Seattle Condos | Seattle Condos for Sale | Reviews by Marco & Wendy

New Condominiums in Queen Anne - 210 Comstock

Another new boutique condo building has hit the market. This one is is called 210 Comstock and is located in Queen Anne just one block from Kerry Park.

DETAILS:

• 8 luxury homes
• 6 stories
• Ranging in size from 735 to 1,718 square feet
• One block from Kerry Park
• Private elevator access
• Controlled access parking - 1 parking space per home with electric car charging
• Expansive views from homes on floors 3 through 6
• Floor to ceiling windows
• Smart floorplans
• Large decks and patios
• Most plans have an office/den space
• Rooftop community deck
• Sophisticated finishes:
  • Thermador appliance package
  • Quartz counters with waterfall edge
  • Hardwood floors throughout
  • High end smooth wall finish
  • Clear cedar tongue and groove ceilings in the main living area
  • Gas fireplace with hand finished plaster surround
  • Bathrooms with floor to ceiling tile and heated floors
  • Built-in speaker system
  • Air conditioning
  • LED lighting throughout with Lutron dimmers
  • Pre-wired for automated blinds (in selected locations)

Sales were officially launched on the multiple listing service on May 1st and there is already one condo sold and closed and 3 pending, leaving only 4 still available.

By Marco Kronen with Seattle Condo Review: A guide to Seattle condos.

Our New and Improved Seattle Condominium Building Map

Since our blog's inception back in 2006, our Seattle Condo Map has been a place where our readers could go to find information about the various buildings in and around the Downtown Seattle core.

We decided that it was time to revamp SCR's Seattle Condo Map, expanding it to include all buildings in Seattle, to include more detailed information about each building and to create it in a format that allows our readers to search it for information important to them that might not be readily available either online, or within other real estate sites that rely only on information from the MLS.

We are very proud to announce that our new and improved Seattle Condo Map has launched!!!

Our new map contains information about all condominium buildings in the city of Seattle! It is a constant work in progress as condo buildings go through updates, condo buildings become apartment buildings, apartment buildings become condo buildings, new condominium buildings are proposed and new construction buildings are completed. The information contained in our Seattle Condo Map will continue to be updated so please make sure you check back in with the map often. We intend to add links to our Condo Review articles to each building as we review them so our write ups with pros, cons and stats about the building will be available via one click from the map listings. This is something we are actively working on and think will be an amazing resource tool for those looking to buy or sell their condo. 

A couple things to know about our new map:

• There is a directory of buildings that is organized by area - Downtown Area, Northeast Seattle, Northwest Seattle, Queen Anne & Magnolia, South Seattle, Central Seattle and West Seattle
• The buildings are also color coded to denote the following categories - luxury, proposed, under construction, historic or co-op
• You can search the map if you open it up - for example, you can search 'concierge' and see all of the buildings in Seattle with concierge services

Since this map will forever be dynamic, we encourage you, as our readers, to let us know if any buildings are missing or if any of our information is incorrect. We want to do our best to provide the most accurate information we can and we need you all to make that happen!

We hope you find the map interesting and helpful and we hope it is a tool you will bookmark and enjoy using for many years.

Check the map out here! Or from the navigation bar on our website.

Cheers-
Marco and Loren Kronen

Seattle Condo Review - Athena in Queen Anne

Athena Condominiums in Lower Queen Anne
323 Queen Anne Ave N


Athena Condominiums was converted from apartments to condominiums in 2006 and is located in lower Queen Anne.

To see a 360 walkthrough of an actual unit at the Athena, click here.

The stats:

• 91 units –Studio, one and two bedrooms ranging in size from 407 square feet to 916 square feet
• Built in 1999; converted to condos in 2006
• 7 stories
• All units have at least one parking space; only 25 units have storage
• 4 units have sold in the last 6 months ranging in price from $316,000 to $510,000 for studio and one bedroom units; at the time of this post there were no active units
• HOA dues include: water, sewer, garbage, building maintenance, professional property manager, earthquake insurance
• Amenities: Rooftop view deck with lounge areas, tables and BBQs, gym, party room, community terrace, fireplace lounge, and theater room

The stats:

• 91 units –Studio, one and two bedrooms ranging in size from 407 square feet to 916 square feet
• Built in 1999; converted to condos in 2006
• 7 stories
• All units have at least one parking space; only 25 units have storage
• 4 units have sold in the last 6 months ranging in price from $316,000 to $510,000 for studio and one bedroom units; at the time of this post there were no active units
• HOA dues include: water, sewer, garbage, building maintenance, professional property manager, earthquake insurance
• Amenities: Rooftop view deck with lounge areas, tables and BBQs, gym, party room, community terrace, fireplace lounge, and theater room

November 2014 Seattle Condo Stats

Each month we go back and take a look at condo market sales here in Seattle as reported by the MLS.

We first take a look at the whole city of Seattle to get a general overview of our area’s condo market and then we drill down by neighborhood using the MLS areas focusing on the areas that have the largest concentration of condos here in our city.  Those areas we closely track are:

• Capitol Hill/Central/Madison Valley (area 390)
• Queen Anne/Magnolia (area 700)
• Downtown/Belltown/SLU (area 701)
• Ballard/Fremont/Wallingford/Phinney (area 705)

We then use this data and information to make forecasts and to help buyers and sellers make decisions on their real estate needs.

August 2014 Seattle Condo Stats

Each month we go back and take a look at condo market sales here in Seattle as reported by the MLS.

We first take a look at the whole city of Seattle to get a general overview of our area’s condo market and then we drill down by neighborhood using the MLS areas focusing on the areas that have the largest concentration of condos here in our city.  Those areas we track are:

• Capitol Hill/Central/Madison Valley (area 390)
• Queen Anne and Magnolia (area 700)
• Downtown/Belltown/SLU (area 701)
• Ballard/Fremont (area 705)

We then use this data and information to make forecasts to help buyers and sellers make decisions on their real estate needs.

Condo Review – Barclay Court in Queen Anne

Barclay Court in Queen Anne
701 1^st Ave N



Barclay Court is a 28 unit condominium building located in Lower Queen Anne just blocks from all of the amenities of the neighborhood.

The stats:

• 28 residential units – studios, one and two bedrooms ranging in size from 498 to 1309 square feet
• Built in 2000
• All units have 1 parking space
• All units have 1 storage locker
• 3 units have sold in the last 6 months ranging in price from $202,000 to $339,900; at the time of this post there are no pending units and no active units
• HOA dues include: garbage, water, sewer, building maintenance, professional property management, earthquake insurance
• Amenities: Courtyard with a view of mountains and Sound

The pros:

• The location is within blocks to restaurants, cafes, services, grocery store, and the events and amenities at Seattle Center
• Directly next to a park
• All of the units have fireplaces
• The interiors are modern feeling
• Great full swing opening windows
• Many units have large private patios
• Washer and dryers in each unit

The cons:

• Wood frame construction can mean you hear your neighbors more than in concrete and steel construction
• Built prior to stainless steel appliances so some buyers find that they want to replace the appliances

Click here to see an example of a unit in Barclay Court.


By Marco Kronen with Seattle Condo Review: A guide to Seattle downtown condos.

Seattle Condo Inventory Starts to Come Back

Finally, inventory in the Seattle condo market moved up to match demand in May 2013!

We saw a nice boost for listings (from 379 in April to 470 in May).   

This combination of boosted supply and fairly flat demand resulted in a slight dip in median prices by 10% overall with Downtown/Belltown taking a particularly large hit in median prices (from $427k to $365k) while Queen Anne/Magnolia median prices have been steady at $300k for the last few months.

Overall, we're probably not in the no-brainer sellers market anymore.  Seems like we're headed to a more balanced market where buyers will have some leverage given the increase in choices though sellers aren't powerless since even with the bump in listings, there are still 20% fewer listings than the same time last year. 

 

It's a Seller's Market: Seattle Condo March 2013 Update

I took a look at March 2013 data and pretty much every neighborhood has the same story.  Sales up. Median prices up.  Inventory flat.  

If you were one of those condo investors waiting for the market to pick up to avoid having to have a unit sit on the market too long, your time may have come.  You'll not reap huge windfalls from a pricing point of view but you'll certainly see some action and at a price that's considerably more than you would have gotten a year ago.

In terms of neighborhoods, Belltown/Downtown and Queen Anne/Magnolia both had almost double the units sold in March as they did in Feb but number of listings available was either flat or down versus February.  

 

A Cool Seattle Map for Income and Rent

Whether you are asprired to move into downtown Seattle from another city or thinking of renting out your own property, this is one cool map you may want to check out. Chris Persaud, a data journalist, has consaolidated the Amercian Community Survey data on his website Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks on rent and income into a map of U.S. census tracts. The color coded map allows you to have a quick easy look on the different neighborhoods' median income and rent. 

Seattle Bank Owned and Short Sales Update

Thanks Marco on the great wrap up for 2012 Seattle Condo Market!

For those of you who are still curious about distressed properties and their impact on the market (bank owned and short sale inventory), this is for you. More than 6 months ago, we pulled some data from NWMLS on bank owned and short sale condos. At that time, bank owned and short sale condos made up about 19% of the total listings. Last month's data shows that it was almost the same. However, if you compare that to almost 2 years ago, distressed assets as a percent of all on the market went down significantly.

In the first half of 2012, we had a total of 315 distressed condos, during the 2nd half, it went down to 259 sales. Interestingly, bank owned properties sales dropped from 186 to 93  in the 2nd half of last year while short sale condos went up by almost 30% from 129 to 166 sales perhaps an indication of banks starting to work with owners when a short sale is proposed.

In summary, we had fewer distressed condos coming on the market in 2012 than in 2011; so far we are not seeing any influx of bank owned properties coming on the market. I agree with Marco's prediction that we are not likely to see an increase in them in 2013; this will be a good news for sellers.  

( Data extracted from NWMLS on 01/29/2013 and are deemed reliable but not guaranteed. 

By Wendy Leung with Seattle Condo Review: A guide to Seattle Condos and Downtown Seattle Condos exclusively for buyers and sellers.

Related posts:

Seattle Bank Owned and Short Sale Properties July 2012

Seattle Bank Owned and Short Sales Properties April 2011