1974 Baxter Fixer with 5 Bedrooms, Metal Roof, and an Acre — $79,900

The math here is the first thing that gets your attention. Five bedrooms, 1,376 square feet, an acre of level ground, and a four-year-old metal roof already on the building. At $79,900, that's $58 a square foot. For a house that needs work, that's a reasonable place to start.

The lot is flat and shaded by mature trees. A full acre in town gives you room to move around, park things, grow something, or just not feel crowded. The unfinished basement adds storage or future square footage depending on how much you want to put into it.

Inside, the bones are interesting. Hardwood floors run throughout the house. They need finishing, and the seller says they can provide the stain, so at least that decision is partly made for you. The cabinetry is handcrafted wood, which is not what you find in houses at this price point. There's a dedicated dining room and a fireplace. The layout is a 5-bedroom single bath right now, but the agent notes it could be reconfigured into a 3-bedroom, 2-bath setup without much trouble.

The roof being four years old matters. Metal roofs last. That's one of the bigger ticket items on a renovation checklist, and it's already handled.

This is an as-is sale. The agent says it's a restoration project, and that's accurate. You're not walking into something finished. The floors need work, the basement is unfinished, and the interior is going to take effort and money before this feels done. What you're buying is the structure, the lot, the roof, and the raw material of those floors and cabinets.

If you want a house that's ready to live in, this is not it. If you want a project with a low entry price, good materials to work with, and a critical repair already behind you, this one is worth a look.