Now Motivated

The seller of 521 MBB, a little duplex by the corner with Ardmore, "is now motivated," according to the fresh listing. (Click address for more details via Redfin.)

Here's a home that has been on and off the market since MBC started up 18 months ago. (We don't cover multi-family listings anymore, but back then we did.)

In March 2007, MBC noted in "I waited 6 months, now give me $300k" that the seller was, well, asking for a bump of $300k just 6 months after acquiring 521 MBB (Aug. 2006) for $1.475m, starting the listing out at $1.875m. (If you're suspicious of the math, we were taking out $100k for costs of sale; the listing was, in fact, $400k over the purchase price.)

Not a bad return for a little remodel-and-flip.

Yet it wasn't long before that plan proved unworkable. By April, $305k came off the listing and it was at $1.570m, as MBC noted in "Never Mind, I Don't Need $300k." Selling at that price would have left the flipper flat or maybe short the costs of rehabbing the property.

We stopped tracking 521 MBB after that, but we're pretty sure it was on and off the market over the past year.

Now it starts at $1.625m, the seller is "motivated," and they'll be looking "at all reasonable offers." Hint to anyone bidding: They'll take $1.570m and call it lucky.