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14755 Rio Nido Road, Guerneville - $523,000
3 beds, 1 bath, 992 square feet. Lot size: 5,000 square feet. Year built: 1933.
This historic house has only 992 square feet of interior space but manages to include 3 full bedrooms and a full basement.
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Living room.
There’s a sizable skylight over this living room to increase the feeling of space and allow natural light in.
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Basement.
Underneath the house is this full, but not finished, basement currently being used for storage and maybe a workshop space.
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10520 Highway 116 N., Forestville – $989,000
7 beds, 1 bath, 1,873 square feet. Lot size: 35.68 acres. Year built: 1928.
Built in 1928, this spacious house has 1,873 square feet of interior space, 7 bedrooms, but only 1 bathroom.
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Living room.
This living room hasn’t been updated but makes for a good starting point for a homebuyer who may want a historic home to restore to be genuinely period-specific
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Basement.
This full, unfinished basement is currently used for storage, `
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17789 Orchard Avenue, Guerneville - $455,000
1 bed, 1 bath, 656 square feet. Lot size: 4,748 square feet. Year built: 1950.
This 656-square-foot home in Guerneville has a reduced price but will need a lot of sweat equity to get it up to its former glory.
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Kitchen.
This kitchen is usable enough for one person, maybe two, comfortably.
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Back view of house.
There are no basement pictures in this listing, but in many houses of this time period, this would be the place to start looking for the entrance.
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12575 Los Amigos Road, Healdsburg - $820,000
3 beds, 1 bath, 1,088 square feet. Lot size: N/A. Year built: 1937.
This historic house is on a half-acre parcel that was being used as a production area for microgreens and has a number of other small buildings on the land.
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Living room.
This spacious living room has been updated with recessed lighting and new paint to help emphasize the openness of the space.
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Backyard.
A couple of storage sheds and a lot of open space make up this yard. The listing mentioned the basement, but it was not shown.
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4585 Montecito Avenue, Santa Rosa - $998,000
2 beds, 2 baths, 1,537 square feet. Lot size: 0.41 acres. Year built: 1957.
This 1950s home is in the popular Montecito Heights neighborhood and offers privacy since it’s located under a half-acre of redwoods and oak trees. The listing states that this home has a partial basement.
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Living room.
This room has a high, custom-planked ceiling with a large skylight and a gas fireplace.
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Hobby room.
While there are no pictures of the basement, there is this ‘hobby room’ that has an oversized (and empty) aquarium with a smooth rock that looks large enough to house an adult iguana or other reptiles.
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9436 Argonne Way, Forestville - $519,000
2 beds, 1 bath, 1,537 square feet. Lot size: 792 square feet. Year built: 1954.
This house has just 792 square feet of interior space, but according to the listing, it also has a sizable full basement.
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Kitchen.
The main living area is as open as possible, and this view shows the kitchen, a dining area, and a large sliding glass door opening to the yard.
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Back of house.
This view of the home shows how it’s built on a hilltop, and the extra space for a full basement is achieved thanks to this incline.
I’ve always been curious to know the actual reason basements are so rare in California. Some home builders I’ve asked have come up with “cost” as a reason, but then shrug their shoulders and admit to not really knowing, since the houses are more expensive here anyway. One mentioned water table issues in some areas, but that’s not too difficult of a problem to solve. I queried if anyone had ever added a basement to an already-built home, and that gets laughed off as infeasible…