Thursday, November 8, 2007

A sign of times to come (I hope)


Check this out: MLS # 235876.

This is a 2-bed plus den, 2 bath 1174 SF steel and concrete construction (1974) condo on Johnson St.

Original asking price was $239,900. It sat on the market for 49 days. It sold today for $198,500. That's a $41,400 reduction for 17.3%!!!! I haven't seen a reduction like that in the low-end condo market yet.

Now I know nothing about this building. It has a high monthly assessment of $295 which leads me to expect that there is work to be done, which is normal for buildings of this vintage.

Good work barbers, good work. Keep this coming.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe this was on the market with no takers cause it had the 295 strata fee, and it was adult only. i wouldn't mind putting on offer on it but im having a child. alot of condo's in victoria are adult only and its starting to drive me nuts. i might just ask for a posting outta here

Anonymous said...

HHV,

Maybe the seller a good realtor

Anonymous said...

If that's the building I think it is, it is very dated on the inside as well (at least was several years ago.).

Anonymous said...

Eww. That unit should be worth $140,000, tops. The selling price was no bargain regardless of the markdown from the utterly ridiculous starting price.

VicREBear

Anonymous said...

My PCS for GH homes < $600k with suite potential has several price reductions this month. They have been 10k, 20k, 20k, 25k, and 70k off the original asking prices.

I've tracked these since early September and only 1 out of 30 homes has sold for more than the asking price (less than $10k more at that). A third have been sold and several have been taken off the market.

I've come to expect to see prices lowered when I am notified of an update to the site.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 1:19pm. Thanks for the info. Can you keep us updated on the lowered prices of the GH <$600k. I'm interested in that area but don't have PCS. Thanks

S2

Anonymous said...

S2 said

I'm interested in that area but don't have PCS.

Why not sign up for free 2 week trial. You only have to give your first name and email address - no phone number or personal info.

www.findyourhousewithamouse.ca/

Anonymous said...

HHV -- New topic request

What are you hearing on the grapevine?


The market had a drop in median and average prices last month and there are lots of price reductions. What are folks hearing at work around the water cooler? Are owners catching on to the emerging reality of a downturn? What about your friends and neighbours - are they still talking about getting into the market even with the current high prices?

I saw a lot of open houses when walking through James Bay and Fairfield today. What are the agents telling you when you come in the door?

Anecdotal stories would be interesting.

Anonymous said...

Seminar Update

The realtor wants everybody to look at USA real estate so now Vancouver, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary buyers can attend the free seminar and buy a place in the sun.

This does not look good for all the golf course condo developments around town. Where would you rather spend the winter golfing - Arizona or Victoria?

Anonymous said...

I spoke with a friend in Calgary this week - she said that alot of Calgarians are looking to buy in the southern states - didn't even mention Victoria. Of course, she also told me of 3 people with 2 mortgages - couldn't get rid of the first property after purchasing a second. I suggested that they drop the price and was told 'but they'd lose money' !!!!!

Nancy said...

If I had spare cash I would love to buy a place in Manhattan. It is starting to tank. See a show, shop, restaurants etc.

The US is full of places that we love. San Francisco?? My father loved Arizona and Colorado. My friends love Tenessee.

There are places in the U.S. for each of us. Manhattan and Boston for me. San Franciso for my husband, Denver for my dad.

Anonymous said...

Are these people on drugs. If property goes up yet another 10% who can afford to buy here?

Honestly.

Anonymous said...

I friend of mine recently listed his house for sale. He picked his realtor simply by calling 5-6 and asking what price they could sell his house for and how fast. No suprise, he picked the highest number and the shortest time.

Not hard to see why some are telling people that prices are still going up and it is a sellers market.

Anonymous said...

A personal anecdote:

Friends of a friend listed their Florence Lake house about a month ago. Nice house, but nothing fabulous, with a moderate view of the lake but not water frontage. They are asking $899,000, which I thought was nuts. They have purchased a luxury townhouse at "The Lookout" in Colwood for about the same price (and as yet unbuilt). Apparently they have not had one single person call to view the Florence Lake house. My friend mentioned this to a realtor client, who after hemming and hawing about not wanting to comment, basically said that the price was WAY too high. These folks are fairly well off, but what becomes of their $850,000 townhouse purchase if they have to drop the price of their house substantially in order to get it sold?

VicREBear

Anonymous said...

^^^ re: Florence lake house

With all the talk of the Spencer road interchange coming and being potentially built right next to Florence Lake, I can see how some people would be dubious about buying there. One does'nt know what it will do to the neighbourhood. Also their price is way too high.

Anonymous said...

Re: Florence Lake House

I think the real question is how the buyers will feel when their $850K townhouse is worth on $650K by the time it is built.

Anonymous said...

Are these people on drugs. If property goes up yet another 10% who can afford to buy here?

Honestly."

Of course they are on drugs,extra strength BC bud by the looks of it....but it is out of reach right now,there won't be no more 10%.

There will be so many RE agents in the next year biting the big one and losing many friends with all their lies.

Anonymous said...

I think the people who are on high-grade BC bud are less likely to fall for all this. Herb can make you quite critical and contrarian.

BTW, $850k for a TOWNHOUSE in COLWOOD????? I actually love hearing things as batshit lunatic as this - it makes it all the more inevitable that a massive crash is coming.

Anonymous said...

"$850k for a TOWNHOUSE in COLWOOD?????"

Some of the townhouses in this project are $1.2 million. They do have "expansive" ocean and mountain views and are fairly well constructed (although with mid-grade stainless appliances, typical granite counters, engineered wood floors and particle board kitchen cabinet interiors; I'd have expected FAR higher standards in that price range), but the prices are still completely barmy. Despite this, five units have supposedly sold (including the one to my friend's friends). Madness, madness, madness.

VicREBear

Ryan said...

The Lookout is the one at the gravel pit, right? Where they have a 25 year development plan? So for the next 25 years your view will be of construction, and slowly greater housing density, with a glimpse of water off in the distance. Personally, I expect more for $1.2 million.

Anonymous said...

I showed that condo to some clients. They loved the size and layout, but fronting on to Fort Street, and the restrictions and high strata fee put them off. I thought it was fairly well priced - I would have put its sale price around 10-15K less than the asking price, but there had to have been some major upcoming work revealed in the strata minutes for it to have been reduced that much. You can scarcely get a decent 2 bedroom 800sqft condo for less than $200K lately.