Victorian House (Roanoke, Stanley: for sale, crime, buying a home)

[mazzer]

Hi Everyone,

I'm seeing a lot of varying prices for Victorian homes, obviously some need to completely remodelled, hence the price, others seem to be very nice indeed although a lot more money of course.

I was wondering are there poor districts to avoid in Roanoke, is there a bad crime district for example?

Is there a specific area I can target to get a very nicely restored Victorian, I don't want a TLC or fixer upper.

Thanks
Maz--

[seanpecor]

Hrm, if you have specific streets in mind then throw those out and I can help. Also if you have a budget range then that would help too. Anything in Southwest Roanoke City could have good potential. Southeast Roanoke City has its good and bad sections. Raleigh Court, Grandin Village mostly good to great. Without knowing your top end budget I hesitate to recommend some stellar sections, where those homes get quite pricey but the neighborhood quality of life is pretty dreamy.

Sean

[mazzer]

Don't care about price. Recommend away.

Maz--

[seanpecor]

Only Victorian I could find doing a quick search was this one with a partial resto for $200K:

http://www.realtor.com/Prop/1076120719

I'll search more later too. There are alot of beautiful Tudors and Cape Cod / Colonials on the market right now (including a really nice white Tudor w/ a balcony and plenty of story book features), but not too many Victorians at the moment.

Sean

[EricD]

Isn't that house a little close to the city? Seems like a few blocks south of there would be a lot nicer...

http://www.oldsouthwestinc.com/
When my wife and I were looking into buying a home in Roanoke, we were looking mostly in the old southwest section of Roanoke... there were lots of wonderfull old homes there, some needing a lot of repare, while others were already fixed up. That area seems to be what you're looking for.

[seanpecor]

Originally Posted by EricD

Isn't that house a little close to the city? Seems like a few blocks south of there would be a lot nicer...

http://www.oldsouthwestinc.com/
When my wife and I were looking into buying a home in Roanoke, we were looking mostly in the old southwest section of Roanoke... there were lots of wonderfull old homes there, some needing a lot of repare, while others were already fixed up. That area seems to be what you're looking for.

Yes the old Southwest section of Roanoke City is THE place to buy when someone has the appropriate buying power. We have friends on Cornwallis Ave and it's a beautiful part of the city. They close off a few blocks of Stanley to traffic on Halloween, which is a huge event there, owing to the large number of great families there. Whenever you drive through there on weekends there are lots of kids playing outside and of course the old houses are gorgeous. There was/is a beautiful ginormous white Tudor for sale FSBO for over a year, for something like $1.3M but most houses go for $400K and up. The trouble is finding a house in that section, they don't last long.

Sean

[EricD]

Originally Posted by seanpecor

most houses go for $400K and up. The trouble is finding a house in that section, they don't last long.

My wife and I were looking exactly a year ago, and we went through probably 6 houses that were in the low to mid-200's. Have things gone up that much? or is there more competition now? (And some of the ones we went though needed some TLC... which could have explained the prices)

[seanpecor]

EricD, my experience in old Southwest is somewhat limited to the higher elevations as you move towards Mill and Yellow Mountains, and it's there that you find prices like that. Your experience suggests to me that as you move towards downtown and drop elevation that prices drop to the mid-200's. The values haven't moved much more than 6% since last year.

Sean