Solaria

I lasted through the whole four hours of the auction, and you'll find my initial post on the results here: http://malcolmcarter.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/solarias-auctioneers-fail-to-get-it-up-very-high/

I wonder if this is a sign of things to come. I think we will see more developers doing this to move units and this will set pricing for other units.

Today%u2019s Riverdale Press has a piece summarized in my blog (http://malcolmcarter.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/developments-near-the-solaria-seem-unaffected/) on how the Solaria auction affected other Riverdale developments. Here%u2019s a tip: supposedly not at all. But that%u2019s from agents at the other buildings.

Went to the building today - they have started a post auction auction - on line bidding. All of the original 54 units from the November auction are listed with the starting bids the same as before. It seems that EVERY apartment had a bid above the minimum at the auction. Something like 14 contracts were signed by prospective buyers, but only 4 by the developer. The REDC people don't seem to know what is up - apparently not enough pressure by the lenders on the developer - he wants to hold out for higher prices than were reached at the first auction. Bottom line - this very nice building sits with 80% or more of the units empty.