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Opening Arguments

Square off

Harrison Square developers are having trouble selling their condominiums, so they're rolling out a new marketing plan. Indiana's NewsCenter went out looking for the kind of condos Fort Wayne folks do buy and, surprise, surprise, discovered a fondness for peace and quiet, woods, tennis courts and swimming pools. Then there is Harrison Square:

The price range on the Harrison Square condos is much higher, in the 175 to 350-thousand dollar amounts.

But they are being targeted to a higher income group, folks who love baseball and being close to the Embassy Theater and other downtown attractions.

So, rich folks who love baseball and being near the Embassy. A limited pool, I would think.

Comments

Harl Delos
Thu, 08/28/2008 - 9:31am

Three Rivers Apartments has always had a demographic of rich folk. Rich tends to skew old, and old tends to be people who prefer to be close to downtown amenities such as the Embassy.

When did I & ME build Three Rivers Apartments? Aren't they getting to be about 50 years old? They didn't fill up immediately when they were built, but it wasn't too long before they were full up.

Given the current situation with housing, I sure wouldn't want to be trying to sell new construction, when so many "motivated" sellers are trying to sell their houses at firesale prices.

Business schools talk about "make or buy" decisions for businesses, but it works for personal finance, too. As surely as people keep making babies and houses keep burning down, the current bear market is bound to end, so if you can get a mortgage and can swing the payments, now would be a great time to buy some of these below-cost bargains.

The folks at Harrison are trying to recover their costs, instead of trying to be competitive with other properties. They either need to scream and run around in circles, slashing prices to make the sale, or they need to batten down the hatches in order to ride out this economic downturn.

I wouldn't want to be the banker that holds the mortgage on those properties. If you owe the bank $5,000 and you can't pay it back, you don't sleep well. If you owe the bank $500,000,000 and you can't pay it back, it's the banker that doesn't sleep well.

tim zank
Thu, 08/28/2008 - 11:16am

Leo, that's not a limited pool, it's an EMPTY pool.

Bob G.
Thu, 08/28/2008 - 11:26am

Yeah, Tim...an empty pool that STILL has that DIVING BOARD at the "deep" end...!

;)

B.G.

Steve T.
Thu, 08/28/2008 - 3:39pm

Some folks rent on less than ideal terms, but few buy properties that won't guarantee things like sufficient reserved parking for all the residences.

Last time I watched a televised council meeting on the situation, developers were still unwilling to guarantee sufficient parking for every homeowner. Nobody wants to drive through his or her own lot searching for a space only to discover they'll have to find parking on the street and walk to their own homes. And that's just one example of the developers' failure to account for the requirements of Fort Wayne homes as opposed to rental property.

tim zank
Thu, 08/28/2008 - 10:18pm

I don't have a dog in this fight, but my guess is there are a multitude of negatives involved with resding in down town Ft Wayne. If I'm gonna drop 300k (or even 150k) I'd like to access to a few staples....I.E. garage, groceries, a place to walk a dog, access to shopping, etc etc.....

If you have $300k to plop down, or to mortgage, you probably ain't lookin' at downtown anywhere. It's simply a bad idea all around, in my opinion.

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