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BuyingHere: Harrison
Saturday, August 16, 2008

Americans' love of the Craftsman style was as strong as a fumed oak beam in the 1920s, when this stone bungalow was built at 1025 Carlisle St. in Harrison. It's for sale by owners and priced at $229,900 (724-681-7027 or www.realtor.com, MLS No. 729735).

Befitting the style also known as Arts & Crafts or Mission, the house has an open floor plan and large living and dining rooms -- 26 by 16 feet and 16 by 16 feet, respectively. The 15-by-15-foot master bedroom, one of five in the house, is also on the first floor. Like most Craftsmans, it also boasts built-in bookcases and china cupboards, high ceilings and hardwood floors.

All of those features plus plenty of dark-stained woodwork was intact but neglected when David and Lorraine Manning bought the house seven years ago for $180,000. Even worse, its basement was filled with coal and the front covered with coal dust and overgrown rhododendron bushes. The couple spent months restoring the house, which has two full baths and a two-car garage with office space above. There is also a 13-by-10-foot sunroom and 17-by-11-foot updated kitchen.

The level double lot is fenced and landscaped, but the nicest greenery is by the street -- the state's second largest stand of elm trees, towering more than 70 feet high. A shady canopy of elms was a common sight on streets in America until Dutch elm disease wiped out most of them. The trees planted more than a century ago have somehow survived on Carlisle Street, where 22 houses have sold for prices ranging from $56,000 in February 2005 to $285,000 in October 2004 (www.realstats.net). This house, which comes with a home warranty, has a 2007 assessed market value of $176,200 (www.county.allegheny.pa.us/RealEstate/). Call for an appointment to view the house.


SALES SNAPSHOT

BRACKENRIDGE

2007 2008
SALES 64 62
MEDIAN PRICE $58,829 $48,000
HIGHEST PRICE $140,000 $139,900


CHESWICK

2007 2008
SALES 35 21
MEDIAN PRICE $100,000 $95,500
HIGHEST PRICE $234,900 $195,000


EAST DEER

2007 2008
SALES 36 23
MEDIAN PRICE $58,000 $68,000
HIGHEST PRICE $205,000 $181,125


FAWN

2007 2008
SALES 32 15
MEDIAN PRICE $99,500 $78,900
HIGHEST PRICE $180,000 $274,000


FRAZER

2007 2008
SALES 5 15
MEDIAN PRICE $15,900 $95,000
HIGHEST PRICE $119,000 $395,000


HARMAR

2007 2008
SALES 61 46
MEDIAN PRICE $99,900 $102,500
HIGHEST PRICE $534,686 $715,000


HARRISON

2007 2008
SALES 175 150
MEDIAN PRICE $72,000 $67,500
HIGHEST PRICE $433,000 $270,000


SPRINGDALE BOROUGH

2007 2008
SALES 49 42
MEDIAN PRICE $74,000 $68,195
HIGHEST PRICE $142,000 $156,700


SPRINGDALE TOWNSHIP

2007 2008
SALES 16 13
MEDIAN PRICE $73,000 $58,750
HIGHEST PRICE $172,000 $210,000


TARENTUM

2007 2008
SALES 82 67
MEDIAN PRICE $31,000 $33,500
HIGHEST PRICE $230,000 $100,000


WEST DEER

2007 2008
SALES 225 168
MEDIAN PRICE $157,000 $142,000
HIGHEST PRICE $405,000 $356,072

First published on August 16, 2008 at 12:00 am