Sunday, March 05, 2006

Desperate Flipper

Check out this Craigslist Listing. In the Craigslist listing there are 6 properties available for sale. Here is an excerpt which screams "INVESTMENT PROPERTIES FOR SALE, BELOW MARKET":

11432 Washington Plaza West, Reston, VA 20190
2 bedroom 1 bath condo
tenant pays $1400/month currently on month to month lease
Asking $300k, Value -- $330k
Condo fee -- $848/month includes all utilities

-----------------------------

The 300K for a 2br condo seems alright for a real lovely condo. But wait, then there is a $848 a month condo fee. Ouch! That is 10,716 a year for just condo fees (includes utilities). The tenant is paying 1,400 a month. Thus the condo free represents 60% of the total rent for the unit. Yikes. No wonder the flipper wants to sell. The seller seems desperate.

6 comments:

  1. http://icare.fairfaxcounty.gov/Forms/Datalets.aspx?mode=sales&card=1&item=0&State=2|1|&items=1&sIndex=2&idx=1

    Bought for $250K on 7/11/05

    Anybody want to crunch the numbers on this?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Um...already read all about this guy and his other properties on HousingBubble 2.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It amazes me how little people were looking at all the additional costs (condo fees, utilities (if not covered), HOA fees, insurance, taxes, maintenance, additional travel time (if any), etc.).

    Yet a big deal was made of the money back on taxes.... if you were passing out a lot of the mortgage lender.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks over Lake Anne. Closer to Reston Town Center could garner another 50-100k for similar sqft, but newer build.

    Zillow value - $305,874, or $255/sqft. Comps over 2005 average $278.8k, $297/sqft.

    http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.z?city=Reston&state=VA&zprop=51720513

    $848/mo condo fee seems incredibly high. I assume this fee includes: a) Reston Association fees (for pools, tennis courts, parklands, etc.) at around $300-400/year, b) regular gas and electric bills of $200ish/mo. Take those out, and you're still talking over $500/mo for regular HOA.

    Couldn't find a listing in Zip Realty's MLS data.

    http://www.ziprealty.com/buy_a_home/logged_in/search/results/detailed.jsp?page=1&cKey=d4dcxh

    ReplyDelete
  5. Further down on your link, 1712 Lakeshore Crest Drive, unit 31, less than 1/2 mile from RTC, is priced $10k less (S350k) than a 2BR/2BA unit on the MLS at 1705 ($365k).

    HOA dues cited as $233/mo.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You would have to have a doorman and maid service to warrant Homeowner fees that are that high
    wouldn't you ?

    ReplyDelete