Plan B Forum

Got a buck? Then you can buy a historic house in Sarasota, Florida, with hardwood floors, granite counters, and a Viking stove. But there's a catch (there's always a catch!): It will cost you about $130,000 to move the 2,200-square-foot home away from it's home to your lot wherever.

The current owners bought 1215 Pomelo Ave. about six months ago for $605,000. Barbara May, the agent representing the sale, told AOL that the couple loves the half-acre lot, but have decided not to remodel or add onto the house. The home verifiably dates back to 1926 but, neighbors say, could have been built as early as 1877.

So instead of tearing down the four-bedroom, three-bath house, which was home to Sarasota's first postmaster general, the owners are selling it for $1 to anyone who will move it out.

Moving a house in Sarasota is not unheard of. Professionals looking for a stand-alone suite, or gallery owners wanting a charm-filled historic structure, move homes that they pick up for a song. The problem with 1215 Pomelo Ave. is that it's too tall and too wide to roll down local streets. So the new owner must take off the roof, saw it in half or in thirds, and move it at 3 a.m. so local police can hold up traffic lights and power lines as the house rolls to its new home.

May figures that the total cost for permits, moving and reattaching the house would be about $130,000. But that's a bargain, considering new construction in Sarasota costs about $150 a square foot, which would put the price tag on a new and comparably-sized house at about $330,000.

May, who theoretically could make a 3-cent commission on a $1 sale, says that she's had one serious looker so far. But the young family couldn't get financing for the project. Lenders, evidently, aren't eager to finance a nearly 100-year-old home that must be sawed apart.

If you're interested -- and have cash -- move fast. If the house isn't sold by the end of the year, it will be torn down.

When I was growing up in San Francisco it was not all that unusual to see a house being moved from one lot to another. I don't know what the cost was to do it but it must have been affordable.

Let me guess - they must move or tear down that adorable home so they can build a McMansion on the lot that will consume (read: destroy) the surrounding trees and reduce their outdoor living space in a beautiful climate in favor of more room indoors to sit on their asses, right?

I wonder what the neighborhood looks like and how their new place will fit in . . .

A half-acre lot is a large parcel and most places in Calif. that size lot is in a neighborhood with larger homes and higher home values. The existing building is ugly from the outside with some redeeming interior features; if I was them I would tear it down and build something new as well. But Florida is flat. Flat is depressing.

The wood might be worth saving and re-using.


yrs,
rubato

bigskygal wrote:Let me guess - they must move or tear down that adorable home so they can build a McMansion on the lot that will consume (read: destroy) the surrounding trees and reduce their outdoor living space in a beautiful climate in favor of more room indoors to sit on their asses, right?

I wonder what the neighborhood looks like and how their new place will fit in . . .

So you don't like people being able to do what they want with thier own property? While I am no fan of McMansions, I do respect property rights of the owner.

And you don't know if the trees will be torn down for their new house. I know a lot of towns that require the trees be kept intact and if the builder cannot then they need to be replaced.