We live in this area. New price is fair for Burning Tree/Pyle/Whitman. House seems very livable you can update kitchen and bath to your liking.

I grew up a few houses down the street from that house (and my parents still live there). I'm familiar with the street and the neighborhood. The new price is fair. Also realize the location is excellent -- walking distance to Whitman and Pyle, and the Ride-On bus stop is at the end of the street basically.

I think the issue an owner like that faces is when you've improved it just enough to take it out of tear-down category. It's almost like you're better off just doing no improvements at all and selling it for less but as a tear-down.

There's another house across the street and a few houses down where the owner recently passed away. No improvements made since it was built in the 50s (they had an estate sale so I checked it out while visiting the sale). I'm guessing it'll go tear down if they sell it.

the sqrft is massive on the 2/10/2011 that really affects the comp prices

Agent again. No, it doesn't. That 6,722 square feet refers to the house that's being built at that site, that's for sale for $1.895M. The tax record indicates that the house that was sold for $675K and torn down was 2249 square feet.

Wow - I looked expecting the worst. It looks like a pretty nice house for that price in Bethesda/Whitman. The kitchen is nondescript but better than my Bethesda house when we bought it (it was still the original 1955 kitchen and baths). That's life in Bethesda - for every McMansion there are probably 50 regular houses that we Bethesdan's actually live in.

the sqrft is massive on the 2/10/2011 that really affects the comp prices

Agent back again. 6200 Maiden is a split-level; those very rarely sell for as much as colonials do. And since the buyer is an LLC with a same downtown Bethesda address as a RE/Max office, it's a teardown. Teardowns sold privately are almost always going to have lower sold prices than livable, albeit not updated, homes which are listed on the open market.

The Orchid Drive comp is from a year ago, and therefore totally irrelevant, but Google streetview shows that it's a rambler, so always less money than a colonial.

Anonymous wrote:Why are the kitchen and baths a deal breaker?! You can update to exactly what you want. I agree that it needs to go back to the 2003 prices though. While I have no problems with the kitchen and baths because I would redo them, it seems over priced for a bland, nothing special house with outdated kitchen band baths.

They're a deal breaker at that price for me. Of course they can be redone, but that's another how much money on top of $750k? No thank you.

Sorry it's over priced. I know a lot of potential buyers in that area and they are taking the tax increases into consideration and lowering their target prices for the homes by at least 20k. Below are the recent sales at 675k BEFORE the tax raises were proposed.


6200 Maiden Ln, Bethesda, MD
Recently Sold:$675,000
Zestimate®: $795,000
Baths: 3.0
Sqft: 2,098
Lot: 9,858
Sold On: 11/18/2011


6305 Orchid Dr, Bethesda, MD
Recently Sold:$675,000
Sqft: 6,722
Lot: 9,020
Sold On: 02/10/2011

Why are the kitchen and baths a deal breaker?! You can update to exactly what you want. I agree that it needs to go back to the 2003 prices though. While I have no problems with the kitchen and baths because I would redo them, it seems over priced for a bland, nothing special house with outdated kitchen band baths.

I was looking at it online this weekend and just couldn't get past the kitchen and bathrooms. I believe the agent who said $725k is what they'll likely get for it, but those rooms were a deal breaker for me. Can't wait for more inventory to come on the market!

it will suffer even after reduction.

If it had been listed at the (admittedly unrealistic) $825K for six months before the reduction, maybe. But it's pretty common to have a list price for one month before a reduction, and this is a significant reduction that brings it close to what I consider market price.

This hosue is probably worth 600k.

Wrong. The last house that sold for $600K in that subdivision was a 1955 time-capsule rambler on a busier street in a weaker market (late fall 2010) which sold for list price in a week. Nothing else there has sold for less than $600K since 2003.

Why do you say $600,000? Not a house in the neighborhood has sold for that little!

they over priced Original Price: $825,000

it will suffer even after reduction. This hosue is probably worth 600k.

Also note the real estate taxes VERY HIGH, a lot of new buyers are pricing in maryland homes less than va homes because of high taxes and the announcement of even higher coming taxes.

Agent here. It was overpriced, but now that it's at $750K it should get an offer, will probably go for $725K or so. For a colonial with 2 baths up and a garage in the Whitman district, you're going to pay more than $700K, even if the kitchen and baths are "awful." A similarly non-updated split-level on that street sold for $704K in cash - $25K over list - in November.

http://franklymls.com/MC7750156

The bathrooms and kitchen are TERRIBLE!