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In Boston, A 10-Foot Wide House Sells For $1.25 Million
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2:01
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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
OK. We have some news from the housing market. A family in Boston just spent more than $1 million on the skinny house, so-called because it is 10 feet wide.
TRAVIS SACHS: The house was built in 1890. It's a two-bedroom, one bath, 1,165 square feet - $1.2 million.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
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(Laughter) Travis Sachs is the real estate agent you just heard there. He sold the house. He says the skinny house is kind of a tourist attraction in Boston's North End neighborhood.
SACHS: Our first day for marketing the property, there was about 50 to 75 people just photographing the house and say, wow, look at this house; I can't believe somebody lives there.
INSKEEP: Mary McGee is an expert in the house because she lives across the street.
MARY MCGEE: Everything's kind of miniature - each floor, one room. You didn't have a big couch. You had more like a love seat. You also, I guess, had to be sure that you had furniture that you physically could get in there.
INSKEEP: What is the story of this place? Well, McGee says locals know this home as the spite house.
MCGEE: The story is that two brothers owned the parcel. One of the brothers left the narrow parcel for the other brother. That other brother, to spite him, built the house there to block off entry to the back parcel. That is why people in the neighborhood always called it the spite house.
MARTIN: A million-plus for a 10-foot-wide house may sound like a lot, but realtor Travis Sachs says it's a pretty good deal for Boston.
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SACHS: One-point-two-five does not get you (laughter) that much of a house anymore here in Boston, unfortunately. I would say, an average price is more or less around 1.5.
MARTIN: What? That's not true.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
MARTIN: I don't believe that's true.
INSKEEP: Well, I do believe it.
MARTIN: For whole of Boston?
INSKEEP: Well, maybe it's just, like, the nice neighborhoods, so-called, in Boston. Remember the key, Rachel - location, location, location - even if the location is very small.
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