House offered free for the moving

HIGHLAND PARK, Texas, June 3 (UPI) -- A Texas family is offering its 2,000-square-foot house free to anyone willing to move it to another lot.

Ann Marie Marthens told the Dallas Morning News that the house, in the upmarket Dallas suburb of Highland Park, has a lot going for it. The pier-and-beam house was built in 1918, ancient by Texas standards, with four bedrooms.

"The house has a lot of character," she said. "It's got original wood floors, original moldings, beveled glass windows. If it does end up getting demolished, all that stuff will probably get salvaged."

The couple, who have a 5-month-old daughter, say they need more room. They want to stay on the same lot in East Highland Park -- which is worth a lot more than the house in the current real estate market -- and build a new house with more than twice the space.

Dwayne Jones, executive director of Preservation Dallas, called the plan to give the house away "admirable." But he said prospective takers should realize that moving houses is expensive -- with $50,000 a low-end estimate for moving one the size of the Marthens home.