Buy me, please!

Two years ago, homeowners up the street and around a couple of corners from me sold the large empty lot next to their house. I’m sure they sold it for a tidy sum. The lot was loaded with fully grown trees and was park-like in its beautiful treed maturity.

The first thing the new owner did was chop down every last tree on the lot. Naturally! Those of us passing by correctly assessed that a builder/developer had purchased the lot and was about to erect a house (and plant some brand new itty bitty trees). Well, we were half correct. The builder/developer built two houses. This occurred just as the mortgage and housing bust began rearing its ugly head.

The two houses took nearly a year to complete. By that time, there were For Sale signs popping up all over town. This would be called a buyer’s market, if the buyers could get a mortgage. I don’t know what the houses were priced at, but they didn’t sell. And didn’t sell. And didn’t sell. Finally, one was ‘snapped up’ this summer.

Today, a year later, there is still a For Sale sign out in front of the other house with an additional affixed sign that says “Price Reduced.” It’s now going for a hot $599,000. I’ll bet the builder/developer rues the day he made the decision to buy the lot and erect two big and expensive houses. I wonder how much he will lose in this deal. I’m guessing he’s already lost a bundle.

The vacant house requires care, especially if it supposed to be a higher end house. The property has to be maintained, although I’d say that the groundskeeping is borderline. The house is lit up like a Christmas tree at night, with the blinds drawn. I don’t imagine the lights are fooling anyone. It’s obviously very vacant. I’m sure that the house has been cooled throughout the summer and will have to be heated and lit all winter. Plus snow removal and whatnot. All that has to cost. I assume the developer is also responsible for paying the taxes on the property until it sells as well. Not an inexpensive proposition.

I found the multiple listing for the vacant house and it gave me a good laugh. The listing says the house isn’t waterfront, but it is beachfront. (How do you have one without the other?) If that’s beachfront, I surely must live on an island in the ocean. The only thing beachfront about it is probably the lawn struggling to grow in sand. Oh well. Maybe it’s a typo.

The inside of the house has all the requisite niceties. The realtor’s web page says that there is a gourmet kitchen. I don’t think that’s readily apparent from the photos (where the heck is the stove?), but it’s got granite! And cherry cabinets. The bathrooms look kind of ordinary. But one has granite! Some nice details throughout the rest of the house, though.

This is the view of the two houses that I see when coming home from grocery shopping. The white house is just a tinge out of proportion to my eye. The windows are too far apart on the front end and there should also be a fifth window just under the peak of the roof. I’m awfully picky, but for $599,999, why not!

This is the house that recently sold. It doesn’t excite me, but at least it has a garage. And lots of trees behind it.

This is the vacant house and my favorite of the two. It is pretty. It doesn’t have a garage, though, which probably isn’t helping its salability. For $599,000 you need a garage for the Lexus and the Toyota Land Cruiser! Also, if I built a house on that particular lot, I might want to consider the surrounding neighborhood before building something like this. Most of the houses on the street are quite a bit more modest in size, though nice and well kept. This one towers over its next door neighbor.

I wonder how much longer that poor house will be vacant. Probably a lot longer if anyone reads this. But it needs a family. Watching it sit there vacant all winter is going to kill me. All those lights and heat! Someone, please buy it!