"Not livable": Smoke damaged Vancouver home relisted for $2,300,000

6408 Vine Street, Vancouver (Zealty.ca)

A home in the charming Vancouver community of Kerrisdale has been listed as “not livable” due to smoke and water damage, but the asking price is still $2,300,000.

What makes this even more surprising is the fact that this house sold for $2,150,000 in November 2021, according to BC Condos and Homes. At that point, 6408 Vine Street was listed for $1,680,000, according to Zealty. That means, in under six months, the list price for this uninhabitable home jumped by $620,000.

Sustained smoke and water damage are the primary factors in making the house uninhabitable, but that didn’t stop the previous buyer from spending over $2 million.

The most recent assessment has the total value of the house listed at $2,197,200, with $30,200 of that amount attributed to the value of the smoke-damaged building and the rest attributed to the land value.

You might also like:

The listing recommends holding the property for investment or “for your future dream” home on a 33 x 125.6 lot. The listing also states there’s a “possible underground oil tank” that was detected by an oil tank company.

6408 Vine Street, Vancouver (Zealty.ca)

On the surface, the 91-year-old house seems like it’s in pretty good condition, aside from the slightly crooked mailbox.

Pictures from within this four-bedroom, two-bathroom Kerrisdale home tell a completely different story.

Zealty.ca

Portions of the ceiling throughout the house seem to be falling apart, and other areas of the building make the house seem like a perfect fit for a horror movie, with smoke damage visible throughout the interior of this Vancouver home.

In 1982, the home sold for a measly $118,000.

Even in 1994, the house sold for $480,000, which is peanuts relative to today’s housing prices in the city.

Zealty.ca

Last year’s sale price of $2,150,000 is still well below the average cost of a home in Kerrisdale, which currently sits at $3.4 million, according to Kerrisdale MLS stats on Zolo.

In October 2021, the benchmark price for a home in Metro Vancouver was $1,199,400.

Zealty.ca

The house would definitely make for a fun extreme makeover project.

Zealty.ca

The kitchen has also seen much better days.

Zealty.ca

As BC struggles to find a solution to the housing affordability problem, this house is a prime example of how investors are still finding ways to take advantage of the market.

You might also like: