Tues Post #1: From the outrageous down to the merely obscene; the continuing saga of 3390 The Crescent - amended

Last year, on November 22, 2011, we told you about this house at 3390 The Crescent in Vancouver's Shaughnessy neighbourhood.

Profiled in the Vancouver Sun newspaper, the mansion had gone on the market for $31.9 million.

The Crescent lies at the heart of one of Vancouver's most upscale neighbourhood's. The street itself is a  circular road with a lovely park in the middle and 3390 is a palatial white house that sits on an acre sized lot where The Crescent meets Osler Street.

The house is 10,516 sq. ft spread over three storeys. There are six bedrooms, eight bathrooms and five fireplaces, along with a wine cellar, a games room, a gym and staff quarters. With a backyard pool, a koi pond, a greenhouse, and large, beautifully landscaped grounds; the home is 'palatial' in every sense of the word.

What makes this mansion stand out is it's selling history.

The current owners bought the home in April 2004 for $6 million.

Last year they listed it for sale for $17.9 million... but there were no takers at that 'bargain' price.

And we say 'bargain' because after casting an eye at the high prices mansions were commanding in area in 2011 (for example: a house had sold in 2010 on Angus Drive for $5.7 million. It was assessed in October 2011 at $9 million, a reflection of our extreme bubble condition), the owners of 3390 The Crescent decided to raise the asking price from $17.9 million to $31.9 million.

That's right.

The home they bought for $6 million had failed to sell for $17.9 million... so they doubled the asking price to $31.9 million.

Who says there's a disconnect in our real estate market?

Well it seems something resembling reality (if you can call it that) is starting to enter our market.

Yes... the outrageous has morphed to the merely obscene.

As Observer (from the blog Vancouver Price Drop) notes the sellers revoked their $31.9 million listing on September 25th, 2012 and have relisted the property on September 27th for $22.8 million.

That's a reduction of 29%.

Will this become the City's largest price drop vis-a-vis price reductions from highest listing price by the time all is said and done?

Chop 60% off that original asking price and you would come down to $13.3 million. An amount that  would still be more than twice what they paid for it in 2004.

Slash a further 75% from that and, in my opinion, $4 million would still be overpriced.

Such is the current state of the market.

More on this later this week.

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