Comments on: Element Auction Shows There's Still Demand to Live Intown http://www.decaturmetro.com/2009/03/01/element-auction-shows-theres-still-demand-to-live-intown/ Decatur Georgia News, Events, Atlanta News Mon, 15 Sep 2014 18:06:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0 By: blah http://www.decaturmetro.com/2009/03/01/element-auction-shows-theres-still-demand-to-live-intown/#comment-6894 Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:10:13 +0000 http://www.decaturmetro.com/?p=20705#comment-6894 I think I agree 100 percent with Justin.

]]> By: Decatur Metro http://www.decaturmetro.com/2009/03/01/element-auction-shows-theres-still-demand-to-live-intown/#comment-6893 Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:08:44 +0000 http://www.decaturmetro.com/?p=20705#comment-6893 Brad “man o steal”: It was more a comment about general demand for property intown, than the hope of rampant gentrification. And while I lose little sleep over the viability of rich developers, we do need their interest if we’re going to build up Atlanta’s central core.

Hopefully I have regained some of my pith!

]]> By: Brad Steal http://www.decaturmetro.com/2009/03/01/element-auction-shows-theres-still-demand-to-live-intown/#comment-6892 Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:15:02 +0000 http://www.decaturmetro.com/?p=20705#comment-6892 DM write: “Though it would be nice to have these condos going for insane amounts of money….”

Why? To make the developer rich? To see less affordable housing?

This comment seems oddly juxtaposed to your ordinarily pithy take on the world. I must have missed something, no?
B. Steal

]]> By: Justin http://www.decaturmetro.com/2009/03/01/element-auction-shows-theres-still-demand-to-live-intown/#comment-6891 Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:32:35 +0000 http://www.decaturmetro.com/?p=20705#comment-6891 To me it wasn’t necessarily interest as much as it was the pricing. Make anything cheap enough and there will be speculators. There were 174 registered bidders but I’d say far fewer than half were actually bidding. Bidding was pretty fast until prices started hitting 180-210k for 2bdr and 250k for the 3bdr. These prices were far below what many other buildings are having existing homes listed for (partly due to the build quality of Element itself). Neighboring Twelve will probably have similar pricing as the speculators continue to fall out of that building. The fact that they dropped an additional 4-5 3bdr models into the auction due to interest also made a few people overpay early on. Accelerated Marketing Partners auctioned Tribute Lofts last year but just over half the units sold there due to lack of interest and not hitting target prices. Of course since Tribute is located in the Old 4th Ward rather than the relatively popular(for now) Atlantic Station its not directly comparable.

I’m sure a lot of the people were running numbers to see what they could rent the places out for and still turn a profit. Prior to the auction I checked MLS prices in Element and the 3bdr was at 400k, and the cheapest 2bdr was 220k. Basically the 200 or so residents just got their valuations hammered by 20-30% on the spot. To walk away w/ a 3bdr in the 250k range definitely was a steal but its still a big commitment in a relatively unpopular building in Atlantic Station.

I had a enough reservations about Element that I didn’t bid despite units closing squarely in my target price range. The units were cheaply finished, HOA high for relatively low service levels (no doorman for $300/mon?), and proximity of so many units to 17th st. I felt it better to walk away after seeing the existing homeowners now had zero incentive to keep paying their mortgages now that they were 40-100k+ underwater. If I decide to stay in midtown, I’ll wait till the pricing is right on one of the half dozen or so high rises between 14th and 6th. My Novare rental landlord just offered a significant discount(still not cheap enough for me to stay). Viewpoint and 1010Midtown are still under half full. Then there’s the Atlantic that might just take Novare under completely since it looks like its still climbing.

These auctions may clear a single developers inventory now and there but given the wasteland of townhomes & condos I see biking from midtown to Stone Mountain, there’s no end in sight for falling values in areas that quite the place to be.

]]> By: david http://www.decaturmetro.com/2009/03/01/element-auction-shows-theres-still-demand-to-live-intown/#comment-6885 Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:36:30 +0000 http://www.decaturmetro.com/?p=20705#comment-6885 AS won’t have that kind of time frame because it won’t exist by then.

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