Last-Minute Lot Shopping

If you're late finding the perfect gift, you might want to check out 3009 Poinsettia (click for details via Redfin).

It's a teardown on a great Tree Section lot on a block that MBC admired this past Summer (see "The Street Where Listings Don't Last") – a cute little oasis between Valley and 31st. The sellers request $1.399m for the lot.

3009 is the neighbor of three homes that sold this year for $2.5m or so (3005: $2.525m, 3001: $2.49m and 2805: $2.549m). It's one door off the corner with 31st.

The timing of the listing is bizarre – who starts Dec. 21?

And the one photo is so dreadful you'd almost think this block is much less cool than it is. (Well, the charms of deciduous trees are less apparent in Winter.)

But put those things aside and work out a price ASAP if you're ready to jump and build for yourself.

We're sure builders have passed already for any number of reasons – the glut, the difficulty of projecting out this market 18-24 months from now and the high lot price.

The owners – they'll do fine. The last recorded sale was for $19k, 42 years ago. Adjusting for inflation, that'd be $119k in today's dollars. So even if they don't get their full 1200%, someone's taking home a nice bag of cash in the New Year.