GOOD ENOUGH Homes & Destinations: What You Get For $490,000

The Gray Lady keeps upping the oligarch ante. This week she offers glimpses of “What You Get For … $4,900,000.” A five-bedroom townhouse in Old Town Alexandria with heart-pine floors, presumably made with real hearts, and a billiards room, like in Clue. A 160-acre compound that includes three guesthouses in Vermont close to the ski mountain Stratton. More or less the entire state of Iowa, plus a drawbridge.

The master suite takes up the third floor. It has an office with built-in bookshelves, a ladder leading to a small loft, and interior windows looking into the greenhouse. The catwalk-like passage leading to the bedroom is also a drawbridge that can be raised for privacy. The suite also includes a wood-paneled sauna and a lookout tower. The lower level is finished with a second kitchen, a home theater, a parquet dance floor and a bar facing a wall aquarium.

In this edition of Good Enough Homes & Destinations, we will set our sights a little lower, shall we? Here’s what you get for $490,000.

A three-bedroom, two-bath renovated two-story home on a creek in Guerneville, CA, for $495,000 (ok, slightly over, but you can bargain them down) via Trulia. The town, a couple hours north of San Francisco, is flush with majestic old trees and good schools. The house itself is over 1200 square feet with skylights, a sprawling deck, and hardwood floors.

Speaking of trees! A three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath Colonial under a stately oak in Savannah, GA, for $474,900, via Trulia. (How can you not be a sucker for Spanish moss?) Remodeled, with screened porches and a backyard, French doors, a den, new A/C, and a gas fireplace. Plus, walk out the door, and you’re in one of the stateliest, most charming cities in America.

Look, I found you a billiards room after all! A 3300 sq ft five-bedroom Colonial with three full and two half-baths in the Shaker Heights neighborhood of Cleveland, OH, for $475,000, via Realtor.com. Renovated, with a gorgeous patio and backyard, wet bar, two fireplaces, bay windows, hardwood floors, formal dining room, office, and so on. Flee to the Cleve!

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