Belmont’s Emmett House listed for $2.78M: City’s divestment of historic home is part of several property sales meant to bolster affordable housing fund

The property is a duplex, with each unit comprising three bedrooms and two bathrooms. For years, the units were below-market-rate rentals owned by the city, but the council recently decided to sell the property and direct the proceeds to its affordable housing fund, which helps finance new affordable housing developments in the city.

“These housing properties are better managed by private vendors,” City Manager Afshin Oskoui said. “Maintaining these facilities is not something we are set up to do. It’s a better use for our private partners to do that.”

While the units were previously rented below-market rate, the home is being sold at market value and can also be rented as such. Because the property is considered a historic structure, however, it still has to maintain its original exterior style and design.

“It’s a phenomenal house with a large lot. It needs someone that really wants to take the next chapter of maintaining this beautiful home,” said Realtor Abe Matar, who is working with the city on the sale. “What it means to Belmont is very important.”

The sale is part of the city’s broader plan to divest from several residential properties, which have also included a group home and skilled nursing facility. As part of the state’s dissolution of redevelopment agencies in 2012, the city acquired several residential facilities, some of which it has since sold.

According to a previous report, for all three properties, the city collected about $7,100 monthly but each one had at least $100,000 in deferred maintenance costs. The Emmett House had about $200,000 in deferred maintenance costs, according to a previous city presentation.