Valley mls research

Valley MLS research; CEDAR SPRINGS STATION
October 13th, 2011 4:16 PM
The house looks great and the open space at the back will provide the privacy we have been looking for.

In researching I found that both Google and the listing don’t map the house correctly. I found what I believe is the house as being just to the left of the house with the pool in the cul-de-sac. Checking the flood maps the house is outside the flood zone that is to the right of the cul-de-sac.
Given the flood zone to the east and the lack of road frontage the open space at the rear might be safe from development.
I checked ownership of the property behind the house and is is owned by the City of Madison. It may be that the developer of CEDAR SPRINGS STATION gifted the property to the city to avoid paying taxes on unbuildable land.
http://www.emapsplus.com/ALMadison/report.asp?County=ALMadison&PID=1604180000007008
The house has been on Valley MLS since 08/07/06 with no price reductions. It is listed at $380,900 / $116 per square foot.The link below is to the archived MLS listing where the current owner bough the house from the builder on 12/18/06 for $379,900 / $118 psf. with the builder paying none of purchaser’s closing costs.
Note the original listing showed the house as 3,225 sf where the current listing shows 3,275 sf. Tax records show 3,225 sf.
http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7114875634
The link below is to a summary of all Valley MLS activity in the neighborhood since 10/10/10. The average sold price was $91 psf with a range of $77 to $97 psf.
http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7114875637
While the seller is already taking a substantial loss at the list price. $116 psf is substantially above the highest recent sale. Even if we were willing to pay something near their list price, lender would look at the same sales data and not approve a loan if the property doesn’t appraise for the contract price.
At the highest sold price of $97 psf and assuming they didn’t fudge on the 3,275 sf. the house would be worth something in the $318,000 range.

Valley MLS : Research; Cedar Springs Station October 13, 2011
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