Parkside Alexandria Condos Auction, 30 are 47% Off!

Update, Mon Oct 29 07: After reading about this auction, go over to the Parkside of Alexandria Auction RESULTS show (with videos).

Just on the heals of my article New Construction Bargains: Risks or Rewards? on whether the "deals" at new condo constructions like Phoenix in Arlington, were good ones, I get a spam about Parkside Alexandria having an Auction on Oct 28th 2007.

Their advertisement is based on a "Minimum Selling Price"* of $225,000.

These units went for as high as $425,000 in the heyday!

If they sell for that price, that is about 47% off! So NOW is it a good deal?

Again, I'm not saying to avoid new constructions since they might offer a deep discount versus a similar resale unit, but you have to look at their inventory levels and the risks of them unloading units like the condo townhouses of Parkside at Alexandria.

Remember that it can ALWAYS go lower! No matter how much of a deal you think you are getting, it can always go lower. So when do you buy? Perhaps only when you are ready for the long term hold and can ride out any waves, or like I say in my Attn. Market Timers! The EXACT Best Day to Buy!, the day that you stop caring about buying at the very bottom.

So what about this 47% off sale? Is that a good deal? Is THAT the bottom? I don't know, but, like a broken record... it can ALWAYS go lower. You would think that at that level of slashing, it can't go down any more, but you never know. Nobody would have thought that they would have pulled back from $425k to $325k. That would be unheard of! Now at $225k... ???

Is your risk LOWER than somebody that bought at $300k or $400k, sure, but there is still risk. Risk has to be evaluated and measured versus the potential reward and return. Will buyers at $225,000 make a killing? Very possibly. Is it a "no brainer" for a Virginia real estate investors to jump in? I don't know. Not for me, but then again, I'm too conservative and conservative people miss all the great opportunities.

* Minimum Selling Price MSP is a "reserve auction."

Sometimes reserve auctions are fake since the reserve isn't published and is sometimes right up near list price. They can be designed to entice potentially interested buyers to bite. For example if three people put in low balls below the reserve, the homeowner will just counter like a regular contract.

At the Parkside at Alexandria the MSP is published and is significantly under list price, with the hopes of attracting enough buyers to hopefully have people bid up from $225,000 to as close as full list price as possible. But then again, they might all go at $225k (for the 2 level townhouse). I'll try to go to this event and report on it. I bet the attendance will be pretty good. Here is more info: ParksideAlexandria.com Here is the ad

Which project will be next???

What will other builders have to do to avoid the INCREASE in buyer fears that this will create? Will they agree to put $50,000 in escrow for a year to insure that the builder won't drop auction off the rest of the inventory? If they don't offer some insurance, buyers might just wait and wait and wait and these auctions might become more frequent because of it.

Written by Frank Borges LL0SA- Broker/Owner FranklyRealty.com

Here are other new construction communities: Parkside of Alexandria, Eclipse, Parkside of Courthouse. Condominiums at Carlyle Square, Bryon, Palatine, Phoenix, Turnberry Tower, Odyssey, Hawthorn, 1800 Wilson, Westlee, Vantage Merrifield Town Center, Bromptons, Brittany, Bearings in Old Town, Renaissance 2230, Park at Courthouse, Butterfield, Mercer. McWilliams Ballard