24 July 2006
A Sad Bargain
There's a nine-room, four-fireplace Victorian overlooking Duboce Park, built in 1899, and it's on the market for only the second time since then. A steal at $990,000! And yet, at barely under a million dollars, it's not even habitable.
This picture is haunting me. I daydream about fixing up a house like that one, but as you'll see when you read the caption, the reality would be more of a nightmare. Given how extreme its superficial problems are, that house undoubtedly has much deeper problems that only a professional contractor can detect. And of course the previous owner is probably poltergeisting the place, making it even more challenging to redecorate.
In this real estate market, I'd be lucky to afford a cardboard box in a muddy ditch under a freeway onramp next to a crack house. Fortunately, renting suits me fine.