Balancing the bottom line with the top

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Feb 28, 2002

I love Lucy but not that much

CELORON, N.Y. (NYT) -- Love Lucy? You can own her girlhood home. With an asking price of $98,500, some might consider the two-story, three-bedroom frame house in Celoron, N.Y., a bargain. It's where Lucille Ball lived from age 8 until midway through high school, when she left outstate New York to attend drama school in Manhattan. The real estate agent handling the property said you can even bathe in the tub used by the young Lucy, because the second-floor bathroom appears intact from the time she lived there.

One drawback: Lucy fans drop by from time to time, and have been known to knock on the door and ask for tours of the house at odd hours.

After languishing on the market for nearly a year, the house has been listed, for the second time, on the eBay Web site, under real estate. The first time it was on eBay, it was as an auction. Real estate agent Bruce Turner said there were a few bids in excess of $100,000. But after the auction, the bidders didn't follow through.

The house at 59 W. Lucy Lane -- it used to be Eighth Street -- dates to 1890 and belonged to Ball's maternal grandparents, Fred and Florabelle Hunt. It sits only a few blocks from the famed Lake Chautauqua in the southwestern corner of the state, about 70 miles south of Buffalo. Just last year, the Celoron house was featured in a CBS network special timed for the 50th anniversary of I Love Lucy.

Turner and his real estate partner, Dave Anderson, figure the place hasn't sold sooner because the Ball connection prompted the owners to raise the asking price. It's about double the price of comparable houses in the village of Celoron. "I'd have had it sold for $30,000 a dozen times over," Anderson said.

After several months of market inaction, Turner had a sacrilegious thought. "I said to one of my buddies that we should buy it and take four inches of wood at a time and put them on eBay," Turner said. "We'd probably make a fortune." But that didn't seem right. Now Turner is hoping that the Lucy connection and the allure of "one of the finest areas in the country in terms of quality of life" will finally do the trick.

There are ski resorts nearby, he said. Boating and fishing. Deer and turkey hunting. And a small-town atmosphere so homey that "most of us don't lock our houses half the time. I'm here and my keys are sitting out in my Cadillac. So we're probably spoiled."

Were you there

NEW YORK (AP) -- Today is the 59th day of 2002. There are 306 days left in the year. Here are some business and legal highlights from this date in history:

In 1827, the first U.S. railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was incorporated.

In 1849, the ship California arrived at San Francisco, carrying the first of the gold-seekers.

In 1854, some 50 slavery opponents met in Ripon, Wis., to call for creation of a new political group, which became the Republican Party.

In 1861, the Territory of Colorado was organized.

In 1974, the United States and Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.