Melrose home for sale: great location, spacious, major fire damage

MELROSE, Mass. — A home in Melrose destroyed by fire and deemed unlivable is on the market and already receiving multiple offers for more than 600-thousand dollars.

It’s a testament to how hot the housing market is right now.

The spacious, two-family home on a quarter-acre lot that's walking distance from downtown Melrose and seven miles north of Boston sounds like a commuter's dream home -- until they see it.

The house at 504 Lebanon Street went up in flames back in March, no one was injured, but the family lost everything.

“I feel horrible for the family that they lost their home, that’s terrible,” Madison Avenue Boutique owner Katie Murphy said.

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Now, they are trying to get back on their feet and find a new place to call home. The asking price for this charred, unlivable property is a cool $650,000. In a hot market, there isn't much sticker shock going around.

“I’m not surprised that it’s selling for that much,” Murphy said.

Realtor Bill Butler says what lacks curb appeal, is made up in the demand for people wanting a little more space with good schools, but still close to Boston. And it's still clearly a seller's market.

“We listed on the 31st of May, we did have several offers,” Butler said. “At this point, I don’t anticipate it being on the market very long, maybe another couple weeks.”

He says the average home in Melrose is selling in about a week. He says had this home not caught on fire, it could’ve sold for close to a million. Instead, it now has a reduced-price tag of $650,000 because its unlivable.

“It’s not really being sold as a home, we’re looking at the lot and development opportunity here,” Butler explained.

Butler says it's ideal for a developer to build two new townhomes in the heart of Melrose. He's holding an open house this Saturday, but the only problem is it will be outside since it's unsafe to go into the structure.

But he believes that won't have any effect on his ability to sell the property.

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Cox Media Group