Should you’re an enormous fan of Chip and Joanna Gaines and all issues Fixer Higher and Magnolia, you’ve most likely heard by now that the Waco Fortress they purchased and restored is now available on the market. Magnolia Realty posted the info on their Facebook page only a few days in the past. Right here’s the principle picture of the home, however you’ll be able to click on over to their put up to see extra particulars of the within for those who haven’t but seen it.
I’m a bit confused as to how this all works as a result of the home is at the moment listed on the market at $2,900,000 on websites like Realtor and Zillow, however then Magnolia Realty introduced that it is going to be sold by auction by Concierge Auctions starting July 20, 2023.
I’ll admit that once I heard that Chip and Joanna have been shopping for this home again in 2019, I cringed ever so barely. I may simply image the inside being lined with shiplap and farmhouse model, which might have been a travesty for an historic home with an attention-grabbing story.
An area stone contractor named John Tennant started development on the home in 1890. I might think about that the truth that he was a stone contractor explains why he designed the home to appear like slightly citadel. What higher approach to showcase stone, proper? However he bumped into monetary issues and couldn’t end development, so he offered it to another person who couldn’t end it and needed to promote it. However you can read all about the history of the house here. That’s not likely what I wish to concentrate on.
The actual fact of the matter is that Chip and Joanna did an incredible job on the home. They actually honored the historical past of the house, they saved the unique imaginative and prescient intact, and painstakingly restored the gorgeous authentic options. I believe if John Tennant and the opposite earlier homeowners may see it immediately, they’d be pleased with the job they did. I by no means toured it in individual, and I didn’t watch the present in regards to the restoration, however I’ve seen loads of earlier than and after footage as the home has been featured in native information tales during the last 4 years. Since they did provide excursions for some time, you’ll be able to see a great deal of footage from numerous sources on the Google Reviews for the house.
However I don’t actually wish to discuss in regards to the restoration, both. You may learn in regards to the historical past and the restoration on loads of different web sites. What I do wish to discuss and provide my very own perspective on is the worth tag. Once more, I’m not likely positive how all of that works because it’s listed on the market, whereas they’re additionally planning on auctioning off the home later subsequent month. However for now, it’s listed at $2.9 million.
I simply turned 50 years previous final week, and I’ve lived in Waco for 43.5 of these years. I used to be born right here and grew up in a suburb of Waco referred to as Woodway, the place my mother nonetheless lives to this present day. I went to varsity in Dallas, however then got here proper again to Waco after I graduated. Then in my late 20s, I moved to Turkey for a year-and-a-half, then acquired married and lived in Oregon for 3 years, after which got here again to Waco in 2005. Since 2006, Matt and I’ve lived within the metropolis of Waco. We don’t dwell in a suburb. We really dwell in Waco.
So having been right here the vast majority of my life, and realizing what town appears like, what homes value, and realizing the varied areas of town fairly properly, let’s simply say that my ears perk up a bit once I hear a few home inside town of Waco being valued at thousands and thousands of {dollars}. Whereas there are many areas simply outdoors of town that will warrant that type of price ticket, there are only some areas inside town that would draw that type of asking worth, and just about all of them could be areas across the lake.
Nicely, sadly, Chip and Joanna’s citadel isn’t close to the lake. It’s in part of city the place one avenue is fairly good, and the following avenue over is…properly, it’s questionable. And sadly, that’s the right description of the very block the place the citadel is situated. Whereas most locals robotically image stunning previous properties once they hear the Austin Avenue location, only one avenue over (just about within the citadel’s again yard) there’s Franklin Avenue.
Franklin Avenue is lengthy, and takes you from the suburbs on one facet of Waco, straight via Waco to the downtown space. There are sections of it (nearer to the tip that takes you to the suburbs) which are lined with eating places and keep very busy. After which there’s a stretch of Franklin Avenue that’s simply…once more, questionable.
This stretch of Franklin isn’t actually a vacation spot. It’s only a thoroughfare to get from the suburbs to downtown Waco, which signifies that the road is nearly at all times very busy. However this part appears such as you’re driving via a Nineteen Sixties time warp. Nothing has been up to date in a long time, and in reality, all of my life, I’ve related this strip of Franklin with little used automotive heaps. And that is the part that principally sits within the again yard of the citadel. Listed here are a few the (now closed) used automotive heaps.
And the following pictures is a wider view displaying three in a row. That is one avenue over from the citadel, and for years and years (most of my life, in reality), I solely ever related this stretch of Franklin with used automotive heaps. I do not know once they all closed as a result of I don’t come to this part of Franklin a lot. However once I was slightly woman, I used to be at all times fascinated with the one constructing with the tower. In my younger thoughts, this was the citadel. I had no real interest in that “citadel” home that sat behind it. 😀 And so long as I can bear in mind, it was at all times a used automotive lot. Nicely, that now-closed used automotive lot is the again yard view of the citadel.
Throughout the road from the facet of the citadel is that this constructing. I do not know if that is even getting used, however it appears prefer it was most likely constructed within the 60s.
And throughout the road from all of these closed used automotive heaps is that this purchasing heart that additionally appears prefer it hasn’t gotten a facelift because it was constructed, which was most likely within the 60s.
I sat within the car parking zone of that previous purchasing heart to take this image of the closed used automotive heaps and the citadel.
In one of many previous articles I got here throughout from The Waco Tribune Herald (written lengthy earlier than Chip and Joanna have been part of the citadel’s historical past), there was an image displaying “the view” from the tower of the citadel. It was used automotive heaps. The image had been taken when these automotive heaps have been nonetheless open, and the heaps have been full of automobiles with the massive sticker costs on all the windshields of the automobiles. 😀
So these are the issues that these superbly curated actual property pictures don’t present. And I simply actually can’t see how anybody accustomed to the world would pay $2.9 million for a home on this location. The neighborhood the place the citadel is situated is definitely fairly good. In reality, a few of these homes are among the many oldest, grandest, and most dear homes within the metropolis. However even at that, a $2.9 million price ticket for one thing in that exact location is extraordinary.
If somebody may buy the house and switch it right into a money-generating enterprise, like a mattress and breakfast, that may be completely different. Nevertheless it’s my understanding that the residents on this neighborhood have fought in opposition to, and can proceed to battle in opposition to, this home being was a mattress and breakfast. So except one thing adjustments within the subsequent few months, my understanding proper now’s that the home must be used as a single household dwelling.
To get a single household dwelling that’s really price anyplace even near that worth inside town of Waco, you’d need to go to the good areas across the lake, or not less than one of many neighborhoods that’s type of nestled in a quiet space surrounded by a lot of previous timber and sitting on a big lot.
Right here’s one which’s fairly near the citadel (going the other way from the used automotive heaps) however this home is nestled extra within the residential space. There are not any yard views of previous, closed down used automotive heaps right here. This home is on the market for less than half the price of the castle at $1.1 million.
However while you get into the $2 million worth vary and up for a single household home inside town of Waco, these properties are nearly at all times going to have a view like this house that’s for sale for $2.25 million.
So it can undoubtedly be attention-grabbing to see how a lot the citadel finally ends up promoting for. I do know that I’m not the one native who’s very curious to see how this sale/public sale goes.
If somebody does find yourself paying anyplace close to the $2.9 million worth that the home is at the moment listed for, I might think about it might be somebody who is just not from this space, and who bids/buys it sight unseen primarily based solely on the fastidiously curated actual property itemizing pictures and has by no means really visited the home in individual to see the world. Will probably be somebody enamored of the novelty of proudly owning a house renovated by Chip and Joanna Gaines.
As a result of, let me let you know, for $2.9 million in central Texas, you may personal a sprawling piece of land with an enormous, attractive, customized dwelling and nearly each amenity you may think about, and that wouldn’t embody previous, closed down used automotive heaps in your again yard. 😀
Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I transform and embellish the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do the vast majority of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.
