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A house goes vacant

The pre-1900 Victorian at 1200 North 23rd Street was recently vacated and the windows and doors were boarded over. For sale at $95,000, the house needs a new roof, has a minimal heating system, and should be gutted, rewired, and insulated before anyone lives there again. Is this how a house becomes that house that sits vacant for years and years?

The previous tenant was a 20+ year renter. A long-time cafeteria worker at one of the neighborhood elementary schools, she moved out just before school started this year into a Habitat for Humanity house somewhere out southside. She heated the old house with woodstoves which she took with her when she moved, just in case.

The house went vacant quickly and the local alley walkers have already discovered the back yard as a good place to get high. The roof leaks and at least one of the windows is broken underneath the boards.



>>See more photos here

1 comment

alison 10/10/2009 at 11:49 AM

great story. thanks!

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