A bevy of knowledgeable readers knocked the ball out of the nearby park two weeks ago when another reader sought some advice with regard to a scheduled walk-through and closing at Arterra.
And while we don’t know if our reader has yet walked (no, not away), we do know that the sales office has moved onsite (300 Berry #112) and two “Sky building” (tower in layman’s terms) model homes will be “unveiled” this weekend.
∙ Arterra Is About To Be Occupied And A Reader Seeks Some Advice [SocketSite]
∙ Arterra: Less Sex, More Green [SocketSite]
Has anyone seen the model units? Is it woth the trip for the coming weekend? I’ve heard that the finishes leave more to be desired.
I have been toying with the idea of a quick visit to the building but wanted to hear from the “plugged in tipsters” first. As you can see, it’s been a day since this note appeared and I am commenter #2 on the post. So, I am assuming people are either not excited (gee, it’s another condo box in the Mission Bay) or are gone to tour the facilities.
So, fess up folks — somebody must be interested other than me?!?
I went there, and I personally think it’s a great place. This is coming from a person looking for a fair value in a potentially very good location. I think some folks think that since it’s a green building using “recyclable” materials that it’s cheap. It’s not.
However, if you think you rule the world and deserve a high floor unit at ORH (along with the ugly traffic that comes with it) , you probably won’t have the same opinoin. But different strokes for different folks.
The entire building isn’t fully complete as they are still finishing the other buidlings. I believe the sales office will be fully functionable soon (if not now). I think once things are more is set and some of the construction debris is cleared, it’d be worthwhile to check out!
I liked the location, my wife (a chef) liked the kitchen at the old sales office, we took a hard hat tour and got more excited- having bought over a year ago. Yes, we deserve a high floor unit at ORH, but after looking for a few years, Arterra met our needs and we found it affordable.
It has been discussed here before, some people like the way it looks and others don’t (who cares?)- but clearly it is not just “another condo box”; where else can you find three connected buildings that are multicolored, certainly not on Berry street.
BTW: they are offering up to $25,000 in credits. I have no idea if the value has gone down or up in the year since we bought, I assumed it went down, but the appraisal our lender did came in above what we paid.
I think it is worth checking out if you like the area. I’m excited to be one of the first to move in!!!
That is certainly interesting about the appraisal. I am also waiting to move in and have been wondering how these appraisals will be pulled off. What are they using for comps? I saw that a few 1br condos in the area came on the market yesterday near 700 psf.
noname, I have no idea how they did the appraisal; there really are no comps. And I never really put much faith in them anyway. It depends much more than $psf. I only mentioned the fact it appraised for more than we paid because it surprised me so much, and goes against the grain of everything I’ve read; but I guess it makes our lender happy, even though we put more than 20% down.
Are you saying you can get a 1BR on Berry St. for mid 400s?
Does anyone know what percentage of the building is sold? How many people backed out? I’m guessing nobody really knows because you can technically back out at the last second.
Anyhow, I am going through with it and will be moving in soon, as well. I think Arterra will be the value sleeper in the area. It fits my needs the same as other places around the area (at probably a slightly better price).
For those who are skeptical, I encourage you to check it out. That’s probalby the only way to form a better judgement for yourself…unless you’re one of those chaps that already have unchangable preconceived notions.
I’ll let you all know after it’s all said and done. Until then!
Lenin, I did not see anything on Berry but the units I was referring to are larger 1br’s in the Beacon going for 549 and 629. Although I would agree that the Arterra’s higher psf is justified here.
ppp,
This site says 60% (and a rate of 2 a week):
http://www.sfnewdevelopments.com/3606/arterra-hard-hat-tours/
This article from back in May says 65:
http://www.sustainableindustries.com/greenbuilding/18671534.html
I think you are right, noone really knows.
I have no idea if the value has gone down or up in the year since we bought, I assumed it went down, but the appraisal our lender did came in above what we paid.
Posted by: Leningrad at July 25, 2008 1:46 PM
Leningrad,
I’ll resist the temptation to call you comrade 🙂
On a serious note, you appear to have bought your unit at a ‘pre-construction’ price. The rule of thumb is that these prices are typically 15% below the actual ‘market value’. Builders provide discounts to get some up front cash [your deposit] and you do it to get a better price, which may compensate for you having to wait for your condo to be built. However, in reality this pricing can be somewhat of a crapshoot, as the estimate of market value at the time of pre-construction pricing may not match the reality two years down the road when construction is complete. In a bull market, one can really benefit, in a bear market it could go against you.
However, if is feasible that your appraisal is correct. Say the pre-construction price was correctly estimated at a 15% discount to the actual market value today. However, say prices have gone down 5% since you put down a deposit on your unit. Today, although market values have gone down, you may still be ahead of the game in terms of your individual unit, up by 10% in the example I have given.
On a seperate note, I believe pre-construction pricing that we were able to avail of for our unit [at ORH] similarly put us ahead of the game, despite more difficult overall R.E. market. conditions.
Sadly, although I deserve a high floor unit at ORH, we were only able to afford a lower floor condo 🙂
I’m glad this post is finally getting some comments. I have also bought a unit but won’t be one fo the first to move in.
Leningrad or anyone else who have had their walk-through, can you share any experiences?
Recent ORH buyer, thanks for the explanation it makes a lot of sense. It also makes a lot of sense to buy what you can afford, even if it is a lower floor condo. {perhaps you haven’t read the newspapers lately 😉 } So maybe we’re “ahead of the game” or not, the game doesn’t end till the fat lady bats in the 9th inning i.e. it is time to sell in 5, 10 or whatever years. I am sure ORH, Arterra, Beacon, and everyone else will do fine. (pleas no comments from the bears waiting for $99,000 condos-you’ll still be called renters [not that there is anything wrong with renting or renters].
Recent ORH buyer you may of course call me “comrade” you won’t be the first; but since Leningrad (Russia) changed its name to St. Petersburg, and my primary residence is in St. Petersburg (Florida) I thought here we should change our name to….hence my screen name. I am not a Leninist, but then I do like Engels-he was the one with the money and supported Marx-and having money does enable one to buy a second home.
Back to topic: our walkthrough was a hard hat tour, not the official “walk through”. Everything looked as I expected, great view from the roof and the elevators were really FAST.
We also looked at the Beacon noname, which we liked, and it very well may have been lower psf and a larger condo, but the cost of the unit was more than we wanted to spend. A good location, at a price you can afford, enough square feet, and a depressed market: what a great time to buy a house!
Arterra resale? Can anyone provide some insight on this resale at Arterra and pricing?
http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/300-Berry-St-94158/home/12402234?utm_source=myredfin&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=listings_update&utm_nooverride=1
the list pricing is around $800/sf for a 9th floor unit. the higher the floor, the higher the price. same goes for the lower floors.
Leningrad,
No offense intended by the commrade comment, and I didn’t intend it to refer to anything personal about your political affiliations. Clever name though – I like the ‘inverse’ play on St. Petersburg.
I do agree with you that unless you are a flipper [I am not, and you don’t sound like one either] that the true test is 5 to 10 years down the road. However, it’s still not an awful feeling to be ‘slightly ahead’ coming out of the gate … something that may be useful given the current housing climate. It’s nice to have a little ‘buffer’ to guard against any potential further short term declines … which may not matter over the long haul [5-10 years] but do make one feel a little better among the wave of naysayers/renters, particularly here on Socketsite.
I’ve had my spats with the ‘$99,000’ condo predictors [a.k.a. people likely to be frustrated when the market does turn higher … and they are still renting] and others on SS who make multi-year bear predictions. Again, if they could predict the housing market [or any market, for that matter] that accurately, they wouldn’t be renting. I don’t take them to seriously, except when highlighting the some of their absurdly inaccurate predictions, and letting them hear about it 🙂
In terms of the Beacon comment, although the Beacon had a couple of phases, I believe that the bulk of it was built as apartment rentals. These were thereafter converted into condos for sale. However, typically apartment conversions don’t have finishes the match the quality of units built as condos for sale. So, although the Beacon has a great location for Mission Bay, the ‘apartment’ factor may explain the lower per sq. ft pricing.
Looks like Intracorp (Arterra’s Developer) lost control of a project in Long Beach. Units headed to auction @ significant discount. Article mentions 1/3 of original sales price, but this is just an opening bid. From my own experience, most of these things end up at about 125% of the opening bid or a 20% discount to the previously posted sales price. Results seem to be stronger in the urban areas.
http://www.globest.com/news/1209_1209/losangeles/172672-1.html
Looks like they should have never built the second tower there!
Also sounds like the place was plagued by location and its relatively high prices.
For those moving in soon, are you for 100% you can move in on time? (ie: no snags in loan process, title company and communications between all parties in line, no new B.S. from seller?)
Do all of these buildings make you put a deposit to move?
ppp, we are pretty certain we can move in on time although we do have a few days leeway. As for “no sags” aaaaaaaaaah, this has been the most difficult purchase and move for us (fifth property). I don’t know how UPS stays in business, they don’t have 2 people who can give the same answer to the same question. A very frustrating day. Loan process has been very convoluted, communication between all parties awful, people have been nice though. Arterra has been very good, no BS, (they did make some mutually agreeable changes in our contract) more importantly they have been very accommodating since we are out of state buyers. Walkthrough (by our trusted RE agent) found very few little flaws, I’m sure they will be fixed.
Unless you are moving in with 4 suitcases, there is a deposit. Since You are moving in, then it is Your building and Your HOA that would be responsible for the damage, hence the deposit.
Leningrad,
Have you closed already? Did you use all of thier preferred companies (lenders, movers) I think the “closing” process in general is supposed to purposely stress people out.
I think in these condo projects, there’s a conspircacy where if you don’t use all their (highly priced) preferred companies (lenders, movers, etc.), they’ll try to end up making you pay someway, somehow in penalties. So the money you are thinking you are saving by going outside, you will end up giving up anyway.
I’m saying this because there’s no way that I can close by their “estimated closing date” (which seems now to somehow have turned into their “closing date”). I just did my walkthrough not long ago, and to turn that into a full close with loan docs, title process seems impossible.
we should close friday (it could all fall apart, who knows). THIS process has been stressful, but 9 previous ones: not. We don’t need a mover, and didn’t use their preferreds (lender & decorator).
I’m not a conspiracy theorist (but then again I can’t name the three assassins of Kennedy either) so I just think at this particular time getting a loan approved is very difficult even if you are a “plus prime” borrower with over 20% down.
All of the dumb, stupid lenders that lent money anyone who SAID they had a job and could afford a mtg. (interest only? fixed?) with 0% down have learned their lesson. But they are still dumb & stupid and making the process much more impossible.
Rest assured, ppp, nothing is impossible, just a little more difficult. We will both close and have a good laugh about all this while drinking wine and enjoying the sun go down from the roof garden!
Contact CalTrain about the idling diesel engines. You won’t be able to sleep if you open a window with the din from the 280 or the racket of garbage trucks at 4:00 AM on Berry St. Also the air quality is the worst in SF…really…it may be a green building, but the diesel fumes from the 8 diesels that idle all night long will have you over-come with the toxic spew…oh…and the apartment sizes are really small; you get what you pay for…
Just did my walk through today. Not as stressful as I was expecting after reading all these posts.
I created a checklist by room, brought my flashlight and walk with the building rep. Nice guy. We spent more than an hour there and no one rushed me. There are some caulking and repainting and some minor repairs issue. I felt like he helped me a lot. We worked as a team testing the doors and shining the flashlight around the seams, etc. Overall, I thought the finishing is pretty nice. I was told there should a final walk through before the close.
As you can guess from the name, i’m eager to get a place of my own but i am going to be a first home/apartment buyer. I’m actually very worried that i might get ripped off by just walking in and going through all these processes. Do i need to get a lawyer to go through the paper work? What are the extra cost that i should know about or look out for? etc etc
I live one building off arterra and i can tell you, i can hardly see anyone living in there. That is just by looking in, night and day, since they all have glass windows. Maybe alot have been sold but not occupied, but yea that i can’t tell.
Decided to purchase at the Arterra after quite a
comprehensive search(40 buildings).The primary or deciding factor to acquire here was location,but also the spectular views of the city/bay.The noise from the Caltrain is “whitenoise”,which actually helps you sleep.My first night I said to myself “God,what a mistake,this noise” and within no time,I was out and it’s never been a consideration since.Berry street is like a park
and reminds one of New York’s Battery Park. The Arterra staff is professional and friendly.