Yesterday (saturday) it was rainy so I figured I would take a tour of downtown. I would visit some of the condo complexes and see what was for sale. It was a very educational experience. Please keep in mind I have certain assumptions about downtown and so I am probably influenced by them more than I can filter.
Acqua Vista was my first stop. The hallways reminded me very much of a college dorm. The HOA’s of a prison gang rape. What exactly do I get for 500 dollars anyway? One parking spot! No come on seriously? I saw 3 units. Two of which had obstructed views. Both in the 400-500 range, both were 2/1. One was a 2/2 but was low enough to have no view. The realtors were quite frank about the sellers being willing to negotiate. That sure tempted me, but on to the next stop.
Nameless stucco low-rise across from City Front Terrace. 2 separate 2/2 built in the late 80’s. One had at least tried by putting in new Ikea cabinets and the obligatory granite countertops. I asked the realtors (One of whom lives in Acqua Vista, what made this place special. I didn’t get anything really great, except 2 parking spots, oh and its in the Marina district! 600k.
Next Atria on market, I just had to stop and see this one after the photo tour we were treated to via a link off of a previous post.I would have to say that despite the rediculous pricing, (a big despite) I liked it. The units actually had nice design. True its a conversion, but apparently it was built to condo spec. Moreover It didn’t have that rat in a maze feel of a high rise. The floor plans that I saw were pretty intelligently laid out and it was actually located walking distance from the stuff you would want to do downtown. However the fit and finish on the buildout of the unit was pretty low quality. I would negotiate for high quality stuff if I were serious, and of couse a much much lower price.
The girl who showed me the units was more than willing to share some info with me about the surrounding areas. She was quite frank in saying stay out of east village, as she had just helped a client get out for only a 30k loss. Thats super blunt for a realtor. She also echoed the sentiment that East village may at some point in a decade be a good neighborhood, but right now, its too noisy and too broken up with construction.
Last stop, bear with me we are almost there!
M2I or for those not trendy enough Market to Island. A large cubiform box with lots of metal finishes for those who are too hip for their own skin. I had to walk around the building twice just to find the open house. A 1 bed 2 bath inverted loft thing. 485k No other models were even being shown, whether the builder had given up hope or had sold them the realtors couldn’t tell me. They also couldn’t tell me anything else usefull about the building, except what the prices were. Needless to say it underwhelmed me.
As a side note I did stop at Metrome as well but no one would let me in to go see the model unit. Thats ok because Metrome struck me as even more forgettable and box like than M2I.
You could sense the resignation of the realtors, maybe because they could sense I wasn’t biting. Maybe because they kind of know the party is over but they just can’t believe it. At least not one realtor in downtown tried the get in now or your screwed line, for that I was thankful. I truly hate to have to waste time hauling out my guns. A couple were quite up front about falling prices, now thats a refreshing breath of honesty.
All in all an informative day trip, I highly encourage others to take it as well.
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