Five Figure Fridays! Double Your Pleasure

This week on Five Figure Fridays we’ll feature properties that are suitable for sharing.  Each one has either two buildings (or, you know, trailers) or at least a 2-family layout.  If you have friends you really, really like, maybe one of these will catch your collective fancy – or, if you’re hoping to rent out your property to defray costs, this could give you more options and eliminate the “I don’t want people touching my stuff” factor.

That said, to stay under 100 grand for two properties requires a compromise or two.  Details and more pictures of each property are after the jump.  From highest to lowest:

West Shokan - 2 Cottages, $99k

Two modest cottages, but for weekenders they’ve got great charm and potential.  Looks like a lovely front and back yard as well.  Some terrific paneling and rustic built-ins.  The real quandary would be fighting with your co-buyers over who has to live above the garage.  $99.9k.

Livingston Manor - Cottage plus Duplex, $99k

Same idea but with noticeably less charm.  Largeish Tudor main house, plus additional duplex for a total of three separate properties.  Need at least major cosmetics, if not more serious work – but the utility-to-price ratio is great.  Livingston Manor has a lovely creekside “downtown” area.  $99.9k.

Kingston 2 Family - $95k

This is a 2-family duplex in Kingston.  Not the best pictures but looks altogether livable.  Fenced yard and in-town location with all municipal utilities.  Kingston, right off the Thruway with easy access to Rt-28, makes a great gateway to Woodstock, Phoenicia, etc.  $95k.

Olive - 2 Mobiles, $75k

Sure, it’s hard to lower your sights from Upstate Jane’s architect showplaces and Lisa’s astonishing stone real estate porn, but I say neither has the Boogie Nights appeal of these two trailers in Olive.  Garage, carport, central deck and a full acre, with taxes still reported below $2,000/year.  Park an orange ‘Vette out front and tell everyone they’re not old, they’re vintage.  $75k.

Liberty 2 Family - $59k

Finally, can someone please explain prices in Liberty?  Is it the taxes ($5,800 for this in-town duplex)?  Is it the proximity of the old resorts now being perpetually flogged on Craigslist as “luxury condos”?  There are a ton of lovely old houses for astonishingly little money.  Case in point, this adorable two-family with beautiful wood floors for just $59k.

After the jump: links and stats for each, plus a big gallery with a bunch more photos.  Happy sharing!

Wanna Buy a Bungalow Colony?

As I mentioned last week, the proverbial one [piece of real estate] that got away for me was a bungalow colony in Sullivan County, put on the market before the real estate balloon of the mid-2000s.

The good news is that there are a number of other colonies and camps for sale upstate–all faring better than the places on Vanishing Catskills–and I came upon Taylored Real Estate in my search for a new property. Not a great UI on the site, but there are a number of colonies, camps, old hotels and resorts for sale. They range from $3.9 million for an old 225-room resort in Liberty, N.Y. (behold the beauty of pink carpets and sky-sized crystal chandelier) to $345,000 for a fixer-upper resort with 10 buildings on 60 acres in Greeneville, NY.

There are plenty of camps and bungalow colonies at prices in between–somewhere between the $1 and $2 million range, which, split among at least 10 folks, hovers in the realm of affordable even for freelance writers. I have yet to find one that I’m willing to drag my pals up to see, but I’ll be looking. Has anybody else considered buying a colony or camp with pals?