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Go, Granny, Go
Sarasota’s remodeled ranches are not your grandmother’s house.
By Robert Plunket
Click here to see our Real Estate Junkie discuss granny ranches on TV.
It used to be bungalows, but the latest thing in old houses is now the “granny ranch.” So named because chances are your grandmother lived in one, they are modest homes from the 1950s and 60s that are being rediscovered and remodeled. What makes them worth saving? They are well-built, have timeless floor plans that don’t need much rethinking, and are often located in prime areas convenient to downtown. Plus, they’re starting to look cute.
2702 Nancy St.
Sarasota has a bunch, many of them in Paver Park. The example above is typical. It’s two bedrooms, one bath, a little over 1,000 square feet, with a wood-paneled family room and a large utility room. It needs updating but it’s nothing you can’t handle yourself, and it’s well priced at $129,000. (There’s a short sale across the street for $77,000!) Call Pat Richey at 941-284-7287.
But the nicest “granny ranch” update in town has to be 2575 Colorado, just a little over half a mile from the Hollywood 20. Its present owners poured money and time into the renovation and the result is a granny ranch much too stylish for your granny – unless she was Lana Turner.
It’s got 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, 1,654 sq feet, a caged pool – square in shape - and gorgeous landscaping. The bathrooms are particularly special, with porcelain tile floors, vessel sinks, and premium Toto toilets. This house has top-of-the-line everything and is beautifully decorated and landscaped, with bamboos, palms, and little fountains set here and there.
Many purists in other cities feel that the best way to update a granny ranch is to restore to its circa-1958 splendor, with Heywood Wakefield furniture and period-correct Formica on the kitchen counters. But that’s not the way we do things in Sarasota. It’s too tempting to go for broke with a “tropical glamour” theme, and this Colorado Street house is the template of how to do it right. It’s listed at $299, 900. Call Vickie Pinney at 941-284-8023.
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