Puzzling Palm Among Pending

It's an unusual house, to say the least. But virtually anything offered for sale these days in MB seems to find a buyer fairly quickly.

And so it was with 2516 Palm (3br/2ba, 2250 sq. ft.), which we called "Puzzling Palm" in our "Weekend Opens" post a week ago.

We also called it "a mixed-up curiosity of a house" for which the layout "raises multiple questions."

And the location is not a dream, either. It's at the end of a short cul-de-sac (dead-end street?) hemmed in by busy Marine. Ardmore is just on the other side of the fence, and noise is evident from traffic whooshing by.

But both price ($1.189m) and an unusually large lot size (7350 sq. ft.) made Puzzling Palm attractive. It lasted a week. (Officially they are still looking for "backup offers.")

Among the other eye-opening recent deals to post:

The bridge to 1808 Pine

1808 Pine (3br/3ba, 1725 sq. ft.) ran about 5 months last year and quit, but lasted 2 weeks this year at $965k.

While the home has a decent location, it needs a lot of help inside and out, and the layout seems less than ideal. The listing was "as-is," no repairs – more what you'd expect of a lot sale. Last year this one was being viewed by many as a dirt trade, but let's see what the current buyers do.

420 1st (2br/2ba, 800 sq. ft.) is a little cottage (2 buildings) next to a school parking lot with a fairly long history on the market over the last few years.

The current owners paid $1.075m in June 2007, and tried for much of 2009 and 2010 to unload it at a small markup.

This year 420 1st quietly resurfaced at $925k and then cut to $899k, or 16% off that peak-year purchase. The listing ran 7 weeks.

704 Pacific

704 Pacific (5br/7ba, 4975 sq. ft., 8960 sq. ft. lot) may have slipped off most radar screens as the listing stretched out beyond 9 months on market. We did mention it here just a couple of weeks ago in a discussion of the lot sale at 636 8th, noting that some folks have described 704 Pacific – fairly or unfairly – as a lot sale, too. (See "Big Views, Nearly $5m for Dirt.")

There is a big, charming-in-its-way, custom Colonial/Cape Cod home at Pacific, offering good views from some living spaces, and absolutely world-beating views from the separate office/guest room built up in the back of the lot.

It's imperfect, but does not have to be scraped. (The very notion that it would be remains a little shocking.) 704 Pacific has now found a buyer, last at $4.495m. 

121 32nd (4br/3ba, 2200 sq. ft.) has actually never hit the MBC radar, despite 530+ DOM dating back to September 2010. That doesn't mean we never noticed the little duplex on the market over this time, just that we didn't see that there was much to say. Until now, since they've just posted a deal.

The price never changed over the (long) life of the listing from $2.795m. Was the seller really a seller? A long stretch with no price moves suggested, "no," but maybe they were just waiting for the market to come to them.

Side note: As you'll see in the Redfin listing (click the address), the main body of the property description warns against "walking" the property without the agent/owner, because: "tenants unaware of sale!" Now and then you see listings like that, and you have to wonder: Are the tenants really unaware? Do you block internet service inside the property? Do you only rent to the certifiably clueless?

The early season here continues to provide notable market action, even with unusual or challenged properties. Is this how 2012 is going to keep going?