Any trouble closing on SLU condos?

[rollinst.]

I am (hopefully) moving into Rollin Street Flats in March when it is finished. I was wondering if anyone else here has purchased a presale unit there and if they are worried about closing on their unit? Or if anyone has advice for those of us who are. We are feeling a bit anxious at this point.

[da bum]

I'm just a SLU renter for now. I was wondering though, if you've pre-purchased, what aspect of the closing are you worried about?

[Rick]

Buying pre-sale doesn't mean it's a done deal. Exhibit A: Moda in Belltown. It sold out in the first weekend of pre-sales due to attractive pricing (400 sq ft unit for <$300K). By the time it was complete, nearly all the buyers dropped out (due to a combination of the change in the housing market and credit availability) and it had to be converted into apartments.

[rollinst.]

We are most worried about qualifying for our loan. We do have great credit, but we are worried we may have to come up with more than the 5% down payment that we already put down. And for us, in these financially uncertain times (without expected bounuses coming our way) we just can't come up with more money. We also are assuming that prices will be dropped because of lack of buyers, but since we bought presale, we of course are stuck with our presale price (which of course is the chance you take when you buy presale, but we really didn't forsee such a housing and employment mess on the horizon) So, if prices drop a decent amount and interest rates keep going up and my husband and I are feeling uncertain about our jobs, we will have to walk away from our earnest money and on top of that a huge amount that we paid for upgrades. Believe me, I am not looking for sympathy here, I am just wondering about other people's experiences related to this.

[Garron]

I have similar concerns. I purchased presale, put down the earnest money, and payed for an upgrade. The last time I checked on prices (months ago) it looked like the 5% earnest money was already lost to reduction in prices. Based on market behavior I have been bracing for further reductions in price on the building. I am confident that I could close, but am not sure I want to.

[Garron]

I went ahead and contacted the number provided by Lori Mason Curan and received the same response that I received last time. That I should contact them again later and that it is to early to discuss any changes in contracts. This is the same response I received the last time I contacted them and am curious as to why Lori posted this message.

[rollinst.]

Same here, Garron. I was told this not too long ago and expected that if I called again it would be the same old lines. That is why I am really counting on them to figure something out soon and be PROACTIVE in this situation. We are calling for it. Times have changed economically for a lot of us and they need to realize that they are going to lose us if we aren't guided responsibly and helped in some way. Maybe they need to initiate a seller piggy back loan or re-think prices and adjust our down payment accordingly. Just show us you are willing to DO something instead of waiting for all the cards to fall.

[Ted]

I'm in the same boat. Very worried about the lack of loan programs that we can qualify. We have great credit as well and had (what we thought) was a good down payment.

[rollinst.]

So one of our questions is : What happens if the appraisal comes in below purchase price? Do you think Vulcan will adjust our prices and work with us? Or will we have to choose whether to come up with more money down to make up the difference or choose to walk away and lose our Emoney? So many things to consider. None of us knew it would be this bad. We braced ourselves for some loss, but this doesn't look good at all.

[da bum]

Have you gone to Vulcan with your concerns to see what they'd say? I'm curious to see how much they'd be willing to work with pre-sale buyers. It seems to make more sense to keep people that are already on the books. One of my friends walked away from his Trace loft and ended up losing his deposit. He may have lost money, but Trace lost more.

[rollinst.]

That may be the next step. I was told a while back by someone close to Vulcan that at this time they are not willing to budge at all on anything but that if we wait until closer to closing, this may change. So we might try our luck at that before opting out completely. It makes sense to us that they might be willing to work with us as they would rather sell the unit, but who knows?

[da bum]

This might be interesting to know. There's a quote in the article from Vulcan:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/384206_construction21.html

[Christina]

I'm worried about closing as well. The market has been so volatile. I have no idea what the prices and interest rates would be when it's done. I don't want to walk away from the EM + upgrades and after all these months of anticipation.

RollinSt, where did you hear about the March completion date? Last I heard, the completion date is April. Good question about the appraisal coming back with a lower price. I was wondering the same thing. Does anyone know the answer to that?