A Tale of Two Houses

136 Parsonage Road

136 Parsonage Road has dropped its price today to $5.695 million, which puts it squarely in competition with the new construction at 105 Parsonage, $5.699. It seems to me that a buyer would have no difficulty choosing between the two houses, with 136 the hands-down winner, but the builder of 105 is probably going to come out ahead here.

136’s owners paid $4.2 million for the land in 2007, and originally priced their newly-constructed (2015) home at $8.295 million in March, 2017. Today’s price almost certainly represents a large loss, while 105’s land, a nasty bit of swamp, sold for just $1.330 in 2017; there’s still plenty of profit to yield before this proves a money loser. I’m sure there’s some sort of a lesson here.

105 Parsonage Rd