Mortgages Hit 5 month Low!

A mortgage banker friend of mine sent me this piece of good news.

Something that has been really hideous lately is how big of a deal the media makes about interest rates climbing. People that I come in contact are afraid they are loosing if they buy a house now. How far can that be from the truth.

I bought my first home in 2000 when interest rates were roughly 7.25% for a fixed rate 30 year mortgage. At the time, people were talking about how favorable the interest rates were. Of course, none of these people knew that rates would drop down as low as 4.75% a few years later. Now it seems that home buyer's are afraid to commit to an interest rate above 6.25%. Like renting is a better deal? That's the same as having a 100% interest rate, isn't it?

Anyway, its great to see the interest rates flattening out. I hope it makes the news.

Washington Ave Musicfest Postponed

One thing that I was looking forward to this weekend is the Washington Ave Music Fest. Unfortunately, for reasons I am unaware of, it has been postponed to October 7th. Visit their website to get more information about this great event.

I am actually pretty excited about it being held in early October despite my plans changing this weekend. I'm actually on vacation in Mexico and was sort of thinking that I'll have had my fill of sitting out in the heat by then.

Check out Downtown St. Louis Partnership's website if you would like more information about events downtown.

Great New loft for sale

I am so excited to see the doors open at Moon Brother's Carriage Lofts. I was in that building so much over the last year observing the construction work progressing forward. Now that the buildings complete its just wild.

We listed the Southeast corner unit last week and have had a ton of excitement so far. We had three realtors in it within the first day on the market. Shoot me an email on Friday or later with any questions or a viewing.

This building has tons of exposed brick and great timber ceilings. Loftworks has done a great job of turning so many spaces into cool 2 bedroom lofts also. I am excited for all our clients going in. It's a gem.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Oh how I wish it was still May. It wasn't 100+ degrees outside, the grass wasn't brown, and I only had 8 lofts to put in the list of monthly sales. For June and July the MLS says there are 47 sales. In truth there are many more. In June, move in's started in Banker's; July saw Lucas Lofts, Moon Brothers, and Meridian. Moon Brothers Carriage lofts, the Meridian, Banker's Lofts and Lucas Lofts all are begining to come to life. Last summer, when a bunch of projects had move in's around the same time, the neighborhoods suddenly felt different. I couldn't get a parking spot as easily in the typical places, I no longer could get a seat in Flannery's during a ballgame and so on. I'm bracing myself. Here's the sales for June and July.


June

Banker's Lofts Units
#208------------------------------------------$161,934
#310------------------------------------------$180,185
#202------------------------------------------$182,172
#205------------------------------------------$220,823
#307------------------------------------------$229,661
#306------------------------------------------$233,986
#204------------------------------------------$318,810

This would be an appropriate place to comment that Pyramid, like some of the other developers lately, should be commended for listing all the units on the MLS so that 1. Realtors can learn something about selling downtown neighborhoods without having to pull teeth, and 2. most importantly, so appraiser's can appraise lofts without looking like complete buffoons. I've had appraiser's tell me more than once that they can not use information that isn't on the MLS to justify a price. While I don't believe that, they do have constraints.

Other Sales in June
1627 Locust #204-----------------------------$156,000
1511 Locust #401-----------------------------$161,500
1501 Locust #403-----------------------------$176,900
1501 Locust #1003----------------------------$183,000
2020 Washington #210-------------------------$185,000
2020 Washington #214-------------------------$222,900
1511 Locust #307-----------------------------$229,900
1709 Washington #706-------------------------$247,900
1010 St. Charles #501------------------------$289,000
1501 Locust #1008----------------------------$311,500
703 N 13th St. #402--------------------------$325,000

July

Banker's Lofts Units
#308-----------------------------------------$179,212
#302-----------------------------------------$180,900
#303-----------------------------------------$211,586
#406-----------------------------------------$214,900
#311-----------------------------------------$224,926
#304-----------------------------------------$294,487
#209-----------------------------------------$311,788

Lucas Lofts Units
#202-----------------------------------------$115,290
#212-----------------------------------------$115,815
#211-----------------------------------------$118,590
#302-----------------------------------------$128,595
#412-----------------------------------------$129,650
#512-----------------------------------------$134,725
#612-----------------------------------------$135,000
#301-----------------------------------------$135,840
#311-----------------------------------------$139,275
#411-----------------------------------------$139,880
#502-----------------------------------------$140,300
#401-----------------------------------------$144,685
#312-----------------------------------------$144,920
#601-----------------------------------------$148,870
#501-----------------------------------------$149,300
#712-----------------------------------------$151,425
#611-----------------------------------------$152,210
#511-----------------------------------------$154,440
#701-----------------------------------------$156,685
#711-----------------------------------------$169,130
#210-----------------------------------------$193,475
#410-----------------------------------------$205,505
#304-----------------------------------------$206,875
#309-----------------------------------------$210,492
#404-----------------------------------------$210,975
#610-----------------------------------------$214,830
#208-----------------------------------------$216,055
#609-----------------------------------------$216,205
#710-----------------------------------------$220,970
#408-----------------------------------------$225,140
#403-----------------------------------------$225,820
#303-----------------------------------------$227,000
#313-----------------------------------------$247,815
#405-----------------------------------------$256,040
#205-----------------------------------------$256,637
One of my mortgage broker friends told me that Lucas lofts hadn't fully applied for abatement as of his closing at a unit. The developer had to kick in some additional funds at closing to cover the difference. Was that the case for all those closings? I wonder but have been too busy to find out.

More July Sales
1627 Locust #404-----------------------------$150,000
2020 Washington #510-------------------------$169,000
1501 Locust #1203----------------------------$182,000
1501 Locust #1202----------------------------$188,000
1501 Locust #405-----------------------------$260,000
1611 Locust #405-----------------------------$290,000
1203 St. Charles #6D-------------------------$410,000

Can anyone blame me for putting this post off 'til mid month?

And also, to my faithful readers, my sincere apologies for not posting lately. With all the technical problems and all the selling going on, its no wonder I haven't been up to date. Hope to see you at Washington Avenue Music Fest this Saturday!