How can you explain this price history?

[Faisal Farnas]

Hello, I am just looking for some advice from more experienced investors. I was casually browsing Zillow and I see that this 2/1 condo in Saint Petersburg, Florida hit the market. It is in an OK area. 

Looking at the Price History below, a few things stand out:

1) The appreciation from 1981 to 2015 (35 years) when it was sold was around negative $5k! That is terrible. Why is that?

2) Seems like someone purchased it and remodeled it, and offering to sell it for some profit. Is the investor who is going to buy this going to have almost zero appreciation as well, based on the history?

Typical SFH a few blocks south appreciated by more than 200% over the same period. This does not make sense to me. Can someone offer any explanations?

Thanks

[Jean Bolger]

Could be big trouble with the HOA. Could be the property is soaked in cat urine and cigarette smoke. Could be that Zillow has something wrong. Could be one of those Florida properties where the flood insurance costs more than the value of the house. Or it could just be where you are in the market cycle; a few years ago in my town a huge number of condos were selling way below their original sale price. Now they are way way up.

appreciation is never guaranteed!