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melle_sacto_gw

What are your thoughts, is it a tear-down?

I was shocked to see this listing today, as the area around it is relatively nice and expensive. The zip code is in a higher-end part of town. The lot is really large and unusual, and I'm imagining fixing it up into a dream home ;-)

But, most-likely, an investor/investment company will buy it and turn it into McMansions w/teeny lots and profit mightily, each McM could sell for $450K easily, if not for more than that (given the zip code/location and also the lack of new properties in the area)

This is the kind of thing I imagine I'd love to do -- buy an older home on a really large lot, live there and slowly make it nice. But I'm not sure if the home is even live-able, and that price tag would put us into a position of not being able to afford to do much of anything. Just making our small home on a small lot nice has been kind of a headache, so this would be migrane territory I think!

Here is a link that might be useful: listing

Comments (8)

  • geoffrey_b
    9 years ago

    It looks like a teardown to me. But I'm in Minnesota.

  • mjlb
    9 years ago

    The listing mentions that the neighboring lot is for sale, and that with the two together you could build 15-30 homes. If that is true, I wouldn't spend much time daydreaming, as a developer undoubtedly will scoop it.

  • lucillle
    9 years ago

    An acre and a half in Sacramento, that's what the price tag is for. You could have an inspection done to see if the house is livable, and you could see whether maybe you could sell off half an acre to pay for repairs or a new home built.

  • eggshellfinish
    9 years ago

    Good heavensâ¦that house is right on the ground. Hope there's never a flood!

    Much as I even hate the word "teardown" personally, I wouldâ¦erase it.

  • melle_sacto is hot and dry in CA Zone 9/
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you for swooping in with a reality check!

    Mainly I was amazed at the size of the land, given it's location. I think it would be nice to have a tract like that but still be close to everything...which is becoming less and less possible.

    Eggshell -- a lot of homes here are on concrete slabs, our current home is. And yep, if there was a flood we'd be in trouble!

    The parcel in the link is on the north side of the river, so if ever there was a flood the county would ensure that the homes on the south side flooded first (so it seems, based on historical trends of which homes flood). Yay, I live on the south side of the river.

  • marie_ndcal
    9 years ago

    Check with the building dept first, after looking at the property. Also, if the house is not livable, or does need a lot of work, you may not be able to get a loan. Permits will be expensive and material will be expensive. Is this in a area where there is water rationing now? Also with that amount of dry grass or what ever is cut down that is a definite fire danger. All that grass (weeds/hay/) should be at least 100 feet away from the house. Find out what the fire code requires.

  • Fori
    9 years ago

    The lot is awesome, but you won't be able to keep it looking nice with water restrictions.

    The house, well, I'd have to see it. It looks like it was pretty nice when newer, with those fabulous huge...single paned windows that will make summers brutal...

    Sacramento gets made fun of a lot for being hot and not having much to redeem it, but it doesn't deserve it. There are some absolutely beautiful neighborhoods of older homes and I'd wait for my dream fixer-upper to be in one of those. :P

  • melle_sacto is hot and dry in CA Zone 9/
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Oh, we couldn't afford to move there anyway...and I can't imagine ever being able to move to one of those beautiful older neighborhoods!!! I was just very impressed by the size of that lot and the location. I wondered if the house could really be THAT bad...our home had crummy aluminum single-pane windows when we moved in.

    Sometimes a listing says "light fixer" or "handyman special" or something like that...I wondered what "bad condition but may be savable" would entail.

    Sacramento IS hot, and there ARE a lot nicer places to live than here. But it's where we live right now.

    As for the water restrictions, I don't think they are unreasonable...but people who live in Sac are used to growing lots of thirsty, water-loving ornamentals and having large, lush lawns.

    This post was edited by melle_sacto on Wed, Jul 23, 14 at 22:52