Ode to the rambler

I have sold a few ramblers this year and most of them have been purchased by people who are over 55 and who are moving back into the city and are looking for homes that they can live in and maintain even when they are old. . . like really old.  

Ramblers have a lot to offer and some of them still have the original bathroom tiles from the 50’s and 60′ s in shades of pink, yellow, green or orange with thin rows or black tiles for accents.   There is a light above the kitchen sink which has cabinets above it on either side with that scalloped wood trim in between them.  

The wood is light and the knobs on the doors are round and silvery colored.  The light itself has a round cover over it and a string hangs from it.  In the basement there is a bar and a reck room and maybe a bathroom that consists of nothing but a toilet or a shower. (the bar was added after the house was built by the Mr.)

The homes had solid oak floors until about 1957 or 1958 when they started using some kind of fiber wood board stuff. Often if the home is still in the hands of the original owner which is not as uncommon as you might think the floors have been covered with carpet since the home was built and are in pristine condition.

These fine one story three bedroom homes can be found most anywhere in the city but the greatest number of them are in the highland park, upper east side and battle creek neighborhoods.   There are about 100 of them on the market right now and they range in price from 35K for a real fixer upper up to half a million for a large rambler with many updates. 

Some of the ramblers are small like 1200-1400 square feet of finished space but there was a time when a family of four could live comfortably in that amount of space and I suppose some were even happy but that was a simpler time. 

The rambler in the picture isn’t for sale and was built in the 1960’s and is located in Highland Park.  

Rambler – instagramed

Young people buy ramblers too but in general people seem to either love them or hate them except for this one client I had last summer who loved them and then hated them and then loved them again and finally bought one after I showed her a zillion of them. :)