Noooooooooes!

My grandma's house in Savannah is for sale (my paternal grandmother Henrietta). My dad sold it for something in the low $200,000s in 2001, and it is currently going for $965,000. To be fair, they put in a lot of work and there were likely structural issues. On the other hand, they didn't put in no $700,000. I have always been heartbroken about it, but my dad reasonably asked, do you want to live there now? To which the answer was no. I wanted to fix it up and rent it, not for income, but just to keep the house in the family until some nebulous future in which I want to live there. But my dad didn't want to be in charge of expensive renovation followed by the hassles of being a small landlord---fair enough. I imagine there is some property management company that could do it for you? And we could offer a long lease? But even if we retire sometime in the dim future and move to the area we'll probably live in my dad's house or the other house we are entitled to build on the property (we got a conservation easement which entitles us to build one more house, but the rest has to stay undeveloped forever. Brilliant idea on my dad's part, and he talked quite a number of neighbors into it too, thereby preserving more of the beautiful May River.) I imagine me and my brother living there side by side as crotchety old people telling those kids to get off our darn lawn. But, it's Grandma's house. Haunted like a mofo, but I'm used to that. The precious, we wants it.

Comments

[Stricha]

I don't know about Savannah, but I rent out my Oregon apartment from 3000 miles away thanks to a company that finds renters, does maintenance & repairs, changes the locks, etc. for 7% of the rent plus expenses. They direct deposit the revenue to me and send a tax form each year and it's easy peasy.

[laura]

Wow. Love those fireplaces.

[Keith]

Savannah's housing prices are ridiculous. Lived there for 12 years and watched them jest get silly for no reason. When we left, a townhouse on Jones street had just been converted to condos and was selling each floor off for half a mil. An investor bought Drayton Towers, where my wife and I lived for 5 years. Kicked everyone out and sold the floors for 3 mil. a piece, completely gutted. Our 500 sq. ft apartment, for which we paid $550 a month (including utilities) is now some Architect's office.

[Belle Waring]

I saw that, dude. I was--Drayton fucking towers, are you kidding me? I have an abstract fondness for its blue levels of glass, but that's just because you could see it from my bedroom at my grandmothers. They had gutted it and were offering NYC loft experience--right in Savannah! Except so not.

[curtis johnson]

Well, preserving a house that has been part of the4 family for quite a long time is a good idea. But expenses will definitely of high cost saying that the family has no enough budget. Things can be done little by little. Sooner or later we will realize the value of that house. Thanks again for the interesting article.