Hunting the most dangerous game...
I've been house hunting for the last 9 weeks to no avail. I guess I couldn't be described as a motivated buyer. So far I've put in 4 bids, all of which fell through. The first three are pretty easy to understand, I was under bidding the market hoping to take advantage of someone's frustration at a long market time. I was known far and wide to this land's realtors as the "low baller"... (mental note - do not refer to self as "low baller" ever again)
The fourth house went all the way to inspection. This was an older house in NE Minneapolis that had been rehabbed, sort of. The inspector just tore this place apart. The garage needed replacing, the shingles were tacked down to wet cardboard, the flashing lead to flooding, the windows let in moisture, paint was cracking and peeling from moisture on the inside, the basement stunk of recent and frequent flooding and the attic - not a lick of insulation.
This particular house was indicative of our times. When built in 1918, the house was large, had a good deal of charm, and the original woodwork that could be found was classy. However, in the 50's and 60's NE was turned into a ghetto, mainly by new deal and great society legistlation. People with money fled to the burbs and left these large beautiful homes behind in the city. The people left behind couldn't afford a WHOLE house, so contractors came in and "rehabbed" the old homes into duplexes and apartments.
This poor particular house must have been hit in the late 50's after a time of abandonment. Most of the nice old wood work was ripped out and replaced with poor quality generic 50's material that had little character or reason to salvage. At some point parts of the basement had been finished off, probably creating a third apartment. A part of the great front porch had been converted into a very small bedroom and a gas line was run upstairs for the kitchen.
Any family unit larger than 2 would have been most uncomfortable in any of the sub units of this house. Considering the underlying wear, this house most likely housed whole families in each unit, probably a total of 10-15 people at a time - yikes!
Over time traffic congestion, reduced crime, and a fix up culture emerged to spark urban renewal in the 90's. This particular house and many like it in NE were de-duped and returned to single family homes. Overall this has been good for the neighborhood and the old homes that retained their charm. But some homes, this one included, are beyond hope.
This is long ways to go for an analogy, but this applies to many ideas from the new deal/great society era. Now that the stage is set, expect more specific analysis in the days to come.
The fourth house went all the way to inspection. This was an older house in NE Minneapolis that had been rehabbed, sort of. The inspector just tore this place apart. The garage needed replacing, the shingles were tacked down to wet cardboard, the flashing lead to flooding, the windows let in moisture, paint was cracking and peeling from moisture on the inside, the basement stunk of recent and frequent flooding and the attic - not a lick of insulation.
This particular house was indicative of our times. When built in 1918, the house was large, had a good deal of charm, and the original woodwork that could be found was classy. However, in the 50's and 60's NE was turned into a ghetto, mainly by new deal and great society legistlation. People with money fled to the burbs and left these large beautiful homes behind in the city. The people left behind couldn't afford a WHOLE house, so contractors came in and "rehabbed" the old homes into duplexes and apartments.
This poor particular house must have been hit in the late 50's after a time of abandonment. Most of the nice old wood work was ripped out and replaced with poor quality generic 50's material that had little character or reason to salvage. At some point parts of the basement had been finished off, probably creating a third apartment. A part of the great front porch had been converted into a very small bedroom and a gas line was run upstairs for the kitchen.
Any family unit larger than 2 would have been most uncomfortable in any of the sub units of this house. Considering the underlying wear, this house most likely housed whole families in each unit, probably a total of 10-15 people at a time - yikes!
Over time traffic congestion, reduced crime, and a fix up culture emerged to spark urban renewal in the 90's. This particular house and many like it in NE were de-duped and returned to single family homes. Overall this has been good for the neighborhood and the old homes that retained their charm. But some homes, this one included, are beyond hope.
This is long ways to go for an analogy, but this applies to many ideas from the new deal/great society era. Now that the stage is set, expect more specific analysis in the days to come.
posted by Bill Gilles | 10:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home