This is the case with a house outside of Boston that was literally on fire just a month ago. The burnt down three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath home in Melrose, Mass., Was listed last week for $ 399,000 and is already under contract, according to its listing on Zillow.
“The house needs a complete renovation or a possible dismantling and reconstruction”, indicates the real estate list of the Marrocco group with Coldwell Banker Realty. “Great potential to build a new and adorable home in the desirable area of Melrose, a town where property values continue to rise.”
Agents of the Marrocco group were not immediately available for comment on the announcement.
Indeed, the ad was priced well below the home’s estimated value earlier this summer – before it caught fire. In June, the house was valued at $ 640,700, according to a house price estimate on Zillow.
And the price is lower than what a typical Massachusetts home is looking for right now. The median price of a single-family home in Massachusetts was $ 552,000 in August, up 12% from a year ago, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.
The catch is, it’s not habitable now.
During the fire in late August, firefighters had to tear down the walls and ceilings of the house to stop the blaze, according to the Boston Globe.
The House’s Quick Time on the Market is an actual version of the Onion’s satirical headline from early August: “Desperate California Buyers Locked in Bidding War over Charred Remains of Ranch House.” .
Low inventories and high demand have caused prices to skyrocket this year and have desperate buyers competing for even the most unwanted homes.
This summer, an agent put up for sale a five-bedroom house in Colorado Springs for $ 590,000 that she called “hell’s little slice.” The house had been ransacked by a former tenant with almost all surfaces spray painted. Rotten food and dead animals left the house smelling that she said you could “smell.” It sold for $ 580,000 in July, according to Redfin’s public records.
