Rundown 96-year-old home listed for $6.98M in Vancouver

Price reflects eye-popping values

A rundown residence in downtown Vancouver that only needs “a little TLC” would need a buyer with considerably large pockets.

Built in 1922, the twostorey house at 1511 Barclay St. has four bedrooms, three bathrooms and an eye-popping list price of $6.98 million.

That’s especially noteworthy considering the same house sold for $2.8 million just over two years ago, $700,000 above its then-asking price. Land-title documents list the current owner as Sahara Jetha.

The reason for the high price tag — now and then — is: “Location, location, location!!!,” according to the description of the listing by realtor Sydney Deng of Royal Pacific Realty Corp.

The property is being marketed as a “land assembly” and an opportunity for “investment and self-use.”

The 2,372-square-foot house has a “well-laid-out floor plan,” said the ad, with two bedrooms and living space on the main floor, another bedroom on the top floor and a fourth bedroom in the basement.

It sits on a 33-by-131-foot lot between an apartment building and a townhouse in Vancouver’s West End, where single-family dwellings rarely come on the market.

Like most of the West End, the property is zoned RM-5 — another selling point, as it allows for a floor-space ratio of 1.5, or up to 6,484 square feet of living space with the retention of the house and infill in the back. The RM-5 zoning allows for residential developments with “compatible retail, office, service and institutional uses,” says the city, with an emphasis placed on developments that are compatible with the neighbourhood and suited to families with children.

A representative of Deng said she was out of town and not reachable by phone.

In 2018, the property was assessed at $3.3 million for the land and $117,000 for the house, according to B.C. Assessment.

A nearby house on a smaller lot, which had operated as a bed and breakfast, was sold last year for $2.8 million, just slightly over its assessed value of $2.7 million.

Another house in the neighbourhood sold for $6.4 million last year. It was assessed at $5.6 million.

NICK PROCAYLO / POSTMEDIA NEWS This Vancouver home built in 1922 is for sale for $6.98 million, two years after the same house sold for $2.8 million — which was $700,000 above its then-asking price.