638 South Alexander

Here's something to change my head exploding tone.

Why don't we look with friendly (but deeply running) envy at the home a photographer Logan works with is trying to sell. He's a photographer who is also very good at taking care of homes. He's also very anal. He also has great taste. He's also very clean.

>

(Admit it, you want to buy this house just because of the front door, light and awesome house numbers.)

The backyard is drool inspiring. The kitchen made me let out an audible squeal. CUPBOARD SPACE. Under mount sink. Under cabinet television! We have no garage, so the garage with it's very clean back shed area, made me wet my pants.

I think I would shamelessly make love, sweet, sweet love, to this house if Barrack Obama was sitting on the front porch.

Logan said when he showed me this house, wouldn't it be funny to do a comparison. Davo's basement vs. our shit hole basement? Davo's incredibly organized attic vs. our horribly organized attic? I said, 'Oh my God that would be a riot and he then threatened me with becoming a Bush advocate if I did it. So sorry, my shame will remain only for the people I invite into my home.

But if you're looking for an stunning home at an *unbelievable* price for this area and this level of workmanship, attention to detail and updating. Seriously. If you, unlike me, are at a place in your life and with your fiscal dreams where you could consider moving, I think you should move there and we'll be practically neighbors!

Except I'll never invite you to my house because your new house will shame me.

*if you contact davo, let him know Logan and Melissa referred you.

Comments

[Jenna]

Hey I live in Northern Michigan, Traverse City...have you heard of it? I see that you have pics from a vacation in Suttons Bay! Small world.

That house is beautiful!!

Have a great day!

[The Princess]

That's just beautiful! Makes me want to leave Texas and live in Michigan!!

[Crits]

Wow... gorgeouso! I mean really, that's a great house for $260ish. Same era/condition here would be MUCH more! Problem, makes me look around and feel freaking depressed. Forget the stylishly fabulous light fixtures... we can't even keep WORKING bulbs in our ugly ass ones. Thanks for the reality check. Perhaps I will give 1 precious hour to my poor, neglected home today =). Ha ha

[WindyLou]

Thanks for posting something to take my mind off the debacle down here.

[Heatherg]

That price range would get you as nice but bigger (square footage-wise) house in my neck of the woods.

But, i cant afford it here either so it sure was nice to drool over someone elses house. And wow, look at the colors.....absolutely great!

I wish i were creative.....

[Carrie]

That seems like a lot of house for the money in R.O. I was just down there on Sunday walking around and looking at all the changes. Wish I could afford to buy it! What a great job they did remodeling. (AND SO CLEAN!)

[Mir]

Ooooohhh the Frank Lloyd Wright numbers get me every time. Too bad I'm broke. ;)

[Elizabeth]

I thought that seemed like a lot of money when I paid less than half that for 1400 sq.feet in a Lansing suburb, then I saw the pictures. Dear sweet jesus, the kitchen with the butcher block island! The bathrooms! The flip-down flat panel tv with DVD and MP3! It's just stunning.

[MelissaS]

Royal Oak and Lansing are like apples and oranges.

It's not Birmingham or Grosse Pointe but it's definitely inflated like the rest of the area. Going west or north, you save money and get more land, but then you aren't in the city and are most likely in new construction. Which has it's benefits but I love these old houses.

[Kim]

That house is gorgeous! And I would love to have you as a neighbor :) The deck in back is just screaming for us to sit out on a summer night with a (few) beers!

[Lil' Sis]

I never knew I needed bottom-roller drawers before. Or a trackless shower door. But I really, REALLY do. I don't even think I HAVE soffit vents, much less so many pretty ones. And that basement makes me want to die. Fuck them for getting 2 washers & dryers when I get none! And I could write a song about that furnace, but it would pretty much guarantee I never get a record deal.
I'm going to go cry at my apartment now. Thanks. No, really.
-Miao.

[a]

omg. that house is practically free.

p.s. i live on so. calif.

[BB]

I am sooo in love with that man--the organization alone makes me little heart go pitter patter! If I wasn't married and didn't love Texas and warm weather so much , I would go to Michigan and find him!!

[J]

First time poster, long time lurker. Just had to second the comments that that house is SO CHEAP! I live in SoCal too, and $250K won't even buy you a mobile home or a studio apartment, let alone a beautiful house with a yard!

[Amanda]

I want to lick those cabinets.

Seriously, he doesn't actually LIVE there does he? Because no one could keep a house that clean. It's impossible.

[Tracy]

Oh my! The kitchen is to die for. My children would absolutely DESTROY that floor though :)

[Tuesday]

I would looove to be your neighbor and for that price I'll take two!

[mamaloo]

That house in Portland (depending on neighborhood) would be more like 400K.

I want.

[FlippyO]

I love love love the kitchen. The yard is a bit bendy for my tastes. :) The porch light and the street numbers...yummy.

The inside of the house is great. Will he come over and remodel my house? It's only four years old, but I want new floors and storage everywhere and a basement and a maid and a....sigh.

It's a gorgeous house. I wouldn't imagine he'd have trouble selling it, especially with you making love to Barack Obama on the porch.

[Jennifer K]

Oh my stars! That is such a beautiful home! Man, I'm so envious of communities that still have older homes like those. Down here in the land of stucco all we get are crappy cooky cutter replicas.

Why in the world would you want to leave such a wonderful home??!!!

[MelissaS]

Yes, same house in a different hood in this city would be at least $50K more. But this neighborhood is close to downtown and all the half a million dollar condos they keep putting in. And that, my friends, is where you want to be.

Unless you want to live out in the soul sucking expanse of urban sprawl.

I'm kidding! I have tree roots breaking my sewer line! I love new construction!

Check out this piece of crap around the block from me. We'll see if it sells for that price. Puh-lease.

Then there's this one two blocks west of me, not EVEN as awesome as Davo's. (No a/c, boiler heat, no garage, no great deck, no shed and 7 foot bushes covering the front of it)....all for 329,900. They're less than a half a mile apart. This house is a remarkable deal.

[patti]

Wait. $260,000.00? As in TWO. HUNDRED. SIXTY. THOUSAND? As in, that's ALL?

That house here in Chicago would be at least $600K. At *least*.

Melissa, and you think Logan is a robot? Ha. Not only is the guy who owns this house a robot, but so, apparently, is his wife and his children. Does anybody even LIVE in that house?

[Lisa V]

We could trash this place and make it look like crap in about a day and a half. All you need are 4 kids, a car up on blocks and a keg in the backyard. Then we are home.

[suburban misfit]

I love the Frank Lloyd Wright *everything* in that house.

With a 6'2" husband, an eight-year-old boy who is nearly as tall as I am (I'm 5'4") and a four-year-old daughter who is on the same growth chart as her brother, there just isn't enough room in that house for me!

But that house is absolutely my dream "the youngest kid is 18 let's get the hell out of here" house.

[Jackie]

Oh. My. God. I live in Montgomery County, Maryland, right out of DC, and that house, here, would fetch a million, easily. WITHOUT the backyard. I was sold with the photo of the front door, but alas, my husband is morally opposed to any sort of siding. Or moving out of state, damn him.

[Theresa]

I would love to have a house like that, but then my crappy furniture would look even worse. I guess we'll have to stick to our 1970's piece of crap house until we have furniture worthy of a house like that!

[rhonda]

Nice digs... probably already sold!

[Sarah]

If that house were a box of chocolates, I'd have eaten the whole thing in the time it took me to look at those pictures.

We love Frank Lloyd Wright (those numbers are fantastic) and are moving to Ann Arbor in a few weeks, hoping to buy by the end of the year...but I sense that the commute would be a killer.

[madge]

I think I might barf.

I'm not sure if it's the immaculate housekeeping, the fabulous FLW-inspired woodwork or the leagues of storage.

No. Wait. It's the price. Just moved out of NYC where you can't get a crap-ass, rat-infested, crackhead-manning-the-door studio apartment for that price.

[clickmom]

I am going to go out on a limb here and wonder for all to read if this guy is actually straight. I think this house is just a bit too tidy for the average man. I got the kid thing, but in my neck of the woods there are plenty of gay guys with kids.

So, is he or isn't he??

[tracy]

Oh my gawd, how do you guys afford to buy houses? That house, fabulous though it is, would be labelled "TINY with no yard to speak of" where I live and would go for less than $150K.

[Lin]

I want to buy that house for my daughter and her husband who can't find a CRUMMY two bedroom FIXER-UPPER in a halfway-safe Los Angeles neighborhood with a crappy local public school for under a million.

[melissaS]

straight straight straight.

Maybe it's his wife who's so clean. I don't know.

[Newlywedded]

That house is amazing. I'm adding it to my favorites and I'm going to steal all of his ideas!

[julia]

Oh my God, the floors! The woodwork! The exterior! My chest is tightening ... the charm! The character! I can't breathe. I can't breathe. A 3-bedroom house in an older neighborhood (read: not a suburban tract nightmare) in Austin would START at $550,000. Oh, sweet Jesus, did I say I'm short of breath? Why am I ALWAYS at the wrong place at the right time?

Well, at least I know that there are places out there that have houses I can afford. Houses that I want. Now I just have to figure out how to get there. Ugh, my limbs are numb. Call the authorities ... I'm dying of It-isn't-fair-itis.

[kim]

There is NO WAY this man really has children. Fucking impossible.

[kim]

Um, did anyone else notic that when you click on the '-' in the photo list at the bottom you get this? http://www.ovad.com/HousePages/HTML/Ian.html

Perhaps this is how he keeps his children so tidy? eeek.

[tiramisu]

Kim--great detective work. Eeek! I knew they were hiding something sinister and evil with that pretense of tidiness. Eew, what might lie below the surface of that sandbox...
Thank god everyone I know is messy. Messy and kind. Some are straight and some are gay. But all are messy and kind.

[Heather]

This house makes me want to move from Southern California tomorrow! (Well, really, anything would.) A house like this here would go for between $650,000 and $750,000!! Just beautiful.

[Erica]

This is my dream house, seriously. I'm drooling on my keyboard. Beautiful!
I swiped all of the kitchen pics-- *someday* I'll get to redo my kitchen, and I want one like that.

[cheryl]

But I want to compare the shit hole basement and the horribly organized attic. No links? Darn.

[VJ]

In an undisclosed location in the sunny G_D south, I'd say you've all gone freakin' bat sh*t crazy! Sure the place is well maintained, and it has some nice updates and remodeling. But it's barely <1400 sq ft. People I can get a decent double wide that's 2000sq ft.! For only about 100K less too! But anything in that price range is getting silly. I mean it's nice and all, but Tiny for most purposes (any kids beyond 1).

And hey, I like the deal with the fish eye camera lens making it look bigger, and they've done wonders with craming storage space everywhere, but anyplace in the deep south, and this would be about $60-80K less. Sure you'd have to home school that kid, but it's worth it!

And for just under double the price I can get you into a damn Castle in Italy. I kid you not!! (See the link above). Thanks for the laughs Melissa, I enjoy it.

Cheers & Good Luck, 'VJ'

{No, that's not my real email]

[LT]

Okay. I live in Santa Cruz, CA. and that house would easily go for *at least* 800K. Un-F'ing-believable. California is such a rip off.

[MelissaS]

Homeschooling....for me and my personality...would NEVER be worth it. Never.

This house is EXTREMELY well priced for this area.

Also Davo emailed to protest the gay innuendos here. He's in advertising so, of course, he's metrosexual. Also there is a POD at his office/studio holding all his leftover stuff, I mean typically if you're selling a house you have to clear out and clean up. He claims it doesn't always look that clutter free.

Oh and finally, the bedroom was his infant daughters until a couple of weeks ago...so they're making due until they can move. So there.

And I thought that picture was HILARIOUS.

[elisabeth]

it is all regional people....I have no clue what is expensive or not to live by Melissa because I live in MN. I just LOVE the decorating, & I covet the garage (of all things). But *I* want to be the one making sweet love to Barrack on the porch, not you!

[Floyd]

Holy crap - that house is cleaner than anything I have ever seen! Very envious.

[Nicole]

I want to move to Michigan. I am currently living in "the soul sucking expanse of urban sprawl," and listening to the tractors behind my house ALL DAY EVERY DAY preparing to put in a new street. Then I'll get to listen to the builders erecting new houses for the next several years. Most excellent.
I think that's a great price for that house...around here, it would go for at least $350K.

I was putting off housework and reading blogs instead, but now I am shamed into scrubbing my filth-pit kitchen. (Cinder-ELLA, Cinder-ELLA...)

[Snapper]

(De-lurking...)
This Davo: http://www.davo.com/_248-588-9600_/Davo_4.html ?

[Sara]

Makes me wonder why it's so cheap for R.O.! It's gorgeous!!!!

[MelissaS]

Yes, that's him.

[Courtney]

wow, I have never seen an attic look like that in my entire life. WHat an amazing job they did.

We have an older home that we are looking to remodel ours too.
-Court

[ceri]

nice house but don't they own any books? maybe they put them away for the real estate photos?

[Amy]

is he married?

[Snapper]

Small world...I have a gf who worked for him.

[JT]

Can you hear me crying over the Internet? That kitchen, oh my Gawd, that kitchen! And it's all so freaking clean and organized and de-junked! It's just not fair. I'm 35 -- can I be a grown-up too?

Although I was really excited by the thought of another commenter's kegger if they bought that house. That would make it even better.

BTW, here in Evanston (just outside of Chicago), that house would easily fetch $6-700k. You can't imagine the dreck that would be had here for $269k.

[Ani]

EEEE GADS! That house is marvelous! Alas the hubby won't move.

[Grace]

Oh...my....gosh! That is a FABULOUS home!

[Whatthe]

"But it's barely <1400 sq ft... I mean it's nice and all, but Tiny for most purposes (any kids beyond 1)."

Are you kidding me? We have 900 square feet and fit 2 adults 2 children just fine. Don't have enough room? Buy less crap.

[kari]

It is so funny to hear people saying it is expensive vs. those saying it is cheap.

I knew the market varied greatly depending on where in the U.S. folks were, but wow, did those "in my neck of the woods, this house would go for X" comments really blow the point home.

Me? It would be around $800K in my area, but over a million in the area from which I just moved. (Both in the San Francisco Bay Area.)

[Bari]

OH My goodness. I love this house. It is everything I want a house to be at a reasonable price. Especially in RO? What's the but...they has to be SOMETHING! Does it back up to 696? Is there "sky lofts" being built across the street? Have they buried people in the perfectly manicured backyard? Also, do these people have a huge storage unit with all their belongings in it? That house is freakishly clean for a family with 2 kids!

[styro]

You should pimp yourself out as Michigan's premiere realtor blog. if you help sell their house through your site, do you get 3% of the sale price?

They have obviously spent a lot of money and time making that house exactly how they want it---why on earth would they move? It's lovely!

[christy]

That fold down table/shelf thing in the basement almost made me pee my pants. Ok, I admit it, I did squirt out a little.

Did he make that? Have it made? Buy it somewhere? I must know.

[Nicole]

I live absolutely nowhere near Michigan but I think I would move next week if I could afford it. Gorgeous!

[Sarah's Mom]

Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!
I want! I want! I want!
STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!
That house makes me swoon and so does his cleanliness. Even the street sounds yummy....638 South Alexander.

[BC]

I keep trying not to come back and look at that house anymore, because I want it so much it hurts. Seriously, I even talked to the bank (we are in fine shape for financing), and a realtor about selling our house. The realtor part is what finally brought me back to reality...there are a fair number of houses already for sale here, and I really don't want to be paying for both homes at the same time. So, I'm just going to have to suck it up and stay in my cookie cutter house that has no character. Sigh.

[kate]

I totally agree with Patti. I grew up in Naperville (suburb of Chicago), and that sucker would be at least $600K, if not more--since homes like that are only "downtown". And the best part--with all those beautiful renovations? Someone would tear it down to build a monster that fills the whole lot and sell it for $2 mil.

[Belinda]

I was totally ready to move, until I saw the hallway ceiling fan, and those heartbreaking words, "CLOCK NOT INCLUDED." Just like that, no room for negotiation. Darn.

[Orange]

House, shmouse. Barack Obama on the porch of a ramshackle hovel would convince me to buy a ramshackle hovel.

[Lauret Cwiek]

Well ladies.................you had your chance!! It's all mine and I'm loving every square inch of it. I'm printing out everyones comments and plan on reading all of them. The few I did read are hilarious. I needed a good laugh just about now, it's pretty stressful.Good luck to each and every one of you.

Cheers,

Lauret