A Weber County, Utah based blog that keeps you informed on real estate and related subjects. For all your real estate needs contact Jeremy Peterson ~ Owner/Broker of Vesta Real Estate ~ 801-390-1480
A professional Real Estate Broker, Father, Husband, and Former State Legislator who writes this blog to share his thoughts and experiences with those seeking knowledge.
This cute 2 bedroom bungalow has been freshly updated with two tone paint, new kitchen, and a new bath. It has a large fenced back yard and is located less than half a block from the New Dee School site which will be completed in the next couple of years. It is also close to schools, worship centers, and recreation.
This bungalow is 1278 SQFT and includes storage in the basement. It has tall ceilings, original woodwork and vintage charm.
If you are interested in viewing this property, please CONTACT ME for an appointment
I just closed on this home with some seller's in Ogden.
I originally visited with the owners of this home back in April to discuss their selling options. In August they called me to formally list the home and we put it on the market.
After several showings we finally received an offer from a buyer relocating from northern Utah. We negotiated a sales price of $105,000 while paying $1,575 of the buyer's closing costs. The appraisal and inspection processes went very smoothly and we closed about a week early.
Congratulations to my sellers! If you are thinking of selling your home, CONTACT ME, and lets discuss a plan that works for you.
We have been slowly restoring our home. One of the projects that has been on the back burner for several years is our back porch. When we purchased the home, the back porch screens had been vandalized. They were also made of chrome frames. We quickly discarded them and never got around to putting in their replacements.
Finally, I had a couple weekends to work on the back porch. To put the screens back in place, I purchased a roll of tight mesh black screen at Home Depot. I used my staple gun to stick the screen to the existing wood frames with 1/4 inch staples being sufficient for the job.
Obviously staples are not pretty to look at. I searched for some trim strips and came up with some hemlock 1.5 inch pieces that seemed to work well. After two coats of paint, they were ready for installation.
I got the hemlock strips up with 4d nails on the frames and 3d finish nails for the door. After that, I pulled the original copper hardware out of storage and gave it a bath in Goof Off. That helped soften up the coats of paint that cloaked the metal finish. A rag and some very fine steel wool did the trick of removing most of the paint.
NOTE: Rubber gloves break down with Goof Off so I just used some sandwich bags to keep it off my skin. If you leave it on your skin too long your skin turns into a giant callous. Believe, me. I know.
After about fifteen minutes of buffing the paint off, the pieces were ready for installation.
Construction has finally begun to take shape on the long awaited River Project scene south of the Ogden River.
Here is a view of the start of the much anticipated new housing in the area. These townhomes are three stories tall and boast excellent views of the city skyline to the south. They are also located just a few dozen yards from the Ogden River Parkway Trail. If you are interested in learning more about these townhomes, contact me.
Also, Kneaders Bakery is open for business. It is located just south of Bingham Cyclery on the 19th block of Washington Blvd. The building was just completed recently.
It is exciting to see the project move forward. More to come...
One of the challenges facing owners of old homes is the issue of handling repairs and upgrades while preserving the architectural integrity of their home. Today’s new construction is performed to much lower architectural standards than in days of yore.
For instance, lets use our Arts and Crafts Style (aka Craftsman) home as an example. Unfortunately, our home has been in need of a new roof for some time. The original roof from 1908 was beautiful cedar shake installed on cedar slats. Over 104 years, three other layers of shingle were added. Another layer of cedar shake was installed along with two layers of asphalt. The last time the roof was shingled was likely in the late 1970’s. You can see the moss growing on the cedar shakes below.
One of the unique characteristics of our home (relative to new homes) is that it has crown molding adorning the fascia boards as an ornamental architectural feature. Since the crown butts up against the roof, any roofer would have to work with it to have a nice looking finished product while maintaining the decorative ornamentation.
We called several roofers to bid the job. One of the responses was disheartening:
“Oh, I can do that job no problem. Let’s rip off all that ugly crown molding and just put some drip edge on there. We can get’er done fast!”
Clearly, this roofer had no appreciation for old homes. As I later confirmed, he mostly worked on homes built after 1960 and was only bidding my roof because he was starving at the time. We passed on using this contractor.
Of the three bids we received for our roof, we ended up going with the highest bid. The lowest bid was a 35 year old guy and a truck who had been roofing for 5 years. He was nice enough but he was unfamiliar with working around the crown molding. We ended up using Stuart Roofing which had 80 years experience as a family roofing business. Their bid was only $2,000 higher and we felt they were by far the best value for our home. We definitely got our money’s worth.
The tear off crews arrived around 6am one morning and had the roof torn of and dried-in after just two days. They removed 60 yards of debris. Amazingly, they used drop clothes around the home and didn’t leave a single nail in the grass or on our driveway.
Then it was time to pause while we dealt with our crown molding. After searching for the right contractor for the job, we tapped Paul Martin to install new crown molding and paint our home. We had Ellis Planing, on Wall Ave. and 26th St., custom mill our 4” crown out of paint-grade poplar. Paul got to work priming, painting and installing the new crown.
After Paul installed the crown, he painted our dormers and the decorative woodwork around the home. We asked him to leave the lower half of the front porch for us to paint as a Saturday family project. Paul completed his work in just over a week and it was time to put the shingles on the home.
We chose a 40-year architectural asphalt shingle as we figured we didn’t want to install another roof on this home in our lifetimes. We tossed around the idea of installing a cedar shake roof but the cost would have doubled our bid. So, asphalt prevailed. Three more days of work, and the project was finished.
Built in 1913 by the Browning family, this home is located in the illustrious Eccles Historic District neighborhood. The home has 6 bedrooms, 4 baths, and 5572 SQFT. You can see a video tour below:
The home has a very private and large back yard, two car garage, excellent landscaping, and a big workshop space. It is elegant living in the city at it's best. If you are interested in seeing this home, CONTACT ME for current pricing and a showing schedule. Please do not disturb the occupants of the property.
Today I wanted to spotlight one of Ogden's premier neighborhoods: The Eccles Historic District. The district is found just east of Downtown. Built mostly between 1910 and 1925, it boasts some of the most amazing Prairie School and Craftsman style architecture to be found in Utah.
Here is a video montage for your delight:
The neighborhood is adorned with antique style street lighting, decorative sidewalks, and stone street crossings. It is nestled near the mountains and is just minutes to recreational hiking, biking and outdoor fun. Shopping, restaurants, and entertainment are just minutes away. It is a great location.
If you are interested in learning more about homes FOR SALE in the Eccles Historic District, CONTACT ME and I will get you all the details on what is currently available.
One of Ogden Valley's most exciting development projects is currently being organized. Edgewater Estates will be located just west of Lakeside Village on lake front property and also at the base of the road to Snowbasin ski resort. What makes this project so unique is its combination of residential, recreation, and retail commercial space. It will be unlike almost any property in Ogden Valley.
Here is a layout of the master plan for the project (click to enlarge):
If you are interested in learning more about this up and coming development in one of Utah's best resort locations, contact me.
This grand home located at 2370 Madison Ave. was built in 1909. It boasts over 3200 SQFT, 2 original fireplaces, original woodwork, brick construction, and all the Arts & Crafts ornamentation characteristic of the era.
The home is currently arranged as a duplex with tenants upstairs and and on the main level. The basement is large and used currently for storage. The home has a 2 car garage/carriage house in the back with a private yard.
The property would make a good investment or could be converted back to a single family home for elegant living. Here is the video tour of the property:
If you are interested in this property and want details on financing terms, rents, and other specifics, please contact me.
One of the common materials used in building old homes was the cedar shake. It was light weight, weather resistant, and aesthetically appealing. However, as old growth cedar has been mostly harvested, the price has increased significantly and made cedar roofs much more expensive.
Nevertheless, cedar also has useful applications as siding. Many old homes have dormers, porches, or gables that are sided with cedar shake. My home is such an example.
Here is an example of a stairway I built for a rental property.
The OSB board is used to cover the 2X4 studs but is really unsightly. The property was built in 1910 and the sheeting is really not very appealing. I needed to cover it with something but vinyl was too ugly and paint would just look terrible as well. I decided to go with a traditional cedar shake siding. Here is the result:
That looks alot better. There is still some trim work to be done but this compliments the rest of the buildling.
So what do you do when the surfaces you are working with don't fit together? We ran into this problem with a home we restored at 2670 Jefferson Ave. years ago. Here is a snapshot:
As you can see, this house was in really bad shape. It also was a series of additions that were constructed over decades. The roof behind the sunporch had a strange parapet that I had to fabricate a metal overlay for. The roof beyond that was put on in the 1970's. The dormer was OSB board. Very strange and difficult to tie together. Yet, with the power of the cedar shake, we were able to pull it all together.
If you are looking for some cedar shakes in Ogden, Utah, the best place is ABC Roofing on 21st Street. They are on the south side of the road just before Flying J. Call in advance because they often have to order them in. They are about $50 a bundle right now.
So now that you know, get out there and start shaking your siding.
I was out shopping with some buyers when we walked into this ordinary red brick bungalow.
To our astonishment, our eyes were greeted with this mosaic tile pattern on the floor.
Look at all those tiny tiles. Somebody had a lot of time and energy to put all these into this pattern.
Then there is the random tile pattern in the hallway...
And the mini-tiles in the bathroom...
And then the wild subway tiles...
I could live without the subway tiles but I have to give the guy credit for doing some interesting work on the floor tiles. Perhaps overdone for one small house but definitely done with craftsmanship.
Last September, I listed 2508 Jackson Ave. in the Eccles Historic District that was designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. However, some repairs needed to be made to the property. The repairs were delayed so the home was taken off the market so they could be made.
The repairs are done and the home is now ready to show in all its splendor. Here is the updated video:
The home is 4870 SQFT and has 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 3 kitchens, 2 car garage, a pool, .68 acres, and all the woodwork you could want inside.
If you are interested in viewing this exquisite property to purchase, email me or please give me a call at 801-390-1480.
Today I closed on a home in West Point with a buyer.
With the husband wanting land and the wife wanting a house, this home was our compromise. The house is 3380 SQFT and sits on 2.7 acres. There is also a significant workshop sitting on the property as well.
The home was purchased in 2007 for $423,000. Then in April 2010, the property sold as a short sale for $288,000 to the most recent sellers. The owners experienced a job transfer abroad and the home went up on the market in September 2011 for $339,900. Through negotiations, I was able to get my clients a price of $310,000 on the home and we closed at that price today.
Congratulations to my buyers on their new home!
If you are looking for a home, contact me and we'll find the one that is right for you.
