A skinny house in Washington, DC, which is six feet wide at its narrowest point, just dropped its price to around $570,000.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young
A Washington, DC developer was forced to build a skinny home six feet wide at its narrowest point.
Zoning laws made it hard to build any bigger on the 0.02-acre property, the listing agent said.
The narrow home was listed for $799,900 in July 2023, but eventually sold for $484,000.
A house in Washington, DC, that's only 10 feet wide at its widest point sold for $484,000, a nearly 40% discount from its original price.
The one-bedroom, one-bathroom home first hit that market at $799,900 after a real estate developer made do with what he had.
The listing agent Jennifer Young told Business Insider in 2024 that zoning laws changed shortly after the developer purchased the lot, so a new floorplan was necessary.
"It literally came down to sometimes a centimeter of getting the exact measurements right to both comply with DC zoning and build a really nice home that was functional," Young told Business Insider in 2024.
Nady Samnang, the developer, bought the property in 2021 for $200,000, according to the Zillow listing, and was tasked with figuring out how to build a narrow home on a driveway in between two alleys. He told The Washington Post that the design went through many iterations and took nearly seven months to get approved by the city's permit office.
"I wanted to quit so many times," he told the Post.
Young said the home received a lot of interest throughout the area and beyond.
"It's one of the most-viewed homes on Zillow that I've ever seen in my career," Young said. "We do have quite a bit of looky-loos, but we have a lot of first-time buyers looking and investors — people that want to Airbnb it or rent it to college kids."
But after a disappointing showing on the market, the price began to fall. It dropped to $625,000 after a year on the market, and was most recently listed for $499,000. The 600-square-foot home even was listed as a rental in between those price drops, advertising $2,900 a month and then $2,500 a month for rent, according to Zillow.
Eventually, the home sold to someone who intends to use it as a primary residence, buying agent Stephen Gabauer told Business Insider. It still remains one of the more unique properties he's worked on.
"I hadn't seen a single-family home that size in Washington, DC ever," Gabauer said. "Especially not in a narrow alleyway."
Nady Samnang and his brother Dean purchased the 700-square-foot lot at the beginning of 2021 with plans to build a four-story home.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
According to Zillow, they purchased the lot for $200,000.
They were originally going to build a four-story house at double the width, but DC zoning restrictions changed shortly after they bought the land.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
"They changed zoning right after he bought it so they were kind of screwed and they either were going to scrap a deal or try to build a tiny home," Young said in 2024.
Construction was difficult with such a narrow space, so the materials had to be brought in by hand.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
"There's a road, but big work trucks can't come through and it's a very tight space to work in," Young said.
Although the house is 6 feet wide at its narrowest point, it still has several amenities that you'd find in any modern home.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
It even has a fenced patio big enough for an intimate seating area.
Bringing materials in was not the only challenge. Samnang also had to get creative when finding space for basics inside.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
Samnang told the Post that the powder room under the stairs was an "extreme challenge" because of a DC code that requires toilets and sinks to be at least 15 inches apart. He had to opt for a skinny sink to fit.
The buyer, who got the home at a steep discount, saved a few extra dollars because the home came furnished.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
No need to haul in a bed upstairs or search for a couch that fits — those items come with the home.
"They just went pretty modern and they chose all the right finishes that are popular now," Young said. "They had to do something that made it as luxury and contemporary and high end as they could within these restrictions."
It was first listed on Zillow for $799,900, making it $1,333 per square foot.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
It's 45 feet long and 10 feet across at its widest point.
The home eventually sold for about $807 per square foot.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
"It's definitely hard to price," Young said. "There's not one single comp because everything around it is condos and it's not comparable to condos."
While the property attracted interest from Airbnb hosts and investors looking to rent it out, the buyer intends to use it as a primary residence.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
Gabauer said that by the time he brought his client, the price was already far below the original asking price, but they still negotiated.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
"The seller was motivated and ready to sell, but we negotiated even further," he said.
While the property itself is a bit quirky, the sale was anything but, according to Gabauer.
Courtesy of Jennifer Young.
"It was a relatively smooth process," he said. "We had a home inspection and negotiated some repairs — pretty standard, honestly."