. Unit #615 was sold in the spring of 2010.  The only other unit on the market at Veer Lofts is a short sale currently listed at $269,000.  For those of you looking to rent, you can lease a 4th floor unit for $1,500.  If you ask me, I could get use to living at a location like this. Its walking distance to Portage Bay Cafe, the Cactus, Whole Foods and the South Lake Union Park.

I’m still hearing complaints from buyers looking for 2 bedroom condos in downtown Seattle. There are only 15 two bedroom units priced below $500,000. Sales have been steady and I believe inventory will be limited for the months to come. If you are a 2 bedroom owner and you are thinking about selling, feel free to contact us or click the image below to join our list of prospective sellers. We would love to connect you with qualified buyers. Per our policy, we will never share your information without your consent. Have a great week and happy condo hunting!

Click here to see the list of downtown Seattle condos under $500,000.

SEARCH DOWNTOWN SEATTLE CONDOS FOR SALE

If your looking to rent a condo in a Downtown Bellevue high-rise, your search won’t last long. There are only 6 units for rent. I was recently given the task of finding a nice quality 2 bedroom condo for a professional athlete who is going to temporarily call the Seattle area home. When they suggested a 2 bedroom unit in Bellevue our search came to screeching halt. Out of the 6 high-rise units for rent, only 2 of them are 2 bedroom units. It is not a very exciting search when you only have a few units to pick from.

So, much like Seattle’s limited inventory of rentals, Downtown Bellevue offers very few options for someone looking to lease a condominium. See the list below.

PROJECT	BEDROOMS	BATHROOMS	SQUARE FOOTAGE	ASKING RENT
Bellevue Towers	Studio	1	809	$1,750
Bellevue Towers	Studio	1	809	$1,750
Bellevue Towers	Studio	1	808	$1,800
Bellevue Towers	1	1.5	1,354	$2,250
Bellevue Pacific Tower	2	2.5	1,585	$2,550
Bellevue Towers	2	2.0	1,581	$3,150

Downtown Bellevue Condos For Rent

I thought I would share a quick story. One of my clients has been looking for a 1 bedroom Seattle condo in a concrete and steel building for close to 4 months. Just a 12 days ago, unit #W704 hit the market at 2200 Westlake. It is a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 741 sq ft condo with west facing views.  My client was immediately interested and decided to write an offer. When we learned that the unit was a short sale, there were a few obstacles we had to overcome, but ultimately, we submitted his offer and waited for the sellers response. We were told that there would be multiple offers, so my client decided to raise his price well over the asking price for the unit to ensure he would be in first position. In my opinion, we wrote a very good offer.  It was well over the asking price, was all cash (no financing) and we removed the inspection to offer the most favorable terms for the seller.

6 days after writing our offer, we were told that it was the sellers 3rd favorite out of 9 offers submitted.  The second best offer was all cash and over $25,000 above the sellers asking price. The best offer included financing but came in well above all other offers submitted.

So, let me summarize:

12 days on the market, over $25,000 more than the seller’s asking price and 8 buyers that didn’t have their offer accepted.

How is the market in downtown Seattle?  I would buckle your seatbelt. This is the first sellers market I’ve seen in 4 years.

SELLERS – Now is the time to sell – Trust me.  Contact us if you want a FREE analysis on how much your condo is worth.

We wrote a post a few months back about rising rents in Seattle and how the increase is attracting investors back to the market. We actually received some feedback from a few readers that didn’t believe this was the case  - I thought I would share a few examples (see below).

We hear from investors almost daily that are looking for condos to hold long term. I believe this trend will stay in place until too many rental units are built, or until we see an significant increase in pricing that starts to slow down investor demand.

On a national level, investment purchases nearly doubled in 2011 from a year earlier.

For those of you interested in buying a rental investment, we have a rent matrix we use to estimate a 5 and 10 year return. If your interested in learning more, contact us.

Escala – 1920 4th Ave 1705

Purchase price was $869,000
Now Renting for $3,950

Cristalla – 2033 2nd Ave #1107

Purchase price was $312,000
Now Renting for $2,450

The PARC – 76 Cedar Street #808

Purchase price was $320,000
Rented for $2,400 

Looking for a reason to rent your downtown Seattle condo right now?  How about this…..There are only 14 condos listed for rent in all of downtown – just 14 units. I’ve provided a breakdown below that shows the asking rent. Obviously this doesn’t count apartment buildings and other units that are not listed on the MLS, but from my perspective, this is a significant reduction in whats available.  Just last October when I pulled the same market report there were 28 units available for lease.  That is a 50% decrease in inventory in just 6 months.

There are a lot of Seattle residents that prefer renting condos over the typical apartment building. With only 14 units available, anything that hits the market will likely go fast. With such limited supply, look for landlords to raise their rental rates until more units become available.