Here's a house to discuss

Glad no one was hurt. I guess they don't have insurance to cover the cost to rebuild, or is that an act of nature and not covered by insurance? Monrovia has lots of expensive homes.

Goodness. Glad no one was hurt! I little pricey for my budget. lol
I can't even imagine getting that much money for such a small lot which is practically on top of your neighbors.
I remember visiting someone that lived in California for the first time. They talked about their property, the avocado trees, other trees, vegetation, bushes and flowers all along the side and front property lines, veggie gardens, chicken coops, etc. My brain pictured at least a few acres. But, their lot was probably no larger than 1/3 acre.I was shocked, but to them, they had a nice size lot. Just different perspectives in what one is accustomed to.

Glad no one was hurt.

The comment in the description of the property >> "lots of meat left on this bone for investors". 

Good grief. So not only are you paying half a million dollars for a lot so small that many single story home plans of "average" size today couldn't even be built on it, but you have to pay for the demo and lot clearing as well just to get to the point where you can build.

What, no photos of the inside? 🤔

And on the flip side of the coin, at our lake cabin, one of the “cabins” just down the way from us was torn down and rebuilt last year. The house they tore down was in the neighborhood of $2.5M when they bought it a year or so prior, on a standard sized lakefront lot. The owners jokingly call it the “Why Not? House.” Lower the entire lot by something like 30’? (It was previously on a hill.) Why not? Build a huge “boathouse” with a literal deck off the front, that has no actual access to the lake and will never store a boat? Why not? Replace a gorgeous $2.5M house with one that reportedly cost $6.5M to build? Why not? People are crazy. I don’t even want to know how many palms had to be greased to get all of the assorted variances approved to do half of what they did there.

I was looking at the comp map. It looks like it was subdivided from a larger lot. Homes around it are valued at over $1 million, and one home across the street is valued at over $2 million. If I owned the larger part of the lot, I would consider buying it so that my lot is made “whole” and is as big as the lots around it. Would bump up my property value.

 It is definitely lot value. Monrovia is in LA County (east of Pasadena). 

Given that the current owners bought it in 1996 for $80K I am not surprised they are selling over rebuilding if insurance doesn't cover the damage.

I also think that selling it As Is might let the buyer grandfather in to zoning changes/regulations. 

Makes me feel a lot better about what we paid for our house.