Historic-Home Buyers Are Moving Fast, and Sellers Are Accepting Offers in Days Rather Than Months

February 21, 2020
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107 Devonshire Street, Winston-Salem: Under contract in three days, sold for $2,100 above its asking price

Updated with closings

Like the daffodils that started blooming before this winter’s first snow, spring home-buyers are rushing out early this year. New listings of historic homes in the Triad are being scooped up as many sellers are pricing their homes just right and buyers are jumping at the opportunity.

The majority of these homes are in the more affordable end of the price range, under $300,000, although there are some conspicuous exceptions. Also, these homes are mostly in the larger cities (especially Winston-Salem — what’s going on over there?). Quick sales aren’t happening much in the Piedmont’s smaller towns and rural areas.

Continue reading “Historic-Home Buyers Are Moving Fast, and Sellers Are Accepting Offers in Days Rather Than Months”

Villa Fortuna: An Eclectic 1888 National Register Property in Reidsville, $99,900

February 6, 2020

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The Jennings-Baker House, also known as Villa Fortuna, is one of the most affordable National Register properties you’re likely to see. Accordingly, it also needs more work than most National Register properties. It’s not a complete wreck, though, and some of its charm has stood up to the years very well.

The brick exterior is notably elaborate. The National Register nomination calls Villa Fortuna a distinctive and vernacular mix of styles — Gothic Revival, Italianate and more — that were popular in the mid-19th century. The current real estate listing says it’s simply “the perfect blend of unpretentious elegance and a rustic urban farm,” although even an urban farmer might want more than the villa’s half acre.

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Rivermont in Eden: A Landmark 1936 Mansion on the Smith River, $650,000

January 20, 2020

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When the glory days of Rockingham and Caswell counties passed, they didn’t leave  much behind except some grand old houses. Rivermont in Eden is a relatively late example of the old mansions of Rockingham County (there are two others currently for sale and another under contract). Built in 1936, it’s move-in ready and all yours for $650,000.

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294 West End Boulevard: A 1920 Craftsman Gem in Winston-Salem, $445,000

January 13, 2020

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The last time 294 West End Boulevard was sold, it went for $65,000. That was in 1984, and the West End has changed a lot since then. The house went on the market today for $445,000. It’s a beautifully restored Craftsman; the price is in line with a similarly impressive Craftsman in the West End that’s also for sale now, 701 Manly Street, and other well-restored houses in the historic district over the past year.

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An 1889 Restoration Candidate in Kernersville: The First Thing It Needs Is a Good, Sturdy Fence

October 20, 2019

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Update: The house sold for $30,000 on November 6, 2019.

The owner of 4981 George West Road in Kernersville apparently doesn’t think much of the house. The listing mainly is concerned with two other things. One is how nice the flat, 1-acre lot would be for a home site. The other is this goat:

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Listing: “If there is an Old Billy Goat Gruff in the yard, RUN! He is the neighbors and shouldn’t be there!”

Continue reading “An 1889 Restoration Candidate in Kernersville: The First Thing It Needs Is a Good, Sturdy Fence”

The 1839 Davie County Jail: A National Register Property in Mocksville Is For Sale in an Online Auction

October 17, 2019
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Update: The jail and guest house sold for $402,000 in December 2021. The 2019 auction didn’t result in a sale, and the jail was taken off the market in December 2019. The other two houses were sold in 2020.

Davie County’s original jail was built in Mocksville in 1839, three years after the county was established. Now it’s the centerpiece of an online auction of five properties all on the same downtown corner. Prospective buyers can bid on the properties separately or all of them together.

The jail is the centerpiece. It housed the county’s most armed and dangerous for 70 years and then became a residence. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. In 2001 the current owner bought it and converted it to office use.

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A 1955 Mid-Century Masterpiece in Greensboro, $1.099 Million

October 1, 2019

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Update: The listing was withdrawn December 5, 2019.

Mid-Century Modern never generated any great mass appeal among mainstream home buyers. It’s too out-there for the typical family. And you won’t find a Mid-Century home much further out there than 3905 Henderson Road in Greensboro’s remarkable Hamilton Lakes neighborhood. The house is for sale at $1.099 million. The price has been reduced a bit since it was listed (originally $1.195 million), but it’s still $384 per square foot, a rather breath-taking price for any type of house in Greensboro.

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An 1898 Train Depot Goes Up for Auction in Madison This Saturday

September 26, 2019

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Update: The depot didn’t sell at the auction. It remained for sale until July 2020, when it was taken off the market.

The important thing to remember about the Stokesdale railroad depot is that it isn’t in Stokesdale any more. It’s in Madison. And on Saturday at 11 a.m. it will be auctioned.

The depot was bought in 1975 and moved to its present location just south of Madison at 3766 U.S. 220. Sam Heffinger spent five years turning it into a home for him and his wife, India. Sam was a carpenter, farmer and clock smith (and a Marine during World War II). Here’s how it turned out.

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Restoration Project of the Week: Holt’s Chapel, Haw River, $75,000

September 24, 2019

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One of Haw River’s first churches is for sale for $75,000. Holt’s Chapel was built in 1896 as the first and only home of Haw River’s Methodist Episcopal church. By 1942, the town’s two Methodist churches merged, following the national merger of their denominations. The chapel was used for Sunday school, and what had been the Methodist Protestant church on the hill behind the chapel was used for worship services.

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Adamsleigh: Demolition Appears Likely for A Great North Carolina Mansion ‘Not Fit for Today’s Lifestyle’

September 20, 2019
Photo from wunderground.com

Update: The philistines have torn it down.

Residents of Sedgefield report seeing crews from a demolition company at work in Adamsleigh, the renowned 30,000 square foot mansion in the golf course community. An article this week in the News & Record indicates that time may have run out for the fabulous house. Built in 1930, it stands with Graylyn in Winston-Salem and Hillside in Greensboro as one of the Piedmont’s grandest mansions. But its new owner wants to build a house, and Adamsleigh is in his way.

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