Soho Apartments settlement Wellington

[Backspace]

Is there anyone out there who like my who has purchased a Soho apartment.

[spurner]

Well there's 23 of them for sale on TradeMe at the moment. Does that mean settlement is imminent?

[Bob Kane]

Buying apartments off-the-plan usually results in losing money these days.
The sad story of Auckland apartments has now spread to Wellington.

Be careful if you see an advert saying "Buy an investment apartment for $1000 down and on-sell it for a profit".

[AMR]

How much was a Soho apartment and what were the sizes?

[Niall]

How much was a Soho apartment and what were the sizes?

Google is a great think AMR:

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=soho+apartments+wellington

All the best,

Niall

[Bob Kane]

So about $350k for a two bedroom 50m2 apartment?
Let's see what they sell for now.

I recall another apartment advert that went "Buy one, get one free".

[Niall]

I recall another apartment advert that went "Buy one, get one free".

That was two apartments on one title. You buy a 40-60sqm unit title with two instead of one apartment on it.

Very hard to get finance for this kind of purchase. Easier investments out there now.

All the best,

Niall

[Tkr]

the soho apartments

We purchased a soho apartment neary 3 yrs ago. And are starting to wish we hadn't.

[Bob Kane]

Why is that, Tkr?

[Oxygen Property]

A positive thought

Finding it interesting reading the comments as I recently set up a blog for the Soho Apartments at sohowellington.co.nz

From my visits to the site (to prepare rental appraisals) Holmes construction have done an outstanding job and I believe the project is on schedule for completion in May.

The bedrooms in the smaller units are small, however the living spaces have been designed to maximise these areas.

The market has changed over the past few years and the expected capital gain has not eventuated for purchasers in this project.

250+ apartments coming on to the rental market will likely create downward pressure on rents. This will depend on landlords approach to setting rents and how desperate some of them are to generate revenue.

Some agents are extremely negative about this project and a few are excited about the potential of onselling some of these units.

This is a high quality development and we expect a high level of interest from prospective tenants.

Watch this space and the blog for more information

[tricky]

Well done, Oxygen, at being the first ambulance to the car crash.
You'll do well as the investor owners will be highly motivated to minimise their losses.

[Tkr]

soho apartments

Our reason for wishing we haden't is more because of our own personal situtation than the apartments themselves. We purchased an apartment that is 1 bedroom 1 bathroom and is 36sqm. We are now finding it had to get finance because of the size and it is proving to be a bit of a headache. We have no other security but were told before signing up that we would get 90% finance easy. This is not the case at all. Most banks will only lend 50% on this size apartment. So with settlement looming and no finance we are quietly stressing that this will all go pear shaped and we may lose alot of money in the process.

[donna]

Wow that's small - and I thought our 1 bed - 48 sqm (52 sqm including the balcony) was as small as they come.

Cheers,

Donna

[Tkr]

No unfortunatly they do come smaller. We didnt think it would be a problem though as some people pefer to live in boxes. We also never thought it would affect fiancing. Lesson learnt.

Wow that's small - and I thought our 1 bed - 48 sqm (52 sqm including the balcony) was as small as they come.

Cheers,

Donna

[Bob Kane]

We have no other security but were told before signing up that we would get 90% finance easy. This is not the case at all.

Sadly, this is quite common with these types of developments.
Conrad Properties have a very slick sales team.
A lot of off-the-plan investors in their apartments in Auckland have suffered greatly.
They have now moved to Wellington and we can see the same patterns emerging.
I believe they are now promoting new apartments near the Railway Station with the same $1000 down strategy.
Unfortunately, I don't have a miracle for you.
I did hear that a number of $1000 down investors in Auckland simply walked away and failed to settle.
Perhaps a legal person on PT could run through the options available to you and the consequences.
Captaincrab on PT might be able to offer some insight on the options and consequences as well.