Jennifer, I wonder how much the buyer(s) put into it. Does the $340K seem like a good price for the area? I looked the house up with an image search. What’s interesting is that house here (2,200+ sq. ft. on a .32 acre lot) would sell for maybe $1.2-$1.4M. It truly makes home buying here (SoCal) very tough, especially for younger people. Also depressing considering what they might get for $700-$800K.

ETA - It looks like 3 bdrms and 2 baths? One listing mentions 3 baths.

This odd layout of garage next to the master bath at the opposite end of the house from the kitchen would be a complete deal-breaker for me. If that's not bad enough, there's not even a mudroom from the garage into the bedroom. This is an example of truly horrible design and something that absolutely affects resale.

Looks like 2.5 bathrooms in the pictures even though the floor plan doesn't show it.

^Good points from porkchop but still something certain buyers living here would be happy to find for that price. It can be amazing what sells around here with what would be complete deal-breakers for me…and for such crazy prices!

I guess they were able to include an island in the RE listing. 🙄 It makes zero sense - especially with the floor patch (I have to say that I've never seen a tile floor patched like that!) Add to the bad tile patch that they left the soffit where the peninsula used to be = clearly not an experienced flipper (or maybe he/she/they are "experienced" - and specialize in cheap flips).

I would rather have the garage door right off of the covered patio vs. having it inside of a bedroom. Also, it doesn't make sense for that bedroom to be labeled as the "primary" when the other bedroom has a WIC + ensuite. Odd.

The house had a lot of light before the covered patio was added - there are so many windows along that wall. I see that they added sky lights on the roof of the covered patio - however, that won't replace all of the natural light that was lost. 😞

@chloebud - the price of the home that Jennifer posted would be quite a bit more if it was near me, HOWEVER - prices for homes in SoCal are crazy! I can't imagine trying to purchase a first home as a young couple!

dani, it’s hard for me to imagine, too! Like I posted, depressing! Homes around us are also selling quickly for over the asking price. Maybe not quite as much over asking as before but definitely over.

The half bath is in the basement. i suppose laundry is, too?

Painting the original kitchen cabinets looks good, but they are still inefficient (i live original 1963 cabinets, charming but useless, so I know whereof I speak). But they will tide someone else over until they are able to replace.

The bedroom by the garage was probably just a secondary bedroom originally. i wonder if the owners used it as a family room? It would be easy enough to restore the secondary bedroom, and use the expansion for a mudroom, maybe even laundry.

How funny that the flipper kept the accordian door for the front hall closet!

It's an interesting "flip". The floor tile in the kitchen is awful. I do like the overall look. Everything is clean & fresh looking. The price would be pretty incredible here too. You don't get a large lot and a garage for less than $300 a sq ft, unless it's an area with undrinkable tap water. Yes there is a small section of town, down south, where bottled water is a must.

$90,000.00, taxed as business income, plus a 15% additional tax on the inventory. Quick return for not much work involved, $250,000.00 for the house sounds amazing to me and it looks decent and clean. Odd placement for garage. I think the purple/coral bath is a lot of fun.

We have just one buildable lot for sale in town. It is considered a bargain for $899,999.00 . Don't you just love the $1.00 markdown?

Ugh. They could have put a detached garage in the back corner of the lot. Even though it would still be far from the kitchen, I would 100% prefer that over going through the primary bedroom. So weird! That, the bad tile patch, and the abominable LVT they used are awful. Who thought that flooring would look good next to that stone wall?

It's a shame. Ranch homes are hard to find in my area, especially if they have a big yard. (Many have been razed to make way for bigger homes.) And this one had an interesting shape that a thoughtful remodel could have embraced.

I moved from San Diego to central PA, and even before Covid the price difference was unreal. I bought a larger home on a larger lot for less than half of what my home in CA sold for. Now you could buy 3 or 4 homes for what a similar home would sell for In Southern California.

The listing also incorrectly puts the year built as 1932. This neighborhood was a fairground/speedway until WWII when they stopped racing due to the war effort.  Pretty sure it was built in 1952.

The 1/2 bath is in the basement.

The flip took 18 months.

It might not have been about what the flipper did at all, it could have been all about timing and location. What is comparable for a house in that neighbourhood?

I frequently see homes listed with 3 baths when it’s really 2 1/2. Why is that?

The flipper may have discovered work that needed doing in the basement and ran low on funds.

Here’s what could be better. My tool wouldn’t let me show where the moved garage ends: ideally it goes to the property line but there is probably a building setback prohibiting it. But there shouldn’t be a problem with a new driveway beside the kitchen, with walkway connecting to kitchen and front doors. (I’d leave the old driveway segment for extra vehicles, a work space, etc. Ooh, maybe even an extra garage door there, so it’s a drive-through garage!)

They also took out a wall, or a peninsula with uppers, leaving a second soffit. I suppose that is where the oven originally was.

The neighborhood may have been platted and streets laid out in 1932, but the economy and the war limited building, so it probably wasn’t actually built until 1952. Part of our neighborhood is like that.

Agree the placement of the garage would be a deal breaker for me. Then the tile issue and the LVT, ugh. I do really like the coral and purple. Also like PA, we have family that live in towns outside of Lancaster and others also closer to Philadelphia.

Oof. I hate flips like this. In our local market, there are a multitude of buyers (think ‘Room & Board’ crowd) who would pay a premium for a cleaned-up midcentury home like this that retained all of its original details (and/or was restored to a close version of it — or instead modernized with sleek minimalist elements). There must be a wholesaler out there catering only to flippers that specializes in the ugliest flooring options imaginable.

A photograph of the Lebanon Fairgrounds track dated August 18, 1935 And The Lebanon Fairgrounds as seen in a 1937 aerial photo.

The house is where the lower right turn of the track is located on the photos.

The sales price per sf is comparable to other homes in the neighborhood, but most of the other homes have gas heat and central ac and are more tastefully finished. This house has oil heat and doesnt have AC.

That is an awful flip, and 18 months?! So many bad choices - curtains, sheers, black doors, flooring, kitchen island, ceiling fan color, overgrown shrubs, poor fire pit sitting all alone. random trash can near patio, garage entrance thru bedroom, color choices. All three neighbors have pools, and if children, noise. The only interior feature I like is the purple and coral bathroom combo, but bet the room itslef does not feel that great in person.

Did the porch area already have a roof with all the skylights? Enclosing all of it was a bad idea.

I hate Redfin does not show previous listing photos, like it usually does.

The patio was already enclosed. Agree that was a bad choice.

So what are actually asking? The fact is someone liked it and paid the money , end of story.

Help me understand why so many homes in your area have pools (not something I would expect to see in PA?), and how property values are this affordable a relative stone’s throw from the East Coast??

" That is an awful flip, and 18 months?! So many bad choices - curtains, sheers, black doors, flooring, kitchen island, ceiling fan color, overgrown shrubs, poor fire pit sitting all alone. random trash can near patio, garage entrance thru bedroom, color choices. "

Apparently it's not awful for everyone - someone bought it, so it's not awful for them, and someone sold it for likely more than they put into it, so not awful for them either. It is - in so many ways - not to my taste, but it looks like the flipper knew their audience and sold it.

A screened-in porch is a great idea......I have a small screen room on my deck, and I wish it were bigger. That's one of the only things I like about it.

Yes, that's an awful flip, but are you surprised, really? Aren't most flips filled with low-quality, on-trend materials and lacking such boring things as new HVACs, roofs, insulation, or windows? Sadly, it seems most first-time home buyers don't have folks with decades of home ownership experience to advise them in the process (as we did) so they are thrilled with the "updates" and are not looking at the more critical and expensive infrastructure/envelope issues. Another factor probably is money--buyers are stretched financially so they buy hoping there will be less work (i.e., less expense) if they buy a new or "updated" home. No one has told them apparently that you must buy less than you can afford, if it's an older home especially, to cover repairs, maintenance, etc. Everytime I see these flips, I feel grateful again for my parents' and in-laws' input when we bought our first home. Solution: share your experience and help a younger or more inexperience friend with home buying.

@Old Home Restorer - To understand why so many of the homes had swimming pools you have to understand the history of the neighborhood. The family who bought the speedway property were the sons of Max Krim, an inventor of soft drinks including Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer. The central streets were Krim Court and Rita Lane. (Rita was the daughter of Irwin Krim) Both Irwin and Nate Krim built homes on Krim Court. They marketed the other lots to the fellow members of the Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue.

In the 50s and 60s homes weren't built with Central AC and the July and August heat was unbearable. For the most part poor families went to the public pools for relief and the wealthier families gathered at the Country Club, but these families were not poor nor were they welcome at the restricted membership clubs. Their solution - build your own pools.

As for the affordability . . .

Lebanon is 85 miles from Philadelphia and 160 miles from NYC - close enough for a weekend getaway, but too far to benefit from commuter sprawl.

Lebanon is completely surrounded by some of the most productive, aggressively protected farmland in the United States - developers can't buy large tracts to build large new developments on the outskirts.

Unlike our neighbors Lancaster and Hershey, which successfully pivoted their economies toward high-end tourism, boutique retail, and healthcare, we struggled to find an identity outside of being the industrial center. We had relied on the Iron and Steel industry from before the revolutionary war and simply failed to reinvent ourselves when the Steel Industry collapsed.

That's in Lebabon, OHIO? That's in my neck of the woods! My biz is in Xenia, OH. Funny, I just saw a post today on FB with a TIME CAPSULE of a house! Check out the kitchen! I'll post a new post so I don't hijack. :-)

" That's in Lebabon, OHIO? "

No, Lebanon PA.

Perhaps it is a geographical thing but most buyers in my area purchasing an older house (“flip” or not ) change most of the things being commented on in a negative manner. I don’t understand the point of this post.

Jennifer, that’s a FASCINATING history of the neighborhood — thanks so much for sharing it! The pools had me confused— the homes are clearly higher-end, but not nearly the level of ostentation I tend to expect from a neighborhood where in-ground pools are more common than not. Makes total sense in light of the history you shared. Interesting place!

I got it now. THanks . I agree it is interesting to see how homes are transformed . We renovated 3 where we went pretty much down to the studs and hopefully all were transformed with respect to the original but honestly with our more modern esthetic too.

“I enjoy watching the local real estate market…”

Same! What’s interesting is it seems there’s always a buyer for anything with what would be deal-breakers for me. Years ago we looked at a lovely house. There was was a freeway right behind it, and the traffic noise was terrible! The realtor told us some people actually enjoy the sound. Go figure but someone did buy it.🤷‍♀️😵‍💫

@chloebud There was a home on the market when I bought my house that I was drooling over - classic MCM, great natural light - every room had walls of windows - just perfect - except for the renovations that the owner had done, the utter lack of maintenance and the owner's unwillingness to accept that it was not worth what he thought it was worth. It had been on and off the market from 2010 until 2016 without price drops of more than a thousand dollars ($239k in 2010). He kept trying to sell at his price - finally sold in 2022 for $16k over his original 2010 list price.

I was amazed at his persistence and it was kind of fun to watch how he could make things worse between each listing.

The kitchen originally had 2 doorways - he put in a new kitchen, but instead of closing off the one doorway he put 2x4s to hold the cabinets and placed a bookshelf on the other side of the doorway to hide the 2x4s.

He renovated one of the bathrooms and put a piece of plywood on as the countertop and faux painted it to look like granite.

When I toured the home it had ivy growing down the walls inside the basement . . . By 2022 prices had gone up enough to make his price attractive enough to overcome what my sister and I coined "the reverse midas touch".

I have never seen anyone stick to their guns for this long. 12 years!

The plywood and ivy in that last house give me the willies, I wonder how the new owners dealt with it?

The original post house, the flipper didn’t paint the stone thank goodness, but was that brick around the other sides?

" and the traffic noise was terrible! The realtor told us some people actually enjoy the sound. Go figure but someone did buy it.🤷‍♀️😵‍💫 "

I have a sound app that came with my headphones, and you can program it for sounds to help you sleep. There are the usual suspects (wind, rain, bells, meditation music, etc) but there are some really weird ones, like traffic, office noises, boots on gravel, and even slicing onions!

Forty years from now, it will be adding back walls between the rooms.