A plugged-in tipster passes along an announcement of a “new financing program” at The Infinity: “90 percent financing for well-qualified buyers on most homes.”
A bit of the fine print “Offered as a second loan over 80% first loan.” In other words, a 10% second (sorry, no details on the terms) with 10% down.
And once again, roughly 75% sold in the first tower (which would suggest less overall).
An A+ For Ingenuity (And Openness): Infinity Closings Update [SocketSite]

18 thoughts on “The Infinity’s “New Financing Program”: 10% Seconds”
  1. EBGuy – Are you sure your not thinking about Infinity Broadcasting Corp. and entirely separate entity? If not, I suppose advertizing condos on a classical music station is news. A friend that visited said they are still talking about $2m for the B-plan units between the 20-30 floors. These units are approx. 1317 sq. ft so that’s $1500+ per sq. ft. Perhaps it’s time to scale back these lofty expectations.

  2. What is a luxury development doing offering financing incentives? Makes me question who they’re targeting and how deep the pool of luxury buyers really is in San Francisco. Buyers of $1M+ condos can’t afford to put 20% down? Haven’t we learned anything?

  3. Michael:
    their selling strategy is to close out the first tower so that they can sell the second tower. it isn’t uncommon for the first units in a building to come at a discount (to compensate the buyers for being early adopters) and also for the last units to be discounted as well (because they are in general the less desired units)
    The problem that Infinity has is that they already built the second tower. Many people considering purchasing right now want the second tower and not the first. So Infinity doesn’t want to sell the first tower at a discount, as that would show prospective Tower 2 residents that Tower 1 was having problems.
    It may be time for Infinity to simply sell as much of the second tower as possible, then once that is done and those units are closed then discount the rest of the units that remain in Tower 1 and Tower 2.

  4. I think the Infinity is a beautiful building. I almost bought there.
    They showed me two units basically:
    A 3.4 M 3 bedroom with nice bay bridge views and a 2.8 M obstructed view 3 bedroom building.
    By the way does anyone have an update on the Milennium? Someone on this blog recently said they are not negotiating but I can’t confirm that.
    I’m thinking of buying a place for my parents and it looks like a really nice project.

  5. Does anybody know what the lowest price 2bedroom are going for? Im thinking about moving to San Francisco but Im currently stuck here in Sedona AZ so I havent have the time to go up there and check it out.

  6. I think you could probably get a 2 bed for around 900, BUT, it would have a seriously compromised layout (think TINY living room, wasted hallway space, not much view to speak of, etc). I think most of the good units are gone.
    I think you’d probably get a better deal at the Met.

  7. I echo the post above from “huh”. Just lower the price already. Otherwise Tower 2 will just stay empty for 2-3 years. This is a nasty recession and we’re just at the beginning. Their lenders won’t let them sit on an empty building for long.

  8. Tishman-Speyer is 3-4 sales away from paying off the entire construction loan. This is based on what an Infinity salesperson told a friend of mine two weeks ago. The sales staff had been under the gun to make about 4 sales per week, so the loan could be paid off quickly.

  9. Spoke to a brand new owner at ORH this morning who had been considering a place [2/2] at the Infinity. He estimates that prices between the two buildings are now effectively the same, given that [again, his words] one can submit offers of even 200K+ less than asking, and have them accepted. This is a significant change from the 30% premium that the Infinity formerly had over ORH. It’s surprizing that the 10% ‘incentive’ is being offered in addition to acceptance of lower offers … but then again, the second tower awaits.

  10. I hate to say it, but I don’t think that’s good news for ORH. The premium between the two buildings might have narrowed but probably still exists based on location and design. Suggests prices are falling at ORH as well.

  11. Not good ORH. You should have waited to buy a unit at Infinity. As Michael said, if pricing is the same between the 2, ORH will soon see a huge decline.

  12. Michael – Point taken that when you have residential towers within three blocks of one another, reductions in one are not positive for the other, and vice versa. However, there are some key differences. According to SS, Infinity Tower I has around 25% yet to close, or about 90 units. Our Developer, on Tuesday evening, said we have “about 100” units yet to close. He also stated that he doesn’t envision construction beginning on Tower II until there are 30 or less units left in the building. He is aware this may take a while in the current credit environment, but he insists he doesn’t want a scenario where one tower essentially “competes with the other”. This is the unfortunate scenario at the Infinity, where there may be some pent up demand for Tower II, but the developer doesn’t want to open up sales for that tower, fearing he’ll have a much tougher time selling the remaining 90 units in Tower I. All the while, he is probably paying a small fortune [two commas] in carrying costs every month on the second building. Accordingly, the pressure to sell out Tower I may be the reason behind incentives like this additional 10% in financing. Without the ticking time bomb of a second tower, ORH has less pressure to move units. That said, there is STILL likely to be price attrition [hard for that not to be the case in the current environment] at ORH but the impact won’t be nearly as severe as a building where sales absolutely NEED to be made rather quickly.
    J – Having recently toured the Infinity, I have so say their gym was awesome and the buildings are well organized. That said, 90%+ of the time one spending in a condo building is in one’s unit, so that, to us, is the most crucial consideration. We looked at various 2/2 configurations, the A [same as E] the B and I believe the F. While the A & E configurations have a nice ‘alcove’ where one can put in a desk/small office outside of the bedrooms, all of the 2/2 had the same glaring weakness – a really small living/dining area. Even in the B & F plans, which are 1317 sq, ft, there is barely enough space for a 3-4 foot bistro type table [even then, it’s half way in the kitchen] if one is to have a decent sized couch in the living room. To my mind, if one is paying north of $1m for a unit, one should be able to fit an adult sized dining table and a reasonably large sofa and chairs into the living/dining area. The circular living room windows are great, but the space within was sorely lacking. So, at “even money”, a unit where we can comfortably fit a 6 person dining table [which expand to 8] and a large sofa and small loveseat in the living/dining area was pretty important to us.
    So, while there are things to like about the Infinity, the confiratons of the 2/2 didn’t make sense to us, even at the same price … and that’s before one even begins talking about the views. However, I can see where others may prioritize other factors, and view it differently.

  13. Doesn’t sound like much of an incentive to me. Sounds like the same old stuff that lenders have been doing for the last 10 years.
    Incidentally I like this type of loan for those people who are moving up on the earnings ladder. 80% mortgage and a 10% equity line avoids PMI and gives a bit of flexible liquidity with the equity line.

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