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I saw RFD at that old house looking it over several times and thought they were going to burn it down as a training exercise.
I'm sure that old house was a cozy little place to live back in it's early days before all the traffic grew up around it. Too bad the house was in such bad shape and I'm surprised people were still living there with that roof in such bad shape.... it had to be leaking water inside. The house did have some charm and character if you overlooked it's poor physical condition.
I do think that the subject corner property plus the adjoining properties combined are a ripe candidate for a future strip mall or an office complex development, or perhaps a church property.
PDX- I like the way you think girl.It is not too surprising that you are a Downeast native. Eastern North Carolina has produced a lot of mighty fine folks. Anyway- just curious, I know that you lived in Portland in an old house. What would a totally re-done, tricked out 2000 square foot Bungalow sell for in a nice in-town Portland hood? I always like to keep up with Cliff Claven type mundane facts like this. Thanks.
Thanks! Depends on the hood in Portland. Since Portland is larger and had more growth in the early 1900s, it has quite a few more old neighborhoods than Raleigh. But there are levels of status and they are often associated w/ elevation. In the West Hills in Portland a remodeled home of 2000 sq ft above ground could still go for 750K - to close to 1 million. But most of the homes in the West Hills are bigger than 2000 sq feet (and go for well over a million).
Down the hill in a good neighborhood, on a good street, I'd expect to pay on average 500K to 750K. My old neighborhood, Westmoreland, would fall in the 500-600K range mostly for what you are describing. But just a few blocks away in Eastmoreland (a little tonier) same house would go for 100K-250K more.
Keep in mind in Portland all real estate sq footage includes basements even if they are not finished. Our Portland home was about 2200 sq feet above ground, but w/ the basement it was 3500 sq feet. Basements there are much more valued than they are here. And the great thing is since there is a large stock of old homes you can still find great homes that haven't been tricked out. These obviously sell for less.
Portland is still the most affordable of the "larger" cities on the West Coast. Much more so than Seattle or SF.
I've always thought Portland was a neat city, and it's great when there are pockets of old well cared for neighborhoods throughout a city that give it a sense of place and time
It's really expensive to move a house, and is usually only viable if the house has historic value, and this house doesn't really look to be all that historic.
Hi -- I am new here (we may be relocating to the area -- trying to scope the area out, and fell upon this loverly site...)
But -- I just wanted to say that that house looked like a Montgomery Ward Catalogue house... They actually are somewhat historic-- a lot like the Sears Roebuck homes. Sad to see it torn down.
Hi -- I am new here (we may be relocating to the area -- trying to scope the area out, and fell upon this loverly site...)
But -- I just wanted to say that that house looked like a Montgomery Ward Catalogue house... They actually are somewhat historic-- a lot like the Sears Roebuck homes. Sad to see it torn down.
For those interested, here is one collection of Sears Kit homes:
These "mail order houses" are certainly a very interesting part of the expansion of America in the early 20th century. And it is also why many of these styles, such as Four Square and Craftsman, became so ubiquitous during that time frame.
Here too is a whole collection of early house plans:
I think it would be really cool for a new home builder to take some of these old plans and recreate some of the designs. If the market were still healthy and I had the $$, I think that would be an angle I'd personally find fun.
Al
Last edited by al_roethlisberger; 04-06-2009 at 03:17 PM..
Hi -- I am new here (we may be relocating to the area -- trying to scope the area out, and fell upon this loverly site...)
But -- I just wanted to say that that house looked like a Montgomery Ward Catalogue house... They actually are somewhat historic-- a lot like the Sears Roebuck homes. Sad to see it torn down.
It had character but was totally trashed by decades of poor maintenance.
My husband and I actually did plan our new house after scouring through old Sears bungalow plans. We worked with a local architect and came up with an updated version of a catalog home.
We started building last May and are a few months away from completion. Since we are doing all the building ourselves, it is taken a little longer than usual.
I have to say, this has been so much more rewarding than purchasing an older home in many ways. It's the best of both world's actually by having a "new" old house.
-LH
Looks like I missed my chance to photograph the house next door. They started tearing that one down yesterday too.
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