The Price of History in Today's Real Estate Market

My sister Martha, who attended St. Mike's and Powers in Flint, is taking a somewhat unusual approach to selling her house in Tacoma, Washington. She's auctioning it off herself. It's a huge place, but her children are grown and she and her husband really want something smaller. They've found that selling a massive historic residence isn't exactly easy in this market.

Kathleen Cooper of the Tacoma News Tribune reports:

These days, home auctions typically are associated with foreclosed or bank-owned homes. But home auctions were increasing even before the real estate market busted. The National Auctioneers Association, based in Kansas, tracked homes sold by auction between 2003 and 2008, and saw a 7 percent to 8 percent increase each year.

“Auctions work in good times and bad,” association spokesman Chris Longly said Thursday. Auctions offer the certainty of a time and date of sale. They also are a way for more unusual properties, like historic homes, to find out what price the market will bear.

Gary Gestson, a Realtor with Maryland-based HistoricHomeTeam.com, said Thursday that owners crafting their own auction is somewhat unusual, because the pool of buyers for historic homes is small.

“Maybe six out of a thousand qualified buyers will be interested in your home,” he said. “Marketing is the key. If you market to Tyvek and particle board people, you’ll be frustrated.”

Martha's experience has left me wondering what a house like this would be worth in Flint or San Francisco.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/01/06/1971410/a-bit-of-tacoma-history-goes-on.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Flint Track and Field

My sister Marty, the true athlete in the family, gets written up in the Tacoma Weekly along with a nice anecdotal lead about Flint:

"When Martha Mendenhall was in the third grade, she would run around in her neighborhood in Flint, Mich., and had a particular appetite for building up a good bit of speed running down a hill and then – this was the best part – jumping over the neighbors’ hedges. Her parents knew early on they had a very “active” daughter on their hands, when she would arrive home after an afternoon of hedge jumping with scratches on the insides of her legs and announce she had beaten all the boys. She’s been competing in track and field ever since – and continues to dominate the competition, as she is currently a 13-time national masters champion in the high jump."

The article doesn't mention it, but she also ran on the boy's track team at Powers since they didn't have a girl's team at the time.

Pale Rider Revealed

Tom Wirt provides photographic evidence that Flint is at least a one-horse town.

I have to admit I was always a little skeptical of my sister Marty's claim that she met some guy in downtown Flint once riding a horse and wearing a Mexican poncho. I thought it might be some sort of Clint Eastwood fantasy. She even had a name — John Kotarski.

Keep in mind that Marty claims she can't remember anything that happened to her before the 9th grade and, at 15, regularly drove the family car to get to her driver's training lessons, which seems slightly illegal, even in a car-loving town like Flint.

But Flint Expatriate readers have backed her up on this one. It seems the urban cowboy lived on Avon Street and even had a fictionalized children's story written about him in The Flint Journal. And, as I should have expected, Tom Wirt even has a photo of the horse nibbling grass in a Flint backyard. I find it hilarious that Tom lived next door to the horse, but never met John. I guess when you live in Flint and your neighbor has a horse and a poncho, you just assume he also has a rifle and it's wise not to ask too many questions.

So Marty...I apologize for doubting you, but I'm still not buying the story that you smashed up the family station wagon trying to avoid a squirrel in the Powers' parking lot.

And John Kotarski...we expect to hear from you soon.

Here are some more details from Macy Swain ...

"Oh, I knew John Kotarski well, and yes, he was a big East Village character. He did have a horse, boarded via a grandfather clause on Avon Street. In the early 80s I wrote a serial Christmas children's story for the Flint Journal featuring a fictionalized version of Kotarski -- I think I named him Cliff; when the story finished, on Christmas Eve, John and his horse Ali rode through downtown in the Christmas parade. One famous story about him was when he tried riding the horse into Doobie's and was forever after banned. He's now happily married to an Ann Arbor academic. I don't know if he still owns any places in Flint. Yes, he did gut a place on Second Street. Remember when the "sheet people" rolled through town? I had dinner with them in that place on Second Street -- some young lovelies were feeding a long-haired guru brown rice. Really, really strange. John put them up for a couple of weeks. He was a bit loud and overbearing but had a good heart and I was and am fond of him."

Marty's original question...

"Does anyone know anything about a guy named John Katarsky? He was kind of a hippie lawyer (supposedly) who left the profession. When I met him he had a roller skating rental kiosk in downtown Flint. When you rented skates from him he also offered you a glass of wine (whatever). He was quite eccentric and he rode around town on a horse and wore a Mexican poncho and a hemp woven hat. NO...I am not dropping acid! He's a real guy!"