Photo: 6 Highland Rd. sold for nearly a quarter of million dollars profit in 2014, not so in 2015.

6 Highland Rd., Classic Colonial (1941). Sold: $1,300,000.

8 Oakley Rd. #2, Condominium townhouse (2011). Sold: $860,000.

60 Newcastle Rd. Side-entry Colonial, (1947). Sold: $800,000.

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven-plus days in the “Town of Homes”:

• 6 Highland Rd., Classic Colonial (1941). Sold: $1,300,000. Listed at $1,250,000. Living area: 2,237 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 65 days. 

• 8 Oakley Rd. #2, Condominium townhouse (2011). Sold: $860,000. Listed at $899,000. Living area: 3,175 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 58 days.

• 60 Newcastle Rd. Side-entry Colonial (1947). Sold: $800,000. Listed at $775,000. Living area:  1,593 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 51 days.

Selling a house for nearly half-a-million dollars greater than the appraised value for a fairly standard Colonial, you’d be, as Donald Trump/Charlie Sheen would put it, “a winner.”

Dante Muzzioli was a Hall of Fame hockey coach for five decades with Belmont High School. And he proves to be a solid real estate developer. Back in November 2013, Muzzioli purchased the rundown prewar house on Highland Road for $890,000, a nice premium over the assessed value of $718,000. 

Within days, Muzzioli got to work putting in $97,000 of renovations and improvements – strip and reroof, install a three-ton AC system in the attic to service both floors, and $60,000 in bath and kitchen renovations – then place it on the market. By August of 2014, the once-threadbare house sold for $1,250,000 (he had originally listed the house at $1,395,000! but that price was just crazy), a more than quarter of a million dollar profit. Try getting that margin playing with equities.

But the most recent sale did not turn out as lucrative for the new owners. A mere 14 months after purchasing the house, the new owner placed the Colonial on the market for the original sales price. If this was purposely low-balling a house to spark a bidding war, it wasn’t that successful. Not to say $50,000 isn’t hay feed, it doesn’t come close to the last jump in sales price.

In the end, the neighborhood has a new comparable sale ($1.3 million) that is way out of whack from the 2015 market value the town has placed on the value of the land and building of $872,000. What better definition of a bubble is there?

Share This Article