5 Outrageous Stories of Real-Life 'Up' Houses

Welcome!

Brought to you by the National Association of Realtors^®

Find HouseLogic on:: Facebook; |; Twitter
About the Site Hide This

You care about your home. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® cares about homeownership. To help you become the best, most responsible homeowner you aspire to be, we want to provide you with free information and tools you can use to make smart and timely decisions about your home.

From time to time, we may reach out to you to help us support legislation and/or policies that may have an impact on you, the homeowner. You can choose to join our cause. Or you can choose not to. Regardless, your privacy is safe with us.

We'll never share or sell your email address or other personal information you may provide us in the course of using the site with anyone without your explicit consent.

Published: February 08, 2011
Be the first to comment

HouseLogic presents the stories of five home owners from around the globe who, like old Carl Fredricksen in the Disney-Pixar movie “Up,” just wouldn’t move out and move on.

Your home is your biggest investment. It’s where your family gathers and it’s the one place you can call your own. So in good times and bad — in times of high property values and low, in the fall when the furnace needs a tuneup, and in the spring when it’s time to clean out the gutters — you give your home all the care and support it needs. But there are times when it’s better to let it go, like when someone offers you 10 times its market value.

Seattle

This real life Up house (pictured here with balloons as a promotional stunt for the release of the film) belonged to Edith Macefield. Both are now local legends in her community, memorialized by many with a tattoo of the house created in their honor. In 2007, she refused to give in to developers who offered nearly $1 million for her small house worth just $8,000 at the time, on land valued at $120,000.

Only after she died was it sold, but to a quite appropriate new owner: a local company known for motivational seminars. Rather than tear it down, they’re going to elevate it to be the top floor of their new offices.

Next: Chongqing, China