We picked up a nice little ranch on Granger St in Springfield a few weeks back. It’s a small two bedroom home with a real tight and boxy floorplan that we are going to open right up. We are also going to add more living space by doing a small addition and converting the breezeway into a dining room, similiar to what we did at 143 Lloyd Ave.

This deal came about as a lead from our website, www.HampdenHomebuyers.com. The seller had met with a realtor that told him the house was worth $135,000 if it was fixed up, but in the realtors estimation the house needed $17,000 in work, so the seller should look to sell the property for $110,000. Well, Mr.Seller was motivated and he did not want to wait around to sell the house, so he got in touch with us and said he wanted $110,000 for the house but he was willing to be flexible. He told me what work was needed and I politely explained to him the realtor was dreaming thinking the house only needed $17,000 in work, but we’d come out to have a look at it.

We met the seller on a Friday; it was the day after our news story aired on CBS 3, and as luck would have it Mr. Seller saw us on TV the night before… instant credibility. It turns out his wife grew up in one of the historic homes located about 5 houses down from our Bowdoin St project and they really took an interest in the story. After touring his house and signing a few autographs for him and his wife (we are TV stars :)), we got into negotiations and agreed on a purchase price of $65,000.

We’ll be doing a new roof, some new siding, a new furnace, new plumbing, new water heater, new kitchen, new bathroom, finishing the basement, opening up the floorplan, and a breezeway conversion with a small bumpout addition.

Here are some pictures of the house:

Granger St Springfield MA

Granger St Springfield MA

Kitchen 1

Kitchen 2

Eat In Kitchen area

Bathroom

Living Room

Bedroom

Basement

So after seeing our news story, and realizing that we “buy homes on the cheap”, the seller was willing to come way down off his asking price. He actually said that seeing the story made him understand our business alot better and he realized that his asking price of $110,000 was unrealistic.