Hidden Gem, Garage, Finished Basement, Income Potential, Acreage
1900 Presque Isle House Near Two Colleges, Half-Acre Lot — $35,700
6
out of 10
HousesUnder150K Score
Property Merit 50% · Condition 25% · Price/Sq Ft 15% · Market 10%
| Category | Wt. | Score | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property Merit | 50% | 7 | 0.56 acres, 2-car garage, full basement, 1900 build, college-town location |
| Condition | 25% | 5 | No system dates, investor/live-in framing, "update over time" signals cosmetic-to-moderate work |
| Price / Sq Ft | 15% | 10 | $31/sqft vs $112 zip median — 72% below; 8 comps, directional but strong signal |
| Price vs. Market | 5% | 10 | $35,700 vs $174,425 median — approximately 80% below zip median |
| Market Conditions | 5% | 8 | DOM 80 vs zip median 39; sale-to-list 92.1%; 44.2% price drops — clear buyer's market |
Thirty-five thousand dollars. In a zip code where the median home sells for $174,000. That gap is large enough to make you look twice, and when you do, there's a real house here: 1,155 square feet built in 1900, a two-car garage, a full basement, and more than half an acre of open lot. At $31 per square foot against a zip median of $112, the price is not a rounding error. It's just where this one landed.
The house needs work. The listing frames it as something you can "update over time," which is the polite way of saying you're buying a project. No system ages are listed anywhere, so furnace, roof, water heater — all unknown. You'd want to find out what those are before you close, because at this price, there's budget to absorb surprises, but you'd want to know the scope going in. The condition score here is honest: this is a fixer.
What you get for that price is more than most fixers offer. The two-car garage alone has real value, and a full basement gives you mechanical space and storage that a slab house this age wouldn't. The lot is wide and open, which in a place like Presque Isle means room to actually use the land. The 1900 build means the house has been standing for 125 years, which tells you something about the structure even if the finishes need help.
The location matters more here than it might elsewhere. University of Maine at Presque Isle and Northern Maine Community College are both close, which creates a consistent rental market. Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital is nearby. Stores and restaurants within short driving distance. For someone looking at this as a rental, the math starts to look interesting fast when your acquisition cost is this low.
The house has been sitting about 80 days in a market where things typically move in 39. Price drops have been common across the zip. Both of those things favor a buyer who's willing to do the work.
