Sometimes art imitates life, as the saying goes. This time, it seems, life is imitating art. The 2009 Disney-Pixar movie “Up” was reportedly inspired by Edith Macefield, the Seattle woman who refused to vacate her home of nearly 60 years after it became surrounded by new commercial buildings. In the animated movie, the main character also stubbornly refuses to leave his home when it’s threatened by encroaching development. He eventually ties balloons to the house and floats to a mountain in South America.
Like the film, Macefield’s house is moving, too. But instead of being whisked away by thousands of colorful balloons, a nonprofit organization announced this week that it is relocating the property from the Ballard neighborhood to the lush forest and rocky shores of Orcas Island, Washington.
Macefield famously turned down a $750,000 offer to sell her home, which is now wedged between two new commercial buildings. She died in 2008 and the house was later sold before going into foreclosure. The property was recently put up for auction, but when it couldn’t find a buyer the seller decided to donate it to the OPAL Community Land Trust, a nonprofit affordable housing provider.
Since Ballard is one of Seattle’s most desirable neighborhoods, where homes often sell for more than asking price, it got us thinking: what would Macefield’s house be worth today? The modest 2-bedroom, 1-bath property has a potential value of about $477,000, according to the Redfin Home Value Tool.
Unfortunately, OPAL needs $205,000—almost half of the home’s potential value, to move it to Orcas Island. They started this Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds. OPAL says the money will be used to move the house by truck and barge, purchase the land on which it will rest, and refurbish the home as affordable housing for a family in need.
The lushly forested Orcas Island resembles the South American jungle where the house landed in the movie, so if OPAL gets the funds it needs, this house will get it’s fairytale ending after all.
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