I remember when I was a young man, there was a time when I was thinking of selling off some of the various accoutrements of my young life, and was trying to determine suitable prices. This was years before I took on any study of economics and price theory, and so I had little idea where to start; the Old Man gave me some sound advice: “Something is only worth what someone will pay you for it.”
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The owner of a small, 1,200 square-foot brick house in a suburb of Chicago may be finding out now that some people will be willing to pay a lot more for that house than he expected.
Why? Because it’s where the new American pope grew up.
The small brick house in Dolton, Ill. — where drug dealers once resided after the future pope’s family sold it, according to neighbors — had been bought by a house-flipper last year, fixed up and listed for $200,000, (realtor Steve) Budzik said.
But after learning of the pad’s now-famous roots late Thursday, the owner took it off the market as he considers increasing the price or even potentially turning it into a museum or another historic landmark.
On Thursday — after the world learned Chicago native Robert Prevost was named the first American pope — the owner received four offers on the five-bedroom, two-bathroom house, Budzik said.
That’s a pretty modest house, and Dolton is, reportedly, not the best of neighborhoods. But that may be changing now; this modest little Chicago suburb may be about to see a wave of gentrification on a Heavenly scale.
The owner of the home just missed this stroke of fortune; the house had been listed for some time.
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The modest-looking house had previously been on the market for more than 100 days.
“It was listed for 200 [thousand dollars], but there is no way he’s going to sell it for 200 with all the value it has now,” Budzik said of the 1,200-square-foot abode. “I’m sure people have a similar idea to make it for tours.”
“[The owner] is excited and just kinda in shock right now,” he said. “It’s been quite interesting the last 24 hours,’’ Budzik added. “Just with all the activity and people are making offers and calling and wanting to see it.”
I should say so – 1.4 billion Catholics and probably plenty of opportunity-seekers are now suddenly very interested in this little house.
See Also: Breaking: Habemus Papam! The Catholic Church’s First American Pope Addresses the World
See It With Your Own Eyes: Vatican Posts Incredible Footage of the Moments After Leo XIV Became Pope
Something is, as the Old Man pointed out so many years ago, worth what you can get someone to pay for it. And a new pope’s childhood home, I should think, would command a pretty fancy price. If this becomes a museum or other place of public accommodation, then the entire neighborhood may get a boost.
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Plenty of folks who managed to get in on the leading edge of the real-estate price boom that has been ongoing since about 2008 have managed to do very well when the time comes to sell a house. This, though, is in another league; this lucky house-flipper has hit the real-estate lottery. Unless I miss my guess, the end price will be several multiples of the original $200,000 asking price.
That’s fine. It’s a voluntary transaction. And it is, I remind you, an American home, and an American owner who is looking to cash in. And that’s an interesting side-note to the history-making new American pope.
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