15 Lafayette Rd, Portsmouth, NH 03801

This is a nice 3-bedroom cape cod style home right in the historic district of Portsmouth, in a very desirable residential neighborhood. This is the first time it has been for sale since my parents bought it in 1964. It's a decent enough house in what is certainly an excellent location, in a very cool town. It's about a mile to downtown. There is a bike lane out front, so you can bicycle or motor-scooter straight to town. It's also an easy half-mile walk to Portsmouth high school, important if you have kids of that age. The property is being offered as a very complete package, all properly surveyed and bounded, with survey plans and inspection reports and appraisals and everything already done. The lawyer has already written up the deed and just needs to know what name to list as the buyer. Best of all it's for-sale-by-owner, so you also get to enjoy my personality… A solid house, good quality throughout. Many recent repairs. Surrounded by larger houses all around, the “cute little house” is larger than it first appears from the front, due to the addition in the back. Very nice park-like wooded yard, with mature hardwood trees. Tall hedges all around the front. It's an old-style 1940's house, with basic simple kitchen, no dishwasher, no air conditioning, no shiny stainless steel gadgets. It's "ready for your updates", to use the euphemistic real estate language. I wouldn't update it, but some people will, I know. It's "mom's house". Lots of closet space. Built-in drawers. Nice little "eaves" tunnel, happy place for dogs. A distinctive feature is the heavy cast-iron porcelain kitchen sink, you just don’t see those anymore, can't get them anymore. Kitchen stove is a big old 40-inch wide electric stove, not the narrow 30-inch type they have now. The drain pipes in the house are all those big heavy cast iron pipes, not the plastic stuff. Central staircase, as you see in the photos. Freshly polished hardwood floors. Central fireplace and chimney (which would need a steel liner if used), garage, and one modern additional room. That room includes some exotic woodwork, reclaimed from an old elegant mansion nearby. Freshly painted inside and outside. New roof, recent furnace and hot water heater, new basement windows, new garage floor, all new faucets. I made sure to put in quality utilities. Water heater is an electric Bradford and White. Furnace is a natural gas Fujitsu. Washer, dryer, stove, 2 refrigerators, microwave, and dehumidifier. There is a full basement, which is nice and cool in the summer, and has lately become more of an active living space with the temperatures. I've been known to sleep down there on rare occasion. The seacoast will continue to have premium property value with the warming trend, as it can be a good 10 degrees hotter inland… There is direct access to the backyard from the basement, so barbecue out back is a frequent event. More important than the details of the house itself is the immediate local environment. It’s a fine neighborhood and great neighbors. Zero crime rate. I don’t need any agents or middlemen of any variety while the house is for sale by owner. For now I’m only speaking directly with buyers who will live there themselves and make it their home long term. contact information: Jeff Murdock 603-397-2933 jhmurdock@gmail.com