Santa Fe Place

[jlbomega]

I am looking pretty hard at this location right now.  Anyone who lives there, knows someone that lives there, or has any other "inside info" about this place who could share their thoughts it would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[KCAppraiser]

How much are the HOA dues?  If I remember correctly they are very high.

[cknab1]

The HOA dues are 44 cents sq/ft per month.  Not cheap that is for sure.  But it is a great place.  The HOA reserve is over a million dollars, so there should not be any surprise assessments in the near future.  One good feature is the A/C.  We use the chilled water for Crown Center and just pay electric.  My electric bill is usually about $50 a month.  The chilled water is rolled into the HOA.  You also get free basic/Standard Time Warner cable.

[loftguy]

Anyone attend or have details of the Auction that took place at Crown Center on Saturday?

The MLS shows nine for sale condos from the development are now on "pending" status. 

[dangerboy]

They auctioned off the remaining units.  There was something in the Star about it a few weeks ago.

[cknab1]

The auction was held at the Hyatt Saturday and there were some bargains to be had.  Of the two remodeled units, a 1 bedroom 1 bath priced at $186,000 went for $100,000 and a 2 bedroom 2 bath that was converted to a 1 bedroom 1.5 bath that was listed at $269,000 went for $190,000.  Crown Center had put $100,000 in that unit.  Both of those were furnished.
The older as is 2 bedroom units that were priced from $177,000 to $198,000 went for $110,000 to $99.500.
The 1 bedroom units priced from $144,000 to $160,000 went for $70,000 to $75,000
Of the original 15 units that were up for auction, 4 were sold before the auction and all 11 remaining units went Saturday.  Cates Auction house did a great job of conducting the event.

[Midtownkid]

god, those prices are insane.  KC housing is such a good deal!

[Thaine]

Is Santa Fe Place the old apartment building, or the original condos?

[cknab1]

It's the old apartment building that faces main street.  Both places were built in the early 70's

[ignatius]

Really sucks for those who bought a condo (anywhere in city) at peak, around 2005-2007.

[heatherkay]

Everything sucks for the people that bought at the peak.

[moderne]

These really are not condo built condos, but apartments sold as condos.  They are very very tiny.  OK if you are used to NYC or Tokyo.  To get any livable space in a modern lifestyle sense they had a 2 bedroom converted to a one bedroom and were able to fit in spacious bath and kitchen along with washer and dryer.  I guess to get a livable 2 bedroom you would have had to buy an adjoining 2 br and 1 br, and merge the 2.  This along with the remodeling costs shows Santa Fe place to be not much of a bargain.  Plus very long walks through weather to parking garage.

[chrizow]

for the price that these sold for, i would anticipate many units will be rented out by the owners. 

[cknab1]

I rented in Santa Fe Place from 2002 to 2005 when they went condo.  At that point I purchased a 2 bedroom 2 bath Northwest corner unit, 1280 sq.ft for $186,000.  That included a 10% discount since I was a tenant.  I have probably put about $30,000 into it since then.  We took out one bedroom to open the living space and give us more of a panoramic view.  We also redid the kitchen with stainless appliances and granite, that kind of thing. We are empty nesters so the small bedroom wasn?t a priority.  The bathrooms had been redone by a tenant that had signed a 10 year lease and had 6 years to go, so we benefitted greatly from not having to do that remodel.  As far as the parking garage, I walk past three cars in our underground parking to get to my car. 
I attended the auction and met some of the people that brought units.  A few are moving in in the next several months and a couple of people were interested in leasing their unit out until they were in a position to move.  At the present time we have 4 rentals out of the 95 previously sold units.  There are several students living there that their parents brought units while they are going to dental school.  Nice for them.
With the rentals, once you add the mortgage, taxes, and the HOA it?s hard to break even.  The one owner I know that have a rental unit are letting the people pay the mortgage and he is paying the taxes and HOA.