There is a development like this near H Street NW. When the neighborhood was getting hot, some developer bought up a half block for cheap and built like 5 or 6 huge row homes there. They are all four stories, 4-5 bedrooms, tons of square footage (like 2x or 3x as much as most surrounding houses). Then listed them all for a million. They sat forever and I think some of them never sold and are still either vacant or rentals. They are ugly with contractor grade finishes, limited outdoor space, and the location itself isn't even that great (located near a busy intersection that can be loud, with limited street parking).
These developers acquire land for cheap and get dollar signs in their eyes when they see what houses in the neighborhood are going for. But just building a cheap, huge house is a dumb use of that resource. The best possible option would be to build a multi-family building and selling all units for slightly less than what a SFH in the neighborhood would go for. So like in Mt. Rainier, if a 1600 st ft SFH would go for 800k, build a multi-unit building with 4-5 residences that sell for 500-600k. You will make more money AND you will sell faster because there will be demand for housing that comes under that 800k mark.
Instead they build one giant house with cheap finishes and want MORE than the 1600 sq ft house would go for. Why would anyone buy it? Unless you have four kids, you don't need all that extra space, and most people have enough taste to prefer a charming smaller home than this ugly tract housing.
It's just greed combined with poor judgment.
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