In the Fall of 2000 our family lived in a rental house in Newton.
It was a good house. It was big enough for our 4 boys. It had a big back yard, a big kitchen, and a dining room. We did not plan on buying a house for a year. So we signed a lease and prepared to be renters.
Then the "Bergstom" house went up for sale.
Herb Bergstrom was a Newton "character." He was an oil and fuel wholesaler, and he seemed to be 'onry. He was constantly running for local political office. (In his garage we found a placard that could be affixed to his truck that read, "Herb Berstrom for _____" and you could see where the potential position was painted over multiple times...we made selves out of that sign.)
I drove past the Bergstrom house (721 E. 4th St. N) on multiple occasions. It backed-up to Sunset Park and was flanked by a row of lovely century-old houses.
This house was built around 1910 and it had been owned by the Bergstoms for 50 years.
It was falling apart.
The mint green paint had mostly fallen off. The insides were stained with years of cigarette smoke. But the beautiful oak hardwood trim and library paneling were intact. There was a butler's stair and pocket doors and high ceilings and oak pillars, a bay window with an oak bench.
It was way out of our league as far as repairs that were needed.
We put in a tentative offer and had all the inspections done.
We found out it needed all new wiring, all new plumbing, a new roof, foundation work, and a plethora of other fixes. We decided to opt out, but our realtor told us we needed to counter offer and have that offer rejected so we could move on.
We offered 40K thinking they would never take it...but they did.
It became a home...
