JUST LEASED
- One Pacific Tower #1701: 2bd/2ba, $3500 per month
- Cristalla #1603: 2bd/2ba, $3400 per month
- 5th & Madison #1601: 1bd+den/1.5ba, $2995
- Magnolia Charmer: 4bd/3ba, $2795 per month
- Live2200 #S903: 1bd+den/1ba, $1850 per month
- The Parc #430: 2bd/1ba, $1850 per month
- Arbor Place #303: 2bd/2ba, $1695 per month
- The Vine #556: 2bd/1ba, $1695 per month
- Braeburn Studio, $995 per month

PENDING APPS
- Cristalla #2111, $8000 per month

WOW- has been a very busy two weeks…here is what has been going on:

JUST LEASED
- Mercer Island home: 2bd/2ba + MIL, $1775 per month
- Cosmopolitan #1004 & #1104: 2bd/2ba, $1995 per month
- The Continental #2502: 2bd+den/2ba, $4000 per month
- The Matae #502: Studio, $1095 per month
- Live2200 #S1209: 1bd+den/1ba, $1950 per month

PENDING APPS
- Arbor Place #303: 2bd/2ba, $1695 per month
- Braeburn: Studio, $995 per month
- Live2200 #S903: $1850 per month

NEW LISTINGS!
- BELLTOWN   One Pacific Tower #1504 & #1701: 2bd/2ba, $3500-$4000 per month http://www.seattlerentals.com/13925
- BELLTOWN   Avenue One #1001: 2bd/2ba, $3700 per month http://www.seattlerentals.com/13933
- BELLTOWN   Cristalla #1603: 2bd/2ba, $3400 per month http://www.seattlerentals.com/10452
- BELLTOWN   Parc #430: 2bd/1ba, $1850 per month https://www.seattlerentals.com/13927
- MAGNOLIA  4bd/3ba Home, $2795 per month http://www.seattlerentals.com/13928

Just in, courtesy of WMFHA:

The Built Environment Committee of the Seattle City Council has adopted a proposal that would authorize a mandatory licensing and inspection program throughout the city.  The legislation now goes to the full council and will most likely appear on the council’s agenda for June 1, 2010.  The committee acted today because of the impending deadline on June 10, 2010.  On that date, a new state law takes effect that puts some restrictions on any rental inspection program a city may choose to implement.  If Seattle adopts a rental inspection program before June 10, the program can be amended later and will not be subject to the new state law.

The proposal approved today contains several significant features:

1.     Beginning April 1, 2012 all rental housing owners or operators will have to be licensed and to get that license the rental property must be inspected.

2.     Some rental properties are exempt including owner-occupied rental units; rental units owned or operated by a government unit of agency; rental units that receive federal funding and that are inspected as part of the funding program.

3.     Inspectors will be required to certify that the building and units meet certain standards set for in the Seattle Housing Code and there are no conditions that impair or endanger the health or safety of the tenant.

4.     Inspection by sampling will be allowed for larger properties.  If the property has more than 20 units, no more than 20% of the units need inspection up to a maximum of 50 units in each building.

Two separate resolutions were also put before and discussed at the meeting.  The first resolution asks the Department of Building and Development (DPD) to prepare a report to the council by July 1, 2011 evaluating the effectiveness of the new civil search warrant tool that has been given to the city.

The second resolution is significant because it requests a report from DPD by July 1, 2011 with recommendations “developed after working with stakeholders, for implementing the rental housing inspection program.”  The report outlines 10 areas that the report should analyze including - appropriate inspection standards; sampling; whether inspections should be targeted to certain areas or citywide; how often properties should be inspected; how should the program be commenced.

More information to follow!

I toured the building yesterday with some clients and was amazed to hear that they are looking at 40+ closings this month! From the sound of things, the reduced pricing has attracted a lot of buyers…even several who are willing to pay all cash.

Securing financing has been a major issue in the past but now the new preferred lender, Met Life, is set to close on 5+ units in the next week and the building will be FHA approved in approximately three weeks.

We looked at 1 bedrooms (SW & NW “A” floorplan and E & W “B” floorplan) yesterday priced under $550k.  The units that they have on the 14th floor seem to be the best value at around $499-$513k with views of the Space Needle, Lake Union, Sound and City.  Out of all the floorplans, I am most partial to #1406…I think the 4th Ave corridor view is gorgeous (and is considered “protected” as the building to the south is secured on a 100 year lease).  Click here to visit the Escala website to view floorplans.

Something else I learned- they are not officially selling additional parking spots…although the developer may reconsider this as the commercial spaces lease.

If you are interested in purchasing, don’t wait!  Get down to the building and check it out…if you are planning on visiting during the week, don’t forget to make an appointment, otherwise, Saturday and Sunday are open for walk-ins.

For more details, click here! 

SEATTLE, April 10 – Carpenter’s Tower, LLC, the owner of the 25-story McGuire Apartments in the Belltown area of Seattle, today announced plans to vacate the building at Second Avenue and Wall Street over the next several months due to extensive construction defects which are financially impractical to repair.

“While there are no imminent tenant safety issues, the experts involved in the investigation and repair of the building have indicated that there will be structural issues that could present safety issues by 2011 and beyond,” said Brian Urback, with Kennedy Associates, the real estate advisor for Carpenter’s Tower.  ”The McGuire is not in imminent danger of a structural failure and the experts have advised that the building be vacated by the end of 2010.  Under the circumstances, we are taking steps to vacate the building over the next several months and to help our tenants relocate.   Since the necessary repairs are impractical, the decision of the owner is to dismantle the building.”

The building owner has informed officials at the Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) of the extensive construction defects, which principally involve corrosion of post-tensioned cables and concrete material and reinforcement placement deficiencies.  The post-tensioned cables are corroding because the ends of the cables were not properly protected with corrosion preventative paint, and the grout used to seal the cable ends and anchors was not the specified non-shrink grout and was defectively installed.  As a result, water leaked into these areas and caused the cable ends to rust, and then corrode.  In addition, reinforcement placement in the building’s exterior frame is defective, resulting in cracking and spalling of concrete, as well as structural impairment.

DPD has written a letter indicating it will issue an order later this year finding the building no longer safe to occupy and requiring the owner to “correct the unsafe conditions or vacate the building by December 31, 2010, or earlier.”  The letter also indicates that the city is “requiring that the owner monitor the building condition and periodically submit inspection reports to DPD.”

“We are providing an incentive package to help our tenants relocate much faster than the end of the year,” Urback said.  ”We recognize that this is a major inconvenience so we are trying to make it as easy as possible under difficult circumstances.  We are providing what we think are generous financial incentives if they move quickly.  We are paying moving expenses.  And we are having our building staff help them find new apartments.”

Carpenter’s Tower is owned by Carpenters Union, Local 131, and by MEPT, the Multi-Employer Property Trust.  Construction of the McGuire was completed in 2001.  There are 272 residential apartments and four street-level retail spaces in the building.  Carpenter’s Tower has filed suit against the general contractor responsible for the construction of the building and against the building’s architects.

SOURCE Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel, LP

March will certainly roar out with a big week of news, beginning with Monday’s Personal Income and Personal Spending Reports. We’ll also get a look at the Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE), which is the Fed’s favorite gauge of inflation. Rest assured the Fed will be watching this report closely!

The Labor Market will also be in the spotlight, first with Thursday’s Initial Jobless Claims Report. Last week’s Initial Jobless Claims were reported lower than expectations and at the lowest reading in 6 weeks. The numbers show modest improvements and are somewhat encouraging.

Hopefully, Friday’s official Jobs Report from the Labor Department for March will also be encouraging. Last month’s report showed that 36,000 jobs were lost in February, which was better than the 68,000+ job losses that were expected. However, while the Unemployment Rate remained stable at 9.7%, a deeper look beyond the headlines of the report showed what many consider to be the Real Unemployment Rate to be near 17%…which includes discouraged workers who are no longer seeking employment, as well as “underemployed” folks who have taken part time or low paying jobs, just to be bringing some money in the door. The bottom line is that real improvement is needed in the labor market for our economy to continue to recover.

Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result. And with the Fed MBS buying program ending…there will likely be more volatility for home loan rates in store.

As you can see in the chart, Bonds worsened last week, causing home loan rates to rise - and rates always go up much faster than they move lower. I’ll be watching closely to see what happens this week as March comes to a close - and please get in touch if I can be of any assistance in answering your questions on rates and current opportunities.

Patrick Dunn, Westwood Mortgage Inc. & MMG Weekly
patrick@westwoodmortgage.com / http://www.certifiedplanning.com

Just in!

MARKET DISTRICT - Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue

-  William Justen hosted an agent seminar on Tuesday, March 23 and presented “The Value of View” (Click here for more details)
-  New video building tour online (Click here to view)
-  New interviews with William Justen (Click here to view)
-  New interviews with Tom Parsons (Click here to view)
-  In celebration of recent LEED “Silver” certification, all new home sales before April 30, 2010 will include a Smart ForTwo vehicle (Click here for more details)
-  Introduced a new 4,400-sq. ft., three bedroom plus den floor plan offered at $7.25 million (combines a C & J plan for half of the 34th floor) (Click here to view)
-  Open house this weekend (Noon – 4pm)
-  Homes start at $1.1 million
-  Now more than two-thirds sold and occupied 

FIRST HILL - The Decatur

-  Offering “Double the Tax Credits” up to $16,000 (select homes) for sales before April 30
-  Up to 35% off original list prices
-  Home start at $184,950 or just $859 per month (see agent for details)
-  FHA approved –just 3.5% down payment!
-  Phase II sales release happening now
-  New video building tour online (Click here to view)
-  Now more than two-thirds sold and occupied 

CAPITOL HILL - Eleven Eleven East Pike

-  Up to 25% off original list prices
-  FHA approved –just 3.5% down payment!
-  Home start at $244,950 or just $1,127 per month
-  Full sales release now available 
-  New video building tour online (Click here to view)
-  Now 50% sold - only 13 homes remain! 

BALLARD - Hjarta

-  Bulk Sales Event – March 27 & 28 (Noon – 5pm)
-  Up to 35% off original list prices
-  Home start at $274,950 or just $1,154 per month
-  FHA approved –just 3.5% down payment!
-  Phase one sales release  

GREENLAKE - Florera

-  Bulk Sales Event – March 27 & 28 (Noon – 5pm)
-  Up to 35% off original list prices
-  Home start at $244,950 or just $1,028 per month
-  FHA approved –just 3.5% down payment!
-  Phase one sales release

The action during Sunday’s healthcare vote will almost certainly impact the markets in the coming week, and there is also a full slate of economic reports to watch for. First up, there will be a double-dose of housing news with Tuesday’s Existing Home Sales Report and Wednesday’s New Home Sales Report.

Also, on Wednesday we’ll get a read on the health of the economy with the Durable Goods Report, which gives us an update on consumer and business buying behavior on big ticket items that last for an extended period of time. Friday will bring another read on the economy with the Gross Domestic Product Report, which is the broadest measure of economic activity.

Not to be missed will be Thursday’s weekly Initial Jobless Claims Report. While last week’s initial claims were essentially inline with expectations, the ugly component of the report was the 5,888,048 people collecting EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits. This is a whopping 360,000 person increase from the prior week.  Unfortunately, the labor market continues to be very weak. 

Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result.

As you can see in the chart, despite midweek volatility, Bonds and home loan rates ended the week very near where they began. With all the action in store, I’ll be watching closely to see in what direction the markets and rates move this week. As always, please feel free to call or email to get more information on what the current rate climate means to you.

Patrick Dunn, Westwood Mortgage Inc. & MMG Weekly
patrick@westwoodmortgage.com / http://www.certifiedplanning.com