Cheapest Townhome on the Lot: $96K Foreclosure Discount?

5248 Larkin St. D, Cottage Grove, Houston A househunter writes in with questions about the townhome at 5248 Larkin St. Unit D, calling it “possibly the strangest property I’ve ever seen.”

When I saw it on HAR.com, I thought I’d better be ready to spring with an offer immediately . . . I’m a first time home-buyer, so honestly, no expert. I’ve looked in Cottage Grove before, but with the exception of 2620 Detering, nothing of this size is that cheap.

On the same lot are three other identical townhouses, all advertised as new and offered at $315,000 by Mike Adams Enterprises. Unit D is listed for $219,000 and is being sold by a division of Sallie Mae.

The price is not weird for the neighborhood — I just think it’s odd that you have this foreclosure that is discounted $100k below the three new properties and they are on the same lot. . . .

The foreclosure sign is still hanging in the hallway, the red code violations are still on the door, and I’m just curious. . . .

Inspections were performed in spring of 2007 . . . but it doesn’t look like the code violations were addressed. If someone lived there, I’d be very surprised. . . .

I mean, it’s weird because they had nails in the wall –lots of nails, including ones in spots you wouldn’t necessarily hang pictures. At some point, someone had hung a television in the master bedroom. But it didn’t look as if the range had ever been used, that the showers, etc, had ever been used. If someone lived there, it was an extremely short period of time and they didn’t do anything but watch television. We were wondering at first if it had been a model home and that would account for the wear on the stairs and the holes in the wall and the nails. . . .

There were way too many red flags for me . . .

After the jump: more photos from the listing . . . and flags!

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More from our reader’s townhome review of Unit D:

It’s a gated community, but the gate either doesn’t work or has been left open, or something like that. So they have put a chain link fence with a padlock around the property blocking off the entrance.

And opposite the four townhouses are four new construction sites with plumbing in place, but no slabs have been poured.

There is no door connecti[ng] the garage to the interior of the house. It was so strange, and rather eliminates the safety aspect of a garage. . . .

There is a giant crack along the top of the bedroom on the ground floor:

You have to look carefully because it’s actually a hairline crack that starts about an inch below the ceiling and then curves around the wall and to the point just over the window.

All of the granite in the house is the same color with the exception of [the kitchen] island . . . I just wondered if they ran out of granite and decided to make do with this one that completely didn’t match . . .

The staircase is shoddy, slanting, stairs are different sizes. The floors feel uneven.

In the kitchen, there’s a door leading to a small balcony. There’s a small rectangle window above that balcony. We saw some weird paint job there, some peeling paint, and rotted wood on the top frame of the window. Also, the door in this kitchen and the door in the master bedroom directly above it are not flush to the door frame. These three rooms (including the above mentioned bedroom) are on top of each other. We were wondering if the foundation settled and that might have caused the crack, and then potential water damage/leak. We couldn’t tell if it was a one-time only leak or whether the sheetrock was wet. . . .

I really wish I had pictures to show you because it looks like a great deal on HAR, but the but is a giant one.