Question about House for sale at 506 S. Trenton Street

[AbbyDow]

This house in South Park is for sale for $139,000, but it was last sold for $415,00 in 2006. Does anyone know the story on this place? If it was a meth lab or something I want to know before I go check it out. http://www.estately.com/listings/info/506-s-trenton-st–1

Thanks!

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[MargL]

In the process of trying to find a house to buy myself I always check the county records for permit and sale history – sometimes it helps get a picture of what’s happened to the house (if they file permits for remodeling or have complaints).

http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/parceldata/parcel.aspx?pin=7883601350

You can see it was apparently purchased by a developer in 2006, presumably to remodel and resell. Now it’s a foreclosed property being offloaded for cheap and as-is. Sadly, could be any number of reasons why the person who bought it from the developer then lost the house.

The other thing I do is Google the address to see if any news reports show up about arrests or fires. And you can search for the owner’s name to find obituaries or other info… Really amazing what you can find online sometimes.

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[Sue]

I don’t know the house nor neighborhood, but I did find this page: http://www.trulia.com/property/32074814-506-S-Trenton-St-Seattle-WA-98108#local_info_tabs-2

If you scroll down to the “local information” section where you’ll see school info, click on the “crime” tab – if this info is true, that’s a lot of crimes within a few blocks of this place in a one week period.

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[DBP]

From a review of Sue’s link, you can see that the property has changed hands three times since 2006, with one of those sales being recorded as a “new construction transaction.” To me, that suggests that it was purchased as a potential sub-divide back in 2006.

That area was never prime to begin with (highway and airport noise, declining neighborhood, nearby industrial zoning), but it was seriously overvalued at $416,000. Now it appears to be slightly undervalued. Build date is 1908, so you’d want to have the inspector give special attention to things like the foundation and frame. Settling damage, termites, dry rot, things like that.

Crack house? Check with the City or County on that.

I wouldn’t look at this as an investment property, but with a mortgage payment of $500 and 1400 square feet of room, it’d be a nice cheap place to flop for a while.

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[AbbyDow]

Thanks everyone! This is really helpful. Much appreciated.

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[Author]

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