Crap house, 1/2 a mill


POP-up.JPG
Originally uploaded by In Shaw

According to our friends at redfin, this lovely piece of crap is up for sale for $500,000. As you see, it is a shell.
Here is what the script about it says:

APPROVED PLANS AND PERMITS EXISTS FOR THIS ONE STOREY ADDITION AND CONDO CONVERSION TO 2 BED 2.5 BATH LUXURY CONDOS. .. .STARTED CONDO REGISTRATION, PLUMBING, FOUNDATION AND BLOCKWORK TO 3RD FLOOR, INTERIOR FRAMING AND ROOFING. ONE OF PRIVATE LENDERS DIED, THE ESTATE EXECUTORS PRESSED TO CLOSE HIS ACCOUNTS, BUILDER/OWNER COULD NOT FINISH WORK; WHAT A DISTRESS. I NEED A QUICK SALE, BRING ALL OFFERS PLEASE.

First, I am sorry for your loss.
Second, Luxury…. There is nothing luxury about this, no guarantee that it would have been luxury even if a lender lived, and was just really sick.
And, third, my mind races wondering, ok, your individual, not a bank or financial institution, lender dies, what does that have to do with anything? I could understand if a part owner, part investor died that would be a problem for the other owner/investor and builder. But if my lender/ mortgage bank was to implode, go out of business, etc, then my mortgage would get sold to another lender, as it is an asset.

So let me get this straight. You buy a property at the top of the market for $405K in 2005. You screw around with it to try to turn it into two condos, mess up the windows, and throw a pop up on top, which could be incredibly ugly. The city discovers, hey, this is vacant and in 2008 starts charging you at the vacant rate and now you owe $13K in taxes, some of it looking like back taxes from 2007 too. At some point somebody necessary to this scheme passes on to the great beyond. And so you place this mess on the market, during a downturn.
Best of luck with that.
My deepest condolences to the people who have to live near this.

7 thoughts on “Crap house, 1/2 a mill”

  1. Yep – rigth now it’s a 1/2 million dollar homeless shelter … the street people are sleeping in that one and the one to the left of it. Both are wide open … and I mean OPEN. Luckily, the two houses to the right are vacant also. The one closest to it on the right is for sale and the one next to it is for rent (I believe). There’s no parking on that block in front of the house and the alley is usually blocked by cars and such. Good luck getting that price for a shell … /Rob

  2. Amen, Mari! As usual, your posts are spot on and should be required reading for developers in the area.

    The price they want is simply insane –they’d be lucky to get $300,000 right now– but that all said, have you seen the work they’re doing on that ugly little house on 3rd, the block closest to Dunbar High, that was on sale literally for years? Someone clearly decided to fnally unload that baby and someone else is gutting it. I ride my bike down Third on my way to work downtown and it’s really becoming a cute little street. –molly

  3. Molly, I saw that yesterday when I was walking one of the dogs … I looked up and the entire second floor was gone and the rest (except for the roof and facade) was gone. One of the neighbors said that they were going to do a pop-up on it though ….

    It is turning into a very nice block. I walk through there every day and we all speak and catch-up. One neighbor always has a treat for my dog (and he remembers it everyday too!) /Rob

  4. you guys are being silly.

    watch and see. the owner of that property is going to do the neighborhood good.

    i’m sure you all think they should sell at 200K, but believe me, someone will buy it.

    think long term.

    keep the values of your properties up as high as they can go.

    the owner did say that they’d accept offers. if you ask for 400k you’ll get 300k.

    some smart people with money know the landscape, and they’ll snatch it up within no time.

    keep an eye out mari.

    you might surprise yourself.

    signed,
    someone in the ‘know’.

  5. Maybe in the next seller’s market cycle. But not now. Tis a buyer’s market and if you haven’t noticed, the TC is littered with housing stock languishing on the market.
    If location, location, location is the main thing in RE I fail to see what’s so darned special about that particular block that would make someone want to pour several more hundred or two thousand more dollars into the actual rehab.Let’s say for the fun of it, that there are plans drawn up by an architectural firm that has experience with older townhomes and can place pop-ups on them without making them look like shyte. And let’s say for fun, that the work done so far was top notch and the buyer wants to keep the builder on (I highly doubt) and that builder had already bought the run of the mill lux granite counter tops, stainless steel appls, hardwood, etc and those materials are included in the price. AND continuing this fun flight of fantasy, say the buyer also owns/buys the adjoining vacant house, then maybe it would be worth 400-500K to clean this mess up.

  6. Hee. Not only are your points “spot on” but the arch tone cracked me up.

    ~bcc

  7. that’s a real mess and across the street from TWO billboards…NICE.

    rr446

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