Melissa Camp came to our office this morning to update us on the Insignia project. She brought a beautiful large-scale image of the project but pointed out that we can see the south tower prominently out our windows!
On their website they have a fun interactive visual of what one can see from the various floors.
She filled us in on the main buyer profiles (maybe you fit into this category!).
1. Relocated to work at a high tech company (such as Amazon) and are paying exorbitant rent (I’ve met buyers in this category paying $3,500 for a small condominium). Aside from reducing the monthly payment, these buyers will also have tax benefits.
2. People living on the Eastside who want to downsize as their child will be graduating from high school soon.
3. Live in the city now and love it so are ready to commit to a home.
4. Live in an outlying area such as Spokane and want to have a pied-a-terre in the city.
5. Live overseas and have a child in college so want a place to stay when visiting.
She pointed out that people outside of our city and state love Seattle! She hears a lot about the Seahawks winning the Superbowl when she is speaking with buyers!
Many people are looking for a protected view, and while this is walking a fine line she points out that a ten story building is going up to the west and the current zoning to the west is 200 feet.
Antioch is to the east and love their building which is quite short – the zoning to the east is 400 feet.
The Insignia is the only new construction condominium in Seattle right now. One reason is because Matt Broza is bringing the project out of the ground with his own money. She loves working for Matt saying that everything is spotless and safety is at a premium. Buyers are most impressed when they go to see their unit being built wearing a hard hat! (Sounds like fun to me!).
They have sold 50% or 350 residences in the south tower. The north tower is under review as the penthouse suites sold within a month and they may combine more units to create more square footage.
Please let me know if you would like to tour Insignia and I will make an appointment with Melissa!
Continuing the condominium theme of the morning, Julia Eaton, our in-house mortgage broker, gave us a run down on requirements for a condominium mortgage.
If you are applying for a mortgage for a condominium here are a few things to think about:
– For all conventional mortgages with less than 20% down and if the condo will be for an investment or second home the building can only have 30% non-owners (70% primary residence).
– If you will be the primary resident then the building can have up to 49% investment (51% primary residence).
– HOA dues must not be more than 15% delinquent.
– In a building of 10 or more total units, no one can exceed 10% ownership.
– The underwriter will need to do a budget review and 10% of the budget needs to be set aside for reserves.
– Our mortgage broker, Julia, helped one of the residents in an HOA who volunteered to do the budget. The funds were not listed correctly so she helped rearrange so they wouldn’t lose the sale.
