Sellers of historic Brantford church, listed for $1, reject all offers
Sellers relisted church with a price tag of $400K
As it turns out, the sellers of a Brantford church filled with historic murals weren't actually willing to let the church go for the $1 price they listed it for last month.
They got several offers this week, but "none quite reached what the seller's minimum requirements were," said their realtor, Roy Rodrigues.
The minimum requirements weren't listed in the original advertisement.
The sellers have now relisted the church with a price tag closer to what they're after: $399,999.
Rodrigues said the terms that buyers wanted for length of time for closing, or conditions on getting financing, or price, were just not quite right.
"One thing or another with the offers just didn't fit," he said.
Rodrigues admits that listing a property for $1 indicates an openness to what buyers want to bid, but the sellers had expectations that weren't met.
"We came close in terms of price to what the seller wanted," he said. The new listing price is "closer to what the seller's looking for."
No protections for architecture, artwork
The church is a few years shy of its 150th birthday and was designated as a national historic site in 1993, as a prime example of the 1930s-era Arts-and-Crafts decor style. But that doesn't come with any protections for the architecture or the artwork.
Someone bought the property, which included an adjacent rectory, last year from the Diocese of Huron for $400,000. That owner has since renovated, and flipped the rectory house to another buyer in January for $374,000, public property records show.
The church was Anglican, named for St. Jude. It was built in 1871 and its murals were painted in 1936.
The church was named a historic site, honoured for the way it exemplifies the Arts-and-Crafts era: integrating art and architecture to create a "harmonious and humanistic whole," elevating hand-crafted work above machine work, and including elements of nature.