Character Home, Acreage
1959 Bessemer House on 0.73 Acres, Rebuilt Underneath — $95,000
6
out of 10
HousesUnder150K Score
Property Merit 50% · Condition 25% · Price/Sq Ft 15% · Market 10%
| Category | Wt. | Score | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property Merit | 50% | 7 | 0.73 acres, hardwood floors, 3BR/1BA, 890 sqft — land is real story |
| Condition | 25% | 7 | HVAC 2026, foundation 2025, roof ~8yr, WH 2017; solid recent investment |
| Price / Sq Ft | 15% | 8 | Listing $107/sqft vs zip median $138/sqft; ~22% below — thin data noted |
| Price vs. Market | 5% | 7 | $95K vs zip median $208K — 54% below, though zip skews to larger homes |
| Market Conditions | 5% | 6 | DOM 63 days, sale-to-list 99.2%, price drops 35.5% — mild buyer signals |
The lot is the first thing worth understanding here. Three-quarters of an acre in an active zip market, attached to a 3-bedroom house that comes in at $95,000. That is a lot of land for that number. The house itself is 890 square feet, which is tight by most measures, but the footprint outside it is wide and flat enough to do real things with: a garden, a workshop, room for kids or dogs to run, or eventually more structure if you ever want to build.
What keeps this from being a pure land play is that the house has been worked on, and recently. Foundation work finished in 2025. HVAC replaced in 2026. Roof is around eight years old. Water heater from 2017. That is a meaningful stack of capital improvements concentrated in the last couple of years, and it changes how you think about what you're walking into. You are not buying a 1959 house that has been quietly deteriorating. You are buying one that someone put money into, structurally and mechanically, before putting it on the market.
Inside, it is small. 890 square feet across three bedrooms and one bath does not leave much margin. But there are hardwood floors, which tend to hold up in houses this age when they have been treated reasonably well, and the bathroom has been updated. The kitchen is not described in any detail by the listing, which probably means it is functional but plain. That is fine at this price.
At $107 per square foot against a zip median of $138, and a list price sitting about halfway below the broader zip median of $208,000, the comparison has to account for the fact that larger homes pull that median up. Still, even with that adjustment, the price is low relative to what has sold nearby, and the improvements are current enough that you are not buying someone else's deferred problem.
The downside is size. 890 square feet is what it is, and one bathroom shared across three bedrooms is a constraint that layout alone cannot solve.
What the price buys you is a house that works, on land that gives you room to breathe, for less than most finished renovations in the same market.
