(Penthouse 02 photos contributed by Sean Nielsen and archived under Seattle Condo Gallery)
This post is a little overdue but I thought it's better late than never. Back in July 2006 during the condo boom, I did a poll asking readers which Seattle condo project they thought would get the best 3 year ROI. The majority of the 161 voters voted for Mosler Lofts. Of course, since then many things have changed. The market took a turn after the financial crisis, lending became tighter, demand fell and buyers becoming wary of buying. I thought it would be interesting to revisit Mosler Lofts and see how it has come along.
Here is little bit of refresher. Mosler Lofts is located on 2720 3rd Ave, in a quieter part of Belltown. It's a 12 story condo with 148 homes. There are mainly open one bedroom homes with exposed concrete walls and metal ducts, floor to ceiling windows, wood cabinetry, and hardwood floors. A handful of these homes are 2-story lofts. Mosler Lofts was certified as a Silver LEED building, first of its kind for high-rise residential in Seattle, and had also received multiple awards for its green building.
22 Studios
428-712 square feet
119 One Bedrooms
585-1,820 square feet
6 Two bedrooms
1,378-1,561 square feet
1 Three Bedroom
1,991 square feet
The building was completed at the end of 2007 with only a dozen homes left on the market. This was a pretty strong selling rate for a new condos at that time. Furthermore, since then it sold out of all the homes. I think a few reasons for the high closing rate were good timing, demand for new condos with open floor plan homes, and competitive pricing.
Six months after the completion, the Seattle PI reported that there was a legal dispute between the developer and general contractor. Several liens were filed against Mosler Lofts due to the dispute. This greatly affected sales in the building in 2008 and 2009. Several of my clients who loved the building chose to buy elsewhere in light of the dispute. It was pretty hard to obtain financing for a condo with a lawsuit as well. However, according to a resident that I've been keeping in touch (thanks Seth!), the liens were released last April. Records show there have been several closings in the building since then. I can only imagine that it must be a big relief for residents who really needed to move and were waiting to put their homes on the market.
Jan 2009- March 2010
4 Sold (Mainly larger one bedroom)
$461.20/square feet
$482,000 Median Price
Average day on market- 207 days
April 2010- September 2010
11 Sold (Mainly studio and smaller one bedroom)
$436.22/square feet
$315,000 Median Price
Average day on market- 128 days
Related posts:
Pre-construction Marketing Versus Reality
Lumen or Mosler Lofts
You forgot to mention that almost all the sales in 2010 have been far underwater with a negative ROI!
The view looks spectacular! Who doesn’t want to see that right outside their suite? It’s a good thing too, that a few of the units have successfully closed after all that dispute.
@Ash, Most of the new condos in Seattle built around 2007 onwards are mostly underwater and not exclusively to Mosler Lofts. So it wasn’t mentioned but thanks for pointing it out : )
The average % loss for the last 14 units sold at Mosler has been 14%. High of 37% and low of 0%. Median of 12.5%. I suspect this may be better than most buildings downtown. Wendy, do have a feel for the average loss for units sold over the last year for buildings 2 to 3 years old?
Of course, the downward trend at Mosler will likely get worse. As of today there are 12 unit on the MLS, most over 100 days on market. I’d be surprised if the average loss isn’t over 20% by the end of winter.
What I’ve been seeing is about an average of 20-25% for condos $500,000’s and above and 12-18% for $400,000’s and below. Short sales can be as high as 30-35%.
Are there any units available for rent?