Cranbury home for sale 749,900 (Main St.; reduced; gone?)

[Guest]

$799,900
6 Bed, 3 Bath
0.93 Acres

(info)

* Single Family Property
* County: Middlesex County
* Year Built: 1931
* 6 total bedroom(s)
* 3 total bath(s)
* 2 total full bath(s)
* 2 total half bath(s)
* 14 total rooms
* Two story
* Type: Detached
* Style: Colonial
* Living room
* Dining room
* Kitchen
* Basement
* Laundry room
* Master bedroom is 14X14
* Living room is 15X20
* Dining room is 14X17
* Kitchen is 12X18
* 2 car garage
* Interior features: Gas range, Gas heating fuel, Electric service availble, Attic fan, Gas water heater, Eat In kitchen, Carpet, Full attic, Full basement, Formal dining room, Dining room on first level, Kitchen on first level, Laundry on first level, Living room on first level, Powder room on first level, 5 or more bedrooms on second level, Main bathroom on second level
* Exterior features: Curbs, Sidewalk, Automatic garage door opener, Detached garage, Public water supply, Public sewer system, Additional parking driveway, Garbage included
* Exterior construction: Vinyl siding
* Roofing: Asphalt/shingle roof
* Approximate lot is 120X339
* Approximately 0.93 acre(s)
* School District: Cranbury Twp
* Tax: $8840 (2006)

[John]

This is actually a duplex. Was listed last year for $1.25 million and is still over-priced at $799,000 if that tells you anything. The inside has not been updated in about 50 years, at least, and the house is early twentieth century so it has none of the charm of other Main Street homes. Only thing it has going for it is a nice large lot. If someone wanted to buy it, gut the whole thing and start over and demo the rotting shed in the back, it might be worth it at the right price.

[tracker]

The new price is $774,900.

[tracker]

The new price is $749,900.

[taxes]

And what are the taxes now on this property that has been lowered from the original $1M asking price? I wonder how much that has to do with it not selling in this 'new' market?

[Guest]

I saw the house and the yard is amazing. Just out of my budget.

[Guest]

When you say amazing, you mean just the yard, right?

I saw this house when it was first listed at $1.25M. To this day, I use it as the extreme example of an overpriced home. I have probably toured a couple hundred homes in this area over the years, and this one was in the worst shape I have ever seen. I would say that has more to do with it not selling than the tax issue...

I can only see two ways to value this purchase. Either on the pure land/lot value, presuming you have the money to completely tear it down (it was built in the 1930's so I doubt it is protected), including the falling down shed in the yard, and start over. Or, get the price low enough and have either cash or great financing when you buy it and be local and a great handyman yourself and use it as an rental income property.

I'm not exactly sure when it becomes a bargain on a pure land value deal. You would need to do a lot of homework on other lot sales around here, or have a really great, informed agent (rare) who could help assess that. I know there is a spec property being built further down main just past Plainsboro Rd. They seem to have kept some of the structure but mostly re-built it from scratch. Perhaps knowing what that site went for would be a good basis to judge, factoring in that it would have been bought when the market is stronger than now, though the lot may be smaller.

[Guest]

Yes, the yard. It is in the historic district so it is protected, no tear down and no modification to the exterior. The interior of the home needs a updating which is why it is out of my budget. If it were around $550,000- $600,000 then I think it would sell quickly.

[Guest]

Wow, if you can't modify the exterior, that brings it down even further in my book. It is ironic that they would protect it that way given that it was clearly built in a period where they were not doing enough to protect the look of the homes going up, so it doesn't match the colonials of the rest of the street at all. It is as generic and ugly a front as I could imagine. I would think they would prefer someone to build something that celebrated the rest of the street instead of standing out like a sore thumb...

[Guest]

At the peak of the market, the house directly to the right of this one sold for, I think around $900K (or at least I recall that was around the ask, someone could easily look it up).

This house had, obviosly, a similar location on Main, an even better back yard (just as big but a much, much more nicely maintained and no obstucting garage or falling down shed) and most importantly the house was incredible. The previous owners had done a complrehensive renovation of the interiors and exterior.

So in that case, you were getting a comparable lot of land and a structure that would probably cost you at least $500-600K to get the currently for sale house to match.

By that reasoning, this house should sell for not more than $400K. It is a complete mess on the inside and structurally is all wrong too since it is a duplex.

[Guest2]

Yep, the neighboring one was sold for $900K in 2005.

http://cranbury.info/viewtopic.php?t=294

How about buying it as a two-unit rental property?

[Guest]

Yeah, as a rental is has potential, but you would want to has the cash to buy it outright or have only a small loan on it -- otherwise your mortgage will probably not exceed your costs enough to make it worth it. And you will probably still need to fix up the finishes and you will definitely need to do a lot of ongoing maintenance. So you will want to be handy otherwise you will be killed by a thousand bee stings of contractor fees... Assuming all this, sure, it could work as a rental property buy.

[Guest]

Is this one sold?

[Guest]

I heard it has a contract on it, but not sure of the price or the buyer.

[Guest]

Heard it was sold. Sellers glad they could do it themselves. No need for high priced so called experts. Saved 0ver $ 35,000. Anyone with any knowledge of real estate would know it's better to leave a shed rather than tear it down. Makes rebuilding much cheaper. But, guess how we got into this sub-prime mess