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.
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).
If you’re wondering what buildings downtown do have FHA approval, we have taken a lot of the guess work out by including it within each building’s unique page listed to the right. In some cases, it was very difficult to mark a building yes or no given the limited amount of resources to truly verify each. However, each building listed on seattlesavvy.com will state what we could find through the HUD and MLS websites.
The proposed apartment building at 3031 Western Ave. by Martin Selig is continuing with their permits to develop. Along with some concern over lost views from those at the 
The formerly barren site of the Olympic Sculpture Park has been recently transformed into a significant landscape organized around public art. This bold intervention by the Seattle Art Museum has awakened the slumbering site to the north and created an opportunity to frame the open space with a contemporary building edge. Luxury apartments are planned to take advantage of the unique mix of southern exposure, frontage on the Sculpture Park, and views to Elliott Bay and Seattle’s skyline beyond.
