For just $29,000, you can own a two-story, century-old Victorian home just minutes from downtown Raleigh.

The catch? The historic Villa Florenza has been vacant and deteriorating since the last occupant left in 1997. Repairs could run at least $200,000, preservation experts estimate. And the neighborhood is no Oakwood. The house is a few doors down from a check cashing business in Southeast Raleigh.

City inspectors have condemned the house several times, and if it doesn't have a buyer by Dec. 31, it'll be torn down. Preservation North Carolina director J. Myrick Howard says that would be a big loss for Raleigh's history.

"It's a pretty rare survivor of the middle class African-American community from the early 20th century," Howard said. "That house would fit in perfectly in Boylan Heights, Cameron Park or Glenwood ... but at that time, we had a totally segregated residential pattern."

From The News & Observer, 12/12/12

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