This fireplace-charred San Francisco Bay Space house simply offered for $1 million
This Walnut Creek, California home was damaged in a fire, but that didn’t stop it from being a hot offer.
Melinda Byrne
A fire-damaged home in Walnut Creek, California, sold for exactly $ 1 million on Thursday.
The accepted offer was well above the list price. The two-story, four-bedroom room was originally listed for $ 850,000 and immediately drew a bidding war and the attention of confused bystanders. The deal was closed on Thursday.
The realtor who sold it, Melinda Byrne of Key Realty, tells CNBC that while California is an anomaly compared to the rest of the country’s real estate, this particular home sale is nothing out of the ordinary.
“I was really surprised at all the uproar this caused because to me it’s a great listing,” said Byrne, referring to local reports that circulated the listing. “We regularly sell houses that are fixer-upper.”
Byrne said nearly 100 prospects contacted her within three days. She received eight offers in those three days, and when they landed with a buyer, there were five more offers if the ones selected didn’t work.
The sale comes in the midst of a broader statewide housing slowdown. Home sales fell to their lowest level since April 2020 in June as construction costs forced home builders to focus on the high end of the market, leaving much of the demand for cheaper home rentals unsatisfied.
Byrne said even though the house is damaged, the garage, laundry room, and family room are all gone, the bones are still there. Seasoned fins can skip breaking down and rebuild them within six months, she said.
A fire damaged home in Walnut Creek, California was sold within days of the bidding war.
Melinda Byrne
“You see the wiring, you see what’s behind the walls,” she said. “You see everything you get with this one.”
Byrne said the buyer is a seasoned investor who will remodel the home and bring it back to market – likely at an even higher price.
Most home runabouts have their own team of contractors, architects, and designers, which means they don’t have to wait for the construction delays as long as the rest of regular home buyers, she said. For these type of buyers, they can do a renovation in four to six months.
Suburban flight
Single-family homes in the suburbs of the San Francisco Bay Area and surrounding cities sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars above list prices, often sparking bidders’ battles over cash-only offers.
Walnut Creek is one of the San Francisco Bay Area suburbs where demand skyrocketed amid the Covid-19 pandemic as residents tried to move from dense urban areas to homes with more space. The average price of a home sold is up more than 20% year over year, according to real estate firm Byrne.
Less than an hour’s drive from San Francisco, Walnut Creek is also known for some of the best schools in the area. Hiking trails, shopping, restaurants and horse riding are all within walking distance.
“You feel like you’re far from the hustle and bustle, but urban enough to feel like you’re out of the wild,” said Byrne.
