Yes, it’s beautiful. In point of fact, it’s absolutely gorgeous. Nice lawns; great brickwork and interior architecture; a nice kitchen and the landscaping is attractive too. 1800 square feet, 3/2.5. And of course, my inner consumer who always wants, wants, wants – he wants this house.
But … it’s well over a million dollars. Something its builder, who subscribed to the idea of simple, straightforward living for a price that most people could afford, would shudder at. This house has been reinvented as something so grand and rare that it requires a real estate agent with a Harvard JD to sell it.
I’m not against rewarding people for their work (or, I guess, for holding onto property until it reaches ridiculous heights of "value"). But it is shocking to see something like this – a perfect example of a populist architecture, something built to last but also to be affordable, selling for a price that less than 1/4 of 1% of the population can ever hope to pay. An entire middle-class movement made precious by collectors, to the point that none of the people such homes were imagined to be for could possibly even participate.
I always wondered what my living room would look like if I removed the ceiling and did trusses instead — now I know!
I don’t know that it’s collectors driving up the prices as much as the crazy California real estate market. Maybe a remodeled 50’s ranch with all those amenities might sell for as much?
Jean, probably partly the general real estate climate in California, but definitely the manufactured “preciousness” of the style has a lot to do with the outlandish price.
In my neighborhood we have a mix, and those with any kind of Craftsman feature – whether a beautifully-maintained or restored 1920 bungalow with loads of built-ins, original floors etc, or a modest stuccoed bungalow with a sparer interior – is far more valuable than a well-kept postwar home of similar size.
I think you are not clear on the housing prices in Marin County.
This is an expected price, especially for its quality and location in Fairfax — even with housing prices down.
And I agree it is a ridiculous price (as are all the prices), but it is an exceptional home.
We just bought a house that would cost us $650,000 in Fairfax for $400,000 in Petaluma.
Marin is a bubble inside the bubble that would take a full scale deep recession to deflate.
Last week I just witnessed a two car garage converted into an apartment drop from $625,000 to $525,000. Yes it’s ridiculous, yes it is about location, and yes I disagree with it’s value.
With an income of $118,000.00 a year you qualify for low income first time home buyer incentives. Below that, you simply can’t afford a house without %25 down, condo maybe, house no.
I’m also not convinced that this house and its location can be given the populist analogy as in other places, even at that time.
Also, craftsman and mission houses in the SF Bay Area have all suffered from prices driven by exclusivity, fires reducing stock, and sitting in a sea of Post WWII homes.