The $26,500 Bungalow

  |  June 2, 2011

Upstate New York bungalow colonies offer some of the most affordable second homes in the Catskills, but this one has got to be the deal of the decade. I first saw it advertised last year for $30,000, when the owners, a Park Slope couple, were relocating to Vermont. It still hasn’t sold, and they’re now far away, so the price for this 700-square-foot one-bedroom is now reduced to $26,500. Taxes are $2400/year, payable in three installments.

It’s part of a community of 12 bungalows called “Fiume Bello”–beautiful river–that began in the 1950s. It was essentially rescued from ruin by a co-op of families in the 70s, and the children of that wave of settlers now inhabit the bungalows, which are spread out over eight acres in Spring Glen, N.Y. They have a pool and a big field and big group dinners and bonfires if you want to participate in the group activity.

The place is not winterized, and thus, as a seasonal home, is not eligible for a mortgage (although it is, they say, winterizable). That means that you need all $26,500 at the time of purchase, though that’s probably half the amount you’d need for a down payment on any other home. Subletting is not allowed, alas. It comes fully furnished, replete with 50’s Formica table. I for one am interested. You?

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