uptown condo market (Charlotte: sales, real estate, foreclosures)

[sue77]

hi, the prices have come down dramaticaly. Is this a good time to buy in uptown?

[Charlottean]

Yes, they have tumbled a lot, especially in 2009.

There is certainly plenty of inventory and several fantastic foreclosed units that are available.

[SunnyKayak]

Charlotte's uptown vision is delayed as condo sales sag - CharlotteObserver.com
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[Charlottean]

Financing is a major key.

Right now banks are adding interest rate hikes for condo projects that don't qualify to their strict standards. Investors need 25% down minimum to buy one. Primary borrowers can only obtain conventional financing on most buildings. If they put down less than 20% that's okay with most banks, but good luck finding a mortgage insurance company to back the loan. Even the ones that have gone through FHA approval (3.5% down) still don't meet many of the newer FHA guidelines.

Belle Vista in Ballantyne Village finally obtained FHA approval and then when the updated guidelines rolled out it was back to square one.

Can't really blame the banks. They lost billions and billions on condo projects across the U.S.

[AmandaEve011]

Can't blame the banks but don't look at them for being "responsible"... they were bailed out by the government and still gave CEO's and other workers big bonuses....didn't bank of america give millions a year in pension to the CEO who just retired?

[ageremia]

It's a good time to buy uptown but be prepared to not see any appreciation in value for 4-5 years. If you want to live uptown and and can find a nice unit in addition to taking advantage of the low interest rates you can't lose. Financing has become more difficult for condos but not impossible. The one thing you don't want to do is settle for something. If you can find a complex that offers you everything you want than I woudl say go for it. Try and find out as much about the HOA as you can. With the rising delinquencies homeowners in condo units are forced to take up the slack for the foreclosures which can lead to assessments that can sometimes double the monthly HOA payment.

[lumbollo]

I would wait for more real estate carnage to occur before buying into one of these premium properties. Remember that some of these places have pretty high monthly fees that can rise significantly depending upon what happens.

Interesting in that article that article neglects to mention that in The Vue, there have apparently been no net sales there in 3 years, given this was the percentage they were quoting when the place first broke ground.

[sheenie2000]

Are these new condos filled up? If not, what is the vacancy percentage? And how many have been foreclosed upon? Seems too risky to buy in one of these new condos.

[monkeyboy]

You have to be careful if there is a high vacancy percentage, the fees get spread amongst the tenants...