Fixer-Upper Friday: A Modest Bungalow in West Roxbury

Its unfinished basement awaits an overhaul.

By Madeline Bilis· 6/15/2018, 10:05 a.m.

Photo via Insight Realty Group, Inc.

10 Temple Terrace, West Roxbury
Price: $419,900
Size: 912 square feet
Bedrooms: 2
Baths: 1

Behold one of the rarest gems in all of Boston real estate: a single-family home in the $400,000 range. This 1920s bungalow, while technically still within city limits, feels like a suburban starter home. The modest (and, in parts, shabby) West Roxbury pad measures just 912 square feet, but is brimming with potential.

While $419,900 doesn’t seem like the going price for a fixer-upper, houses in this red-hot market are a special breed. It’s not insanely egregious, at least, considering the home doesn’t require any structure-altering renovations. It’s mostly the usual stuff: nixing old wallpaper and linoleum, swapping out some old fixtures, scrubbing the bathroom clean.

Plus, the place has a lot going for it. There’s a pantry off the kitchen, an enclosed porch leading to the living room, and several rooms with original oak floors. A sizable fenced-in backyard with a garage boasts plenty of space for gardening and summertime lounging. There’s also an unfinished basement awaiting an overhaul, which would add a significant amount of living space to the house.

The property is seconds from the VFW Parkway, too, as well as the rolling green fields of Brook Farm, a historic former Transcendentalist community inhabited by the likes of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

For information, contact Lisa Sullivan, Insight Realty Group, Inc., insighterealtygroup.com.