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May 18, 2012

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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:

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: , ,

Denny Triangle Sales for 2010

January 8, 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 Denny Triangle 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.

Denny Triangle Yearly Review 2010

An overview of sales for 2010 in Denny Triangle. 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.
DENNY TRIANGLEUnits SoldVolume SoldSold MedianMedian Sq. Ft.$Avg/Sq. Ft.
TOTALS56$26,956,650.00AVG: $335,166.67AVG: 747AVG: $448.68
2200 Westlake15$5,985,800.00$350,000.00840$416.67
2700 Fourth0$0.00$0.000$0.00
5th Ave Ct1$153,500.00$153,500.00518$296.33
Cosmopolitan14$5,251,800.00$390,000.001,186$328.84
ENSO12$7,455,000.00$615,000.001,130$544.25
Olive 814$8,110,550.00$502,500.00808$621.91

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, Denny Triangle, Featured

New neighborhood specific searches for downtown Seattle.

October 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

NWMLS IDX: Other than more technology rooted real estate websites like Redfin, seattlesavvy is to my knowledge the first to have downtown neighborhood specific searches, and over the next couple of weeks we'll be narrowing down the simplicity even more. For example Denny Triangle, Retail Core, Waterfront and West Edge make up one search for "Downtown" and we're working towards providing that feature next.

Every successful business online has some secretes to their sauce and in real estate it’s being able to display an active inventory of condos for sale.  Well, that’s the way it used to be.  Today, my opinion is that blogging has become even a more powerful ingredient to a tasty website.  It’s proof that you’re involved with your profession.  It proves that you’re an expert.  It requires a lot consistent attention to your profession’s surroundings.  What’s current?  What’s changing?  Where’s it going?  In real estate it can be particularly difficult because of what things you cannot say which I’m extremely flattered to see Matt Goyer had pointed out here (thanks again!  can’t say how much that was appreciated).

In 2002/3, I had started a blog with Google’s blogger and another site from a real estate template where I simply created pages collecting pictures of all the cool images for condos downtown while exploring a life in San Diego.  It was catering to that niche out of hobby that has resulted into what this site is today and what it will become January 1st, 2011.  That niche is of course downtown Seattle living.   Believe or not, while drinking beer on the beach and almost breaking my neck from the amazing sights of…the ocean, I missed Seattle.  The Teriyaki.  The electronic music, hip-hop and grunge.  The summer celebrations at Seattle Center–specifically The Bite.  The 4th of July.  Pike Place Market.  All the art.  The Green.  The Pavement.  My mother. *sheds tear.

Creating a profession based on what I was passionate about was a no brainer, and this site does just that.  It’s all about the ten neighborhoods where I love to live: Belltown, Capitol Hill, Denny Triangle, First Hill, Pioneer Square, Retail Core, South Lake Union, Uptown, Waterfront and West Edge.  I know these neighborhoods better than I do the back of my own hands.  Later, I’m excited to even attribute personality characteristics to each neighborhood given how unique each of them are.  But, getting to that fun part of seattlesavvy’s development has anxiously been awaiting the ability to provide neighborhood specific searches on active and sold condos.  Yesterday, the best 3rd party vendor for providing such data text me saying it’s ready after my kicking, screaming and later even apologizing for my impatience.

Sample Neighborhood Search

We strive to be, in addition to a couple of our favorite competitors, your number one source for what’s happening downtown.  Be sure to subscribe in the top right area of this site for market updates, and to be one of the first to…Top Secret Project unveils January 2011;)

More active inventory than Realtor.com

More up-to-date listing data than Zillow.com

No duplicated listings or scams like found on Craigslist.com

100 times the service!

Check out our newly updated neighborhood pages that will always be under development (Core Value #2: Committed to Constant and Never Ending Improvement).

  1. Belltown
  2. Capitol Hill
  3. Denny Triangle
  4. First Hill
  5. Pioneer Square
  6. Retail Core
  7. South Lake Union
  8. Uptown
  9. Waterfront
  10. West Edge

For any other real estate professionals reading this that are considering what IDX provider to use, Terry McIntosh with IDXNW is THE man!  FB

Filed Under: Belltown, Capitol Hill, Denny Triangle, Featured, First Hill, Pioneer Square, Retail Core, South Lake Union, Technology, Uptown, Waterfront, West Edge Tagged With: , ,

Land use bulletin: 1.5 less stories of parking + 3 stories of office/data center

October 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Here’s one we haven’t seen in a while!

While drinking coffee and eating toast this morning, the land use bulletin came through with the following notice of application which is located in between the Palace Kitchen (yumm!) and the Westin Hotel at 2020 5th Avenue.

Land Use Application to allow removal of 1.5 stories from an existing parking garage and adding three stories (16,381 sq. ft.) office/data center. Parking will be reduced from 244 spaces to 131 spaces. Project also includes 4,100 cubic yards of grading.

Application Details

Filed Under: Denny Triangle, Featured, Land Use Tagged With:

South Lake Union Park photos & things to do

October 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Seattle in Lego

Lego Seattle - 1930

We were coincidentally enjoying a $1 cheeseburger at South Lake Union Park’s grand opening, and was pretty impressed with all the awesome use of space.  There’s a ton of history on display there, and soon to be even more as the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) makes the South Lake Union Armory their new home come 2012.  What is most incredible about it is that it seems like it was only yesterday the whole space was just concrete.  Even more incredible about the visit was to turn 180 degrees and see an entire neighborhood of high-rises that wasn’t there 5-years ago.  Either 5-years is a long time and time simply flies by, or South Lake Union/Denny Triangle is blowing up in popularity.  This picture shows each building (less the one’s which cannot be seen such as Weber Thompson’s nationally recognized architecture firm for LEED design) which has successfully solidified it’s presence within the last few years.  It’s an entirely new skyline and personally excited to see my town become so simply an awesome, positive and beautiful place to be.

Cosmo, 2 of 13 Amazon, Olive 8, 818 Stewart, some people, benches, grass + other buildings all brand spanking new.

Currently, there’s only TWO (a.k.a. 2) residential addresses where you can you buy real estate within the official borders of the South Lake Union neighborhood.  Marselle has proven to do very well with it’s more than fair pricing on new construction, and Veer has done ‘ok’ considering that the location was still somewhat of an unknown when it opened for occupancy just a couple of years ago.  You can take a look at snatching up one of these opportunities by viewing what’s on the market and arranging a time to tour these units for sale on our Marselle and/or Veer pages.  You can also request a custom, we put the time into making it (not automating) for you for free, market survey here.

Here’s a photo gallery of pics taken after biking down later that sunny day.  BUY IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD!

On one more important to note about the South Lake Union, the entire area is to be developed of LEED new construction only!  Bold.  Positive.  A leading example of a positive future for Seattle.

Filed Under: Denny Triangle, Featured, Marselle, South Lake Union, Urban Development, Veer Lofts Tagged With: , , , , ,

A spectacular gallery of downtown Seattle condos by Jacob F. Lucas

September 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Seattle Public Library

Seattle Public Library

I must say, we are very pleased with Jacob’s consistent variety in approximately 30 different building’s we hired him to shoot downtown.  The variety was very important to us, and we wanted someone with an artistic eye in addition to the photoshopping ability you just can’t do without the education.  Jacob had a special style which we like to say added a candy coating to downtown Seattle’s condo buildings.  There’s really no address that you can compare with another.  They all offer a different personality, lifestyle and representation of…you.  Therefore, they all needed to look good.

Tacoma Train Station

Pioneer Square Bus Tunnel

Another important factor in choosing Jacob was that as a licensed agent, there are rules preventing any listing photos with an artistic flair.  Any new listing’s primary photo added to the NWMLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) must be an accurate representation of either it’s exterior or view.  Since you can search all active listings on seattlesavvy.com, you’ll see the normal pictures whether you click on what’s For Sale, or what has Sold.  We hope you like the personality Jacob has helped us interpret.  All pictures are featured on the condo pages in the right sidebar of our site.  Each has a fun and informative description, active listings for sale, sold history, neighborhood map and more. Not all of our pics were from Jacob, so we just wanted to say thanks by showing off his seattlesavvy portfolio all on one page.

Please help us say thank you by checking out his Seattle photography website.  We hired him for architectural photos, but the Australian (of course he doesn’t enjoy a beer after a photo shoot) also does listings, weddings and has a pretty good collection of stock photography.

THANK YOU JACOB!

MLS (Multiple Listing Service): An organization that all licensed real estate agents must be a member of and has number one priority when putting a new home on the market.  You can search all MLS listings right here on seattlesavvy.com.  SEARCH ALL CONDOS FOR SALE NOW

Savvy with what’s for sale, but what you’re looking for has yet to come on the market?  Create an account to notified of new listings matching your specific search criteria.

Filed Under: 2200 Westlake, 5th and Madison, 98 Union, Architecture/Design, Avenue One, ENSO, Featured, Four Seasons, Hillclimb Court, Madison Tower, Market Place North, Millennium Tower, Mosler Lofts, Newmark Tower, One Pacific Tower, Pike & Virginia, Royal Crest, Seaboard Building, Waterfront Place, Watermark Tower Tagged With:

Intermission: Olive 8 Auction Results

September 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Apparently the Olive 8 auction went well for the developer, but the night is still young so buyer feedback has yet to be seen.  As previously mentioned, prices ended up averaging just under 70% of their original list price.  There’s some interesting comments and notes made on both Ben and Matt’s blog I’d encourage you to check out if you’re interested in the final numbers.  Both were diligent in posting the results right away.

Olive 8 Auction Results by Matt.

Olive 8 Auction Results by Ben.

Oddly, Matt mentioned that “bloggers were not allowed,” although many of us “bloggers” were there.  Curious about the reasoning for that…

Regardless of what’s said from buyer feedback, it looks as though people fared pretty well and ended up being a win-win.   Now that the hotel/condo project is around 50% sold, I would imagine the next step is to get FHA financing.

Filed Under: Auction, Olive 8

Review of final pricing from all Seattle condo auctions

September 12, 2010 By 1 Comment

There sure does seem to be a lot of excitement regarding the Olive 8 auction which takes place on September 19.  Seattle has had seven auctions for dowtown condominium properties since March of 2009 and hopefully we won’t be seeing any more.  Curious if the history of these auctions have proven to be a significant amount of savings for buyers, I went around and collected all the sales results for six of the seven buildings that went to auction (no results for The Press could be found).  Here is the median for the original list price, minimum bid and final sold price for each condo project.

Auction Date Condo Project Orig List Price Auction Min  Bid Final Sold Price
3/22/09 Queen Anne High School $510,000 $280,000 $355,000
7/11/09 LUMEN $579,040 $260,000 $347,500
9/27/09 GALLERY $491,995 $225,000 $344,000
9/27/09 Brix $475,000 $185,000 $319,500
3/28/10 5th and Madison $607,500 $235,000 $390,500

NOTE: The minimum bid price was approximately 45% off the original list price.  After comparing final sold prices the discount average out to be approximately 35% off the original list price.

Now, if we were to take the median price of $592,950 and apply 35% off, that gives you a 1 bedroom, 1.5 bath with approximately 1,100 square feet on the 24th floor facing south for around $386,000.  If you were to now do a search for units around the area between $375,000 and $400,000 with a minimum of 1,000 square feet, here’s what your options look like.

Not only will several buyers get new construction for less than the price of current resale properties, but buyers for the Olive 8 auction will also be able to enjoy the benefits of living above a hotel.  As of today, the only other places in Seattle where you can live above a hotel are the Four Seasons, Madison Tower and 2200 Westlake which are all priced at significantly higher price points.

If you’re considering a purchase, prices look good.   We can also provide you with more information about the building, the neighborhood and what it takes to write an offer for free.  Contact us if you have any questions.

Filed Under: 2200 Westlake, 5th and Madison, Auction, Featured, Four Seasons, GALLERY, Madison Tower, Olive 8 Tagged With: , ,
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