I’ve been anticipating the completion of this project, which is one of my favorites, and it did not disappoint. The craftsmanship and quality of finishes met expectations. With its aggression pricing, Enso fits into the the mid-level luxury niche nicely.

I noticed that one structure apparently disappeared. Early in the design phase the little triangular lot at the corner of Denny and Westlake was supposed to be a wine bar lounge. It’s now a small park.

Matt has a lot more photos and videos on his blog.

I confirmed with a representative of Williams Marketing that Marselle will come to market as a condominium development. Details and pricing are still being finalized, but we should hear more shortly. Sales are expected to begin in July.

The Enclave (website) will consist of three-level, two bedroom plus den, fee-simple residences ranging in size from 2,500 to more than 3,000 square feet – each with private garages and options for private elevators. All homes boast a large roof top terrace with views of downtown Seattle, Lake Union and the surrounding Eastlake waterfront.

As a part of the Wards Cove master planned community, residents will have access to the Wards Cove Marina Club, which includes a fitness center, a conference facility, a guest suite and full-service moorage for larger vessels up to 110 feet in length. Alternatively, owners can choose nearby dry-stack boat moorage across the Montlake Cut by using a small tender on the dock. An adjacent beach is also ideal for launching kayaks and canoes or taking a swim in the lake – all at the doorstep of future homeowners.

Homes at The Enclave are expected to start in the low $1 millions.

A first phase of just nine homes will require presales before groundbreaking this fall but Trinity’s Investment Manager, Michael Yukevich, remains confident that buyers will realize the value.

“We plan to release a limited number of homes at introductory pricing this summer and will likely hold off selling the balance until completion in 2010,” said Yukevich. “Early buyers will enjoy preferred selection and numerous options for home personalization – it’s an attractive opportunity for homebuyers seeking truly collectable real estate that’s unlikely to be replicated ever again.”

Adapted from Enclave’s press release.

The 2700 Elliott Ave parcel was purchased last year by the Schuster Group, developer of Mosler Lofts, who indicated at the time a desire to develop the property with a “green” condominium building. Recently, they stated to the DJC they are pursuing the design process now in order to be ready for the next development cycle and market upswing.

The parcel is situated adjacent to the Bellora and Klee Condominiums and a development proposal has been floating around since 2002 for this parcel, which has seen ownership changes in 2005 and 2008. Back in 2005 a DPD decision regarding a 14-story, 107-unit proposal was issued to a representative of Trammell Crow Residential.

The design proposal has been added to the Seattle DPD website and can be viewed here (PDF download).

Renderings courtesy of LMN Architects.

A sales concession is something that is not part of the real estate, such as cash, furniture, automobiles, decorator allowances, moving costs, or other “giveaways”. The value of the sales concession must be deducted from the sales price when calculating loan to values.

For example, if you have a sales price of $200,000 and patio furniture valued at $3,000; the sales price the lender will use is $197,000 (200,000 - 3000). Let’s assume you’re putting 10% down payment. Without the sales concession, 10% down would be $20,000. With the sales concession, 10% down is going to be a bit more:

How much more? Continue reading this article at The Mortgage Porter.

Williams Marketing recently relinquished marketing and sales operations at Brix, Olive 8 and The Danielle.

The meeting is scheduled for July 1, 2009 at 6:30 PM at the Montlake Library (2401 24th Ave E).

CHS Capitol Hill Seattle had a good write up of the last design review board meeting held back on June 3rd.

Early design version:

Location, E. Madison at 13th Avenue:

The project is has been proposed by Wallace Properties (507 Northgate & Taylor 28) and designed by Baylis Architects.

Images: Courtesy of Baylis Architects

Besides market and economic factors, the Seattle Times suggest that DPD’s approval of the Kinnects apartment tower on the adjacent lot also affected Stewart + Minor as a viable project. The property’s owner, GIS International, previously shelved its European Tower project in Bellevue.

There were 260 units that went under contract last month, up 17.6% over April but down 0.8% compared to May 2008. Much has been mentioned lately that the year-over-year stats are skewed due to a classification change that increased the number of listings under the “pending” status category, therefore, making year-over-year comparisons inaccurate. And, that’s true.

Last June, the NWMLS eliminated the “subject-to-inspection” classification and merged it into a new “pending inspection” category. Prior to July 2008, properties under contract were classed as “subject-to-inspection” first, then after the inspection was completed, changed to “pending”. Since then, properties going under contract are classed as “pending inspection”, thus, increasing the number of properties categorized as “pending” in the NWMLS statistics. That said, though, there’s technically no difference. Whether a property is classified today as “pending inspection” or last year as “subject-to-inspection” the fact remains that an offer was placed and a contract was mutually accepted on the property. In any case, in another month, the issue will resolve itself.

The 141 closed sales in May reflected a one-month increase of 35.6% and a year-over-year drop of 35.3%. The number of closed sales relative to the number of pending properties in the prior month have been widening. Typically, properties close about 30 days after going under contract, therefore, we expect that the number of closings in the current month to closely match the number of pendings in the prior month. In May, the number of closings was approximately 64% of the number of pendings in April. Two factors may be contributing to this gap. First, lenders have been swamped with refi’s, which have resulted in longer approval time frames for purchase loans. We’ve seen lenders take up to 40-45 days to approve a run-of-the-mill purchase loan. Second, the number of short sale transactions have risen considerably and they can take anywhere from 2 to 4 months to close. Plus, quite a few are never approved and fail to close.

There were 1,378 active listings in May, up just 1.1% over April and down 17.1% compared to May of last year. With the number of listings plateauing combined with increasing sales volume, the citywide condo inventory supply rate, also known as absorption rate, improved in May to 5.3 months, the lowest level since November 2007. What this means is that if there are no new listings it will take 5.3 months to exhaust the current supply. We use this rate to classify market conditions; at 5.3 months of supply, Seattle is reflecting a normal-to-buyer’s market conditions. As mentioned last month, market conditions vary by price points and locale. Under $300,000 we’re moving towards a seller’s market while for those priced over $500,000, predominately in the downtown area, we’re entrenched in a buyer’s market.

The recent bump in mortgage rates may affect sales since an increase in rate will decrease buying power. That can persuade some buyers from buying. However, while we may not see interest rates fall below 4%, it’s still quite low comparatively.

For first-time buyers, if you’re considering taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit, the November 30th deadline is approaching. One item to keep in mind, though, is that with the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and King County’s furlough day on the November 25th, home buyers will essentially need to close on their purchase by Tuesday, November 24th. That leaves about 4.5 months to get under contract.

Source: NWMLS

Here’s a few highlights:

• Housing Finance Agencies such as the Washington State Housing Finance Commission and certain non-profits will be able to monetize the tax credit, offering a loan against the tax credit at the time of purchase, which buyers can apply towards the down payment.
• For buyers using other FHA-approved lenders, the monetized tax credit can only be applied in excess of FHA’s required 3.5% down payment or towards other closing costs. In other words, it cannot be applied towards the initial 3.5% down payment requirement. As a result, most people will be able to use the monetized funds for closing costs rather than towards the down payment.
• This option only applies to FHA-insured mortgages, not conventional loans. As such, it’ll benefit buyers of single family homes or townhouses more so than condos. The reason for this is that FHA-insured loans are only available to HUD-approved condos. With only about 300 approved buildings in Seattle, many condos are not eligible. Additionally, HUD limits the number of FHA-insured units in a condo complex to 10% (e.g. only 2 units in a 20 unit complex will be eligible for FHA).

While this particular monetization option isn’t likely to help Seattle condo buyers much, it’s definitely a great option for first-time buyers who are taking advantage of FHA-insured mortgage loans. At the very least, buyers can increase their down payment amount or cover closing costs. The recently passed state version would help condo buyers but that seems to be dead in the water at this point.

The $8,000 first-time home buyers tax credit will expire on November 30, 2009. So if you’re interested in taking advantage of the credit, keep in mind, there’s only about 4.5 months left to get under contract. Also, the King County courthouse will close beginning Wednesday, November 25th for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, you’ll essentially need to close/fund/record the purchase by November 24th to qualify for the credit.

More information:
HUD/FHA: Donovan announces recovery act’s homebuyer tax credit can immediately help thousands of first-time homeubyers to buy a home
SeattlePI.com: Feds will allow tax credit for down payment, closing costs