When Washington Square rolled out their condo pre-sales in 2006, not everybody had the intentions of moving into the units. Some bought for investment purposes.
Recently we found a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 724 sq foot unit on the rental market for $1,500 a month. This unit is on the 16th floor at Washington Square and has a great view of the developing Downtown Bellevue skyline.
This condo, which would likely sell in the mid $400,000’s, rents at a reasonable price compared to new apartment units in Downtown Bellevue. A comparable unit at Avalon Meydenbauer rents for $1,500.
It will be interesting to see, as more of these condos start coming to market, if there are many investors or if the majority of buyers are individuals planning to move in.
I would much rather live in WaSquare for the same money, good post.
This is totally against the rules. Owners are not allowed to sell these for 6 months and they are not allowed to rent them for at least 1 year. These are supposed to be owner occupied.
Could we get some more posts on here about condo rental rules?
My condo has it capped at %15…and then you only have 3 years of guaranteed rental time…grrr
I know a lot of the new conominiums are placing rules like that. I think it’s so they are better able to trust who is living in their spaces…that they get to meet their tenants face to face. It’s also to prevent companies from buying a bunch as investments for clients or their own business advancements.
There’s been a bunch of postings on Craigslist over the last month or so. Good alternative to the new luxury apartments which are getting quite pricey.
My bet is you’ll see a lot more of this. There are too many people who were speculating. When I went to look at the Bellevue Tower units I heard a couple of speculators loud mouthing how they were doing this and doing that. When you hear people dropping things like that in casual conversation, talking big, you know things are overblown.
My understanding is that Bellevue Towers is only selling a couple of units per week right now. At that rate they’ll be selling units for years to come. The bubble is bursting in downtown Bellevue too and I for one am hoping to scoop up one of these condos at a much reduced price in a couple of years.
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for Bellevue Towers to come down in price. While still a year to go with the construction, the place is more than 50% sold. Sales rate will only increase once the construction is near completion and this subprime mortgage crisis is over.
I ain’t waiting for them to reduce price. I’m waiting for a distressed seller (if I’m lucky).