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Baltimore Hokie Baltimore Hokie OP
Mar 10, 2025 at 12:26 PM ET
Small average looking house in Madison, VA selling for $500 per square foot
Somebody tell me something about this I'm missing - is it the proximity to SNP?

22 Replies

VTSweetG VTSweetG
Going 180 in the other direction... who has been trying to sell this one??
MrBayAreaHokie MrBayAreaHokie
cannot even fathom that
$6k an acre in Va? Is it on a haunted Indian burial ground LOL? The Zestimate btw is $485K, so the asking price is pretty close to that at least...though I have no idea how accurate Zillow's estimates are outside of the burbs. Looking at the five lots for sale in Madison, they are from $10K to $70K an acre and that's with no house.
Baltimore Hokie Baltimore Hokie OP
Madison County has a strange short term rental zoning ordnance
If you have ONE house on the lot, it can be used as either a primary residence or a short term rental. That is the case with this one. If you have ONE PRIMARY RESIDENCE on the lot, you can build ONE additional dwelling to use as a short term rental, provided the lot is six acres or more. You CANNOT use both dwellings for short term rental. You can build ADDITIONAL short term rentals on the lot with a special use permit, as long as the lot is big enough. Each dwelling requires three acres. So on this lot, you could have a primary residence and two additional short term rentals. If I owned this property, I would build myself a primary residence on the hillside and then an additional short term rental by the creek. The short term rentals would pay for everything and you'd be able to live there for free.
MrBayAreaHokie MrBayAreaHokie
how dangerous is that creek proximity?
Baltimore Hokie Baltimore Hokie OP
That's the other thing that puzzles me
In Shenandoah county there is a 100 foot buffer requirement for all streams. If it's the same in Madison, this one is either nonconforming or was grandfathered in.
MrBayAreaHokie MrBayAreaHokie
sorry, meant this under @hoosnowahokie
VT BronzeBacker VT BronzeBacker
Price was evidently running a little hotter up until 2020..
Must have extracted all of the oil and rare earth minerals by then……
MrBayAreaHokie MrBayAreaHokie
it's the lot...10.8 acres
hoosnowahokie hoosnowahokie
That's only like $60-75k of that price
MrBayAreaHokie MrBayAreaHokie
wrong hold
E
EDGEMAN
Nice, but would much rather buy a home on the top of a hill...
...with a walk down to the stream.
Baltimore Hokie Baltimore Hokie OP
I did some checking on Zillow - lot prices have a pretty wide range in that
area. For 10 acres, that's on the high side. I think the AirBnB thing is a major contributor.
vatechcowpatty vatechcowpatty
Looks like they’ve already taken the wheels off and everything.
Femoyer Hokie Femoyer Hokie
And for all that you probably are buying
a house in a floodplain. On the plus side, lots of nice brook trout streams in that area for fly fishing.
s.mill hokie s.mill hokie
Right in the middle of the FEMA flood zone
Also pretty close to a significant wildfire last fall. ** Edited by s.mill hokie at 3/10/2025, 12:51:02 PM
Chris Coleman Chris Coleman
10 acres. Anybody who buys that house is buying the setting.
They aren't buying it for the house. They just want that outdoor, living-by-the-creek vibe.
MP4VT2004 MP4VT2004
Plus, think how much this white fence must have cost.
TIC
Late 80s Hokie Late 80s Hokie
Or for development.
10.8 acres. Put up 15 lots at 2/3rds of an acre each. I have no idea if the location is zoned for that, or if it's near enough to other areas to even be desirable for that, but it would easily explain the financials.
Baltimore Hokie Baltimore Hokie OP
It appears to be conservation district zoning, which is less restrictive
But if they are like many counties there is a minimum lot size for septic systems. Might only get 4-5 lots out of that parcel.
G
GreenvilleVT
You could park a trailer down by the river.
Then you’d live in a trailer down by the river. ** Edited by GreenvilleVT at 3/10/2025, 3:01:48 PM
Baltimore Hokie Baltimore Hokie OP
It's currently being used as an AirBnB
I'm thinking they are valuing it as an income producing asset rather than a home.
N
NokieHokie
My guess is it's the 10.8 acres...