MLS Watch – Prices go down, prices go up

It’s been a while since I’ve really done MLS Watch. The truth is that we’ve been having troubles at Redfin getting our ‘listing alert e-mails’ to run reliably which is what I use to compile this blog post. Anyhow, here’s a look at some of the activity over the past week that caught my eye:

Reductions at 2200

900 Lenora St #W709 fell $20k to $509,999.

910 Lenora #S505 fell $12,450 to $447,500. Of course it’s likely this unit has been on the market 45 days because it doesn’t have any photos.

2200 Westlake Ave #S503 fell $14,510 to $559,990.

900 Lenora St #W304 fell $20k to $439,900.

910 Lenora St #S-403 fell $44,950 to $545,000.

2121 Terry Ave #N1605 fell $30k to $1,195,000.

In addition to the reductions there were a number of new listings at 2200. Here’s a link to see all 29 listings. If you can’t afford to buy, don’t worry there are at least 16 options.

Increases at Mosler Lofts

Units 612 and PH4 got bumped $20k each. Unit #601 only got bumped $10k.

615 Pike

What did I tell you, 615 Pike went STI in about a week.

Fix/Madore Loft

1507 Western Ave #604 is a very cool space. $450,000 for 795 of space. 15′ ceilings, though no parking. This loft will go STI within a week. Disclaimer: I know the seller and the seller’s agent.

81 Vine Price Drop

I’ve had my eye on 81 Vine St #308 for a while now and it just dropped $15k to $419,950. I have to admit I’m surprised this has been on the market for 142 days. Has anyone toured it?

Cristalla

2033 2nd Ave #1807 hit the market last week for a cool million. Only $890/SqFt

Press

There’s always a daily amount of MLS churn for Press Condos with units coming active and then going STI immediately. A reader speculates about the reason why:

Regarding Press – it’s just real estate / marketing tactic. Press actually has a lot of inventory still left (you will see if you go to their sales center, and actually look at the unit floors at the front that marks which ones are sold and not). What they do is to only ‘offer’ a few units on the market (MLS). This does a couple of things, but mainly:

1. It creates a sense of ‘rarity’ to the buyers. ‘Oh, there are only 3 units left! I must buy now!’.
2. They can target specific, harder to sell units to the buyers, utilizing (1) above to create an urgency to get buyers to buy now, and also buying the not-so-ideal units.
3. Because of (1), and (2), this allows them to continue to price these units at sky-high prices, for a conversion, Press is NOT worth the money they are asking for imho. But people buy them, because of (1) and (2). Ok, the location is great, but still I do not think it’s worth the money.
4. Even though only a select few are ‘on the market’ at one time (and shown on their pricing sheets at sales center), ALL of the units are actually still available for general purchase if you know that they are available.

So finally, what (4) allows the sales and marketing guys to do is, if a ‘hidden’ unit gets sold, they are immediately put on MLS, and then one day after the status is changed from ‘Active’ to ‘Pending’. This once again, creates the illusion that Press is a highly desirable building and tons of people are gobbling it up left, right and center. I.e. it looks good on MLS.