What Makes A House Ugly?
This Sarasota, Fla.-house (photo) was just awarded the title of ‘Ugliest House of the Year’ by HomeVestors of America, a Dallas-based company whose franchisees buy and sell homes in need of repair. The company ran an online contest, asking visitors to its site to vote from a selection of ten photos of homes that were sent in by HomeVestors’ franchisees. Here are photos of the other 9 finalists. The ‘winner,’ a 1,295 square foot Sarasota home lacking such ‘amenities’ as windows and doors, had become a popular hangout for drug addicts, according to HomeVestors Web site. The house had $275,000 in outstanding fines from the city and $25,000 in code violation fines that HomeVestors was able to have repealed to $375. Bought for $7,000, HomeVestors sold it for $18,375 to another investor, who has since sold the 2-bedroom house for $30,000. HomeVestors’ billboards read ‘We Buy Ugly Houses.’ Clearly, ‘ugly’ is the company’s thing: ‘We help people in ugly houses or people who find themselves in
