Good luck with that

a money pit, awaiting the pit

A building lot at 45 Sunshine Avenue in Riverside NoPo has been listed at $1.5 million; that seems aggressive. The land is “Lot 2” of a 2-lot subdivision, and claims 0.4 an acre in the R-7 zone, so it’s considerably oversized, and the listing says that a house with 5,700 sq.ft. above ground can be built. But would you want to?

Sunshine Avenue has historically been a modestly-priced street, with, perhaps, a small premium accorded it for being the original homestead of the Kaye brothers and their 17 siblings, but until now, and with one exception — new construction at No. 10, which sold last September for $2.650 — nothing has ever fetched more than $1.550, and all were existing homes purchased by end-users.

The builder of No. 10 paid $630,000 for the land, and sold the finished for 4X more, so that was a good deal, for him; applying the same (high) multiplier to this lot, a completed lot would have to sell for $6 million. Even using the more customary 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, for land, construction, and profit & overhead, he’d still have to get $4.5 million.

I don’t think he’ll get it.