Acreage, Historic, Fireplace, Wooded Lot, Stone Construction
1940 Stone-Fireplace Cottage on 1.46 Wooded Acres, Manistee National Forest Next Door — $144,900
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 | 1940 home, 1.46 wooded acres, fireplace, island kitchen, primary suite, national forest access |
| Condition | 25% | 5 | Sold as-is with debris noted; digitally edited photos raise transparency concerns |
| Price / Sq Ft | 15% | 8 | Listing $91/sqft vs zip median $133/sqft — ~32% below median; thin data (3 comps) |
| Price vs. Market | 5% | 4 | $144,900 is ~5% above zip median $137,391 — slightly above market |
| Market Conditions | 5% | 6 | DOM 56 days median; 36.5% price drops signal buyer leverage; sale-to-list near parity |
The property backs up to Manistee National Forest. That's the thing to start with. You're not just buying a house with trees in the yard — you've got 1.46 wooded acres and then the national forest continues beyond your property line. The Pere Marquette River is nearby. That kind of access from a private residential lot at this price point is hard to find.
The house itself is an 84-year-old, 1,600 square foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home with a stone wood-burning fireplace. It has an island kitchen and a primary suite. The fireplace is the interior anchor — a real stone surround, wood-burning, the kind of thing that makes a cold Michigan weekend actually feel like something.
Here's what you need to know before you get excited: this is an as-is sale, the listing explicitly notes debris on the property, and the agent admits some photos were digitally edited to remove it. That's a meaningful flag. You do not know what the debris looks like or how much work the place needs until you're standing in it. Budget for surprises.
At $144,900, you're paying about $91 per square foot. The zip code median is closer to $133. That gap exists partly because of the condition, but even accounting for that, there's room here. The house has been sitting for a while in a market where more than a third of listings have taken price cuts, so there may be room to negotiate.
What this place actually works for is someone who wants a weekend property or rental near the national forest and the river, and who's willing to do some work to get it there. The lot and the location are the value. The stone fireplace and the wooded acreage are the draw. The house is the project.
If you buy this and put in the effort, you end up with a three-bedroom retreat on nearly one and a half acres at the edge of a national forest. That's the upside. It just requires that you go see it in person before you believe the photos.
