Tempting Fate
(photo: log house with new paint – awaiting new chink)
Some background about this blog for new visitors.
In 2007 I bought two abandoned, derelict houses in Powell Wyoming. I work in Powell but I live an hour’s drive away, so I thought if I could flip one house, I’d end up with a cheap house in Powell where I can live during the work week. But by the time I finished reconstructing the houses, the market tanked. This blog is a chronicle of the experience … which is still ongoing.
Which Is Which
The older house, 1937 vintage – very sweet place, great light, good energy, is the house I wanted to keep. So I put most of my effort into it, but eventually decided that it would be easier to sell so it was the first one I put up for sale. I call it the ‘blue’ house because it was blue-green when I bought it.
The little log house was built in 1945. I upgraded the interior and it’s now very livable. But the exterior is discouraging.
After trying to sell the blue house without success, I put the log house up for sale too. Let fate decide which to keep, which to sell. The log house has been on the market for the last 6 months and the ‘blue’ house for nearly 2 years without any serious offers. The blue house sat empty for months while I ‘staged’ it for sale. I’m only asking $129,000 – newly remodeled, new roof, siding, kitchen bath, etc etc etc. But no reasonable offers. So I’ve rented it to a young family.
I was asking $99,000 for the log house. I’ve been using it as my second home, but the outside of the house is in such bad shape that nobody has even looked at it.
I’ve taken both houses off the market.
Tempting Fate
The blue house wont sell for even that cheap price … I honestly don’t know why not … it’s probably too small for most people? 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, but a lovely living room and kitchen. ??
So I decided I’d try to fix up the log house exterior and maybe it would sell. Chris Taylor from Cody Wyoming is a log home builder. His crew came out and ripped out the bottom rotten logs, reinforced the foundation, and removed all the old chink. Sean stripped the logs and I repainted. Chris will put in new chink and my sister, Teresa, will install a river-rock skirt around the foundation. All this in hopes of making the log house more desirable to sell.
So guess what happens? I got a good offer on the blue house today.
Fate has a mind of her own.
