KCRag Forum

Ok, I started a thread.

http://forum.kcrag.com/http://www.kcrag ... 02#p437602

Well, not really.   Apparently the alarms never sounded and people had no idea why all this drama was going on outside.   Finally some people did evacuate.   Latest I heard is that it turned out to be a smoky light bulb.




These guys never really did anything except watch.




The partial evacuation.   I didn't catch it on film but one of the first people out the door faceplanted on the sidewalk.




This dude was watching from about about 20 floors above the action.

yes, a smoky lightbulb. somewhere between the 6th and 9th floors. clearly no heat, so the sprinklers weren't tripped. we didn't think the sirens were for our building until we saw the ladder out the 4th floor window (the alarm sounded minutes later, of course).

Pretty slick marketing campaign from 909. They're running ads on the Star's web site.

http://www.909walnut.com/faces-of-909.php

Loved every thing about living here for their opening year... would have looked to buy if they were on the market when I was looking... only downside is no way to grill outside... unless they have put in grills on the rooftop garden???  Or you had one of the few units with a patio... 

they have grills out there now I'm pretty sure when I toured for the urban tour.

KCPowercat wrote: they have grills out there now I'm pretty sure when I toured for the urban tour.

yes, they were serving hamburgers and hot dogs.

DaveKCMO wrote: yes, they were serving hamburgers and hot dogs.

But are they actually available for resident use? I had heard they only brought the grills out for special events and for the corporate tenants. This was actually one of the negatives I thought when I considered living in 909 Walnut. One of my wishes was to be able to grill, and certainly if I was going to be paying for that large roof garden I wanted to be able to grill for sure. I ended up close to City Market Park where I can grill to my heart's content.

Does anyone happen to know how sales are going at 909 Walnut? Just curious if brisk sales might be a harbinger of better days ahead for the condo market.

smh wrote: Does anyone happen to know how sales are going at 909 Walnut? Just curious if brisk sales might be a harbinger of better days ahead for the condo market.

2nd hand story is that half are contracted/reserved, but no closings yet.

loftguy wrote: 2nd hand story is that half are contracted/reserved, but no closings yet.

That sounds pretty substantial given the short time they've been on the market. Is that a fair opinion?

I have this theory that, while the condo market in general is very soft, a perhaps understated issue is that there are too many of the wrong kind of condo on the market (i.e., lofts). As I've said before in another thread, I have friends looking at places from Union Hill north and they have been disappointed in the lack of "traditional" apartments/condos on the market.

smh wrote: That sounds pretty substantial given the short time they've been on the market. Is that a fair opinion?

I have this theory that, while the condo market in general is very soft, a perhaps understated issue is that there are too many of the wrong kind of condo on the market (i.e., lofts). As I've said before in another thread, I have friends looking at places from Union Hill north and they have been disappointed in the lack of "traditional" apartments/condos on the market.

I agree on all points.

I think there are certainly people out there that want downtown condos and lofts, but they just can't get financing right now.  The problem with some of these bigger condo projects is that potential buyers, who can afford them, can't get financing unless a certain percentage of the condo building is already occupied.

The developer is in between a rock and a hard place. They can't find customers to buy because the occupancy level is too low, and they can't get the occupancy level up enough to allow others to get financing.  And there just aren't enough cash buyers out there.

Loftguy, am I correct about this?

FangKC wrote: I think there are certainly people out there that want downtown condos and lofts, but they just can't get financing right now.  The problem with some of these bigger condo projects is that potential buyers, who can afford them, can't get financing unless a certain percentage of the condo building is already occupied.

The developer is in between a rock and a hard place. They can't find customers to buy because the occupancy level is too low, and they can't get the occupancy level up enough to allow others to get financing.  And there just aren't enough cash buyers out there.

Loftguy, am I correct about this?

This is the same thing I have been hearing. It's a classic catch-22. And many loans require very recent comps, like the last 90 days, and if there have been foreclosures and short sales and just plain old low sales prices, it can make it impossible to get the loan required for the contracted sale price.

FHA keeps changing their guidelines and it makes it a mofo to keep up. Most of their guidelines are created to handle the condo situations in messed up markets like Vegas or Miami and markets like ours suffer the consequences.

You're right Fang and you're right Taxi.

Those condos that have not sold the "minimum"  (50%+ or -) are deemed as unwarrantable, which means the lenders will either not loan on housing within that project, or they require 20% or more as down payment on the purchase.

And as Taxi said, appraisals (comps) are a bitch right now.  The appraisers are working very conservatively, playing it safe, and pegging values at very low levels.

I can't tell you how many deals I've watched die this past two years, when the buyer and seller agree upon a value and the appraisal comes back 10 to 30% lower than the contract price and the deal blows up.  Doesn't matter if the buyer has 20% or more to put down. 

Cash buyers are showing up and are they ever scoring deals.

Note to self: become cash buyer.

smh wrote: Note to self: become cash buyer.

related note:  locate suitcase full of $100 bills.  take possession of same.

isn't 909 mostly rental with only a few condos?

ignatius wrote: isn't 909 mostly rental with only a few condos?

It was all rental to start with (except for the "penthouse" or whatever) and is being converted to condominium. At least that has been my understanding.

according to last report last fall, 909 is still rental.  didn't realize it changed...
http://216.119.82.16/wp-content/uploads ... arter1.pdf

btw, the report says rental occupancy downtown was 93-95% last fall for rentals and 87% for condos.  I didn't know condos were selling that well.. or it could be condos that are being temp leased.

downtown council needs to update the report btw.