PORTLAND DEVELOPMENT CASE STUDY
From $400,000 to $705,000.
A 1924 Craftsman bungalow in Portland’s Alberta Arts District — strong bones hidden behind surface-level friction, reworked with targeted structural changes into a true 3-bedroom with a finished basement.
ALBERTA ARTS · 3 BD / 2 BA · STRUCTURAL RENOVATION
Purchase Price
$400K
Sale Price
$705K
Value Increase
+76%
PROJECT OVERVIEW
From Overlooked to Optimized
1834 N Alberta St is a 1924 Craftsman bungalow in Portland’s Alberta Arts District — a home with real potential hidden beneath its surface-level condition. Every home has untapped value; this one needed someone to look past the friction and see the opportunity underneath.
On paper it was a 2-bedroom, 2-bath home — but it wasn’t living like one. A jack-and-jill bathroom arrangement made the layout awkward and dated. A service chimney consumed a significant portion of the kitchen, forcing the refrigerator into a back hallway and leaving the cooking space cramped and dysfunctional. The basement was completely unfinished — raw concrete, exposed pipes, an aging oil furnace, and a tangle of ductwork that made the space feel unusable.
The home had bones, but buyers couldn’t see past the friction. Rather than cosmetic fixes, the plan called for targeted, high-impact structural and layout changes that would fundamentally change how the home lived — and how buyers would perceive it.
RENOVATION SCOPE
What We Did
INTERIOR
- ✓Framed in the existing office area to convert the home from a 2-bedroom to a true 3-bedroom
- ✓Reconfigured the bathroom entry for direct hallway access, replacing the jack-and-jill arrangement
- ✓Removed the service chimney to unlock the kitchen entirely
- ✓New functional kitchen — room for a full appliance suite, additional cabinetry, and a proper range
- ✓Refrigerator relocated from the back hallway into the kitchen
- ✓Vacated hallway nook converted into a pantry
BASEMENT
- ✓Removed the old oil furnace and ductwork; replaced with an efficient mini-split system
- ✓Built out a 400-square-foot family room
- ✓Added a wet bar
- ✓Fresh paint and new LVP flooring throughout
- ✓Professionally staged
EXTERIOR
- ✓Full exterior repaint — Craftsman character preserved and enhanced
- ✓New wooden handrailing on the front porch
- ✓Tongue-and-groove cedar on the porch ceiling
THE TRANSFORMATION
Before & After
Every room was approached with the same question: what will buyers notice, and what creates the most value? See the results below.
Exterior
Before
After
Kitchen
Before
After
Living Room
Before
After
Main Bath
Before
After
Basement
Before
After
Basement Room
After
THE RESULTS
By the Numbers
Purchase Price
$400,000
List Price
$424,900
Sale Price
$705,000
Value Increase
+76%
Value Created
$305,000
Bedrooms
2 → 3
Year Built
1924
Neighborhood
Alberta Arts
STRATEGY & POSITIONING
Targeted Changes, Maximum Return
Every decision here was structural, not cosmetic. The highest-leverage move was the bedroom conversion: framing in the existing office area turned a 2-bedroom into a true 3-bedroom without adding a single square foot of footprint — one of the highest-ROI moves available in residential remodeling. Reconfiguring the bathroom entry from a jack-and-jill to direct hallway access gave the layout the flow buyers expect.
The basement told the same story. Removing the aging oil furnace and its ductwork in favor of an efficient mini-split freed the entire footprint, and what had been essentially a crawl space became a 400-square-foot family room with a wet bar — legitimate, finished living space created from nothing.
The kitchen and exterior tied it together. Pulling out the service chimney unlocked a cohesive, functional kitchen with a real appliance suite and a pantry where a dead hallway nook used to be, while a preserved-but-refreshed Craftsman exterior signaled quality before buyers ever stepped inside. None of these were arbitrary upgrades — every change was made to maximize marketability. A cramped, underutilized 2-bedroom became a confident, well-appointed 3-bedroom that sold for $705,000.
Work With Jordan Snook
Jordan helps sellers prepare homes to maximize sale price through strategic updates, renovation guidance, and buyer-focused presentation.
He also helps buyers identify homes with strong instant-equity potential through smart remodel opportunities, backed by a trusted network for getting work done right and at a good price.
Jordan Snook
Portland Real Estate Renovation Specialist · Works Real Estate
📞Cell: 503-830-4135
✉jordan@pdxworksrealestate.com