Michael Thomas
03-24-2012, 04:56 AM
"There was much to discover in the nooks and crannies of the massive Revolutionary War-era sandstone house on Staten Island. An October listing by the Gateway Arms Realty Corporation proclaimed the historical relevance of the Neville-Tysen house, named for a retired naval officer on land overlooking the Kill Van Kull.
It also said any deal required cash — $350,000 was the asking price — since no bank would issue a mortgage for 6,000 square feet of badly decaying living space.
“We took experts in and they said it needed extensive renovation,” said Norma Sue Wolfe, an agent with Gateway Arms. “That is where we got that $600,000, or more, was needed to restore it after purchasing.”
On Jan. 5, the seller accepted an offer of $250,000 in cash from Georgia Lind, 65, who expressed an interest in fixing it up to live there and then possibly to sell it as a bed-and-breakfast. The sale went to closing on Wednesday.
On Friday, Ms. Lind was walking around her new home, camera in hand, when one of the home’s secrets unveiled itself: A rotting plywood floorboard covering a 4-by-4-feet opening to an old cistern, which had been designed as a rainwater collection well, gave way; Ms. Lind was seriously hurt when she tumbled 12 feet down to a cold stone bottom that was covered by a film of mud..."
<http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/woman-falls-through-rotting-floor-in-staten-island-and-is-trapped/>
It also said any deal required cash — $350,000 was the asking price — since no bank would issue a mortgage for 6,000 square feet of badly decaying living space.
“We took experts in and they said it needed extensive renovation,” said Norma Sue Wolfe, an agent with Gateway Arms. “That is where we got that $600,000, or more, was needed to restore it after purchasing.”
On Jan. 5, the seller accepted an offer of $250,000 in cash from Georgia Lind, 65, who expressed an interest in fixing it up to live there and then possibly to sell it as a bed-and-breakfast. The sale went to closing on Wednesday.
On Friday, Ms. Lind was walking around her new home, camera in hand, when one of the home’s secrets unveiled itself: A rotting plywood floorboard covering a 4-by-4-feet opening to an old cistern, which had been designed as a rainwater collection well, gave way; Ms. Lind was seriously hurt when she tumbled 12 feet down to a cold stone bottom that was covered by a film of mud..."
<http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/woman-falls-through-rotting-floor-in-staten-island-and-is-trapped/>