House of the Week: Is This the Craziest-Priced House in Canada?

Is this what it has come to? A perfectly nice new build on large-ish lot in a good (but not great) neighbourhood is almost 10 million dollars?

Price $9,288,000Details 7,568 sq/ft. 7 Beds, 2 BathsNeighbourhood South Kerrisdale, VancouverThe Skinny Full disclosure—I live just a blocks from this place so I’d be over the moon if it sells for its asking price. That also means when I tell you that the neighbourhood is nice but by no means fancy or prestigious that I’m telling the truth. I literally drove by this place three times looking for “that $9 million dollar place on Beechwood St” until I realized it was this house. In a city of crazy prices, this one truly takes my breath away. The assessed value is $6.1 million, which is huge, but still a cool three million less than the asking price. Holy. Moly.The Pros At over 12,000 sq/ft the lot is large (that’s 100 x 120), if not quite Shaughnessy size. It’s only three years old, which I assume means someone has lived it in before. There’s a 750 sq/ft laneway house (although I assume you wouldn’t refer to it as a mortgage helper in this case). The kitchen is nice, but by no means stunning. There’s a large indoor pool and a new sauna (which I assume is the first “new” sauna built since Nixon was President). There’s a lot of wood used and some beautiful millwork and the carpet looks like it has that very expensive underlay that makes walking on it a dream. Oh, and one the kid’s rooms has an awesome bed shaped like a boat.The Cons While it claims to be “an architectural masterpiece,” I see no evidence of an architect’s hand at all—it simply looks like a very expensive builder’s special. The street is fine but again nothing fancy—the house directly across the street is appraised at $2.76 million, which is less than 1/3 the asking price of this. There’s no doubt that this would be a lovely home to live in—everything high-end and almost brand new—but shouldn’t one expect more when buzzing the eight-figure territory?The Verdict I simply can’t imagine who would ever buy this house when there are legitimate mansions for sale in better neighbourhoods on bigger lots for less money. The listing touts that the house has “easy access to Richmond” but if that was such a draw why not buy six of these houses that are actually in Richmond? On the other hand the house around the corner form this (see it here) is significantly smaller and on busy West 57th and is still $6,500,000! So how does anyone even approach this with any sense of rational thought?See the entire listing here.