Permanent Trade: Washington Country Farm for New York City Apartment

  |  November 30, 2011
Permanent Trade: Washington Country Farm for New York City Apartment
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Yesterday I was searching for New York City/upstate New York housing swaps and I came across this one: a farmhouse near my old hometown of Saratoga Springs which some family hopes to trade for a pad in the city — permanently.

I can vouch for the beauty of Saratoga, its walkability, its tremendous cultural offerings in the summer. Hope my friends from home won’t mind my saying that it can also be claustrophobic, freezing and a culinary disappointment, especially when coming from the city. This place is actually north of town, in Washington County — not  a three-hour drive as they claim, unless you’re doing 90 with no traffic the entire way. So, a few misleading things in the post, including say it’s Saratoga. But they have another website with loads of photos here, the make up for the Craigslist minimum.

The value of the house, they say, is $500,000, so your junior one-bedroom in a decent part of [New York City ]town will you get this up there: “A 200 Year old Brick Colonial surrounded by 97 acres of pasture and woods. Total Privacy. Fenced for horses or livestock, new 30×80 Morton pole building, spring fed pasture. Beautiful views of Vermont mountains. Pond for ice skating and fishing, and trails for hiking, 4-wheeling, X-country skiing, or riding. Deer and Turkeys right outside your window.

“4 large bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, wide plank pine floors, Rumsford Fireplace, rustic walk out basement with Beehive cooking stove/fireplace. 3 car garage, plus separate 2 car garage/workshop next to a caretaker trailer. Updated furnace and plumbing.”

My personal feeling: looks like the kind of place that’s a full-time job to keep up. Doesn’t seem to have had a cosmetic upgrade in 50 years, but some folks might find that charming — to me it looks like the most updated rooms are the bathrooms. Anyone curious?

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