Basement condo? Busy road? It's a tough sell.

But even 'incurable' flaws can be overcome

Gus Drakakis's single-family brick colonial didn't seem like it would be an easy sell. Yes, it was in good condition. And yes, it was remodeled.

But the home also sits along a busy street, Euclid Highway between Connecticut and Wisconsin avenues in Bethesda. And homes on busy roads are usually a tough sell.

But buyers didn't turn away from Drakakis's home. It was listed on a Friday in May, generated six quick offers and was sold the following Tuesday in the high $600,000s.

How did this house on a busy street buck the odds? Drakakis pointed to two factors: He and his wife, both architects, had paid to have the home's kitchen and three bathrooms renovated. And the house itself, though it sits on a busy street, boasts a good location, close to downtown Bethesda and within walking distance of a Metro station.

"I really believe in that adage about 'location, location, location' now," Drakakis said. "When we bought the house, we realized it was a busy street. But because of the fact that we bought it, we knew someone out there would want to buy it, too, when we were ready to sell. The location near downtown Bethesda really did it for us."

Drakakis managed to sell his house, and do it quickly, even though it suffered from an incurable defect -- its location on a busy street.

With rare, expensive exceptions, a house cannot be picked up and moved from a busy street to a quiet one. That makes the defect "incurable." Garden condominiums are another example of a home style that agents say is relatively unpopular with buyers, making it an incurable defect.

But other, more curable defects, like outdated kitchens and bathrooms, can be just as great an obstacle if the seller can't afford to make the improvements.

Drakakis's experience offers a lesson. His home had the extras that helped it overcome a seemingly incurable negative: It had been recently renovated. It is in a part of the city that is attractive to buyers. Most important, it was priced fairly.

Homes that don't have these benefits can sit on the market for months when they have incurable flaws.

Consider those homeowners whose residences suffer from a different sort of incurable flaw: Their homes are no longer worth what they paid for them, and they can't sell for enough money to pay off their mortgage. To get rid of such homes, sellers need to get their lender's approval for a short sale.

Lindsay Dreyer, a real estate agent with Hounshell Real Estate in the District, owns a townhouse in Fairfax that she's been unable to move. She is underwater on the mortgage, owing more than the townhouse is worth. Dreyer is doing what many other homeowners facing the same problem are doing: She's renting it out.