The blazing-hot Boston real estate market strikes again.
This crispy-looking house hit the market on Sept. 23, asking $399,000 — despite being seriously damaged in a fire on Aug. 24.
Perhaps even more eye-popping: The sizzling ask is 5% more than the national median asking price of $380,000 in August, according to Realtor.com.
Sticker shock aside, the scorched abode already has a buyer in the process of closing the sale, according to Realtor.com.
Firefighters tore out sections of the walls and ceiling to extinguish the fire, which began in a wall in the attic, according to local reports. The vinyl and brick facade is charred, and the blown-out windows are boarded up.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,857-square-foot house will need to be completely renovated or torn down and rebuilt, according to the listing.
“Great potential to build a new and adorable home in desirable Melrose, a town where property values continue to rise, boasting a thriving downtown, a commuter rail to Boston, excellent schools and multiple restaurants, coffee houses and local boutiques,” boasts the listing by Monte Marrocco of Coldwell Banker Realty Winchester, who did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
But the real value comes from the 4,500-square-foot lot in an area with high demand and low inventory.
In fact, $215 per square foot is a steal for the neighborhood — the median listing price in Melrose, 10 miles north of Boston, is $373 per square foot. Nationally, houses typically listed for about $184 per square foot in August, according to Realtor.com.
Two “group showings only” were available Saturday and Sunday last weekend — a stipulation that underscores how confident the seller was in the market’s interest.
In the past two years, median house sale prices in Melrose have risen almost 20%, from $617,500 to $735,500. Even a 9-foot-by-18-foot parking spot in Boston recently listed for $375,000; a home without bathroom walls listed for $900,000 (and sold for $741,000); and a 10-foot-wide townhouse listed for $1.2 million (and sold for $1.25 million).
County property records listed the owner as 94-year-old Melrose resident Angie Leavy, whose late husband of 71 years, Ralph Leavy, built the house in 1960. They raised their two children there and continued to occupy the house until Ralph died in November 2020 at age 92, according to his obituary.