Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Dirt In Highland Park Has Appreciated Over 500% Since 2006



4311 and 4321 Lakeside Dr., both listed at approximately 1.17 acres, have just been hoisted on the market for a mind-boggling $16,225,000 and $15,100,000, respectively. Something about this new listing just isn't adding up. Literally. Nearly everyone knows the piece(s) of land I'm talking about. The gorgeous treed corner lot where Lakeside Dr., Preston Rd., Oaklawn Ave. and Armstrong Ave. all meet. Or some of you many know it as the piece of land across the street from where Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, lives.

So, the short history of these lots is they were both comprised of 4310, 4311, 4320 and 4330 Lakeside Dr. and they were all four listed for sale together in the MLS back in 2004 under one address, 4311 Lakeside Dr., for $7,500,000. The entire property eventually sold after a whopping 673 days (almost 2 years) on the market for a meager $6,025,000. While the property's owner is listed in the tax rolls as the Town of Highland Park, I seem to recall chatter that a neighbor who lives on Armstrong purchased the property to make sure the property sold to a nice individual that would want to build a HUGE single family residence on the property, as opposed to a church or some other commercial development. But who knows if that's true or not. I certainly don't.

Anyway, a few days ago I saw a couple new lots listed for sale in Highland Park with the addresses 4311 and 4321 Lakeside Dr. And then I see the redonkulous list price! I quickly whipped out my trusty TI-82 calculator to discover that the appreciation rate from $6,025,000 in 2006 to over $31,000,000 in 2010 is a nonsensical 520% appreciation rate over 4 years.

Sure this piece of land is desirable, but $6M to over $30M in 4 years for the same exact piece of dirt? Am I missing something here?