A third home at the Briarcliff residential development is receiving its final touches while two more have reached their design stage.
For more than five years, development at the Briarcliff residential plat atop Magnolia at the 4000 block of W. Dravus St. has been underway, from leveling out the land to actual home construction. But so far, only three homes have been built. Yet there is movement as Lexington Fine Homes, which is developing the homes that are fetching as much as $1.8 million, has begun design work for two more.
?I think we?re poised to take off,? said Mark Smith, real estate agent representing the homes. Smith has represented similar new developments before and said there is a traditional bell-curve effect in sales. ?As soon as somebody?s living there, the sales will come faster and faster. These are luxury homes so they?ll not be flying out the door but selling steadily.?
“Fetching” as much as $1.8M?? Merriam-Webster defines “fetching” as attractive, pleasing.? I would not say the advertised prices are fetching at all or perhaps they would have sold one!
It is going to be very interesting to see the prices at which these homes finally find buyers.? I suspect it will be nowhere near the advertised prices listed now.
When are the prices going to drop? ?I doubt these townhome/homes will sell for anything more than $800K. ?Unless of course Lexington builds a time machine and takes us back to 2007. ?And locates the homes in Bellevue where they look like they belong.
I would think the definition of ‘steadily’ selling would mean that at least one would have to have been sold.? at $850k they might sell.? Otherwise, replat making larger yards so a family might want to live there.?
I would suggest that the developer build on every other lot and divide the empty space between homes.
Hurry up and go bankrupt before you pack in any more, so someone else can build something more in keeping with the neighborhood.
It seems ironic ?that the photo shows a single home facing a great open green space. ?When complete, there will not be space for a blade of grass on the entire development.
“real-estate agent Mark Smith is confident the sales rate will increase”.If they were able to sell 1 of these monstrosities then the sales rate would increase from zero! ?This is a classic case of a greedy developer believing that they can price homes at whatever they want and the homes will sell. ?This worked in 2007 but not anymore! ? They clearly do not know the Seattle market. ?People in Seattle do not pay well over a million dollars for a house that has no yard and no view. ?There are far nicer and better homes that can be purchased at prices lower than what they’re asking. ?The first home they finished has been on the market now for about a year with only 1 price decrease. ?I wonder how much more money this developer can invest in this development without a single sale. These homes should be priced at about half of what is being asked. ?I see these homes as a condo alternative since they have no yard and are so close to the neighboring house. ?The problem is they’re priced substantially higher than any condo. ??I think we?re poised to take off,? said Mark Smith, real estate agent representing the homes.?
What gives him that idea? ?I’m sure he would have said that a year ago too. ? Of course it would be surprising to hear him say anything negative about this development.??
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a very “buy and hold” investment for the developer.