Hidden Gem, Acreage, Historic
Half an Acre on the East Edge of Manhattan, Kansas — $149,000
6
out of 10
HousesUnder150K Score
Property Merit 50% · Condition 25% · Price/Sq Ft 15% · Market 10%
| Category | Wt. | Score | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property Merit | 50% | 6 | 0.53 acres, 4 sheds, college town, 1950 build — small but land is the story |
| Condition | 25% | 6 | "Well cared for" with owner records; no system dates named; no major red flags stated |
| Price / Sq Ft | 15% | 5 | Listing $183/sqft; zip median PSF unavailable — scored neutral at 5.0 |
| Price vs. Market | 5% | 7 | $149K vs $294,872 median — approximately 49% below zip median sale price |
| Market Conditions | 5% | 5 | DOM 13 days, 100% sale-to-list — competitive market; floor applied at 5 |
The house is small. 816 square feet, two bedrooms, one bath, built in 1950. That part you should know going in. What you should also know is that it sits on just over half an acre in Manhattan, Kansas, where the median sale price is pushing $295,000. This one is listed at $149,000. That gap is the reason to look.
Manhattan is a college town, home to Kansas State, which means demand for housing holds steady and inventory moves fast. This place sold in 13 days at full asking price the last time around. The east edge location puts you close to town without being in it.
The land is what you're buying here, really. Half an acre is room to breathe, room to garden, room to add on, room for a dog to run. And whoever lived here before you took the outbuildings seriously. Four utility sheds come with the property. That's not nothing. If you do any kind of work with your hands, keep tools, store equipment, or just want somewhere to put things that aren't in the house, four sheds is a setup most people spend years building toward.
The house itself has been maintained. The owner kept records, which tells you something about how it was cared for. No system dates are documented in the listing, so you'd want to ask about the age of the roof, the HVAC, the water heater before you close. But nothing in what's visible suggests deferred neglect. It reads as lived-in and looked after.
There's also a second toilet in the utility room, which the agent felt worth mentioning. For a single-bath house, that's a practical addition.
At $149,000, you're getting a small house on a large lot in a market where things sell fast and prices run twice this high. The house asks you to accept what it is: tight, older, honest. The land and the location give you room to decide what it becomes.
