Neighbours up the street call it “the hillbilly house.” Its dilapidated hulk holds three bedrooms and two bathrooms, where dirt and dust collect on plywood floors, light drifts through a hole in the roof and the only stirring comes from an itinerant realtor or the resident squirrels.

Actually, they might be bats.

It doesn’t really matter. Because even though the structure at 41 Kippendavie Ave. is unquestionably decrepit, we’re talking about a fully detached home in the Beach, south of Queen St. near the lake, with a private driveway and ample yard space that backs onto a leafy park. That’s enough to prompt a flurry of bids for a house advertised as “not currently livable” and in “extremely poor condition.”

After two days on the market, the property sold this week for $1 million, more than $100,000 above the asking price.

And this, in response to a listing that advised curious buyers to go visit “at your own risk” and that a “flashlight may be required” because the power is disconnected.

“I wouldn’t have thought it would have played out that way,” admitted the 20-year veteran realtor hired to sell the place, lifelong Beach resident Lindsay Wright.

“But nothing surprises me anymore as a seasoned agent (in Toronto).”

Wright explained there is huge demand for lots in the neighbourhood south of Queen St. E. because the area is highly regarded and such properties are rarely available. She said the average buyer would probably avoid it, but a house like this is typically attractive to contractors who plan to build and sell, or someone with the means to tear down the sad edifice and put up a dream house of their own design.

She wouldn’t say who bought the house, but Wright mentioned it was unusual to have to tell prospective buyers to keep low expectations about the interior of a house she was selling.

“With this, it was location, location,” Wright said. “Obviously, my concern with it was I didn’t want anyone to hurt themselves inside. You don’t know what’s loose.”

She added that there was “evidence of animals” in the house.

“I don’t know for sure; there was something that was getting in there… It was just messy.”

John Pasalis, who runs the Realosophy real estate brokerage in Toronto, said sales of such homes aren’t uncommon, even if they’re falling apart and housing rodents.

“Many people are just paying for land value,” he said. “One of the challenges for the Beach is there aren’t a lot of lots that come up.

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“I’m not entirely surprised. I mean, the price seems a little high, but these types of things are common with a lot of these bidding wars for these types of properties.”

Reached by phone at her home around the corner, Gail Stelmach didn’t fall off her chair when told of the sale. “The homes here are all out of this world in pricing,” she said. “That’s how it is in the Beach. There isn’t a big choice.”

According to Wright’s website, the average price of a home sold in the neighbourhood in August was $979,450.