Historic Delaware home sells for more than $1 to couple who believe in its future

DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) – While it didn’t sell for $1, a historic home in the city of Delaware did sell to a couple who feel they just made the deal of the century.

The 1870s Italiante property was put up for auction during Tuesday’s Delaware County Auditor’s auction.

The three-story building sits on a large lot at the corner of Lincoln and Franklin in Delaware.

The building once housed a college fraternity and a nursing home but has sat empty since 2008.

Dozens of people showed up to the auction hoping to snag the property on the cheap. And for the winners – Jordan Lewis and Geoff Stafford – they bought their dream home for $100,000.

“A hundred thousand dollars is something we could do while not impacting anything in the future,” Stafford said.

Although $100,000 is nothing to crow about, Stafford and Lewis expect to invest much more in their new home.

“We are predicting $600,000 to $700,000 total for the restoration,” Lewis said. “We’re going to live there, we’re going to retire there, live there forever, restore it to its former glory as best we can, yes.”

The couple will become official owners of the property in 30 days.

Stafford and Lewis said their first order of business will be asbestos removal and demolition of the addition on the back of the home. Optimistically, they hope to complete renovations in a year or two.