In order: 39 Columbia, 2 Washburn, 17 Magnolia, 33 Walnut.
I reviewed some recent MLS sales and noted that several of the most extreme over-ask sales concerned small multifamily properties. These two and three family properties were located in some of the Hub’s hottest markets.
Why is this property type attracting many of the Hub’s most aggressive offers? Although not a perfect fit for every buyer, these small multifamily properties can appeal to diverse demographics,as buyers in this housing niche might be buying for income, development, or to live in one of the homes and rent out the other(s). How much over ask did these extreme offers go and did they sell to investors or owner occupants? Click “Continued” and find out!
This Charlestown property had the highest over ask.
39 Columbia St, Brookline ($160,000 over ask)
List $1.65 million, Sale: $1.81 million
This Victorian two-family had a solid Coolidge Corner location, in the Devotion School district. There were 4,308 square feet of living space, and they were laid out in a way that gave the impression that the property was originally a single family. Yet, by Coolidge Corner standards, the house’s lot was big (6,124 square feet). So, no doubt the thought of adding living space must have played a factor in the offers. A developer who in 2013 went $376,000 over-ask to acquire a Brookline single family, and who recently developed another property on Brookline’s much vaunted Babcock Street, paid $165,000 more than 39 Columbia’s asking price, allowing the seller to accept an offer that averaged out at nearly a million dollars a pre-rehabbed unit. Incredible!
2 Washburn Place, Brookline ($176,000 over ask)
List: $1.499 million, Sale: $1.675 million
In the last three years, only two MLS listed three families have been hyped as having Coolidge Corner locations, 2 Washburn Place being one of them. So, I wasn’t surprised when Eric Glassoff, Washburn Place’s listing agent, told me that he had five offers for the home/multifamily/#CondoConversionOpp, situated just a short walk to Coolidge Corner, Brookline Village and two MBTA train lines. However, listing remarks described the property as needing “lots of attention” and being sold “as is,” so I did find it surprising when Glassoff told me an end user and not an investor was behind the $176,000 over-ask winning bid.
17 Magnolia, Cambridge ($185,000 over ask)
List: $1.15 Million, Sale: $1.335 Million
Is it possible to have an extreme over-ask listicle without including a property located in Cambridge? I don’t think so! Located a ½ mile from Harvard and Central Squares, listing remarks described the two-family as “beautifully renovated and maintained,” which are aesthetic qualities that tend to be more to the liking of residential buyers searching for their dream home rather than developers seeking their next project. Indeed, a Google search of the buyer’s name also suggests it was a residential buyer rather than a professional investor who ponied up $185,000 more than the asking price to qcquire 17 Magnolia.
33 Walnut, Somerville ($200,000 over ask)
List: $1.25 Million, Sale: $1.45 Million
Not long ago, a Realtor drew attention to the prediction that Somerville’s “Prospect Hill will ultimately be the most aristocratic and fashionable place in the suburbs of Boston.” Shortly after which, the Realtor noted that the prediction was made by the SOMERVILLE JOURNAL in 1870. This three family described in the listing remarks as possessing “towering massive size” and “an unusually large lot” also touted the prospects of its Prospect Hill location, stating it’s “close to the future Green Line station.” Belief in the future of Prospect Hill may have provoked the buyer to pay $1.45 million, $200,000 more than 33 Walnut’s asking price and nearly twice as much as a buyer with the same name paid for a Somerville three family in 2007 (public records).
7-9 Prospect, Charlestown ($350,000 over ask)
List: $1.5 Million, Sale: $1.85 Million
Paul Lester, the 7-9 Prospect listing agent, told me that he thought the “existing three family with an adjacent parcel could eventually be developed (probably two units).” Located in one Charlestown’s most vied for locations, the “Gaslight” neighborhood, Lester knew the listing would be a hot property for developers. The veteran agent wasn’t mistaken. Shortly after Prospect came to market, Lester recalls that he was looking at nine cash offers, five of them over asking. “I went back to the top three for a ‘final and best’ and that’s how we ended up at $1,850,000,” he wrote me. Getting offers, however, ended up being much easier than getting permitting. Lester told me that as a result of permitting delays, the property went under agreement in December 2014, but didn’t close until October 2015.
