Does the neighborhood suck because my GOD this could be gorgeous and have about 10 different configurations/uses. The porch OMG.
Obviously needs work but it’s so cheap!!!
Wisconsinites weigh in!
Does the neighborhood suck because my GOD this could be gorgeous and have about 10 different configurations/uses. The porch OMG.
Obviously needs work but it’s so cheap!!!
Wisconsinites weigh in!
The listing specifically says it's being sold "AS IS" in capital letters. That suggests to me that there is some known issue that will require an expensive repair. Also, it doesn't look that high for the area does it?
Coupled with the historical designation might be some serious coinage to fix whatever the issue is.
Or the sellers don't want to deal with BS. Like yes it's old, it's historical, yes we know there's things wrong with it. Don't ask for any concessions as they're already baked into the price.
Kind of like that property in UT posted a few days ago where they put all the drawbacks in the description.
Apparently if you do a google street view this house is surrounded by a few boarded up houses and the as is definitely in my opinion puts at less than its tax based value of 238k, if i could get financing i would be down for 125k as the As Is condition could easily go higher than 100k to make it structurally sound again.
My temptation would be to do the Detroit thing. Buy any adjacent condemned buildings raze them, and expand my lot to include space for a big garden. And maybe consider some cool looking wrought iron fencing around the whole thing...
If you view the lot from above, there's a really a good amount of green space they just didn't post pics of for some reason. Like 4 medium trees in it. So you might not even have to buy the extra lots.
Lived in or near Milwaukee most of my life. Kid graduated from Milwaukee High School of the Arts about 5ish years ago. This is a high crime/high poverty area. Milwaukee is still an incredibly segregated city and this is very much reflected in this neighborhood. The Concordia area definitely has some beautiful old homes, but I don’t recommend considering buying there until you have visited for a while and understand what the nuances of the neighborhood really are first.
I stayed in a bed and breakfast near this house a few years back. Area immediately around the house seemed fine from Google, but it was a total catfish.
Had two people try and rob me walking from the bus stop. (Two separate incidents, to be clear.) Ended up getting a Lyft out of there.
How did the attempted robberies play out, if you don't mind me asking?
In other words, if you own a Kia or a Hyundai in this neighborhood don’t expect it to remain in your possession for long
…. Understanding the nuances of the neighborhood….!!!
Not from there, but the photos show it as a historical site, which means updating it/remodeling it/repairing it would be done under a higher degree of scrutiny and may involve hopping through some hoops.
Good catch! That plus the AS IS warning sounds like this place may be a money pit. Old Victorians homes can already be a neverending project, but having preservationists involved makes everything a much larger and more expensive headache.
street view shows the house across from it completely boarded up too.
Perfect as a comp for price negotiation.
While in the long term you are right, you ever seen a crack house?
The closest I've come to was when one of my high-end rentals was raided by a task force of several 3-letter federal agencies in search of the drug lord who had moved in without my permission or knowledge. I got lucky he decided to live there with his family, because several other nearby houses they rented for labs were condemned by the EPA.
AS IS doesn’t preclude an inspection and negotiating based on the findings though.
This is a bad area with bad schools. Normal Midwest medium sized city issues.
And you may have to find someone who can actually do the work in accordance with whatever regulations come with being a historical site. A number of years ago some old buildings near me got torn up in a major storm and though the structural portions could be repaired, some of the architectural elements required specialized craftsmen (sorry, I don't recall the details). All the craftsmen capable of doing that work in the area are dead or unable to work. Some of the buildings were remodeled and some were left to rot because it was more trouble/expense than it was worth.
Man, this reminded me of the guy whose friend did specialized work on Scheduled buildings (England). He was telling the tale of when his friend left a job because of a bad boss (known as the gobshite).
A classic!
That story warmed the cockles of my bitter soul.
Ah that makes sense, historic designations can be a real pain when you wanna do literally anything to the house. Probably adds like 6 months and a bunch of permit fees to every project
I owned a house with same exact plaque. It was a bit ago but remember in my situation nothing like that applied to me.
I could have been misinformed , lied to, or not apply to my neighborhood in general.
“Being sold AS IS” is realtor speak for something seriously wrong. Bad foundation, needs all new wiring/plumbing, etc. and major fixes to a historic home is a permit nightmare.
As a seller, being sold "AS IS" means I aint fixing shit!
I’m from Milwaukee…. That neighborhood has some amazing houses like this one but the neighborhood its self is struggling. A lot of poverty and crime. A lot of white flight in the 80s when the breweries closed and manufacturing jobs moved west to the suburbs.
If that house was in the Highlands of Tosa, few miles west, it would be a lot more !
It’s a historic district with its best/glory days in the past but some parts rising back up; with desirable or safe streets defined block by block. Or, so say the redditors who have posted about the area in the recent past. IDK and can’t say yes or no, to that assessment.
Such a gorgeous home, with such wonderful craftsmanship. I hope someone new can live in, take it on, and really truly love it.
This is the answer. It's in an economically depressed area thanks to redlining and absent landlords. It is making a comeback slowly. Just a few years ago you could buy a house for $20k in the same area. I'm honestly surprised it's so expensive, as someone who lives in Milwaukee.
Yes, i remember when houses in this area were $10-15k
I know!!!! Obviously it needs so much work but holy shit. It could be spectacular. And MKE is a cool town in general though I don’t know this neighborhood.
It’s historic: New owner MUST replace the rotting deck and 24” posts spaced 6” apart with the EXACT same. But they MUST replace with 36” tall spaced 4” apart per city code. Solve….
Also add: likely poor insulation comparatively, unless someone previously has updated it (and to the preservationist standards.)
Looks light on electrical outlets- and running more can be a bitch.
And thars without whatever other issues the owner is hiding under that AS IS
Show your work
I bet that house is freezing in the winter and costs a fortune to heat.
Grew up not too far away in Waukesha and I can confidently say yea that's not a great area. The Northwest part of the city isn't the best and most people who aren't from there only go to that general area for the Rave (music venue) or the mall.
I haven't lived in Wisconsin in over 15 years so things could have improved but I doubt it.
Quick scan of recent sales show that it’s actually priced decently, possibly high.
Ones sold in mid to high 300s nearby but come with additional 1000-2000 sqft
One also on market for $275, little rougher appearance in pictures.
On the other hand, it’s not the best crime wise either. Definitely not the worst neighborhood but not the best either
Milwaukeean here - I value my personal property and personal safety far too much to live in this area.
You can sort this map by Neighborhood/Concordia to get an idea of what I mean. And keep in mind - a lot of crime goes un-reported, cuz....MPD.
https://city.milwaukee.gov/police/Information-Services/Crime-Maps-and-Statistics
I know someone in a house around that old in Milwaukee that sold for much less than the houses around it and the wiring is knob-and-tube and hvac is radiators
I am also thinking this was a duplex at one time in its life, that split staircase was done quite a bit back in the day plus it has 2 seperate front doors,And its historic so there is that headache.
Yeah, if you look at the floorplans, they look like mirror images of each other (except the master bedroom on the second floor)
foundation and roof would scare a lot of people on a home that old, including me.
I think I love the attic more than anything!
I know&
Tax wise its at 240k ,96 days on market it would appear the market has cooled.
Based on the reviews of the businesses around there it might not be a great place to live.
From the kitchen photos there seems to be water damage on ceiling
We have similar style historic, beautiful homes in my city, and most of them are in or near a very tough part of town. Plus the heating and cooling bills have to be wild!
This needs repair and being a historical site would require a ridiculous amount of red tape and shenanigans. So it most likely has an actual price tag above 2 mil.
*all just the opinion of an idiot on the internet
I went to Marquette University and this house is either near there or on campus and that area is.... not nice
I'm from Milwaukee. 1. Sketchy neighborhood. 2. Neighborhood with a lot of large older homes that are currently in some state of renovation. 3. Really, really sketchy neighborhood.
I went to Marquette and we were generally warned to not wander off campus
Fellow Marquette alumna here, and precisely this - you could travel east of campus towards the lake, but you were on your own if you ventured much further west than 23rd St.
Most likely the current owner is fed up with owning a historical house. Any different configurations could take years to get approved, if you can get them approved at all.
Want to paint the front door? Gotta get approval, and the color has to meet the standards of the historical agency that governs it.
Want to paint the house. Same thing.
It is indeed a beautiful house! As much of a pain it is to have a historical house, I'd love to have it, and devote my time to restoration and upkeep.
Yeah , the listing says to turn it into a duplex , but you know there's absolutely no way the historical society is gonna let you do that.
I was thinking it used to be a duplex that was converted to SF. Looks like there are 2 front doors and the staircase could've had a wall through it at some point.
Actually, since the original house was likely built as a duplex, I bet they'd love it to be turned back into one! Or at least give approval for it. You can see where the full divide/walls used to be from the pics.
The house across the street is boarded up .... Maybe not a good area
The staircase?! Two clawfoot bathtubs!
I know 😭
Don’t know Milwaukee as an adult but I spent 4 years of my early childhood in West Allis in the mid 80’s.
Just adding to the pile:
If you go on streetview, you'll see a lot of boarded homes just like it.
Lived in MKE for years, this is probably close to appropriately priced, prob even a bit high, for the reasons others have mentioned. MKE hasn't yet 'turned the corner' from being caught in an post-industrial small city backlash, but they're trying. Segregation, racial and economic, define MKE, and without a coherent long term plan it may stay that way for a long while.
Agree high crime area
There eating the dogs, there eating the cats, Maybe?
That reminds me of the house in stranger things where Eleven finds mama.
When they’re too cheap I always think “haunted.” Says more about me than the house but still.
This is the extent of what I know about Milwaukee.
Look across the street....
Jeffrey Dahmer’s neighborhood
Beautiful!
because the only heat is fireplaces?
I used to work a sales territory in this area. I relocated to NC in a similar situation of lower income housing mixed in historic neighborhoods. I ended up buying and moving in. I fought drive bys, drug deals and robberies by g gf setting neighbors United in making safer streets. Hit the city to use hud funds to buy derelict houses, got hurls grants to fix others and took 27 houses from low income renters to 100% owner occupied. We built families up and values went from teens (11k, 17k and 12 k) to 200-300k.
That’s how you make this property work- it’s a lot of outside labor but overall makes a great h NG neighborhood.
The city overall sucks. Don’t move to Milwaukee if you can avoid it.
Do a Street View and look around a little bit
It’s historical so a lot fixes will need approval right?
is it a duplex? it seems that only half of the building is for sale
Because it is cold!
My brother owned a very similar house in Pittsburgh and can confirm: old houses are cold!
I was giving the house some insulation credit. Wisconsin is just plain cold and about to get colder.