This newly renovated ranch is located just outside of Albion on the east side of town. It’s just a few minutes from downtown, Victory Park, the library, Albion College, and just around the corner from the Albion College Equestrian Center.
We purchased this classic at a tax auction – we’ve heard stories around town that the former owner lived to be about 100 years old when she passed. Whomever the ownership of the house reverted to either didn’t know they owned it or didn’t want anything to do with it.
To be honest, we might have gone a little overboard on the renovations to this home because we liked it so much. When we acquired it, the house was in pretty good condition, but was extremely dated. It screamed 1950’s and even had a little mid-century furniture to support that theory. The stonework around the fireplace was massive and featured large, textured sandstone-looking bricks. The kitchen had a built-in desk indicative of the time it was built. The house also had a nice open screened-in area between the side entry door and the carport and it sat on a little more than half an acre.
Seeing that the neighboring homes and neighborhood had some of the highest home values in the area, we decided to repair the house with some higher end finishes, enclosed the carport and converted it into a two-car garage. Here’s the laundry list of improvements we made to the home:
- Enclosed the carport to make a two-car garage with storage area and small patio on the back of the house.
- Upgraded to all vinyl windows and replaced the living room floor-to-ceiling windows with more typical-sized windows to get rid of the fishbowl feeling.
- Gutted and replaced the kitchen with quartz countertops and a suite of new stainless-steel appliances.
- Gutted and replaced the main bathroom with a subway tile tub surround, tiled the floor, and added a half bathroom at the west end of the house near the garage entry.
- Replaced/upgraded all plumbing, electrical, and added central air conditioning.
- Installed a new septic system and drain field.
- Painted and repaired the cedar siding as needed.
- Installed new wood laminate flooring throughout the living room, half bath and kitchen.
With all of these renovations, our asking price was a bit higher than what the market would support for a 2-bedroom, 1.5 bathroom home, even with all of the upgrades. After a few months on the market and a couple of offers that were lower than we wanted to accept, we decided to rent it and quickly found a tenant. This house is a thing of beauty!
After:
