Saturday Open Houses

We popped into a couple of open houses this afternoon just to try and get a sense for what's happening out there. A few observations:

1. People are still feeling greedy--no panic visible
   
2. Prices are completely out of line with available product
   
3. Very few people are looking
   

In The Julia, two potential buyers were looking at units. The place still isn't completed, but one building has owners moved in. By my quick count of the occupied vs still available chart, one building is just over 50% sold. I'm guessing that makes the whole development close to 75% sold. And at $360K for a ground floor 960SF 2-bed 2-bath condo, I can see why. This place reminds me of Tuscany Village, only it's cheaper (if that word can be used here). The only thing cheap about the place is the quality. You're looking at almost $400K if you want to be top floor of the four story complex.

I don't understand why marketers keep up the quality-hype. I'm no building expert. Heck, I can barely change a light bulb. But even I understand that the little metal ring that goes on the outside of the shower head pipe is supposed to be flush with the drywall behind it. But when you tile half-way up the pipe and don't either finish the tiling or cut out a semi circle, you end up with a plumbing problem and a clear indicator of bad finishing.

Again, The Julia uses that age-old technique of metal drawers affixed to real wood fronts. Plywood isn't that expensive folks. And real wood drawers in the kitchens and bathrooms go a long way at demonstrating quality, as do solid core doors. If you bill a suite as luxury, it shouldn't look like you shopped for finishings at Home Depot.

If I think I can do it myself, why wouldn't I just buy that $220K same-sized unit two blocks north in a building I know doesn't leak because it's been there for twenty years and spend $15K making it "luxury" myself? If I were to buy this place so I could tell all my friends at Bayview that I own a luxury condo too, it would be a bit like showing up to a 7-series BMW rally in a Hyundai Sonata. There's nothing wrong with driving a Hyundai (trust me :)), but you don't tell the world it's luxury when clearly it's not.

The unit we checked out was ground floor. It had a patio that faced West, so you weren't going to see much sun on it. Fair enough. But for all the landscaping they did there, why the heck didn't they make the patio large enough to have a BBQ and a small patio dining set? I'll tell you why. Because they don't care about anything other than getting as much money out of you as possible and doing as little as they must to get it.

The next place we checked out was a townhouse on McKenzie Avenue. It was an end unit on the street-side of the building. It was big: 3 beds, 2 baths, a living/dining combo and a nice enclosed family room. It had a nice patio and a bit of a flower garden. It also came with a price tag of almost $390K. And the nice ambiance of a four lane major thoroughfare in town.

The one we missed was a house for $389K on Cedarhill close to La Colina. It's a 1300SF 2-bed 1-bath up with a 1-bed mortgage helper down. It had a really nice deck and looks like it's been taken care of. Obviously overpriced and on a busy street and at nearly a month on the market, not an in-demand place. I did see an agent sitting outside waiting for a client for what must have been at least 10 minutes. I wonder if he felt hungry? Too bad I didn't have a Snickers bar instead of our giggles.

We keep meaning to go into Amara during their showtimes. But they keep changing them. It's OK though because they've had two units left for over a month now, so I don't think we need to rush in real quick.