Sold in Belmont: Supply and Demand Effecting Prices on Farnham

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

• 119 Farnham St. Cape (1938) Sold: $750,000. Listed at $699,000. Living area: 1,200 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 52 days.

• 33 Trowbridge St. Brick spilt level (1957) Sold: $600,000. Listed at $685,000. Living area: 1,435 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 148 days.

• 115 Farnham St. Sideways Garrison Colonial (1932) Sold: $728,000. Listed at $799,000. Living area: 1,740 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 52 days.

Three homes close enough to the commuter rail line for their new owners to hear the trains traveling to and from Boston were sold this week at prices well below Belmont’s median price of $845,000. What may come to a surprise to many, it was the smallest of the trio – a classic Cape on Farnham Street, a five-minute stroll to Belmont Center – that brought in the most for its seller, a cool three-quarters of the million dollars for 1,200 sq.-ft. of livable space. Compare that to the house one door down the street with an extra bedroom, half-bath and 500 sq.-ft. sinking to $728,000.

Sure, there are plenty of reasons for the difference in price: needed repairs, renovations, lot size, the terrible decision to place the side of the Colonial facing the street and more. Or it could have been the entry of the a second home into the market at a price that appeared to be a bargain. Let’s see how it worked out.

The larger house at 115 Farnham went on the market in November, 2014 at $799,000, more than $110,000 greater than its assessed value by the town. Likely the coming holidays and winter’s arrival deadened the market and so it sat at that price into the New Year.

Come Jan. 6, 119 Farnham hits the market at $699,000. While it too is well above its assessed value of $571,000, it’s the bargain on the street compared to the house one door down. The pressure of added supply and a lower cost alternative forced the hand of those selling 115 Farnham, who cut the price by $50,000 that day.

Here’s where supply and demand took charge: greater eyes viewing the more “affordable house” at 115 Farnham brought in more competition and bids at the expense of the larger house a few feet away.

When the sales were completed, the smaller house sold for $180,000 more than its assessed value while the larger home brought in a little more than $50,000 above its value. The winner in this case are the new owners at 115 Farnham, getting a bargain while over at 119, the new owners will love their new house just as much at $625 per square foot.

Sold in Belmont: What Would You Have Bought? The Renovated Condo or One of the Smallest Houses in Town

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

• 68 Unity Ave. #1 Condominium (1924) Sold: $489,750. Listed at $439,900. Living area: 1,018 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 33 days.

• 33 Knox St. Ranch (1957) Sold: $526,000. Listed at $549,000. Living area: 1,027 sq.-ft. 4 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 92 days.

The town residential properties that sold last week in Belmont are similar in two ways; each are affordable relative to the median value of homes in these parts – nearly $840,000 according to town data – and each a tad more than 1,000 square feet of livable space. While the Unity Avenue property is a single-floor condominium on the Cambridge line, the Knox Street ranch is snug in Belmont Hill.

So, which would you have bought?

The ranch: The structure is yours, you don’t have to share common spaces and parking have a neighbor living above you – God only knows who’ll move in next year – or pay a condo fee on top of property taxes. It’s located on “the hill,” it’s quiet and you can jump right onto Rt. 2.

But it’s just a smudge more than 1,00o square feet of interior space, making it one of the smaller homes in Belmont. You better be on good relations with whomever you are living with because there is limited private space available. It’s one of the few houses in this one-time subdivision previous owners didn’t build-on extra space. In fact, a look at the interior shows a great deal of original detail. Ranch developers wanted to put them up as cheaply as possible. The result: middling-quality material that should be torn out and replaced. The ground floor rooms need extensive rehab and fast.

The condo: As a South End developer once told me, people who buy condos are “purchasing air,” as the owner’s property rights extend only to the four walls in which the condo lies. Want to improve the common area? Renovate the garage? Replace the grass with stone in the backyard? Hello, neighbor! You are constantly seeking someone else’s cooperation to increase the properties value, improve your quality of life or just park your car in a slightly different location. It’s like being a kid again, living in the same room with your brother. That’s fine if you like him; if not, it’s potentially a nightmare.

But just look at the Unity Avenue condo’s interior: now this is great detail. French door, built-in cabinets, closets with real doors, hardwood floors that you can polish, an open kitchen design with new everything. Recently renovated, you can move in and not worry about putting mucho dollars into the property. It shouldn’t surprise anyone the condo sold for $50,000 above asking in only a month.

I pick the condo.

Sold in Belmont: Century-Old Two Family Only Sale during Snowy Week

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Photo: Two family on Hull Street.

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

• 60 Hull St. Multi-family (1930) Sold: $607,000. Listed at $625,000. Living area: 2,432 sq.-ft. 11 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 126 days.

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Sold in Belmont: An English Cottage With Chinese Accents

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 16 Payson Terrace. English Cottage (1930) Sold: $822,092. Listed at $850,000. Living area: 2,324 sq.-ft. 10 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 67 days.

• 19 Lawndale St. #9, Newish design townhouse (2011), Sold for: $865,000. Listed at $879,000. Living area: 2,784 sq.-ft. 9 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 78 days.

• 76 Davis Rd. #1. Ground-floor condominium (1925), Sold for: $362,000. Listed at $389,900. Living area: 1,056 sq.-ft. 5 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 161 days.

When walking around the Cambridge Reservoir, a favorite detour is to take a walk along one-way Payson Terrace to see a remarkable house. The color alone – a burnt orange that radiates the evening sun – pops out amidst the brown sea of the surrounding brick and boxy Colonials.

The house at 16 Payson Terrace – owned by the same family since 1958 – is as much a residential outlier as the two-family mini-McMansions that have arisen in the Waverley neighborhood. Only this doesn’t crowd out and dominates the surrounding homes; it’s a dash of the exotic in a cool New England town.

The house’s striking hue is just the beginning of what makes this a one-of-a-king residency: the owners inserted whimsical Asian-inspired highlights to the property – a fence with the pickets made with Chinese-symbols, small male and female bronze figurines on the entry post tops and bold Chinese characters and flying, fighting dragons over the main entrance (with a bright red door) and along the eaves.

It doesn’t appear that the family had a direct connection to Asia – it ran Harvard Square’s Colonial Drug on Brattle Street for seven decades before closing in 2013 – so it might just be the joy of having your home be a small part of a far-away land. (I don’t know if a person from China would find this to be a nice gesture to the heritage of their country or oddly inappropriate.)

But it is the exterior that holds your interest: exactly what is it? The salesperson and the town say Colonial, but it is anything like the popular design seen all around town. Rather, it’s a contemporary of when the Colonial had its heyday from the 1910s to 1940s. While you can see many examples of its architectural cousin, the English Tudor, which gained favor in the 1930s, the house at 16 Payson Terrace is an English Cottage design, somewhat rare in Belmont. It has the characteristic distinct and beautiful asymmetrical pairing gables with a free-standing arch and flat-to-the-wall windows. But many “cottages” where built with stone or stucco exteriors; this is a wood frame. Quite distinctive.

The final sales price was lower than the town’s assessment by nearly $100,000 which is explained by a look at the interior: it doesn’t appear to have been touched for decades with the wear and tear of generations living inside. And what crazy wallpaper! I suspect an interior work crew will need about two weeks just to sand, remove, repair and paint the place before the owner would want to step into the house.

While the inside needs a great deal of TLC, a vivid part of Belmont would be lost if the new owners decide to replace the existing exterior color and remove the Asian characters to the all-to-typical “Belmont white.” I ask you: do you want to be just another pearl on a string or the ruby you will always admire?

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Sold in Belmont: Did Location Unfairly Depress Oak Street Bungalow?

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 16-18 Dalton Road. Framed two-family (1920) Sold: $938,000. Listed at $895,000. Living area: 3,790 sq.-ft. 15 rooms, 6 bedrooms, 3 baths. On the market: 83 days.

• 4 Oak St. Early Bungalow (1899), Sold for: $661,000. Listed at $849,900. Living area: 1,9 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 321 days.

The house on the corner of Oak Street and Concord Avenue is likely one of the earliest examples of a bungalow-style residence in these parts. The popularity of the design didn’t begin to take hold around the country for at least a decade after this single family was built in 1899, just a couple of years after the road was laid out. With a little more digging, the Oak Street structure could discover that it has architectural, historical significance.

Despite its age, it appears to have held up well – there’s an active television antenna on the roof – with many of the rooms retaining beautiful wood and plaster ornamentation, especially the dining room with the original lower decor molding. It was last sold in 1988 for what was then close to the average value of a Belmont house.

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Despite having a lot going for it, especially for a young family seeking a Belmont address, the owner could not give this house away. Trotted out for last year’s spring selling season, this 115-year-old house soon resembled the Tom Petty song: “Free Fallin’.”

Original: 3/13/2014: $849,900

4/1/2014: $819,900

4/23/2014: $799,900

5/14/2014: $779,900

6/19/2014: $759,900

7/9/2014: $749,900

8/6/2014: $699,900

Sold: $661,000.

Sure, the initial listing price was ambitious – the town assesses the property at $747,000 – but despite the demand for housing in and around the median price of residential property in the “Town of Homes,” this bungalow only found its floor after losing a quarter of the proposed sale price. That’s a free fall.

Is it that 1,900 square feet isn’t enough livable space anymore? The lack of a large backyard? Being too close to the High School? Or was it that twice each weekday, Concord Avenue is filled with a boatload of vehicles cutting through town for the outer suburbs? Whatever the reason, this early bungalow was bought cheaply.

Sold in Belmont: Million Dollar Bonanza Brings in the New Year

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 12 Greensbrook Way. Brick Ranch (1957) Sold: $1,250,000. Listed at $1,250,000. Living area: 2,735 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 4 baths. On the market: 16 days.

• 37 Marlboro St. Multi-family (1913), Sold for: $825,000. Listed at $825,000. Living area: 2,760 sq.-ft. 12 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 44 days.

• 30 Somerset St. The Albert Higgins House; Antebellum Greek Revival (1850) Sold: $1,950,000. Listed at $2,325,000. Living area: 4,023 sq.-ft. 13 rooms, 6 bedrooms, 3 full, 3 partial baths. On the market: 219 days.

• 85 Juniper Rd. Quite unique architectural style (1952) Sold: $1,325,000. Listed at $1,250,000. Living area: 2,626 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 91 days.

Sixteen days. That’s all it took for a 1950s ranch to sell on fancy Greensbrook Way. For $1.25 million! Well, what do you expect from a residential property across the street from Tagg Romney’s 8,000 square-foot manse. And there’s more! The seller of note was 12 Greensbrook Way LLC, which bought the house in October, 2014 for $1,050,000.

So who is this 12 Greensbrook Way LLC? It’s address is 103 Hemenway St. Suite B2 in Boston, the same address as Real Estate Management & Investment, the Fenway-based real estate investment firm known for constructing multi-story buildings in Boston neighborhoods such as the new 50 Symphony Road condo development. So it won’t shock you to know that the listed broker, OffCampus Apartment Finder, LLC, is a subsidiary of REM&I. 

This sale appears to be a “flip” to a motivated buyer. I would not be surprised if this rather standard eight-room house (rated a B+ by town assessors) on more than half-of-acre of valuable land is put “on the sword” and demolished to build something more “appropriate” for the location. It will be interesting to discover who bought the ranch.

A mention about 85 Juniper Rd: a very unique house with a well-thoughtout architectural approach to the land. I love the two-story rear side, full of windows facing east down the hill. Boxy but functional. It does require work (the interior needs serious updating) but a great house to own. 

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Not attractive even when it was built.

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The backside of this house is just nice.

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With smart interior design, this could become a stunning room.

Sold in Belmont: It’s What’s Inside the Bungalow That Counts; Watch the Oak (Ave) Fall

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 45 Choate Rd. #1. Townhouse condominium (1938), Sold for: $590,000. Listed at $629,000. Living area: 1,644 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 210 days.

• 2 Dalton Rd. #2. Ground-floor condominium (1920), Sold for: $465,000. Listed at $549,000. Living area: 1,290 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 132 days.

• 93 Walnut St. Framed bungalow (1920), Sold for: $695,750. Listed at $699,900. Living area: 1,757 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 75 days.

• 65 Oak Ave. Two-family (1913), Sold for: $895,000. Listed at $1,075,000. Living area: 2,976 sq.-ft. 12 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2  baths. On the market: 133 days.

• 124 Sycamore St. #1. Ground-floor condominium (1900), Sold for: $410,000. Listed at $385,000. Living area: 996 sq.-ft. 5 rooms, 1 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 70 days.

When I think bungalow, I remember the northern neighborhoods of Atlanta where this wonderfully regional example of  residential architecture inhabits. These low-hanging homes, with their porches and woodsy appearance, just screams of someone reading “Gone with the Wind” barefoot on a swinging couch with a glass of Bourbon sitting on the floor as twilight nears.

The house at 93 Walnut St. near PQ park isn’t so romantic. In fact, it appears a developer needed squeeze something less than a Colonial onto a small lot. In 1920, you could still order a bungalow – and East Asian phrase for “a house in the Bengal style” – from the Sears catalogue as they were still a quite popular example of the Arts and Crafts-style. So in it went.

What’s missing here is the prominent, deep front porch typical of the style (A great example of a first-class bungalow in Belmont is located at 72 Cushing Ave. c. 1905, completely renovated in 2007) because the house sits practically on the edge of the sidewalk. Where could you put it? Good-bye, Scarlett.

What it does have is a wonderful recess dormer pointing to a loft space on the second floor.

And it is the interior that reveals the strengths and attraction of this homes. The interesting architectural features go on and on: the pair of columns leading into the “parlor” to delineate common from family space, wooden floors, period molding, a great fire place with a hardwood mantelpiece, built-in hutch and storage and the smart use of space on the second floor.  There are some modern turns – the kitchen now has granite tops (shutter!) and the second bathroom has one of those “shower stalls,” so you can be reminded your at the gym.

OK, it’s not what goes for an “average” sized house in town, but it’s quite cosy if you are starting a family and want a first house. All-in-all, a wonderful house.

• • •

If the residential two-family at 65 Oak Ave. just off Trapelo Avenue was being sold on “The Price Is Right,” host Drew Carey wouldn’t have to worry about disqualifying either of the contestants for bidding too much for the property as it appears only two people in the world, the seller and their salesperson, believe the house is valued at more than a million dollars.

Not saying the house isn’t nice; it’s a great late-period Victorian (so it has high ceilings) with a new paint job, new windows and roof along with surviving architectural details such as built-in cabinets and old-fashioned molding. But a million dollars for it?

So when the seller listed the price of the house in the seven figures, they neglected hearing the marketplace yelling “TIMBER!” Here is the grizzly fall of the Oak:

Original List Price:

Sept. 4: $1,075,000

Sept.10: $995,000

Oct. 1: $975,000

Oct. 14: $955,000

Nov. 14: $925,000

Jan. 15: $895,000

A $200,000 plunge from list to actual sales price in just over four months. Ouch.

 

Sold in Belmont: Dorset Road Colonial Takes a Price Tumble for a Reason

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 18 Dorset Rd. Center-entrance Colonial (1937), Sold for: $912,500. Listed at $1,035,000. Living area: 2,797 sq.-ft. 9 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths. On the market: 181 days.

Oh, the poor sellers of a very nice Colonial a stone’s throw from Route 2; victims of the reality of the housing market stomping on the perception that any home on Belmont Hill is worthy of a seven-figure sales price. Not to say that this house’s design is a detriment to the sale; in fact, it’s a beautiful period Colonial with outstanding architectural features (just look at the living room’s exposed arched beams – but why is that big flat screen in the bay window?! – and molding), what appears to be original lighting fixtures and a garage hidden in the back. Take away the horrible new shower and back-to-the-future granite-top kitchen island (next time, use tile), this is an outstanding house for a growing family with four bedrooms, three baths and a quarter acre.

But was it worth the initial +$1 million price tag? Obviously the population of buyers seeking this house have kids they were expecting to be hanging around for a few years and putting down a cool mil along with handing Treasurer Floyd Carman a $1,000 check each month was not in their calculations, especially when houses in Belmont’s “Lowlands” can be gobbled up for 250,000 fewer dollars. The result: take a look at the offering price from Independence Day to New Year’s Day. It’s like watching a climber fall off the Matterhorn.

List Price: July 9, 2014: $1,035,000

Sept. 4: $1,025,000

Sept. 5: $1,024,000

Sept. 24: $999,000

Oct. 22: $949,000

SOLD: Jan. 6, 2015: $912,500

Remember the days when sellers and their salespersons would list low and see the bids come in? I do. What’s happened?

Sold in Belmont: Paying Premiums on the High-End Homes

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 40 Randolph St. A big, brick Tudor-style Colonial (1929), Sold for: $1,255,000. Listed at $1,250,000. Living area: 3,320 sq.-ft. 11 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. On the market: 54 days.

• 255 Slade St. Brick Colonial (1925), Sold for: $1,131,000. Listed at $995,000. Living area: 2,390 sq.-ft. 10 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 61 days.

• 165 Radcliffe Rd. Dutch Colonial (1948), Sold for: $705,500. Listed at $725,000. Living area: 2,417 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. On the market: 54 days. 

Would it surprise anyone that the two high-end houses picked up on the final days of 2014 where sold at a premium – contrary to the trend over the past six months of seven-figure structures having a hard time holding onto the listed price –  as new owners seek a tax advantage for this year and 2015?

Then again, each property had its selling points. The huge (expanded horribly in the early 1990s with the dormers running front to back) Tudor wannabe on Randolph Street in the Presidential neighborhood is the perfect location for parents with kids in the schools. A jump and a skip from the Burbank, just up Washington Street to the Chenery and a leisurely stroll to the High School. Just think, never have to drive the little ones to school and no need to give them a car when they turn 16. The Slade Street house would have been considered, at 2,300 sq.-ft. of livable area, a “big” house in Belmont up until about 15 years ago. But being the neighbor to the (bland) massive new residential construction at the corner of Common and Slade (will it go onto the market or is being built for someone?), it’s now not even the biggest kid on the block. But it doesn’t hurt that the former c. 1920 structure that resembled a haunted house was finally demolished in 2013. Finally, the Dutch-Colonial on Radcliffe was bought for a steal at just more than $700,000. Of course, the house is literally on Route 2, but still a great place to call home.

Sold in Belmont: Haircuts for List Prices on All Homes in Belmont

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 10 Wood Rd. “A mish-mash” Colonial “on steroids” (2006), Sold for: $997,000. Listed at $1,159,000. Living area: 3,661 sq.-ft. 10 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. On the market: 95 days.

• 29-31 Flett Rd. Two-family (1939), Sold for: $600,000. Listed at $659,900. Living area: 2,112 sq.-ft. 11 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 101 days.

• 51 Berwick St. #1. Single-floor condominium (1908), Sold for: $370,000. Listed at $379,900. Living area: 1,199 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 67 days.

• 59 Stults Rd. Colonial (1926), Sold for: $960,000. Listed at $1,025,000. Living area: 2,743 sq.-ft. 10 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 3 baths. On the market: 101 days.

• 55 Elm St. #1. Single-floor condominium (1925), Sold for: $600,000. Listed at $599,999. Living area: 1,317 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 92 days.

The year in Belmont real estate is ending with an adjustment downward as four of the five residential home sales defied their list price and sold for a discount – the only property that sold above the initial sale price did so by a single buck –with the houses owners and the salesperson believed would take in seven figures came back with a healthy haircut.