It's not the shack, it's the land.

Yeah, what raindrop said. It's funny and all but everyone knows that the first thing the buyer will do is bulldoze that thing

That's a lot for the land.

I own a similar sized house in West Seattle. Zillow says it's "only" worth $337k, but that's because you can still see minorities nearby.

This dump is my retirement plan. I'll be leaving Seattle in the next five years. This city was the best when I moved here in 1992, now it's a soulless corporate campus.

Developers typically make money when they're able to sell the new homes for 3x the acquisition cost. So only three $500 grand townhomes to breakeven. I think the lot is worth much more than the listing.

A teardown at 10th and Newton in Capitol Hill sold for over $900K two years ago (and is now just at around 60% complete), so yeah. Had you taken its picture before it was torn down, it was busted up like this and covered in graffiti. LOL, I guess? Real estate---even shitty buildings that can be torn down---is expensive in certain (most) parts of the city right now.

It's not just the land, it land + zoning. I.e., if one is allowed to build something bigger or more lucrative for a speculator than the structure that currently occupies the lot.

6420 sq ft. I'm not looking through zoning pdfs on my phone but it looks like it's surrounded by SFH.

Hey everybody, let's give Katie some credit - this obviously was tongue-in-cheek. Clearly this is not a fixer-upper and she knows that (actually, the land would be worth more if the house was gone - saves demolition costs). The point is: Housing is much more expensive now than when these "regular" homes were built, and certain places have grown in desirability, exponentially.

Looks pretty old. I wonder if we can have it declared a(n) historical landmark.

@3: That used to be a lot for the land. For right now, it's pretty standard.

@11 - Yep, seems a bit much, even in this market. A developer will have to offer cash and spend, what, another $600k on the build? I picture a $1.5M house sitting on that property unsold for a while.

(I made all these numbers up, obvz. Also, look at streetview—that wall of greenery guarding the lot is intense.)

Street view: https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6765518,…

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6762512,…

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6762376,…

If you get rid of the hedges and trees, you can build a house like the one on the right of the property.

Of course it’s the land!

Come on you can do better than this! Quote the prices of nearby homes and lots. What’s the size of this lot? 1/2 acre? The view? The neighborhood? Hooked up to potable water? electrical? cable? sewer?

A 1 BR 1 bath home with zero property line starts at $950,000 here in Honolulu. We looked at a tin roofed shack on 400 sq feet on the MEDIAN of three streets intersecting and it was for $475,000.

Don’t treat your readers like idiots!

A few years from now it won't be worth anything. Remember the bush years? Don't waste your money.

@16. The article provides a Redfin link. It's .15 acres, anyone familiar with Seattle knows there's no view at this address, etc. The author didn't treat her readers like idiots. This one's on you. Oh, and the Honolulu thing is as apples to oranges as it gets.