Baffled in Burbank: 43% off foreclosured house

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AK writes, via e-mail, that this one is baffling. Here’s the Redfin listing, here’s the short history of 1248 E. Elmwood Ave. in Burbank, now in foreclosure:

Date sold Price

May 1989: $350,000
Dec. 1997: $250,000
Mar. 1999: $364,000
June 2000: $445,000
June 2002: $444,443
Mar. 2003: $640,000
Aug 2003: $675,000
Mar. 2004: $775,000
Dec. 2004: $648,703
Feb. 2006: $812,500
Oct. 2006: $1,150,000
Feb. 2008: $969,000
Now listed for $659,900
Decline in value from peak sales price: 43%

Notes: The $300,000-plus run-up in eight months in 2006 is intriguing. A remodel? Of course, there was a bigger run-up in percentage terms, of almost $200,000, in nine months in 2002-2003.

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