Historic, Garage, Victorian, Finished Basement
1898 Victorian with Corner Turret, 5 Beds, 3023 Sqft — $96,900
8
out of 10
HousesUnder150K Score
Property Merit 50% · Condition 25% · Price/Sq Ft 15% · Market 10%
| Category | Wt. | Score | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property Merit | 50% | 9 | 1898 Victorian, turret, 5 beds, 3023 sqft, hardwood, original woodwork, 2-car garage |
| Condition | 25% | 6 | Original details intact; unfinished basement, no system dates listed — cosmetic/unknown risk |
| Price / Sq Ft | 15% | 10 | $32/sqft vs $112/sqft zip median — 71% below; thin 7-comp data but strong directional signal |
| Price vs. Market | 5% | 9 | $96,900 vs $271,882 median — 64% below zip median; meaningful gap |
| Market Conditions | 5% | 6 | DOM 38 days, sale-to-list 96.7%, price drops 20.5% — mild buyer advantage |
The turret is the reason to look twice. Corner turret rooms in 1898 Victorians are not common anywhere, and at $96,900 for 3,023 square feet, this one in Blue Earth, Minnesota is the kind of listing that stops you mid-scroll. Thirty-two dollars per square foot. The zip median is $112. You are not misreading that.
The house is big. Five bedrooms across two floors, two full baths, an attached two-stall garage, and an unfinished basement. Above grade you have 2,213 square feet of actual living space — foyer, living room, dining room, a large kitchen with wood cabinets, and a main-floor bedroom with a walk-in closet. Main-floor laundry too, which matters in a house this size. Upstairs are four more bedrooms, including the turret room, and the second bath.
The original woodwork is still there. Hardwood floors in several rooms. Period details throughout. For a 126-year-old house, the fact that none of this was stripped out and replaced with something beige is the whole story. Someone left it alone, and now you get to decide what to do with it.
What you do not know, because the listing does not say, is when the mechanicals were last touched. No system dates, no mention of the furnace or roof or electrical. The basement is unfinished. The condition score here reflects real uncertainty, and you should budget for it. A house this old at this price almost certainly needs work somewhere, and a thorough inspection is not optional.
That said, five bedrooms and a turret room and intact Victorian woodwork under $100,000 is a hard thing to find. If you want space for a big family, or a place to restore room by room, or just a genuinely old house with a real floor plan and original character, the math here is unusual. Blue Earth is a small city in southern Minnesota, and $96,900 puts you a long way inside what this size and style would cost almost anywhere else.
