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May 18, 2012

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Because the busiest clients make work on sunnier days sound like this….

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever read an entire book without ever opening it by just reading it’s title?  There’s two that stand out for me, and the first one is Spin Selling.  Obviously it’s a sales book, and it’s kind of an unspoken rule that you don’t speak of “sales strategies” when selling.  Especially in print or anything close to there of!  But, there’s a couple layers of puns that were just too good to pass up.

The Spin:

The second book is You Inc. and I’ve been fortunate to acquire a tremendous amount of knowledge about a fair amount of diverse topics over the years.  Especially in , or during an aftermath of a market downturn, juggling your livelihood can sometimes be overwhelming and being able to apply those learned skills is a valued asset.

Is this about YOU?

If you’re not busy, stressed and you’re galloping about then no.  If you are busy, stressed the thought of galloping sounds fantastic but just too much work to do considering the reason would gallop about in the first place, then I figured you could relate–even if you’re one of those who is considered to be kicking ass!

And now for the message:

It can be very stress relieving when relieving the stress of others by just giving an extra level of good service.  Personally, it made my day and doing so made The Spinners classic “I’ll be around” sound so much better being that the sun is out today–not to mention look good on our website.


NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Filed Under: Featured, People Tagged With: , , ,

The little condo building that cried auction.

March 5, 2011 By 2 Comments

GALLERY condominiums in Belltown, a  development completed in 2009 after the…R, has apparently canceled their 2nd or 3rd auction according to a post made on a blog I stumbled onto for the first time this evening.  I honestly can’t remember if this was supposed to be the 2nd or 3rd (pretty sure it was only the 2nd) since new construction buildings in Seattle have all joined in the exciting trend of going to auction after the…R.

Apparently, Gallery is going the way of Ebay, and instead of highest bidder, hosting a one day “Buy Now” event.  It’s first-come and first-serve available only to those who were already registered for the auction.  Eligible buyers will have a chance to preview the homes n the morning on the 5th, and the event will begin at 2:30 p.m. the same day.  In addition, buyers must bring an earnest money deposit.

The auction had originally been leaked as a rumor late January, and we chose not to partake in the hype since auctions don’t do much for a building’s reputation or it’s existing homeowners confidence.  On the flip side, we had challenged the discount of auctions to just be successful based on excitement and compared sales numbers with other auctions to see if buyers really got a discount.  The hypothesis was buyers do in fact get a lower price, but what we expected to see was the average percentage of the discount after each auction progressively decrease.    Justifying the importance of doing a little research, I was surprised to see that every auction did maintain a steady discount percentage of over 30%.

A local pessimist could easily argue that even a 30% discount we’re still just buying something that’s just priced at current market value–if 30% off was what was advertised in red.   But, as an optimist I’d have to say market value is a fair price to pay.  Of the remaining units, there’s still a few worth feeling good about purchasing if you’re savvy enough to know what floorplan is desired most, where your view is least likely to be threatened and at what price is your purchase just dot dot dot average?

Dave Tribble is voted every year as one of the areas best real estate agents, and I’ll vouch for that even without and endorsement package!  Call him at 206.542.4242 if you’re planning on buying but think a little insight could make a difference.

Filed Under: Featured, GALLERY Tagged With:

City of Seattle: New investment program targets small business to fuel job market

March 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Wednesday the 16th (been busy while this has sat in que for review) – Mayor Mike McGinn announced a new investment strategy as part of the Seattle Jobs Plan which will be making a postitive impact on our local economy. Specifically targeted to Seattle’s neighborhood business districts, the plan is created to fuel more employment opportunities with small businesses in 18 neighborhood districts under three guiding principles: shared prosperity, environmental sustainability and effective, open government.

Of the announced $1 million annual budget dedicated to strengthening neighborhoods, $40,000 will also be put into expanding a marketing campaign which focuses on unique shopping and restaurants.  Already I’ve noticed a significant push online among local media websites .  with efforts made to get this message out to networks online Most of the funds will be put into marketing famer’s markets, promoting events, removing graffiti, improving streetscapes, working with business owners to serve more residential needs and Business Improvement Area (BIA) formation. In addition, new financing programs are being put into place for Seattle-based companies in disadvanted communities which is reported to be distributing $50 million over the next 12 to 18 months.

Small businesses employ 72 percent of Seattle’s workforce and contribute 35 percent of the city’s business tax revenues, totaling $55.4 million. Our local neighborhood business districts serve as the location and incubators for many of the city’s small businesses.

WOW!

The Office of Economic Development has put together some assistance with a variety of programs in financing, finding a location and even permitting. However, there doesn’t seem to be any programs dedicated to helping poor lil bloggers get more traffic to thier websites. Nonetheless, for those who are looking to start or grow a small business, the city has a lot of great resources on a new website they also released at GrowSeattle.com.

Filed Under: Featured, Neighborhoods/Condos, Urban Development Tagged With:

What is a live/work loft in Seattle?

February 7, 2011 By 2 Comments

After making a trip to DPD, scanning stacks of micro film, going back to DPD and scanning more stacks of micro film, we were finally able to get a better understanding on what it means when a residential space for sale downtown is classified as “live/work.”  A tough topic indeed.  Please pardon me if I loseWeight Exercise you…

Our client needed a space where he could “live” and have four employees come to “work” Monday through Friday, 9 to 5–work being the primary use (not to be confused with zone) of the property.  For that one circumstance, only two addresses allowed such a business.  After a few months of negotiating over existing tenants renting the space, we were able to close on unit #2c at The Lofts for $35k less than the original list price (*brushes shoulda off).  All other addresses (other than The Banner Building) listed as “live/work” were strongly against allowing employees primarily because of foot traffic.  Responsibility of monitoring foot traffic is not up to a buildings’ concierge, or it’s homeowners.

There are just a few other exceptions and those are units with street-level entrances which do not burden a condo community (ie. Parc, Trio, 2200 and Marselle).

So what condos are available for a live/work environment?  To answer that question, you’ll have to first ask yourself, “Am I looking to live or work at this condo?”  If the answer is work, then you may find yourself with only one or two options and considering a commercial space may be a better solution to getting your business going.  If working is a secondary use of the property, then 81 Vine or Post Mews might be a potential new home for you.   For the most part, the city requires that a space have a street-level entrance and transparency, suggesting the interior have visibility via a window.  Another requirement by the city at an address such as Post Mews, would be that the business takes place on the main floor of the 2-story units, and not the 2nd.

What was most surprising about all my visits to the DPD when researching a simple answer for this question was that live/work is not a zone, but rather a use.  In addition to that, live/work spaces must compliment it’s use in the order it’s titled.  Live first.  Work second.  Be sure to contact an experienced professional that specializes in downtown if this is something you’re considering.  Even after blogging about condos in downtown Seattle for almost a decade now, as well as feeling confident in winning a game of condo Jeopardy should anyone step up to the challenge, there’s still a lot to learn.   However, after this experience in finding the right place for our client, we certainly can say we are experts on what condos are live/work, and how they vary.

Since this question is so tough to answer directly, we’re open to any specific questions you might have and welcome them below.

Filed Under: 2200 Westlake, Featured, Marselle, Post Mews, The Lofts Tagged With:

One Belltown condo building retains single-digit depreciation since 2007

February 6, 2011 By 1 Comment

Everybody knows the peak for real estate in Seattle was 2007–at least us locals do. While the rest of the nation plummeted in 2006, Seattleites hung onto a Christian-like faith that our market was special. Then, reality struck and todays’ averages and medians show an approximate 30% drop in values from ’07 to ’10 (excluding new construction whose sales started after ’07).

Every address in Belltown showed a depreciation within the double digits except for one. The Bellora, a boutique concrete and glass building near the waterfront, posted one sale in 2010 which was only 5% less per square foot than the average of six sales in 2007. Three other buildings were kind enough to keep an under 20% depreciation unlike the remaining 15 buildings that ranged from 20% to an astonishing 38% (which won’t be mentioned based on not wanting to piss off my next door neighbors). Those 3 under 20% are the Klee, Harbour Heights and Seattle Heights.

The Bellora has always been a personal favorite structurally. The location is down a San Franciscan hill 2 blocks from 1st Avenue and walking uphill is never something I would choose to do in either direction. But, it’s quite, a block from the water and an exceptional subject for taking architectural photos. For a short period of time, I had even experienced some depression when the Penthouse sold for $2.1M as a foreclosure in November of 2005. Previously owned by a real estate agent from California, the unit had a salt-water fish tank in the kitchen, a roof-top hot tub Heffner would be jealous of, and custom black urinal in the master bathroom.

Filed Under: Bellora, Featured, Harbour Heights, Klee, Seattle Heights

Capitol Hill. The new Belltown

January 21, 2011 By 4 Comments

A flux of new restaurants, shops, bars/clubs and other services have been popping up around 12th Avenue and Pike Street making the sourthern area of the Capitol Hill neighborhood an increasingly popular hang out for downtown residents.  Although Belltown and Pioneer Square is bustling with activity on the weekends, happy hour around 12th Avenue between Pine and Pike is a daily engagement.

There’s even a blog dedicated to the area and another sister website refers to the neighborhood as the Pike Pine Triangle.  Almost 50 restaurants and bars, over 30 shops, approximately 15 coffee houses and a dozen or so art galleries and theaters line the streets in just a quarter mile radius including places like:

For real estate in the area, we have begun to create pages offering an up-to-date inventory of condos for sale which we will begin to list in our sidebar and neighborhood page for Capitol Hill and First Hill.  Here are just a few favorite addresses in and around the Pike Pine Triangle that are worth taking a look at:

Search all condos for sale in Capitol Hill and First Hill.

Filed Under: Decatur, Eleven Eleven Pike, Featured, Meridian, Monique Lofts, Press, Trace Lofts, Trace North Tagged With: , , , , , ,

ENSO offers rent to own.

January 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

One of my favorite addresses is offering a credit towards a purchase for those who rent.

This unique program allows you to accrue “credit” for renting at a Vulcan apartment building and apply that credit towards purchasing an Enso condominium in South Lake Union. For every six months completed on your lease, you’ll earn the equivalent of 1 month’s rent towards a new
Enso home — it’s that simple! Below is an example of how this program works, based on an average monthly rent of $1,500:

1 YEAR LEASE: $3,000 CREDIT ($1,500 x 2)
2 YEAR LEASE: $6,000 CREDIT ($1,500 x 4)
3 YEAR LEASE:   $9,000 CREDIT ($1,500 x 6)

You can get more info from their website.

Filed Under: ENSO, Featured

Olive 8: Past Pricing vs. “Reset” Pricing

January 14, 2011 By 2 Comments

We never received a press release for the “Olive 8 Reset” but we watched the hype hit the headlines. There’s been a lot of confusion over pricing and actual value since the market skyrocketed, crashed, projects made price adjustments, developers went to auction and brokers play musical chairs in representing sales.  Thankfully Tim at SeattleBubble.com ran the numbers and they’re certainly worth taking a look at. Take a look.

Olive 8′s Unconvincing “Reset” Marketing Strategy

Filed Under: Featured, Olive 8 Tagged With: , ,

West Edge Sales for 2010

January 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

What were sales like this year compared to last?  The year before that?  How about all the way back to 2007? This is a snapshot of a 4 year market survey we have compiled for West Edge by building for each downtown Seattle neighborhood.  By entering your name and email below, you will receive a spreadsheet which clearly outlines how many sales have been recorded for each address and get an inside scoop on which buildings maintain the most value.  To keep abreast of our comparison charts for other downtown neighborhoods, subscribe to our RSS in the top right of our site.

West Edge Yearly Review 2010

An overview of sales for 2010 in West Edge. View by building, number of units sold, volume in sales, sold median, median square feet, and average cost per square foot. Enter your name and email below to view a comparison chart from 2007 to 2010.
WEST EDGEUnits SoldVolume SoldSold MedianMedian Sq. Ft.$Avg/Sq. Ft.
TOTALS41$40,609,590.00AVG: $835402.65AVG: 1,091AVG: $598.43
1521 Second6$10,507,990.00$1,553,045.001,774$875.45
98 Union3$1,398,500.00$449,000.001,263$355.50
Colonial Grand Pacific1$358,000.00$358,000.001,107$323.40
Cristalla14$5,442,500.00$328,250.00700$468.93
FIX0$0.00$0.000$0.00
Four Seasons2$13,498,100.00$6,749,050.004,630$1,457.68
Hillclimb Court0$0.00$0.000$0.00
Madison Tower1$805,000.00$805,000.001,444$557.48
Market Court1$380,000.00$380,000.001,015$374.38
Market Place North1$747,000.00$747,000.001,420$526.06
Market Place Tower0$0.00$0.000$0.00
Millennium Tower0$0.00$0.000$0.00
Newmark Tower4$1,884,500.00$478,500.00786$608.78
One Pacific Tower2$1,830,000.00$915,000.001,443$634.10
Pike & Virginia0$0.00$0.000$0.00
Waterfront Place2$2,000,000.00$1,000,000.002,149$465.33
Watermark Tower4$1,758,000.00$439,000.00822$534.06

Entering your information below will only subscribe you to our exclusive reports unlike our RSS subscription which subscribes you to all future posts on seattlesavvy.com.

Filed Under: 2010, Featured, West Edge

Retail Core Sales for 2010

January 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

What were sales like this year compared to last?  The year before that?  How about all the way back to 2007? This is a snapshot of a 4 year market survey we have compiled for Retail Core by building for each downtown Seattle neighborhood.  By entering your name and email below, you will receive a spreadsheet which clearly outlines how many sales have been recorded for each address and get an inside scoop on which buildings maintain the most value.  To keep abreast of our comparison charts for other downtown neighborhoods, subscribe to our RSS in the top right of our site.

Retail Core Yearly Review 2010

An overview of sales for 2010 in Retail Core. View by building, number of units sold, volume in sales, sold median, median square feet, and average cost per square foot. Enter your name and email below to view a comparison chart from 2007 to 2010.
RETAIL COREUnits SoldVolume SoldSold MedianMedian Sq. Ft.$Avg/Sq. Ft.
TOTALS34$24,033,900.00AVG: $426,625.00AVG: 967.75AVG: $440.84
5th and Madison6$2,549,000.00$382,500.001,094$349.63
ESCALA25$18,905,000.00$524,000.00952$550.42
Fischer Studio0$0.00$0.000$0.00
Seaboard Building3$2,579,900.00$800,000.001,825$438.35

Entering your information below will only subscribe you to our exclusive reports unlike our RSS subscription which subscribes you to all future posts on seattlesavvy.com.

Filed Under: 2010, Featured, Retail Core
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