Character Home, Pool, Garage
1959 Minneota Ranch With In-Ground Pool and 5 Bedrooms — $150,000
7
out of 10
HousesUnder150K Score
Property Merit 50% · Condition 25% · Price/Sq Ft 15% · Market 10%
| Category | Wt. | Score | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property Merit | 50% | 8 | 5BR, finished basement with egress, pool, paver patio, 1-stall garage, 1786 sqft |
| Condition | 25% | 8 | Move-in ready per description; tiled shower update noted; no system dates given |
| Price / Sq Ft | 15% | 6 | Listing $84/sqft vs zip median $81/sqft — essentially at market, thin data (5 comps) |
| Price vs. Market | 5% | 2 | Listing $150K is 28% above zip median $117,201 — premium for features |
| Market Conditions | 5% | 5 | DOM 4 vs median 35; sale-to-list 102.4% competitive; 44% price drops mixed signal |
The pool is the thing. A private in-ground pool in a backyard on a $150,000 house in a small Minnesota town is the detail that stops you cold. Add a paver patio behind it, and this becomes the house where summer actually happens. That is a real thing for a family with kids, and it is worth naming plainly before anything else.
The house itself is a 1959 ranch with 1,786 square feet spread across two levels. Three bedrooms sit on the main floor along with a full bath and multiple storage closets. The layout reads as functional rather than impressive — living room flows into dining area and kitchen, which is standard for the era and the footprint. Nothing wrong with it. It works.
The finished basement is where the house punches harder than expected. Two more bedrooms down there with large egress windows, which matters because basement bedrooms without egress read as storage rooms to a lot of buyers. These read as bedrooms. There is also a 3/4 bath with a floor-to-ceiling tiled shower, which is the one clear update the listing names specifically. The lower level also holds laundry and mechanical, with enough room left over that the storage question more or less answers itself.
Garage is one stall. In a Minnesota winter that is not nothing, but it is also not two stalls.
Price is the honest friction here. At $150,000, this sits 28% above the zip median of roughly $117,000. The price per square foot lands at $84 against a zip median of $81, so it is essentially at market for what the square footage is worth. The premium you are paying is specifically for the pool, the five bedrooms, and the finished basement. Whether that math works depends on how much those things are worth to you. The market seems to think they do: this went under contract in four days and is tracking above list price.
For a family that wants space, a real summer backyard, and a house they can move into without a project list, this covers a lot of ground at a price that would get you a two-bedroom condo in a larger city.
