Brandon Nelson
Call
FAX
Categories
- Neighborhoods
- Structures I Love
- NW Street Views
- Seller Info
- Buyer Info
- Market Info
- NW Way of Life
- NW 'Words' of Life
- Home Projects & Upkeep
- Races & Events
- Other Stuff
Neighborhoods
Bellingham Weather
Would You Buy a Stigmatized House?
When a client is interested in a house that’s been on the market a while — or if a house suddenly drops its price by 50% — I usually start with a call to the listing agent. After a quick back and forth of pleasantries, I cut to the chase: “OK… the house on XXX Avenue: What’s the story?”
I did this twice last week, and by the time the agents had finished telling their respective tales, I…. well, let me paraphrase their stories and you can judge for yourself.
The Horror…
Ironically, both these Bellingham properties are priced at +-$150K — a bargain basement price for B’ham.
The first is a fixer house and a detached shop with an apartment upstairs. Seemed like a pretty good deal to a buyer a few weeks back, so he tied it up, I was told. Then he arranged for full access and made his way into the shop.
Hmmm, funny smell, he thought. The plantation of marijuana plants littered around were likely contributing to the odor… but that wasn’t all.
The buyer marched upstairs to the apartment. And there before him lay the bloated corpse of the once-tenant/once-pot farmer. A shotgun lay nearby. The odor, it would seem, was quite overwhelming by then.
The buyer rescinded his offer, and to this day the house remains an “active” listing.
The second is another fixer house on a nice 2-acre parcel. Not bad for $150K, you might think. But the story the listing agent laid out for me had me half-laughing, half-crying, and all running away from this property.
Since the listing began a short month ago, he said, there have been two dog attacks on buyers and Realtors by the neighbor’s dogs.
The home’s septic system is of the “home-spun” variety, and happens to be leaking into the nearby creek.
That same creek, it turns out, is the home’s drinking water source. And Yes, it tested positive for ecoli.
It gets better.
There’s a commerical shooting range just across that creek and, in the words of the listing agent: “It sounds like Iraq whenever I’m showing the house!”
Oh, and did I mention that the home is 100% un-permitted and 100% un-financeable? And this is what’s KNOWN about this gem of a property…
These are example of what you’d call “stigmatized” properties. In the case of the first one, even fixed up, when buyers learned the story of the pot farm and suicide, that might (read: would likely) turn them off from buying it. Yes, some investors say, when they hear stories like this, “I smell money!” But are you the ONE who wants to take that chance? (Interestingly, a seller is NOT REQUIRED to disclose suicides, murders, or other felonies that don’t leave toxic residue behind for future occupants (like meth labs leave)).
In the case of the second property, even if you could clean up the septic and water situation, you can’t remodel a neighbor and their guard dogs, nor can you easily shut down a long-standing, commercial firing range.
My advice: “Let it go…”
There are enough great properties on the market — even if for a little more coin — to avoid making these sellers’ problems into your problems. Here’s to hoping you buy something that excites you and inspires you, rather than something you need a HAZMAT suit and experience as a Navy SEAL to be safe in.
