Real Estate Oddities category archives

You’ve heard of contests that require you to write an essay and win a house. Or homes that are sold in a raffle. They usually go up in flames, but down in Florida, a real estate investor seems to have come up with a unique new approach. Donna Kalman, a provider of short- and long-term […]

In Stillwater, a city in Minnesota on the St. Croix river, is a home located at 2511 Countryside Court, Stillwater, MN 55082 that is for sale for $239,900. There’s nothing unusual about the house, except that if you buy it and then hit a hole-in-one on the 7th hole of the Applewood Hills Golf Course […]

Want to buy a 140-year-old, 5,000 sq ft home in New London, CT for $1? That’s the deal, according to Hartford, CT television station WFSB.  A church that owns the home is willing to sell it for $1, but you have to move it to a different location. If you don’t want to do that, […]

Last weekend, I took a road trip over the Cascade mountains to Moses Lake, a small town about 150 miles east of Seattle. The trip was positioned as a seasonal fall excursion to a friend’s family farm, with promises of pumpkin carving, a cook out, and a trip to the corn maze. I hadn’t even […]

(Photo of rebuilt home courtesy LA Times)
Talk about freak accidents. Here’s a crazy, incredible story from the LA Times this morning about a freak accident involving a roofing truck and a fire hydrant. The end result was one guy’s Burbank, CA home  was destroyed after a truck ran over a fire hydrant, causing a gusher […]

If you have an urge to purge, you will be inspired by a couple in Calistoga, CA, who felt their 1,800 sq ft home was a bit too big and expensive, so they moved into a smaller “house” —which is more like a garden shed or playhouse — that cost them $15,000. CNN reports that […]

If you know Seattle, you know views have a premium. Therefore, when one neighbor built a home that exceeded the one-story height covenant, thereby blocking the views of neighbors, a lawsuit was likely. And now, at the end of a nearly 10-year-old dispute over blocked views and a three-year-old lawsuit, one neighbor will have to […]

If you buy a home right next to a golf course, chances are you or your house will be in danger of getting hit by a golf ball, right? Right. But, in our madness to sue and litigate over obvious afronts, Westchester resident Anthony Pecora is suing the venerable Winged Foot Golf Club “claiming that […]

Last week I blogged about Forbes’ recent survey highlighting the best cities for singles. Atlanta (aka Hotlanta) came out on top.
Well, turns out that another source disagrees with that super fly nickname, and is disputing the Southern city’s A grade review. According to Travel and Leisure magazine’s Favorite Cities Survey, Atlantans are not so “hot” […]

This has not been a good news week for homes in the Pacific Northwest. First, there was the Portland, OR house that slid down a hill. Now comes word that a house in Bellingham, WA was destroyed by a runaway garbage truck.
On Wednesday morning, homeowner Doug Henderson was in his garage when he saw a […]