265 Portage Vale Road

Four hundred feet of Kennebecasis frontage. Four acres. A metal roof that will outlive the mortgage.

THE CASE // The things you cannot renovate into a property are all here: 400 feet on the upper Kennebecasis. Wading water, casting water, cool-your-feet-in-July water, with about an acre cleared around the house and the rest as privacy. The expensive-to-fix envelope is already fixed: quality metal roof, solid windows, an exterior with nothing on its to-do list.

The services are rural-rare: town water runs to the property line, so hookup is an option, not a project, and waste is handled by two independent septic systems, kitchen and bathrooms each on their own tank and field. Fifteen minutes to Sussex for groceries, rinks, and the highway. THE HONEST PART // The inside needs work, and not a weekend's worth: flooring, paint, fixtures, kitchen, the full cosmetic sweep.

It is liveable while you do it, and it is priced as what it is: a sound-shelled project on land and water you cannot buy elsewhere at this number. Two of the five bedrooms are small. Honest bedrooms for kids or offices, not primaries.

WHO IT SUITS // Someone with paint clothes and a vision: a family buying the river and the acreage now and earning the interior over two years, or a renovator who sees that the roof, windows, and services math means the scary costs are already spent. WHO SHOULD KEEP SCROLLING // Anyone who needs move-in-perfect, or a boat at a dock. The river here is for casting, not cruising.

THE PRACTICALS // 1,538 sq ft, 5 bedrooms. 4 acres, ±1 cleared, 400 ft Kennebecasis frontage. Town water available at road.

Dual septic (two tanks, two fields, kitchen and baths separated). Metal roof and windows in good order. Sold as a cosmetic project, priced accordingly.