Real Estate Envy: I Want This House

Part of my constant fantasizing about Other Places to Live involves searching the real estate listings in whatever locale I happen to be obsessing over at any given time.

So, since we're headed back up to Portland soon, I found myself on PortlandModern to see what's on the market there now. I immediately zeroed in on this place.

I can't quite believe that I'm drooling over what's essentially a shameless Joseph Eichler ripoff. (I grew up in a city of Eichlers -- and when I was a kid, they were actually somewhat disdained for their cheap construction and midcentury aesthetic.) Plus, I'm a certified old house lover -- and by "old," I mean pre-WWII.

But just as I've done a 180 on modern design in the last few years -- I used to not want anything in my home that was made after the 1930s -- I'm coming around to modern architecture as well. Now I can definitely appreciate the airiness, openness, and simplicity of these post-war family homes.

Plus, by Bay Area standards, the price tag on this house -- $350,000 -- is cheap. If you live anywhere between San Francisco and New York, that price may be eye-popping for different reasons. But here, a similar house would easily go for at least twice as much, even during the current housing slump. (And yes, I do realize that this is why Portlanders hate California buyers, who come in and swoop up their housing stock, driving up prices.)

Anyway, I'd be on the phone with the realtor right now if this house was in Portland, but it's actually in Beaverton. Anyone out there reading who's familiar with Beaverton? Abject Suburbia, or close enough in to be worth a look?

P.S. For more Portland-area house porn, don't miss Melissa's awesome Drive-Bys series on the Inspired Room blog. For more Eichleresque house porn, check out my House Voyeur tour of a revamped Eichler in the Oakland hills. And for more nationwide house porn, see my Coast-to-Coast Modern post.