College Town House For Sale
In a near-university area, neighbors buy a house to restore (photo above). It's ready for sale now. Be sure to check out the floor plans, information and photos on this beauty brought back to life.

Story below:
Civil War-era farmhouse bought, fixed up and is now on the market
The Herald-Sun - 26 Mar 2004
...DURHAM, NC - The writing was on the wall for 326 E. Trinity Ave.

So a group of neighbors decided to buy the wall -- and the rest of the Civil War-era farmhouse -- to keep it out of absentee hands.

For nine months, the neighbors, who called themselves "The Back Porch of Durham," ripped out water-stained plaster, fake wood paneling and rotted ceiling tiles.

Before they had even finished, a would-be homeowner stepped forward. But the buyer's financing fell through, just as the market tanked. The house sat empty.

The group will try again Sunday, from 2 to 4 p.m., when the home is included in the Old North Durham Historic Home Tour.

"It's really what we would call a pivotal structure on the street," said John Compton, who lives three blocks away and is one of the six neighbors who bought the house.

The house sits in the North Durham-Duke Park Historic District, an area that some neighbors who live just outside the lines would like to see expanded.

But those who bought it had more than architecture on their minds.

If they didn't step in, they said, the four-bedroom house likely would have been bought and carved into apartments. That is if there was anything structurally sound enough left to carve, Compton said.

"The Housing Department had never gotten into the house, but eventually, they would have had numerous violations," he said. "It was on the verge of repair or demolish."

By repairing the house and selling it at a market rate, $185,000, the neighbors hope to make sure the house stays owner-occupied.

"It's important," said Shannon Thornburg, who is not one of the owners but lives a block away. "We have a pretty active [neighborhood] watch. The more stability you have, the more people you recognize, and the more people you recognize don't belong here."

Tom Transue, another neighbor, also is looking forward to the house, and three others on Sunday's tour, getting new owners.

Transue chose to live in Old North Durham, "because we got a fabulous, big and beautiful house for less money than anywhere else in the Triangle, as far as I'm concerned," he said. And while crime is a problem, it's not any bigger a problem in his neighborhood than in many others, he said.

"We're still struggling to get the word out," he said. "[Old North Durham] is a place you can live and enjoy and raise a family."

Generally good town/gown relations, walkable neighborhoods and active preservation; Durham raises the bar for college towns

GOWN
Duke/Durham Neighborhood Partnership This is an extraordinary example of a university/community partnership.

Trinity Heights, a faculty/staff housing development

TOWN

Thriving Durham Neighborhoods Enrich Online Presence A place for walkable, neighborhood living
                           - from www.durham-nc.com

Historic Preservation Society of Durham, North Carolina Durham actively courts preservation

One Durham resident even records an old house blog:

The Little White Bungalow
"A detail of one woman's journey in life and in restoration. This story is filled with laugh-out-loud tales of daily life while documenting all the unexpected and expected events of renovating the little white bungalow."
                        - oldhouses.com

And finally, the story of a house's metamorphosis from an off-campus rental to a family home:

Big Funk:
From hippies to heart pine in Durham

"We got a fabulous, big and beautiful house for less money than anywhere else in the Triangle"
                 - Old North Durham resident

Durham also has a wide array of things going on in town. See the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau web site.

Here's just the Major Annual Events page