I made reference to this in another thread a month ago. For the second time in 8 months, I received a completely unsolicited offer for my condo. The first one (see a few posts back) was for a condo I bought on 21. I liked it so much I was thinking about moving in to it. (Kind of bought it as an investment, expecting to sit on it for a few years) A guy saw my weather photo on the news, saw my name on the bottom, looked me up on Facebook and the next day, on Tuesday, gave me a contract for a cash purchase on Friday. Sha bam. Was blindsided. But made a big profit after owning for 6 months. 6 months of enjoying the place.
Now it happened again. Except this time the person wanted the condo I was (am for another week) living in. My home on 34 here at the Tower. She is a big time executive for a big company in Dallas we all know. (Senior VP) She liked the same things I did, primarily the view, the 12' foot ceilings and the few large condos on the floor. (5)
I just got a letter in the mail. Like all of us, you have that brief moment of "should I open this or throw it out." I opened it and it was this person saying she is looking for a condo in downtown Fort Worth up really high with few bedrooms and baths. I have the highest 2 bedroom condo in the Tower. I did not want to sell this place but being the capitalist that I am, realized everything is for sale. So I sent her an e-mail with a price that was too high for her. I was thinking, I did not want to sell, but what is the lowest price I would sell for. I gave her the "too high of price" and she said she wanted to come look at it. I was surprised. She fell in love instantly. Like I did in January 2006. The next day she offered me 5k less than I told her I would sell it for. I told her no. Need exactly what I said. She said, "You got it."
So in a pretty bad market, I just sold my second condo at a great profit. (at least a very good profit) She takes my home on June 1. I had to find a new home.
I love the Tower but figured things had changed since I looked last, and with an open mind started a search for a home for my wife and I. We knew we loved downtown but considered moving out as far as Montgomery Plaza. I had never been in the condos. I was very impressed. I was only interested in a condo up high with a view of downtown. (only a few of those left) in the 700k range. (they had some much nicer ones over a million) I will talk more about those condos in the Montgomery Plaza thread.
They now have some cheaper Le Bijou condos in the price range we are selling our condo for. 3200 square feet or so. Palaces to us. Very nice. Quality. But not us. We don't need that much space. And we are too spoiled to living up in the sky. My wife even has security apprehensions to living at ground level. (We watch too many "Who dunits")
The last place we considered was the toughest competition. The Omni. No secret, I love the Omni. So does my wife. We had not been in the condos for a year so we set up an appointment. They have some 2 bedroom 2 bath units at a price we are comfortable with. The best finish out. To me, the best view. Like 12% have been sold. Still. A little troubling but I like the thought of it not being crowded. I like quiet.
Of course we looked at other units in the Tower. We did not see what we were looking for. (High and nice. But not TOOO nice.)
We were at a stalemate. Then I decided to do what the woman buying my condo did. I sent letters to my 7 favorite units.
"Dear Sir, would you be interested in selling your condo. We want a condo like yours." I got back 4 "I will never sell, thanks", one "yes I would sell for a fair price", but was on 23 and turns out too low to clearly see over Tandy Centers, one I would sell for WAY too much money. (I thought he was kidding at first, but we talked on the phone and he would not sell for even 10k less). We were back to the Omni. Then 2 weeks later I got a call at work. "I am Ms. XXXX. I am the personal assistant for YYYY. He would like to sell his unit as he is never there. This guy has been the president and CEO of a "Fortune 500" company for many years. (You should be able to guess now, but I think I will not say his name.) His assistant let us in the next evening and we fell in love with it. It is an F unit on 28. (BTW, for those of you that guess who this guy is, I would rather us keep it a secret.) Any way, it was pretty expensive as it was perfect. But worth it to us. We closed on it yesterday at 3pm. We will move into it in the next few weeks. Have to be out of my current place by June 1. It is around 1600 square feet. (we have 1100 now.) So it gives us some room. Also, we love the row of windows in the living room and bedrooms. Our current unit has 2 balcony's which hide a bit of the view and take away a bit of the sense of height. (5 years ago my wife did not like high, so she took that as a bonus.)
So we are moving from 34 to 28. (A bit sad there.) but a bigger unit with a better floor plan. Of course the dues are higher by a couple hundred bucks a month. And taxes, of course. But we love it. We could have got unit the same size in the Omni for the same price. It really came down to loving being in Sundance Square. We think we would miss it too much. Plus, the people in the Omni are mostly rich. (we have some rich people at The Tower, but we also have Nurses living in a tiny condo just barely making their payments.) The Omni is grand. But they have valet parking. I am not that kind of guy. And would not really want my dues to go for such things. I saw myself as not fitting in. No use going in to something knowing you are odd guy out. Frankly, the next time we move will likely be to the Omni. Would have this time had Mr. X not agreed to sell his unit. We do love living at The Tower. (Dah, this is our 4th condo here.) We love the location, the views, the amenities, and even the history. We also have a lot of great Friends here. Of the 50 great people we have ever known, 46 live in The Tower. I think we will be very happy in our new home. Good friend and Forum member David Love is my new neighbor on 28!
Went down this morning for a few photos before Dawn. (my first photos of the place as the asked us not to take photos when we looked at the place 2 weeks ago.)
Shot from the balcony with my 400mm.
We are going to remove that wall to the right. (Convert the place to a one bedroom unit) It will make the wrap around view really great. I am thinking we will wind up with the most expensive 1 bedroom home in the County. (Will likely cost 20k and make our home worth 20k less)
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