You build me up: This month saw an unusual number of sales—at least five—of homes that were either rebuilt or so substantially renovated as to qualify as new construction. They include 822 Brooks St., sold for $1.25 million after being bought for $330,000 in March 2024; 1006 Granger Ave., sold for $910,000 after being bought for $373,000 in March 2024; 1907 Arborview Blvd., sold for $1.1 million, bought for $325,000 in March 2025; 209 N. Seventh St., sold for $1.15 million, bought for $300,000 in April 2022; and 445 Hiscock St., sold for $1.02 million, bought for $400,000 in April 2021. Perhaps of most interest are those last two, sold by Deinco, the longtime student-rental conglomerate founded by Pete Deininger. While flipping homes isn’t what they’re known for, the company is pushing into new forms of development; in July, council okayed a plan to knock down the nineteenth-century home at 318 E. Jefferson St. and replace it with a townhouse-style construction of six high-end rentals.
Veridian unit resale: The state’s first all-electric, net-zero development off Platt Rd., much of which is still under construction, hit an apparent milestone this month with the sale of 2237 Trillium Ln., a 1,200-square-foot, 2-bedroom, 2.1-bath townhouse for $610,000. That’s up from the $585,495 the original owner spent in January for it from the builder, 2270 Platt LLC. Of the various models on offer at Veridian, Park Homes appear to be the rarest (only six units built) and the only one already fully sold out with no plans for more.
Related: Veridian At Last
This Old Mail-Order Home: In the 1930s, when the original owners at 501 W. Mosley St. sent away for the Montgomery Ward kit that would become their house, affordability was likely a consideration. For a few thousand dollars, depending on the model, the customer received the necessary prefabricated pieces for what became a 960-square-foot, three-bedroom, one-bath home. This month, that once-inexpensive abode at the edge of the Old West Side’s Wurster Park sold for $434,000; even if it cost the high end of the Ward-kit range of $5,000 in 1930 and rose only on inflation, it would be worth a around $95,000 today.
Related: Ann Arbor’s Kit Homes
Hi, Steve, I looked up this article after seeing it was “most clicked.”
I was the second owner of what I believe was the very last kit house bought from Sears. Not sure when it was actually purchased, but it was built/completed in 1953. Large 4 BR Cape Cid, 2 BR +bath upstairs, same downstairs and half-bath in walk-out basement! Heavy slate double washtub in basement. I had never paid attention to the folder holding the drawings until I removed some window molding; there were the tell-tale numbers. Sturdy house; lived there for 30-some years miss it every day, not to mention Ann Arbor, too