This Week’s Best: A Kerner Family Home in Kernersville and Two Elegant Houses in Greensboro

The most remarkable development last week was the sale of 225 N. Main Street in Kernersville. The house is notable in its own right, but the sale itself is also worth noticing. The house was for sale for almost two years when the owners accepted an offer on September 7. The sale closed four days later — an astonishingly quick end to a surprisingly long process. The sale price was $340,000, down a substantial $125,000, 27 percent, from its original $465,000. The house was sold by its next-door neighbor, the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden.

The house was built by Rephelius Byron Kerner (1849-1881), a great-grandson of the town’s namesake, Joseph Kerner. Rephelius was a cousin of Julius Gilmer Korner (1851-1924), aka Reuben Rink, a commercial artist, Bull Durham barn painter and builder of Korner’s Folly.

Continue reading “This Week’s Best: A Kerner Family Home in Kernersville and Two Elegant Houses in Greensboro”

4 Historic Homes, for Sale for Years, that Just Haven’t Sold

Here are four historic homes that have been for sale for a conspicuously long time. They include a very historic 1798 National Register property in Forsyth County, an 1870 house in historic Milton, an intriguing 1898 mansion in Troy and a 1925 mansion in Greensboro’s Irving Park.

There are a variety of reasons why thy haven’t sold. Some are obvious — $600 per square foot is awfully high for any house, and Milton and Troy are a little remote from the hotter real-estate markets in the state. But the Greensboro house is a mystery. Click on the links for the complete listings.

Continue reading “4 Historic Homes, for Sale for Years, that Just Haven’t Sold”

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

4981 george west road kernersville.jpg

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”