Big South End House Sells Near Land Value

There was every sign from the first days of the listing for 200 Ingleside that it would wind up as a deal.

With a sale now at $3.000M, it did.

The South End corner-lot home is dated enough (1990 build) that you could have called it endangered, as many 25-year-old-plus houses in town seem to be. Demands from today's buyers have changed too much.

Would it sell for land, or would someone take the plunge with a remodel?

Out of the blocks, this oversized, pre-ZORP home (4br/5ba, 4900 sqft.) was listed at $3.699M, perhaps intending a huge house at $750/PSF to seem like a steal.

Yes, that would have been a low PPSF for the Sand Section. But it was still a price in the higher 3's. 

Adding the cost of the remodel, a project that, if properly ambitious, might fix the fundamental layout issues... now that was looking like a ~$4.200M+ project. And you'd still end up with a polished up version of a 1990 house.

The market said: No, no, no.

With a budget like that, you'd just as well push for a new house in the lower $5M range. Or take a custom-built gem like 424 2nd (now $4.695M).

Throughout May and June, there were price cuts, and some chatter: This could become a deal after all.

Builders began sniffing around. Could they get it under $3M?

A nearby, directly comparable corner lot at 500 4th had sold in mid-2016 for $2.761M. A spec house there recently netted a healthy $5.600M in a pre-market sale.

The sellers at 200 Ingleside really didn't want to go under $3M.

They pulled a bogus re-list with a price cut to $3.299M in late June. Then the rally was on.

In the end, the buyer wasn't a builder. It didn't go under $3.000M, it went for exactly that much.

Next comes a big remodel. The 28-year-old house doesn't have to come down, after all.

All-in, they may finish the remodel in the mid-to-high 3's. That would be an extraordinary amount of square footage in a good South End location for the money.

Consider the much smaller nearby neighbors that have all recently sold in the $2.900M range:

Here are all 4 recent area sales, in descending order of PPSF:

552 3rd (3br/3ba, 2095 sqft., $2.900M) - $1,384/PSF

512 3rd (3br/3ba, 2436 sqft., $2.949M) - $1,211/PSF

520 2nd (4br/3ba, 2496 sqft., $2.830M) - $1,134/PSF

200 Ingleside (4br/5ba, 4914 sqft., $3.000M) - $611/PSF

So, sure, they've got some work to do at Ingleside, but they're starting out well, with a purchase PPSF about half of some recent neighbors. They'll do fine.