Home / Uncategorized / Interesting Sales Last Week

Interesting Sales Last Week

By Sarah Davies January 19, 2010

Last week there was 17 condo and town home sales according to Redfin. Here’s a look at 5 of them:

Topping out the price charts, there were two sales at LEED Certified Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue last week: Unit 2903 at $2.2 Million, and Unit 2402 at $1.2 Million.

The best deal in the city at $146/sq. ft was this barn-like townhouse in Roosevelt:

There was also a nice Columbia City townhouse, just a 15 minute walk from the light rail station that the lucky new owner scored for $310,000:

8 responses to “Interesting Sales Last Week”

lowballoffer says:

January 21, 2010 at 4:32 am

Wow, someone else just lost a lost of equity on their unit. The owner of one of the neighboring units in this development bought in August 2009 and paid $100,000 more for 400 less square ft…so much for last year when I heard prices were only going to go up.
Popeye says:

January 21, 2010 at 5:06 am

Nice townhomes, very nice indeed, but buying a nice place like that in Columbia City isn't the best investment. Regardless of how the market will swing, it's still a risky part of town. It's like putting a nice piece of Godiva candy in poop, doesnt matter how tasty or pretty it is, it's still surrounded by poop. :)
shotsix says:

January 21, 2010 at 8:45 pm

Walking distance to a light rail station puts a lot more security into an investment there…that neighborhood already seems to be having a hipster boom. If Portland's MAX is any indicator, they have nothing to worry about.
stone says:

January 22, 2010 at 6:00 pm

Concerning the Columbia City townhome, where it sited it is a very long 15 minute walk to the light rail. Sections of this area don't even have sidewalks, let alone street lights and because of its distance from the light rail it is not part of any security enhancements due to the light rail. If you walk down Edmunds st. from the light rail you can definitely see where they put in new lighting. And also, the neighborhood hasn't had a “hipster boom”, its not like pike/pine corridor by any stretch, even though there are great places to eat, the farmer's market, movie theater, etc. Hipster boom isn't necessarily a bad thing and Columbia City has a lot going for it, but that's not what has happened there and the MAX comparison doesn't hold up, since the MAX had much better array of stops within an area, but there's quite a distance between Columbia City station and the next south station. And from what I've seen in Portland there are some areas with a MAX station that haven't necessarily had great improvements as a result (empty retail space, for example) that are typically touted with transit. Its always about location or time or both.
shotsix says:

January 23, 2010 at 12:25 am

Oh, I definitely agree that a hipster boom isn't a bad thing. Seriously though, the hipster count in the Columbia City area has greatly increased over the past few years. It's definitely no Cap. Hill, but it's light years ahead of where it was. Additionally, regarding my MAX comparison, I do see a strong parallel with the Interstate (Yellow) line in terms of “hipsterfication.” It's not like the Yellow Line environs have become the Pearl District, but it's definitely moving away, rather than toward, the 'bars on windows' look. And really, all I'm saying is that a real estate investment in the Columbia City area is bolstered by light rail because most people see it as a real perk (at least for the 'looking for real estate in the city and under 40 professional crowd').

On a side note….I think a 15 minute walk time to the station is a bit of an exaggeration.
Marce says:

January 23, 2010 at 12:35 am

I visited those townhomes in Columbia City months ago with a friend who was looking to buy, and we both felt pretty uncomfortable with the location safety-wise. Specifically, from the Google street view, you can see the road is narrow, very long between cross streets, and has a thick row of blackberry bushes the entire way. Just skeeved us both out, and we wouldn't have felt great about just going for a stroll after dark, fwiw. Hope the new owner feels differently, though. Cute units, for sure.
Guest says:

January 24, 2010 at 5:27 pm

It can't be worse than Belltown or the U-District in terms of safety.
Marce says:

January 25, 2010 at 12:47 am

True. It was just more of a sense of feeling trapped on that long road with no real egress to speak of.

Interesting Sales Last Week

Ask Sarah a Question

Ask us a Question

Keep your finger on the pulse each week