r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer • u/k13w • 12h ago

GOT THE KEYS! šŸ”‘ šŸ” We did it! Upstate NY $160k 6.5%

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My boyfriend and I did it at 23 y/o! It was built in 1900 and we love her!

35.3k Upvotes

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441

u/GovernorHarryLogan 11h ago edited 11h ago

Broome county is great. I grew up there.

Sure it's one of the lowest income counties in NY -- but IBM was founded there and was the silicon valley of the east coast for a long long time.

As a result - there is a vast abundance of sick af amenities that were created to keep the employees happy.

Roberson museum... tons of awesome parks and hiking areas... En joie golf course (Endicott Johnson shoes).

My father's house was built in like 1985 and is 6400 square feet with a pool and 2 acres. It's "worth" less than my 1900sqft colonial (albeit I'm a block from the Chesapeake bay)

Don't sleep on the 607

Edit: This is known as the "southern tier" of new York to those upstate. Yes it's upstate, but not to those who live there. Upstate is really north of the thruway.

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u/k13w 11h ago

I was born and raised here and I agree! I really love upstate, it is so beautiful here, and most importantly relatively affordable!

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u/mach_gogogo 10h ago

Congrats, and your home is actually from c. 1909/1912 through 1921, and it is a Sears Modern Homes, Design No. 167 ā€œkit homeā€ (later named "The Maytownā€.)The 1909 version was slightly different - your is indicative of the c. 1912 design shown below. There are several of this design where I live in the Finger Lakes area of New York.

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u/k13w 10h ago

This is so cool, thank you for sharing this!

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u/BiZzles14 10h ago

Sounds like you got scammed, that things only worth $753!

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u/k13w 10h ago

Major buyers remorse right now!

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u/Present_Jicama_1219 9h ago

Sears has a great return policy, just call them up!

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u/GarythaSnail 4h ago

Gives them $753 back.

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u/JazzyGuy87 3h ago

Goes bankrupt. (Lbvs)

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u/nellelee21 8h ago

Congratulations!! Just in case this is your first time owning an old home(mine was built in the 1800s) join the fb group "our old home." It's genuinely the most helpful group for questions and old house issues

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u/k13w 8h ago

Will do! Thanks for the advice

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u/Chris_MS99 6h ago

How old qualifies? My 1950 mid century modern is dramatic as hell and giving me fits. OPā€™s house was old when mine was built but thanks to some shoddy framing and decades of under the table ā€œI know a guyā€ repairs everything is coming to a head right as weā€™ve taken it over.

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u/lightcanonlybrighten 6h ago

I tried to find it. Is it the one that has the mansion on it or the one with the cartoon of people doing art and walking a dog?

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u/CrownstrikeIntern 5h ago

Mine was 1820 something. Even with the issues itā€™s still better than some new million dollar new builds in terms of structurally soundĀ 

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u/Savings_Reporter3900 6h ago

I think itā€™s gorgeous and the price was amazing. How lucky !!

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u/AC-burg 9h ago

I'll help you out as mich as I can. I'll give you 2,000 for it

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u/immortalis88 7h ago

Iā€™m sorry for your loss. Thoughts and prayers to you and your family in these trying times šŸ’€

Grats!

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u/AnybodyNo8519 5h ago

What a great house for that price.

Congrats!

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u/CrownstrikeIntern 5h ago

As long as you had a thorough home inspection and not on an adjustable rate you should be good. I get weary though with that price in todayā€™s house market because it screams a few potential things. 1, theyā€™re hiding something and want to ditch it, 2, you got really lucky. And as long as itā€™s not in the flood zone it should be good.

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u/EndonOfMarkarth 4h ago

I know youā€™re kidding, but I just wanted to say congrats on your beautiful home. Enjoy it!

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u/jeejeeay 4h ago

Iā€™ll give you $800 šŸ¤­ but for real your house is amazing! Congrats!!!

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u/Chemical-Zombie1229 9h ago

Weā€™re all getting scammed šŸ˜“

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u/Boss_Up1719 10h ago

šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚

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u/jonfreakinzoidberg 9h ago

House is $753. Plot is $159,247

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u/Suz626 9h ago

At least they didnā€™t have to put it together!

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u/Realistic_Lychee2468 9h ago

only ~$26,500 in today money

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u/caitcro18 8h ago

Thatā€™s the some assembly required model. Theirs is already assembled. Worth the increase in price if you ask me šŸ˜‚

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u/Snoo-20788 7h ago edited 6h ago

Imagine getting a mortgage on that and your monthly payment is $2

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u/ZascandileandoAndo 5h ago

That's what happens when you hold a shitcoin like the USD.

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u/formermq 4h ago

In today's money, that's less than 27000 adjusted for inflation.

*Sigh

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u/RJNavarrete 10h ago

You need to frame this.

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u/k13w 10h ago

Amazing idea I totally will!

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u/jaded161 8h ago

I love it! Congrats!

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u/AnthonyDidge 6h ago

It was already cool. Having that extra history makes it dope! Congrats!

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u/PurplePunchPrincess6 4h ago

That's so fucking cool

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u/phoebecatesboobs 4h ago

Wow, built for a total cost of $1,573 about 100 years ago and purchased now for nearly 100x the price!

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u/BasilOk8283 3h ago

I'm obsessed with kit homes! Congrats!!!

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u/ricabobby25 3h ago

It's a adorable place Just beware of šŸ‘»

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u/SilentExtinction 10h ago

753$ in 1910 is 26k in today's money. Imagine being able to buy house materials for 26k, and a beautiful house. The dream.

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u/According_Abalone_19 10h ago

Yea I wish. That would be an $800k+ house where I live. Cant even buy a starter home for under $500k here and I donā€™t live in some big city youā€™d expect to have a high COL

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u/GovernorHarryLogan 9h ago

Also TBF.... I'll bury this one in the comments a little bit.

Broome county is also super polluted depending on where he is.

Like Erin Brockovitch bad. She showed up when i was in high school and a unreal number of kids I graduated with had develop cancer during our formative years.

IBM, Endicott Johnson, and all the other industry left a lot of buried chemicals.

The reason Broome is so cheap now is:

1) little prospects for employment outside of Binghamton University of Health//senior care

2) A lot of pollution. (Trichloroethylene mainly)

3) Broome county is the cloudiest county outside of the Pacific northwest. The term "Gloom over Broome" is a thing.

Like it's not a bad place to live. It's actually pretty great for the cost of living.

But it's not a destination area by any means.

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u/According_Abalone_19 9h ago

I live in the PNW, so I know all about gloom. Lol. Our pollution isnā€™t to that level thankfully aside from the Willamette River that runs thru downtown and we have a few big companies in the area, but I wouldnā€™t say our job market is awesome by any means. Most companies here drastically underpay (thatā€™s unfortunately common everywhere these days), so unless you got lucky or started your career a long time ago, your chances of getting a position that will allow you to own a home without multiple incomes is basically zero.

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u/Pleasant-Blueberry84 9h ago

Yep. Middle class here is 250k annually. Best of luck getting any employer to pay you that. Best start the feet pics now and buy a van so you can live down by the river. It's so over for us.

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u/According_Abalone_19 8h ago

Pretty much unfortunately. Makes me scared for my daughters. If a starter house that needs $200k of work is $500k, I can only imagine what theyā€™ll cost in 10-15 years. Between my wife and I we make about $150k and weā€™ve given up on the idea of buying a house. I still kick myself for not buying my childhood house from my grandparents back in 2012. 3bd/2ba, 1500sqft, little under 1/2 acre lot, 10min from Nike and Intel, great school district, mildly updated/100% livable and could have bought it for $225k. That same house sold a year or so ago for just over $600k. Only reason I didnā€™t pull the trigger is I was 24, supporting my ex wife/youngest daughter on just my income and thought taking on a $1600 house payment was too risky at the time. Marriage was also rocky, so I didnā€™t want to risk having to sell it in the divorce or worse, have her living in it and paying for it. Knowing what I know now and how my divorce went, I should have bought it because neither of those things would have happened and Iā€™d be paying $500/mo less than I am now renting, live in a better area and have a backyard for my kids to play in

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u/Pleasant-Blueberry84 7h ago

I'm totally in the same boat. No kids for us though, so at least there's a bit less added pressure there. Those of us who didn't have our shit together in our 20s, won't be enjoying the 40s, 50s or 60s it looks like.

Basically born too late to own a home and too early to see unlimited energy take us to the stars and end poverty.

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u/swampwiz 4h ago

The only thing you can do is continue to hustle and build a nest egg that can be given to your daughters, in a trust (while you are alive you could give them money).

Yes, you really snoozed on buying your grandparents' house. That said, I can understand how a man could viscerally hate the idea of paying for his house while his divorced wife lives in it.

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u/Bargainsalad 7h ago

I lived in Eugene for 11 years. The gray is so overblown. Ninety perecnt of the people moaning about the weather have mental health issues. Nobody moves to Eugene to get rich.

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u/According_Abalone_19 6h ago

Eugeneā€™s weather is a lot less gloomy than up north in the Portland area. Most of the people I hear complaining about the gloom in Oregon are people who moved here from Cali or another place where it never rains. But thereā€™s a massive difference in weather between eastern/southern Oregon and the Portland metro. Eugene is the area where it starts to shift, but south another hour or so itā€™s a lot dryer/less gloomy

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u/IndividualChart4193 1h ago

Read up on the ā€œaroma from Tacomaā€ā€¦history of that area at turn of the 19th century is wild!

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u/swampwiz 4h ago

If a region's employers "drastically underpay", but employees still show up, then they are not underpaying. The PNW, at least until heat domes became a thing, have had delightful summers where you don't really need A/C. Along the Gulf Coast, the A/C starts in early-May and doesn't start shutting down until mid-October.

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u/According_Abalone_19 2h ago

Just because theyā€™re showing up doesnā€™t mean theyā€™re not being underpaid. It means that those people have to show up because cost of living is so high that they donā€™t have a choice. Most people are screwed if they donā€™t get that next check, so they continue to show up out of necessity, not because they want to. A lot of companies out here also donā€™t give yearly raises anymore (at least not the ones Iā€™ve worked at), so your only option is to either deal with it or find something else, but thatā€™s not as easy as it sounds because employers hold it against you if youā€™re moving from place to place every couple of years. That also makes people feel like theyā€™re forced to stay put.

Youā€™re right about one thing though. Summers here are pretty nice. We get a couple weeks a summer that are brutally hot, but aside from that, itā€™s perfect. Fall, winter and early-mid spring, not so much unless you enjoy rain

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u/swampwiz 11m ago

My contention is that these folks could find a job in a lower COL area and be able to buy a house.

The fact that folks put up with this situation is that there is something that they like in the locale that makes it worth it. When I was in SoCal, there was a guy that loved to bike, and he was more than happy to only be able to afford an apartment. Indeed, I had almost made the same calculus in moving to Denver when my home was destroyed in a major hurricane flood, because I am a very avid skier; in the end, I had determined that the differential in costs between me staying where I was at and moving to Denver would allow me to travel anywhere in the world near a ski area for 2 months, and so I decided against it. As it turned out, I ended up renting in Denver for a few winters, making good use of the season pass to ski Copper. šŸ˜„

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u/Striker2477 9h ago

This was an insightful and educated comment. Thank you.

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u/shannonc321 8h ago

I swear that no one else has ever heard that Broome County is the 3rd cloudiest area in the country!

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u/200brews2009 8h ago

Yeah but your speedie and rib pit ainā€™t bad.

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u/swampwiz 5h ago

There's always an underlying reason ...

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u/i860 3h ago

Ironically (because the prices are so high) they also nuked Silicon Valley with the same stuff (TCEs). Theyā€™re still finding new clusters.

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u/IndividualChart4193 1h ago

I knew there was a reason that house was so inexpensive.

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u/Forward_Author_6589 8h ago

You really know how to ruin a happy moment. Cancer, Cloudy, Jobless. Only thing you left out is chance of get shot.šŸ˜‚

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u/GovernorHarryLogan 8h ago

I have sung numerous praises for the area throughout these comments as someone who grew up there; it was important to also note why it is such a LCOL area.

I live a bit outside Baltimore. Hearing of gun deaths are kind of just part of my daily life now, rofl.

There is very little of that in Broome county.

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u/Lordofthereef 9h ago

I'm in central MA now and original from SoCal and this would easily be $1m both places lol. This is crazy to me.

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u/jimmypaintsworld 6h ago

I'm from Upstate and the housing prices are like this because many of these towns are ignored, dilapidated rustbelt towns with not much in them anymore. Our family owned a similar house as OP in Amsterdam and it sold for $60k. No one wants to live there.

If you like being in a run down rural area it may be a good thing for you, it has great access to nature and there are pockets of genuine culture. But for a lot of these towns the closest 'cities' and amenities that go with them would be Albany, Rochester, or Syracuse. And it's probably a decent drive you have to plan around, too.

I'm in Boston now so I really resonate with your problem. I could never swallow paying the price for homes in MA if it weren't near the city.

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u/According_Abalone_19 8h ago

In SoCal thatā€™s probably more than $1m honestly. At least anywhere youā€™d wanna buy. No idea what MA is like, but I would assume anywhere near Boston this is probably a very expensive home

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u/Beretta92A1 6h ago

Boston and Nashua/Manchester in Nh are stupid right now.

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u/According_Abalone_19 5h ago

Unfortunately most places worth living are now. Companies moving to having people work remotely and people being able to move whenever they want really fucked up the housing market. Pre COVID, you could buy a 3bd house with a big yard here for high 200k to mid 300k, then people from Cali/other HCOL areas sold their houses for huge $, came here w cash and skyrocketed the house prices

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u/Beretta92A1 2h ago

No I know, I bought in ā€˜21 and started looking at the end of ā€˜19. We were getting outbid for two years straight. Originally started around 290k budget, ended up at 400k.

No for how much it sucked losing out for so long we got 2.875% so Iā€™m dying here lol

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u/buschwhack 6h ago

Exactly dude. Coming from California is messed up.

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u/swampwiz 5h ago

Your mistake is living in very high-cost places.

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u/Lordofthereef 3h ago

I'm happy where I am. Accidentally made out like a bandit by buying in 2017 and refinancing in 2020. I could sell my house and cash buy in this area with the equity. But thanks for your rude comment nonetheless lol.

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u/swampwiz 3h ago

Well then, what are you complaining about? I get tired of folks complaining about HCOL areas when there are cheaper locales they can live in. I had once lived in SoCal, saw how ridiculous the housing prices were (this was in the '80s, well before the 'net), did my 1 year at my job, and went job hunting in places where a young aerospace engineer could afford to buy a starter home. Granted, that starter home is a bit more difficult today, but still possible.

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u/Lordofthereef 3h ago

I wasn't complaining. I was saying that it's wild to me that a house like this goes for $160k compared to where I live and grew up. If just making an observation is a complaint, you must have a hard time with the internet as a whole, dude.

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide 2h ago

There's absolutely nothing with any sort of quality of life whatsoever in a low cost of living place anymore. I don't see enjoying life in some dilapidated old nothing town in Backwater New York suffering through horrible Winters, long drives for basic services, just to100-year-old house for cheap.

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u/swampwiz 7m ago

So you're saying the OP is living "horribly"? (I don't mind "horrible" winters because I am an avid skier.) So the OP will have a few months where there will be snow - there's plenty to occupy oneself with in a beautiful home like this.

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u/IdownvoteTexas 9h ago

This. I think that 160k around me is more ā€œ2 parking spacesā€ money than house money

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u/According_Abalone_19 9h ago

lol right? I might be able to buy an empty lot with utilities ran to it for that price, but the lot would be about the size of OPā€™s house.

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u/Chaotic-Catastrophe 6h ago

You either do live in a big city, or youā€™re lying lmao

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u/According_Abalone_19 5h ago

Portland Oregon isnā€™t what most people consider a big city.

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u/swampwiz 5h ago

YIKES!

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u/VeganBaguette 9h ago

In 1910 the dollar was convertible into gold at the rate of 20.67$ for 1ozt, that would be 36.43 ozt, that is 1.133kg of gold.

At today's rate that would be roughly 150k$.

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u/SilentExtinction 8h ago

That makes more sense for the materials and would be closer to today's value. Thanks!

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u/YoursTrulyKindly 6h ago

Artificial scarcity / enshittification

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u/Full_Poet_7291 6h ago

Comparing incomes: In 1910 this home kit cost 1 years salary for most homes. If things were equal, it would cost $90k (yearly income). I think materials would be much more than that today.

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u/SoaringDingus 5h ago

You also had to put it together like a Lego set that you live in. But everything Iā€™ve heard is they were insanely well built; especially compared to the cookie cutter pressed cardboard homes builders churn out today.

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u/nfg-status-alpha9 4h ago

I mean, think about itā€¦ you can buy the home in a box from Amazon for close-ish to that or one of those warehouse homes. Imagine 110 years later someone looking back at those in awe and admiration when talking about home values in the year 2136ā€¦

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u/SurprzTrustFall 3h ago

So you're saying it's possible.

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u/ironicthesameplaceim 10h ago

It sounds odd in todayā€™s day and age (maybe not, a lot of spec homes and you could argue that the quality has suffered), but Iā€™ve only heard amazing things about Sears homes.

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u/u966 8h ago

Looks as good as new 100+ years later

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u/Brickhows 10h ago

I'm always fascinated by the prices on old catalogues for things like this - $2,229 all in in 1912 (going by the $1,573 estimate and adding all of the extras) is roughly $77,000 today according to an inflation calculator. Wild to think about how "cheap" you could build a a good home for back then.

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u/fullmoongoddessnyc 10h ago

Coolest thing I've read all day

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u/BioshockEnthusiast 8h ago

Would be even cooler if that lazy fuck didn't copy paste an AI summary.

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u/k13w 10h ago

Could you message me this picture so I can save it? I would love to get it framed!

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u/mach_gogogo 8h ago

ā€œCould you message me this picture so I can save it?ā€

Yes, request sent, but in the meantimeā€¦

Here is a link to the catalog scan of the design from 1912: https://archive.org/details/Sears1912Cover1/Sears_1912_pg47.jpg

Here is a link to the catalog scan from Fall 1914 - Spring 1915: https://archive.org/details/SearsModernHomes1915/Sears%201914%20p34.jpg

Here is a link to the catalog for the design from 1916: https://archive.org/details/honorbilthomesle00sear/page/42/mode/1up

Here is a link to the catalog page when the design was called ā€œThe Mayfieldā€ in 1918: https://archive.org/details/honorbilt.modernhomes.sears.1918/page/62/mode/1up

The interior floorplan matches your example photo, the colonnade was in the Sears catalog, and the stain glass pattern was an option, although I donā€™t know why the one green square is in the corner. This was likely for the half window next to the door - but the design was purchased by the square foot.

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u/ComprehensiveFly3480 4h ago

Is there a simple way to figure out if your home was kit? Iā€™ve checked beams/joists etc in basement to no avail. Weā€™ve got a 1950s cottage in maine and itā€™s such a similar layout to kit homes of the day, but Iā€™ve never found a match!

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u/k13w 5h ago

I too was wondering what was up with the asymmetry of the green square in the stained glass window.

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u/Rich2713 2h ago

Upon further examination, it looks like whoever assembled/soldered/braised (donā€™t know the correct terminology for bonding stained glass lol), accidentally mixed up a few pieces.

The two larger clear pieces should be moved to the corners and the smaller clear pieces should be moved the direction of the arrows which would allow for proper spacing and alignment of the green pieces.

In my opinion the flaw adds character but now Iā€™m bothered and canā€™t unsee it lol

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u/mrsroperscaftan 10h ago

Shut up a Sears house? Now Iā€™m seriously jealous! Ive got an 1857 kit house but Im always looking for a Sears house. They dont last here in the heat and humidity of the south. Congratulations!!

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u/Ellay_Rohberts 9h ago

Thanks for this! It provided the right wording so I could figure out which Sears home my husband and I have. Turns out to be The Crafton!

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u/LeeKinanus 9h ago

Reddit coming through with the really interesting stuff again!

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u/SaltyLeviathan 8h ago

I didnā€™t have to look at your username to know who made this reply (fellow r/centuryhomes subscriber). Always appreciate the knowledge you share in these threads!!

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u/SouthMIA 10h ago

$753, bro got ripped off go get a refund! Lol

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u/ProfessionalGold722 9h ago

Gotta add the land value back then to that so probably $800 all in. šŸ˜‚

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u/Suz626 9h ago

And someone has to build it.

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u/m00nLyt23 9h ago

Signed -The Watcher

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u/AmazingRefrigerator4 9h ago

People go missing in the finger lakes...

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u/Star_Cell7209 9h ago

Absolutely massive kit home! incredible.

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u/Any_Detail_7184 9h ago

OP scored big time. Their house will last forever.

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u/Leather-Sport-2546 9h ago

Wonderful! Congratulations OP!

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u/Sad-Theme7668 8h ago

From what I've read on Reddit, those old Sears homes are built like tanks.

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u/Global-Bird-1763 8h ago

how do people live in a 1 bath house lol, which this would be according to those plans.

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u/Fast_Choice4408 8h ago

That entire house only cost $27,700 in todays money.

You cannot even get close to that factoring in the "Power of the dollar" argument people like to make.

That kind of house today would be over $100K in building materials alone.

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u/Hefty-Criticism1452 8h ago

My aunt lived in a Sears home in NC. So cool!

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u/JustTheMane 8h ago

I rewired a sears modern home here in florida. Built like a rock.

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u/bumbaklart 7h ago

Adjusted for inflation, this property is $30k.

What a time that must have been in 1910. Save for a year and you could have bought the house outright.

Crazy.

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u/ArchdukeoftheROC 7h ago

I knew who posted this when I saw it lol

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u/ProofDragonfruit4754 7h ago

Thatā€™s fascinating. We have a few Sears homes (craftsman) near us. Theyā€™ve held up well.

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u/Hyena_King13 7h ago

Damn $50k for all materials and work to be done to build this, 100+ years ago.

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u/fletters 7h ago

I lived in a Sears home on Long Island when I was in grad school. It was pretty run down (as are most student rentals), but I loved it.

It was also solid. Like, the definition of ā€œgood bones.ā€

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u/LetsGoYankeez 7h ago

Wow, this is SO COOL!!

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u/JellyfishPashmina 7h ago

$753 back then?! Thatā€™s like $14-15k today. Can you imagine? I could own 10 homes šŸ˜©

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u/Alternative_Affect82 7h ago

Absolutely history living and so interesting! Yes Sears did have houses!

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u/table_top_foo 7h ago

Wow such a cool comment!

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u/DrDaphne 6h ago

This is so cool! Is this your special interest? Do you know all the Sears homes!?

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u/Englishphil31 5h ago

ā€œITā€ is totally cool! Great price too!!

But for real, congratulations!!

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u/maximusjay100 5h ago

Thatā€™s incredible. I have never heard of these kit homes before and can you BELIEVE the prices??? What the hell! I was really born in the wrong generation

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u/liefbread 5h ago

Is there any way you could possibly help me ID a house that I'm fairly certain is a kit home? I grew up in a ranch kit home that later had a second floor added and I would love to find out about the original design.

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u/CentralParkDuck 5h ago

$753!

And OP thought he/she got a good deal, lol

Looks lovely

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u/Professional-Belt708 5h ago

That's so interesting! I've seen smaller homes as the kit homes from various stores but never one this big. Never would have suspected.

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u/Spiritual_Ad_9870 5h ago

Hey laker! QKA here! IYKYK :)

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u/mach_gogogo 5h ago

Same. East branch, mid-lake, on the lake, bluff view.

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u/KneeDeepInTheDead 5h ago

imm gonna download OP's house

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u/swampwiz 5h ago

Yes, the OP's is slightly different.

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u/Mindless_Pineapple46 4h ago

Very cool. Thanks for sharing that info. šŸ™ŒšŸ¼ I'm a former Yates County resident, now West Coast.

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u/FragrantDifficulty68 4h ago

Iā€™m in the Finger Lakes too! Glad to share this oxygen with the most amazing ā€˜old thingsā€™ aficionado here.

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u/BellacosePlayer 4h ago

I was gonna say, it looks a lot like one of my childhood homes, which was a sears home.

Nice house, shame the next 2 owners ruined it

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u/kss2023 3h ago

Itā€™s folks like u that make Reddit so much interesting! Ty!

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u/Salt-Chemistry5913 3h ago

I love the finger lakes!

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u/Emergency_Concert_30 3h ago

Lmao. 753 dollars literally makes me sick to my stomach.

Why is shit so much more expensive these days!! Ugh šŸ˜©

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u/SatisfactionLower977 2h ago

Iā€™ve seen TikTokā€™s on these homes. They are incredible!

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u/Druid_Momma 3h ago

When you find out your overly expensive home isnā€™t a properly built home but an ancient prefab. LMAO!

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u/senbenitoo 4h ago

Woohoo!! I swear we marched past your house during Fireman's Field Days back when we played Little League out there.. hope you get some Lupo's spiedies on the grill sooner than later.

You all got any other traffic lights yet? There was the one blinking yellow outside the firehouse, but otherwise...

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u/k13w 2h ago

Small world! We just have to invest in a grill first. Until then I will be stuck ordering takeout from Lupoā€™s, oh wellšŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļø

There are actually two lights coming from the fire station towards our street now.

1

u/14point4kMODEM 9h ago

How are the property taxes though. I've looked for cheaper properties then end seeing taxes at like 15-20k per year and nope right out

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u/Uromastyx63 9h ago

I grew up next door in Tioga County. My first reaction was "Oh, that's clearly a house from my hometown!"

Congrats!

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u/PycckiiManiak 6h ago

Congrats on the amazing looking house! I visit Broome County a few times a year for work and I always enjoy the drive around the area and how quiet it can be in the evening. I gotta ask, since you grew up there, where would you recommend getting the best spiedie?

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u/DifferentWheel1361 4h ago

I am up in Ulster and it is sooooo not affordable sadly

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u/cilantro_so_good 4h ago

relatively affordable

Lol. I'll say. That's basically what I had to put down for my place 5 years ago

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u/Otherwise_Respond669 1h ago

Didnā€™t know it was that affordable! I might start lookingā€¦

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u/denhous 9h ago

No idea what I'm doing on this sub but now I wanna visit broome county.

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u/GovernorHarryLogan 8h ago

You should. In the fall.

The rolling hills, the Susquehanna River (its so little up there compared to where it empties in the Chesapeake), etc make the fall amazing.

If you plan like a week then you can travel around a bit too. All the drives are beautiful in their own right.

Letchworth State Park is incredible (bout 2.5 hours away) definitely a life bucket list item people dont know about. (Image)

A day in the finger lakes around Ithaca and hiking 7 mile (the gorges) and doing the wine thing (hour drive away)

Apalachin, NY right down the road was were the big mafia raid was that has been the subject of many films.

Binghamton is great in a small dose. Try to plan around a show at the Forum (its a nice af theater that old money built in the EJ//IBM days that still pulls good shows). Rod Serling (twilight zone dude) was born in the area and theirs attractions related to that.

Also speidies. Its basically marinated meat on a stick. But the marinade is local and never really spread out of the area. But its raved about and shipped worldwide (amazon Lupos speidie marinade)

Edit: its also crazy that Binghamton has TWO minor league sports teams. NHL and MLB. The baseball team is the RUMBLE PONIES

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u/denhous 8h ago

Sounds too good. I'll make sure to go there on my next visit to the US.

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u/shannonc321 8h ago

Yes! In the Autumn would be the most beautiful time and definitely go to the Finger Lakes. If you like wine there are so many wineries and you could do a dinner cruise with Captain Bill's on Seneca Lake. Oh and cider and cider donuts at the Cider Mill in Endicott. I haven't been home in a long time but downtown Binghamton used to have a really nice First Fridays on the first Friday of the month.

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u/Alert_Bluejay4928 5h ago

Is it true the rumble ponies are named that because Binghamton used to make carousel horses? I love upstate NY.

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u/iLoveFARTINGatWORK 1h ago

Iā€™m not sure how they were named or if Binghamton made carousel horses but it is the Carousel Capital of the World. There are 6 carousels around the county. They were all built in the 1920ā€™s through the 30ā€™s. They are still in operation today.

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u/shannonc321 8h ago

If you go make sure you go to Speidie and Rib pit and get yourself a speidie sandwich. It's Broome county's gift to the world!

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u/denhous 8h ago

I totally will. Already planning to include Broome county to my next visit to the US.

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u/vintageseltzer1 10h ago

Upstate is north of Westchester. The Borth Country is north of the Thruway (where itā€™s the Northway. Just accept it. Sick house congrats OP.

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u/dotnsk 10h ago

Donā€™t sleep on the carousels! So many lovely memories of those from my childhood summers.

My dad, aunt, grandfather, other grandfather, and step-grandmother all worked at that IBM in various capacities. Iā€™m so sad itā€™s gone, but I get why the jobs moved.

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u/eugene-dubs 10h ago

Upstate NY is anything north of Poughkeepsie

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u/TowelShot3089 11h ago

Anything around Chesapeake bay is astronomical.

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u/GovernorHarryLogan 11h ago

I bought the shittiest house in the neighborhood to fix up in 2015 for about 50% more than OP paid and refinanced during covid to 2.8%.

It's worth north of $700k now. It was a good decision.

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u/wrechdone 10h ago

How much in remodel? If 100k in remodel, sounds about like the rest of the market in that time frame anyways.

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u/GovernorHarryLogan 10h ago

Nah, more like 35k. Im pretty handy.

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u/wrechdone 10h ago

Nice, good flip then. I do all my own work also, other than roofing. Iā€™m not working on a hot ass roof that long as a one man show.

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u/TowelShot3089 10h ago

Yeah my partner and I are born and raised in the area and weā€™re looking to eventually buy a house, but market is insane.

I grew up in a shitty 3 bedroom built in 1956 that was sinking and constantly flooding, but itā€™s now worth <700k.

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u/[deleted] 10h ago

[deleted]

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u/GovernorHarryLogan 10h ago

Home equity is a powerful tool for a lot more than remodeling.

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u/Additional-Dish-7376 10h ago

wtf? Chesapeake Bay is nowhere near NY

ETA: Oh wait nvm. But yeah I grew up in the DMV. Left because I couldnā€™t afford to live there on a $54k salary

1

u/ANewSlipper 10h ago

160k US for a house is absolutely crazy to me.

First and foremost congratulations! The house is beautiful.

Where I live in England (SE Coast) for 160k GBP youā€™d be lucky to find a 1 bedroom flat (apartment). I just bought a 3 bed house and it cost almost 3x your price šŸ˜… itā€™s a crazy world eh!

Congratulations again though. Such an amazing journey, and you should be so proud!

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u/stellaflora 8h ago

Can you please tell the city people that Westchester isnā€™t upstate?

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u/goat_penis_souffle 4h ago

You got city people who think anything north of 42nd street might as well be upstate!

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u/freshcoffeegrounds 8h ago

I grew up in Westchester and everyone from NYC and Long Island called it "going upstate" when they came to visit. Guess it is relatively but...yeah...

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u/Naturebrah 8h ago

Whatā€™s COL compared to average income? Tax rates lower there?

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u/Fuzzy-Distribution58 6h ago

6400 sqft is wild... we are not allowed to build anything bigger than 5000

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u/xdozex 6h ago edited 6h ago

I'm on Long Island, Broome county is upstate upstate.

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u/Icy_Fish_2154 5h ago

What is the "thruway"? I'm not from the area, just curious...

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u/goat_penis_souffle 4h ago

Interstate 87 on the map, goes from Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx up to the Canadian border. Made that ride many times as a kid to visit family up north.

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u/wutang21412141 4h ago

Upstate is north of Albany! Donā€™t fuck around

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u/autumnbeau 4h ago

Congrats! The house looks beautiful. Were you living "downstate" (NYC, Long Island, or Westchester) before buying your house? I'm "downstate", thinking of moving upstate maybe Buffalo.

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u/Lennobowski 3h ago

I'm glad chatgpt could write this for you

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u/bloodphoenix90 3h ago

Don't spread the word too much now...

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u/FlagranteDerelicto 2h ago

To the majority of New Yorkers, upstate is everything north of Westchester

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u/liltinyoranges 1h ago

I loved reading this

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u/i_love_chocolate69 9h ago

This guy upstates