Vancouver teardown sells for $1.5 million within 'hours'

Even the real estate agent responsible for the sale is surprised by how quickly a $1.5-million teardown in Vancouver was snapped up. 

The two-bedroom home on East Broadway, built in 1927, is uninhabitable. The boards of the wooden stairs are broken, the paint is peeling and stained with water-damage, the entrance is boarded up and weeds have sprouted on the roof. 

But none of that mattered.

Usha Naidu of RE/MAX Crest Realty said she never had any doubt the ramshackle house would sell since what is being purchased is the land and not the unsightly abode.

"I knew it would go in a week or two, but not in a couple of hours,” she said.

Naidu said there were five interested parties, with the winning buyer offering full price with zero conditions.

“This is the new norm some of us will have to swallow and deal with, unfortunately,” said Naidu. “There are people who are willing to pay this price.”

She and her buyer are understandably happy about the swift sale.

Naidu says the buyer will likely build a new house on the lot, complete with two mortgage helpers – a legal basement suite and a laneway house.