New York Times on Germantown Home: From Condemnable to Commendable

Property contributor Virginia C. McGuire wrote about a truly exquisite Germantown Victorian that Nicole Juday and her husband watched slide into disrepair from their house across the street. When they finally decided to buy it–more to save the neighborhood than the house, Juday told McGuire–it was one of those classic 19th-century Philly deals: seven bedrooms for $125,000. But the couple had to work for it: The renovations and fixes were endless (“I think the house was possibly condemnable,” said Juday) and she did a lot of salvage work with the furniture and structural elements like a chimney.

The slideshow photos by Bruce Buck show just how much bang Juday got for her buck. Of course, she had to work pretty hard for it–and spend several thousand dollars more than she bargained for.

• She Used Her Gut Instincts [NYT]
• Slideshow, photos by Bruce Buck