Teardown properties in 98052 sell for the value of their land, and the research for this submarket prices that land two ways. The first is the observed trade: across a sample of 36 homes built in 1980 or earlier, the average older home changed hands at 34.7 percent of the price of a new build on a comparable lot, and the worked example pairs a new build at 2,200,000 dollars with an older ranch a few streets away at roughly 763,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). A teardown candidate in that position is therefore selling in the high hundreds of thousands of dollars, not at a nominal lot clearing figure.
The second pricing method runs backward from the finished home. The research residual illustration starts at a 2,200,000 dollar new build sale, removes roughly 850,000 dollars of hard and soft construction costs and a builder margin near 20 percent, and lands on a residual land value near 910,000 to 1,010,000 dollars, before site preparation of 25,000 to 40,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Builders acquired 13 of the 36 sampled older homes, so these are not hypothetical numbers; they describe a going rate for land delivered with a house standing on it.
Key Findings
- Older homes in the sample averaged 34.7 percent of comparable new build prices, the baseline trade level for teardown candidates (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- The worked example records an older ranch at roughly 763,000 dollars near a new build that sold for 2,200,000 dollars (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- The residual illustration supports land values near 910,000 to 1,010,000 dollars under that same new build price, before site preparation (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Builders acquired 13 of 36 sampled older homes, a 36.1 percent demand rate that keeps teardown pricing competitive (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- New build sales on standard lots span 1,800,000 to 2,800,000 dollars, so teardown value rises and falls with the ceiling above each lot (Redfin, 2026).
- The smallest lot in the sample measured 5,917 square feet, and many lots here run 7,500 to 10,000 square feet (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
How do the two pricing methods for a teardown fit together?
The observed trade and the residual calculation describe the same market from opposite ends. The observed average, 34.7 percent of the new build price, is what sellers of older homes actually received across the sample (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The residual, near 910,000 to 1,010,000 dollars under a 2,200,000 dollar finished sale, is what a builder could afford to pay for the land at that point in the band and still protect a margin. Where the two figures overlap, deals happen easily; where a seller asks above the residual, the builder walks to the next lot.
The worked example sits inside that overlap. An older ranch changing hands at roughly 763,000 dollars, a few streets from a 2,200,000 dollar new build, leaves the buyer room for site preparation of 25,000 to 40,000 dollars and the full construction budget while staying inside the residual range (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Sellers can read the example as a template: find the new build ceiling for the street, run the documented deductions, and the remainder is the realistic teardown trading zone for the lot.
Recorded evidence anchors both ends of the template. County deed records document builder entity purchases across this submarket, converting the sample rates into named transactions a seller can inspect (King County Recorder, 2026). Recently sold records show the finished homes those purchases became and the prices they achieved (Redfin, 2026). A teardown price is therefore not a guess or a slogan; it is the visible remainder of two public records, the land purchase and the finished sale, with construction cost between them.
Financing conditions explain why builder pricing holds up when household pricing wobbles. The thirty year fixed rate surveyed at 7.28 percent for the week ending October 1, 2026 raises the carrying cost of every financed household purchase (Freddie Mac, 2026), while a builder buying land for cash flow through a project is solving a different equation. That difference is part of why 13 of 36 sampled older homes, many of them natural teardown candidates, ended with builders rather than with owner occupants.
What moves a specific teardown price up or down inside the range?
The finished home ceiling is the strongest lever. Streets where new construction clears toward 2,800,000 dollars support land residuals far above the sample mid point, while streets holding near 1,800,000 dollars compress the amount a builder can pay for the lot beneath (Redfin, 2026). Hill versus flat position feeds directly into that ceiling in the documented pricing, and Education Hill shows the pattern in its clearest form, with premiums visible in new build comparable sales that older listings rarely capture (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Lot dimensions form the second lever. The sample minimum of 5,917 square feet proves that compact lots trade to builders, while the common 7,500 to 10,000 square foot range gives a replacement home the footprint, garage, and yard that push finished prices upward (Frontier Capitals, 2026). County assessor files record the dimensions, lot square footage, and assessed land value behind every one of these judgments (King County Assessor, 2026), and sellers who quote those records in a negotiation are arguing from the same page the builder is using.
Preparation cost is the third lever, and it only subtracts. The residual illustration deducts site preparation of 25,000 to 40,000 dollars after the land figure, covering the work of clearing the existing structure and readying the ground (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Slope, access, and tree cover move a specific lot within or beyond that band, which is why two outwardly similar teardown properties on different streets can close at noticeably different prices.
Condition of the standing house, by contrast, barely moves a teardown price at all. A renovated kitchen adds value for a household buyer and nothing for a buyer pricing the ground, a split the research renovation example states in its sharpest form: a 120,000 dollar update can return 80,000 to 100,000 dollars on a household sale and exactly 0 dollars where the buyer intends to rebuild (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Sellers of likely teardown properties should therefore spend nothing on presentation aimed at builders, a point compared across routes in what builders have recently paid for teardown properties in Redmond.
What does a teardown seller actually keep after costs?
The teardown route usually runs direct, and the direct route changes the seller arithmetic completely. A listed sale of the same property would pay commission at the typical 5 to 6 percent for this market (National Association of Realtors, 2025), plus seller closing costs of 1 to 2 percent, for a combined 54,000 to 72,000 dollars on a 900,000 dollar price. It would also spend 60 to 120 plus days reaching closing, carrying the property at the documented hold cost of 18,000 to 36,000 dollars across three to six months (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
Against that, a direct teardown sale typically closes in 7 to 21 days with the structure taken as it stands. Washington home inspection practice, governed by state licensing standards for inspectors, shapes the concession round on listed older homes (Washington State Department of Licensing, 2026), and the direct route simply never opens that round. The seller of a teardown property is the last person who should fund an inspection driven repair negotiation, since the buyer valuation never depended on the systems being inspected.
County housing data supplies the backdrop for why this market segment stays liquid. Survey figures on housing age and condition across the county describe a deep inventory of older homes whose land has outgrown their structures (U.S. Census Bureau, 2025), and each year more of that inventory reaches the point where the teardown calculation is the honest valuation. Sellers can test their own lot against the residual template through how much a builder will pay for an older house in Redmond, or ask whether their home qualifies as a candidate at all through whether an older Redmond house is worth more as a teardown, and the contact page opens the direct conversation.
Assessment practice gives the seller one more verification tool. Parcel and permit records track both the standing improvement and the new construction that follows a builder purchase, so the county file itself narrates the teardown pattern across this ZIP code (King County Department of Assessments, 2026). Independent value tracking for the area offers a final cross check on where older homes and their replacements are priced (Zillow, 2026).
Estates supply a steady share of teardown candidates, and their experience shows the pricing logic in its purest form. Heirs who inherit a worn 1970s house on a strong lot often begin by pricing the home they remember, obtain contractor figures for restoring it, and only then discover that the buyer pool is pricing the ground alone (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The moment that discovery lands, the restoration figures become irrelevant, the comparable set changes from renovated houses to finished new builds, and the negotiation becomes a discussion about the lot dimensions and street ceiling recorded in the county file (King County Assessor, 2026).
Competition is the seller tool that most reliably lifts a teardown price from the bottom of the residual range toward the top. A single builder offer is priced to protect that builder margin with room to spare, while two or three written bids against the same lot facts force each bidder to spend part of the safety cushion to win the ground. Recorded deeds in this submarket show enough builder entity activity to make that competition realistic for well located lots (King County Recorder, 2026). The seller contribution to a higher price is therefore mostly procedural: gather the bids simultaneously, set a firm answer date, and compare the bids on net proceeds and closing certainty rather than on headline figures alone.
One caution closes the pricing discussion. A teardown price is a land price, and land prices move with the finished home market above them, so a figure that was fair under one new build band can soften if finished prices retreat or construction costs jump (Redfin, 2026). Sellers holding a strong written offer inside the documented residual range should weigh the risk of re marketing later against the small chance of a better figure, because the carrying costs of waiting are certain while the improvement is not.
What do sellers keep when a Redmond sale stays off market?
Privacy is the first kept benefit, because a teardown sale conducted off market involves zero showings and zero open houses. The owners of a long held home do not have to host the neighborhood curiosity that a listing attracts once a property is known to be a redevelopment candidate.
Timing control is second, since a direct closing can be completed in 7 to 21 days when a seller wants the matter finished. It can also be set months ahead with a leaseback, which suits an estate or a downsizing household that needs the sale certain before it needs the house empty, a flexibility the 60 to 120 plus day listing cycle cannot match.
The commission kept is third, worth 5 to 6 percent of the price and equal to 45,000 to 54,000 dollars on a 900,000 dollar teardown sale. Because the teardown price is already a land price, surrendering a commission on top of it cuts directly into the one asset the seller actually has, the ground.
Fourth, the seller closing cost block of 1 to 2 percent contracts under a direct structure, and the combined commission and closing figure of 54,000 to 72,000 dollars on a 900,000 dollar sale is the sum being defended. Defending it matters more on a teardown sale than on any other, because there is no renovation upside left to offset leakage.
Fifth, the seller keeps the entire repair and preparation budget, since an as is teardown agreement carries no 10,000 to 30,000 dollar repair credits and no inspection driven price reductions. Money not spent fixing a house that will not stand is the cleanest saving in the whole transaction.
The disclosure that governs this route should be read before signing anything. Frontier Capitals sources off-market deals to builders and works as a wholesaler in the technical sense, and it does not claim to be the builder on the project. Verify any buyer through proof of funds dated within 30 days, recorded deeds in the buyer entity name, earnest money of typically 1 percent or more, and a contract written with no assignment clause.
Methodology and limitations
The pricing in this report rests on the submarket sample of 36 homes built in 1980 or earlier in 98052, of which builders acquired 13, and on the worked example and residual illustration documented with that sample (Frontier Capitals, 2026). The residual illustration is expressly a simplified illustration in the underlying research, not a promise, and site preparation, construction budgets, and margins vary by project in ways that move any specific teardown price above or below the ranges used here. The sample is not a census of the ZIP code, no inspection or title search was performed for this report, and individual outcomes depend on street ceiling, lot dimensions, and preparation cost as the sections above describe.
Conclusion
Teardown properties in 98052 are selling at land value, which currently means an average trade near 34.7 percent of comparable new build prices, a worked example at roughly 763,000 dollars, and a residual land range near 910,000 to 1,010,000 dollars under a 2,200,000 dollar finished sale on strong ground. The standing house contributes little to those figures; the lot, the street, and the finished ceiling contribute nearly everything. For a residual based valuation of a specific teardown candidate, call 401-219-4207 or email [email protected]. If your home were priced purely as the ground beneath it, would the number surprise you upward or downward?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the typical selling range for a teardown property here?
The sample frames it rather than fixing it: older homes averaged 34.7 percent of comparable new build prices, the worked example traded near 763,000 dollars, and the residual method supports land values near 910,000 to 1,010,000 dollars under a 2,200,000 dollar finished sale on suitable ground (Frontier Capitals, 2026). A specific property lands inside or outside those markers according to its street ceiling, lot size, and preparation cost.
How can a seller test whether a builder offer is fair?
Run the offer against the residual template using closed new build sales on the street, then confirm the lot facts in county records (King County Assessor, 2026). An offer far below the residual after documented construction costs and site preparation deserves a competing bid, and recorded deeds show an active builder pool to solicit one from (King County Recorder, 2026). Fairness here is arithmetic, not opinion.
Does a teardown in good condition sell for more than one in poor condition?
Barely, when the buyer is pricing land. Condition drives household value, but the teardown calculation starts from the finished home price and works backward through construction cost and margin (Frontier Capitals, 2026). A sound house on a weak lot can therefore sell for less as a teardown than a tired house on a strong Education Hill lot, which is why sellers should identify the buyer type before spending on condition.
Why do teardown prices differ so much between streets in the same ZIP code?
Because the finished home ceiling differs, spanning 1,800,000 to 2,800,000 dollars on standard lots by street, slope, and lot size (Redfin, 2026). Every dollar of ceiling difference flows through the residual calculation into the land figure, amplified or compressed by preparation cost. The ZIP code is one market, but the teardown price is set street by street.
Should a teardown seller ever list publicly instead of selling directly?
Listing can make sense where household value plausibly exceeds land value, for example a charming, updated home on a modest lot. Where the residual land figure clearly dominates, listing mostly adds commission, months of carry, and an inspection round the buyer profile does not need (Washington State Department of Licensing, 2026). The comparison should be run on net proceeds at firm dates, the same discipline this report applies throughout.
Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder acquisition sample: 36 homes sampled in 98052, 13 acquired by builders, average older home price 34.7 percent of new build. Market data.
- Redfin, 2026. Recently sold homes and new construction, ZIP code 98052, Redmond WA. Market data.
- King County Recorder, 2026. Recorded deeds and builder entity purchases. Official record.
- King County Assessor, 2026. Parcel dimensions, lot square footage, assessed land value, and new construction records for 98052. Official record.
- King County Department of Assessments, 2026. Parcel and permit records, Redmond WA. Official record.
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2025. American Community Survey: housing age and condition data, King County, Washington. Government data.
- Zillow, 2026. Home values and recently sold, 98052. Market data.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Typical seller commission structures, Seattle-Eastside market. Industry report.
- Washington State Department of Licensing, 2026. Home inspector licensing standards and inspection contingency practices. Official record.
- Freddie Mac, 2026. Primary Mortgage Market Survey: 30-year fixed rate 7.28% for the week ending October 1, 2026. Market data.