As they drove up to the gate, Seth knew this house. It was the old Hawthorne place. Isaac Hawthorne built this house when he moved to Brindleton back around 1920. His family lived here for two or three generations, the last being Daniel Hawthorn who was only twenty-nine when he went out to the bay for a morning fishing expedition and was never seen again. He was a bachelor and had no heirs or family left and the house remained vacant. In High School Seth and his friends would climb the gate and hang out. Getting drunk and smoking some weed. He was never in the house itself though.
MARK- “Wow, this place is old, how long has it been empty??”
ROYCE- “Sometime back in the early 1970′s, the county got the property when Daniel Hawthorne, the owner at the time died. They were going to renovate it into a hotel and resort, but never could get votes for the funding. They turned it over to sell about eight years ago.”
SETH- “We used to hang out up here in High School.”
ROYCE- “It needs a lot of work, but you can get a Renovation Loan, and save some taxes on it. Plus the county wants it out of their hands. So they are asking very little for it. Mainly the land worth. So, interested in seeing inside?”
MARK- “So structurally, is this place safe?”
ROYCE- “Yes the foundation is good, as well and the main structure. Now some of the flooring upstairs needs repair and a lot of paint and a good cleaning. You would probably want to put in new bathroom fixtures and maybe have the plumbing and electrical looked at, but yes, structurally sound.”
SETH- “So just what are they asking for it?”
ROYCE- “$150, that is what the land is worth, or that is it’s appraised value. But like I said you could get a renovation loan up to double that amount to restore it.”
MARK- “That is cheap, so why hasn’t it sold??”
ROYCE- “Just old stories, Seth has probably heard them. They say that Daniel Hawthorne haunts this place.”
SETH- “I spent a lot of time here back in High School, we never heard or saw anything. I don’t believe in that shit anyway.”
ROYCE- “I suppose that’s a good thing. Let’s look around, in here is the main living area----”
