SARASOTA, Fla.--A developer is giving away four historic homes. But there's a catch--you must move them off the property.

Developer Mark Pierce is trying to give away the houses to make way a mixed-use retail development on the land, the Herald-Tribune reports.

The houses up for grabs include:
--a bungalow built in 1925;
--a 1,192-square-foot, wood frame house built in 1910;
--a 2,275-square-foot brick bungalow built in 1938; and
--a 2,471-square-foot bungalow, built in 1925.

As you can imagine, moving houses isn't cheap. One estimate for moving a 1,000-square-foot house just two blocks came in at roughly $25,000, Clifford Smith, senior planner for historic preservation with the city of Sarasota, told the Herald Tribune.

But even with the moving and land costs, these homes can be a steal, he says.
Even with moving costs that can easily run in excess of $100,000, an old house could be a deal for someone who already owns a lot on which to put it, Smith said."A receiver should end up with a house that would be worth more in the end than it would have cost you to put it there by building it," he said. "You wind up with a larger structure, a better structure."

If you're interested, move quickly before the homes are demolished. The development project is scheduled to begin within the next 30 to 90 days.

For more information about the houses, contact the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation at 941-953-8727.

For the full story, click here.

Source: Herald-Tribune, Sarasota, Fla.

Would you consider moving a historic home? Have you done it before? Click on the "comments" link at the top of this story or e-mail us.

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