Historic, Garage
1870 Five-Bedroom Platteville House, Three Blocks from Campus — $140,000
6
out of 10
HousesUnder150K Score
Property Merit 50% · Condition 25% · Price/Sq Ft 15% · Market 10%
| Category | Wt. | Score | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property Merit | 50% | 8 | 1870 5BR/2BA, 1,932 sqft, garage, 3 blocks UW-Platteville, income potential |
| Condition | 25% | 5 | As-is LLC sale, needs updating; 2025 roof and chimney re-flash are meaningful positives |
| Price / Sq Ft | 15% | 9 | $72/sqft vs. $151/sqft zip median — 52% below; thin 7-comp data, directional signal strong |
| Price vs. Market | 5% | 9 | $140K vs. $281,917 zip median — approximately 50% below median |
| Market Conditions | 5% | 5 | Sale-to-list 101.4% competitive; 24.3% price drops a partial buyer offset; floor applied |
At $72 a square foot, this is about half what houses in the zip code are selling for. That gap is real and it is wide. The median sale price here runs around $282,000. This one is $140,000. Five bedrooms, two baths, 1,932 square feet, a detached garage, and a 155-year-old house that needs work. The price reflects the work. So does the as-is LLC sale structure. Go in with eyes open.
What you get is a lot of house for the money. Five bedrooms is genuinely rare at this price in most markets, and in a college town three blocks from UW-Platteville, that square footage has options attached to it. You could live here and rent rooms. You could run it as a straight rental. You could buy it, fix it up over time, and have a large older home in a walkable location for well under what comparable finished houses cost. The proximity to campus is a fact, not a pitch — three blocks is three blocks.
The house itself is from 1870, so you are looking at a building that is well over a century old and has the updating needs you would expect. The agent description does not get specific about what needs doing, which means you need to find out before committing. What the 2025 roof and chimney re-flash do tell you is that the two most expensive and most consequential exterior items were just addressed. A new roof on both the house and the garage, plus chimney work, done this year. That is meaningful protection against the worst-case scenarios that tend to come with old houses.
There is laundry hookup in an enclosed porch off the kitchen. One-plus car garage. The corner of the lot at S Chestnut and Southwest Road is city-owned, so the property does not extend that far.
This is a house that needs a buyer willing to put in time and money. In exchange, you get five bedrooms in a walkable location, a fresh roof, and a price point that leaves room to do the work right.