1. 1502 Kirkwood -Its our old friend the Kirkwood boarded-up house. It can be yours for a mere 44 grand. I'm sure under that plywood its a real beauty. The pictures on Ruhl&Ruhl's site show how well it was taken care of. Perfect for Bix parties!
2. 1127 Bridge -I remember about a decade ago this house was completely fixed up, at least on the outside, and it really looked great. Then apparently whoever did the fixing instantly moved away and whoever moved in started letting it fall apart from day one. They're asking $95,000 for it, so maybe the inside is still in good shape. The lack of any inside pictures on the site isn't encouraging though. This neighborhood could really use this house being back in good shape.
3. 604 Gaines -This really looks like it has great potential. I can picture what it would look like renovated, and combined with the other efforts in that neighborhood it would definitely be a good thing. Unfortunately, even if I had $90,000 to buy it plus the many thousands to spend on supplies to fix it up, my fear of heights would keep me far away from the 3rd floor and turrets. It looks like it was sold in 1989 for $10,000 and in 2002 for $45,000, so in a few more years it should be worth at least 200 grand.
4. 3117 E Locust -Its the castle-looking home directly across from the 14th hole of the Duck Creek golf course. Its a pretty amazing home, but I found a couple other things interesting about it. Judging from its Parcel Summary on Scott County's site, its assessed at $320,740 and sold for nearly that ($310,000) in 2003. While homes in many Davenport neighborhoods are lucky to get their assessed value for a purchase price, this one did. Not only that, but 3 years later its selling for $549,000! I'm not into the real estate business, so maybe this is just an optimistic starting point, or maybe some serious work has been done to the house. Either way, a bit too rich for my blood. Oh yeah, it even has a website, www.davenportcastle.com, even though I consider this to be the real Davenport castle.If anyone buys any of these after reading about them here, I would expect the realtor to at least buy me dinner. A piece of their commission wouldn't be too bad either...
9 comments:
The Oneida Street Landing condo project had an ad in today's QCT, is this project a go without any public input on neighborhood or environmental impact? Based on the location it seems like a bad idea to me.
Not for sale, but if you like castle homes, check out this one:
http://tinyurl.com/ghnsr
Or, if you want to get in the mood for Halloween, this one:
http://tinyurl.com/js4m6
QCI, I've recently been in three of the four houses and can report the following:
1502 - really darling inside, lots of potential, also roof leak and moldy kitchen. Ambrose & I were ready to make an offer but it was already sold by the time we got our appt. to see it. I'm not sure why Mel Foster bothered to show a place already sold, but it seems to happen a lot anymore....... Anyway, definitely a little gem well worth saving & much bigger inside than it looks :) I just hope the new owner restores the beautiful wood floors instead of covering them with cheap carpet. I'm assuming this will be a "flipper" like many that have sold in the 'hood' lately.
1127 - inside is beautiful though needs some TLC throughout. Also needs a kitchen update & other deferred maintenance issues addressed. Apparently an older lady owned it and wasn't able to keep it up. $95K is pushing it, but I think it can be had for less. Has a great whirlpool tub as a plus, though the rest of that bathroom needs some help.... The minus is you HAVE to either like bright walls or be prepared to paint. I personally liked some of the first floor colors, but it wouldn't be to everyone's taste. Also, I believe there were a few dogs kept in the house and their maintenance wasn't the best either. The "de-stinking" process had been pretty successful by the time we walked through but it wouldn't hold up to the black light urine test shall we say.... Bottom line, don't keep any of the carpet.
604 - fear of heights shouldn't be a problem. The smell will knock you down on the first floor, so it isn't likely many people will venture much beyond that... Actually the third floor (attic) was the least smelly. That or my nose was so overwhelmed by then I couldn't tell anymore. Absolutely NO chance this will be $200K soon. Not without a miracle. Well placed rumors are it can be had for much, MUCH less than asking for a brave soul willing to take it on because it's going to foreclosure soon. However, be prepared to spend far more than it will EVER be worth to fix it up. My prediction is there is a wrecking ball in it's future. I'd love to be wrong, but it isn't a financially sound investment. And that's putting it kindly.
The castle on Locust was not part of our shopping list. Too rich for me and doesn't need our TLC approach. I doubt they would even let a rag-tag person like me in the door, lol.
In all seriousness, we'd love to see you buy a house in SoLo. When you're ready, feel free to give Ambrose and I a holler if you'd like a second opinion or some ideas of things to look for. There isn't much we haven't seen (or smelled) when it comes to looking at SoLo "potential" and even though we'd love to save them all, we've learned to be practical too, lol. At least until we win the lottery or find a sugar daddy :)
Thanks for all the info Octave.
As far as the house on Gaines, I will say that my fear of heights is confined to being on ladders outside the house, but I am realistic enough not to even think about that kind of project with my lack of experience at home ownership.
Maybe it would be more feasible for someone to rehab with some of the grants that I keep reading about?
I'm a Ruhl&Ruhl realtor and would be happy to show you any of those homes :-)
The Gaines house is right by John Lewis and you will have vagrants galore in the front of the property and in the alley. You have a infamous Lubell rip off rent to own also as your neighbor. We all know that his properties attract real good and responsible people. Lastly, you have a Lewis Washington slumlord huge rental property also as a neighbor. He is negligent and will be certain that your neighbor is just out of prison. A homeowner's dream.
Good luck!
The neighborhood by the Gaines property is pretty sketchy. Slumlords abound. So many great houses are chopped up into apartments. It's pretty sad.
If you look at all the photos on remax's listing you can see Bill Gluba's gut.
In the sale of 604 Gaines, not only do you get the building, but included is a set of bullet-proof vests and Helmets.
At least the $200 water heater looks new. I'm sure that it's the house's biggest selling point.
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