This substantial 2,042-square-foot historic single-family residence, constructed in 1884, is located at 520 N Franklin St in a highly visible downtown neighborhood of Saginaw, Michigan (Zip Code 48607).
Arriving on the market at an incredibly low, entry-level price point of $80,000, this two-story post-Civil War traditional home features two to three bedrooms and two full bathrooms situated on an oversized 10,454-square-foot corner town lot.
Perfectly positioned within easy walking distance of the iconic Dow Event Center, this property represents a phenomenal investment canvas or owner-occupant sweat-equity project that pairs a large, structurally sound historic floor plan with a massive, highly coveted industrial outbuilding.
The residence establishes an authoritative urban presence, showing off the grand vertical clearances, tall windows, and robust structural scale typical of Saginaw’s lumber-boom era town manors. Inside, the spacious 2,042-square-foot footprint flows with impressive room sizes. The home has been well-maintained fundamentally and is in otherwise good structural condition throughout, retaining original trim accents, high ceilings, and a highly accessible layout that is ready for tailored cosmetic updates.
🏛️ Main Level Layout & Multi-Tier Space Optimization
The home’s interior geometry is highly functional, organizing flexible daily living tracks on the ground tier while maintaining excellent auxiliary space above:
The Ground Floor Living Core: Opens into a formal front entry parlor and a large, light-filled living room that transitions smoothly into a separate central dining room. The rear houses a functional kitchen layout with optimized workspace geometries and direct access to the rear grounds.
Flexible Main Floor Sleeping Track: The main level is host to two comfortably sized family bedrooms, alongside a large bonus space that offers a seamless possibility for a third main-floor bedroom or a quiet remote home office.
The Ground-Tier Utility Edge: Delivering an incredibly practical, modernized floor plan, the main tier handles two full bathrooms and a dedicated first-floor laundry room track. This smart layout entirely eliminates the household morning routine bottlenecks and steep basement stair journeys common to properties of this vintage.
🚗 The Ultimate 30′ x 40′ Industrial Pole Barn Compound
The defining feature of this 520 N Franklin St estate is its massive 10,454-square-foot urban lot, which anchors an extraordinary outbuilding asset:
The 1,200-Sqft Outbuilding Matrix: The rear grounds house a substantial 30′ x 40′ metal pole barn. Completely separate from the main house, this massive compound features clear-span high ceilings and oversized garage doors, providing an unparalleled sanctuary for professional mechanics, secure storage for heavy machinery or boats, a digital content creation studio, or a dream carpentry workshop.
🔧 Strategic Underwriting & FHA 203k Rehabilitation Routing
💰 Immediate Capitalization & Renovate-to-Own Strategy: While the home’s interior and core mechanics are in good, functional condition, the property does require an exterior cosmetic repaint and a completely new roof system. It has been aggressively priced to sell at $80,000 to directly account for these updates.
Because everything else is structurally sound, this property is a textbook candidate for an FHA 203k Rehabilitation Loan Portfolio (or a conventional Fannie Mae Homestyle loan). This specialized financing model allows an owner-occupant to bundle the acquisition cost and the renovation capital into a single, low-interest monthly mortgage payment. The bank will directly fund the professional installation of your brand-new roof system and a fresh exterior paint job, instantly skyrocketing the home’s curb appeal and market valuation from Day 1 without depleting your personal cash liquid reserves.
📋 Property Specifications
💰 Price: $80,000 (Priced to sell aggressively)
📍 Address: 520 N Franklin St, Saginaw, MI 48607 (Downtown Corridor)
📐 Interior Size: 2,042 livable above-grade sqft (Spacious, high-volume room layouts)
🌳 Lot Size: 10,454 sqft (0.24 Acres / Oversized downtown village parcel)
🛏️ Bedrooms: 2 to 3 Bedrooms (2 true main-floor chambers plus a highly flexible 3rd bedroom option)
🛁 Bathrooms: 2 True Full Baths (Rare, high-utility multi-bath distribution)
🏗️ Year Built: 1884 (Post-Civil War / Late-19th-Century Traditional)
⚙️ Property Status: Interior in Good Condition / Requires New Roof & Exterior Paint
🚙 Outbuildings: Substantial 30′ x 40′ (1,200 sqft) Industrial-Style Pole Barn
👕 Domestic Layout: Ultra-convenient first-floor laundry room station
🚶 Location Context: Walking distance to the Dow Event Center, riverfront districts, and urban dining
🔍 Key Features & Preservation Value Points Explained
🏛️ Unparalleled Financial Runway at ~ $39 Per Square Foot: Securing a standalone, 2,000+ square foot character home on a quarter-acre lot with a 1,200-square-foot commercial-sized pole barn for $80,000 is an extraordinary real estate anomaly. The acquisition cost is incredibly protected, leaving an immense financial safety cushion to execute updates while securing deep equity upside.
🚗 Crucial 1,200-Square-Foot Pole Barn Asset Multiplier: Finding an in-town lot that natively features a 30′ x 40′ pole barn is incredibly rare. Building a pole barn of this scale from scratch today would easily cost forty to fifty thousand dollars in materials and permits. This structure handles seasonal vehicle protection from harsh Michigan winter snow cycles while serving as a secure vault for tools and heavy equipment entirely separate from the main residence.
🛁 Exceptional Single-Level Accessibility and Multi-Bath Flow: Most 19th-century homes under $100k feature a single bathroom tucked away up tight staircases. Having two complete full bathrooms and laundry hookups spread across a flexible main floor layout makes daily life effortless and locks in high resale liquidity.
🏟️ High-Value Walker’s Paradise to the Dow Event Center: Positioned just blocks from the Dow Event Center, residents enjoy immediate pedestrian access to premier concerts, professional hockey games, monster truck rallies, and cultural conventions. This proximity injects the asset with immense short-term rental potential or high-demand corporate event parking capabilities.
📍 Strategic Saginaw County Commuter Gateway: Located on North Franklin Street, residents enjoy a highly practical, connected urban lifestyle. The estate sits within immediate driving distance of downtown Saginaw’s historic courthouse square, Covenant HealthCare complexes, public libraries, schools, and vibrant riverfront parks, while maintaining lightning-fast transit links to M-46, M-58, M-13, and I-75 for a streamlined, direct commuter loop straight into Bay City, Midland, or Flint.
Zillow link https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/520-N-Franklin-St-Saginaw-MI-48607/140951961_zpid/
Listed by: Brittany Kretz 989-295-7446, Etiquette Times Realty 989-295-7446
Originating MLS: Saginaw Board of REALTORS