CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It is one of the most anticipated new skyscrapers in the uptown real estate market.
When it opens to tenants, The Vue will be the largest residential high-rise in the Southeast. The high-dollar units start at nearly $300,000.
So why then, if you search on Craigslist.com, will you find so many buyers who already want out?
NewsChannel 36 found 18 posters on the popular classified website looking for people who would be willing to buy out their contracts. Most of the ads say they were signed in the "boom" years -- 2005, 2006, 2007 -- before construction on the project even began. (Those contracts required significant down payments.)
"Due to unforeseen circumstances," one Craigslist ad explained.
"You will take over my contract," another wrote.
David Brundage of California put $25,000 down for a fourth-floor studio in 2006. He planned to rent it out as an investment.
"It's not that I don't want to close," he told NewsChannel 36. "I literally can't."
He says his business tanked when the economy stumbled, and his credit is no longer strong enough to qualify for a loan.
"I don't want to walk away from this investment. I would love nothing more to be able to close on it. It's an awesome building. It's a great unit. It's in a really good location," he said.
As is standard with new construction condominiums, the contract buyers signed required a substantial deposit that is not linked to funding.
"There's no contingency in the contact that says if lending freezes, then you get your deposit back," Brundage said.
He believes he'll lose $25,000 unless he finds a new buyer.
The Vue's developer, Dan McLean of MCL Properties, said Tuesday that the company is working with tenants to do that.
"We are working with all buyers on an individual basis," McLean said. "MCL believes the prices online are today's prices, and we're starting to see the market turn for the better."
However, McLean has been clear that The Vue will not adjust prices further downward for early investors.
Brundage and others have gathered together on a Facebook page, and one buyer recently started a blog to discuss concerns. Even buyers who aren't in financial distress are worried that their investments are not worth what they thought they were when they put down deposits years ago.
"Are you going to follow through with your purchase?" the blogger writes. "Much has changed since we placed our down payments in mid-2000. I am a purchaser who is facing the same dilemma you are: are the units worth what we paid back then? Given the change in the economy, let’s be realistic: there is no possible way."
