RSS FeedCribs XXVII: It Looks Better The Second Time Around (@CityCenterDC)
Ed. Note (3/3): This comparison is meant for comparing CityCenter condos with condos where parking is not available for sale in the building being compared. A few Penn Quarter condos do not have parking spots available for sale and residents must rent their parking spots on a monthly basis in those buildings as there is no other choice.
We are now starting to see CityCenter condos come back onto the resale market after initial sales by the developer’s sales agent. One such unit caught our eye because it’s indicative of a nice, solid unit at The Residences at CityCenter and it’s an interesting condo fee comparison to other 2 bedroom units in the area.
Unit 904 at 925 H Street NW is a 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom unit at CityCenter facing south and including 2 parking spaces. The condo fee is $1,280 per month and the asking price is $1.215M, 5.9% above its initial sales price of $1.417M. That will cover most of a realtor’s traditional 6% commission for the sale although it will still leave the seller with a small loss at settlement due to the 1.45% transfer fee required by the city government (this also depends on other items negotiated as a part of a sale transaction).
How does this compare to other units? The condo fee seems high but if you factor in that each parking space rents for $250 per month (or more) in a few condo buildings around Penn Quarter, the netted out condo fee is actually $780 per month which compares favorably with many of the other 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom units of this size in the area. Sometimes it does look better the second time around.
925 H St NW – Unit 904 – MLS #DC8558851 [Redfin listing] [MRIS Virtual Tour]
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Why would the parking fee be part of the condo fee? That makes no sense to me. That is in the purchase price. Generally, there is a small associated condo fee. For instance, our condo fee is about $600/month for our condo and an additional $15/month for our parking space. Our condo would be priced about $50k higher than one without a spot though.
@Danielle – A number of the Penn Quarter condos don’t have parking available for sale at all because the garages are separate commercial entities.
One way to proxy the cost of parking is to add the monthly parking rental fee to the condo fee to arrive at a bundled rate for units where it is not possible to buy a space. At CityCenter, one parking space is part of the unit’s sale price and in some cases two spaces are part of the sales price. You’re right, you could try to price parking in or out as part of the unit’s sales cost (the $50k you mentioned), or you can proxy it in or out using the overall monthly parking fee paid to the commercial garage. It’s the latter we use for our post because we were comparing CityCenter with condos that only allow parking rentals and not sales. The story has been corrected to mention this.
Are the condo docs not specific as to what is included in the calculation of the fee? Are there any city center units without parking with which to compare? I’ve never seen units listed in the manner you describe and it seems as if you are accounting for parking twice, once in the sales price and again in the condo fee. I don’t believe this is just semantics, as if we user your adjusted condo fee as the amount, it would be extremely low for the type of building that it is, and I would anticipate an increase of several hundred dollars in the next couple years as owners take control of the board. This happens frequently in new buildings.
So PITI + condo fees, assuming 20% down, is probably nearly $7000/mo. Gross. And it is my understanding these City Center condos are just Pied-à-terres for a substantial number of the owners who have big McMansions in Potomac and other burbs. Some people really do have money to burn.
There will be pitchforks one day. May not happen in my lifetime. But if we continue down this path it will happen one day.
@Danielle – I haven’t seen the CC condo docs but I did visit the sales office and get the sales pitch. no units were offered without parking and I didn’t see that nor ask if parking was separately deeded. sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t so it may or may not be partitioned off in this case.
as another example, when 1 BR units were first offered for sale at CC they came close in price to what 1 BRs go for now (mid $400k) in other buildings. the condo fees were higher at CC than at other buildings but factor in monthly parking costs at other buildings and the monthly non-mortgage cost (let’s call it a monthly fee) was almost at parity. in some non-CC buildings this amounts to $700+ per month. the sales price was almost at parity and the condo fee was almost at parity so for some that is a wash.
part of the point is that there are some Penn Quarter condos where parking will never be available for sale and that you have to factor in that cost when making comparisons.
you are spot on about fees going up. only in one downtown condo have I heard of fees that went down in any given year. with discipline and an active community, it is possible but unlikely!
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Aidan Duffy Millsapps liked this on Facebook.