What's Selling: Fern Hill Foreclosure

Where: 2641 Kipling So. (St. Louis Park's Fern Hill Neighborhood)
What: 3 BR/2BA; 1,678 FSF
List Price: $165,000
On Market: 2/4/09
Time to sell: 2 days (*estimated)
Tax assessed value: $392,000

[Reader's note: for related posts, see, "Multiple Offers and $40k Over Asking" and "Fern Hill Flip]

Even in a soft market, a starter home in St. Louis Park's high demand Fern Hill neighborhood still fetches low $200's. (My unscientific definition of a "starter home" is anything with less than 1,000 FSF, and 2 BR/1BA).

And this Kipling home is substantially more house than a starter: in good condition, it could easily be worth high-$200's, if not more. (I think the tax-assessed value is way off here).

While this bank-owned home struck me as rough -- I previewed it for a client who decided to pass -- I'd estimate that a well-spent $20k-$30k would take care of everything. That leaves plenty of upside for anyone paying close to the $165,000 asking price.

In fact, based on the deep discount and fast sale, you'd speculate that there were multiple offers, and that the ultimate Buyer overshot the asking price.

We'll know March 10, when it's scheduled to close.

*According to MLS, this home was actually on the market for 5 days. However, it's a good bet that most of that time the home's status was actually what Realtors call "sold, subject to inspection." By convention, most homes remain "Active" until the Inspection Contingency is removed.