Petersburg is competing with Norfolk and Washington, but not for a business or jobs.
Rather, it was selected for having one of 10 ugliest houses in the nation by HomeVestors of America Inc., a franchise operation famous for its "We buy ugly houses" billboards.
Ann Mullikin, the agent who is buying the house at 227 S. Crater Road in Petersburg, has not been inside.
"This is one house where I stood in the doorway and let other people go inside and get pictures," said Mullikin of ABC Home Services Inc. in Henrico County, a franchise for HomeVestors.
"I've only had two houses that I would not go in before they were cleaned." The other was in Varina and it had no floor, or plumbing, in the bathroom.
The structure is squeezed between two houses with virtually no parking on a busy road in a commercial area. Blue vinyl siding covers clapboards, "giving it a silvery, aged look," Mullikin said. A tarp hangs over one corner of a smashed metal roof.
The top 10 finalists for HomeVestor's Ugliest House of the Year include properties in Atlanta; Daytona Beach, Fla.; Chicago; Houston; Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee; and Philadelphia.
The Dallas-based company has 220 franchises in the U.S., including three in the Richmond area.
Franchise owners specialize in buying houses in need of repair. They buy at a discount to what the houses might bring on the open market and they typically close a transaction within two months.
"What they do seems to be legitimate," said Helen O'Beirne of Housing Opportunities Made Equal Inc., a housing advocacy organization in Richmond.
"They buy houses at very good prices, sometimes helping owners avoid foreclosures," O'Beirne said. "They're not scamming people out of their homes, just low-balling them."
Mullikin said franchise owners don't just buy ugly houses. Sometimes they buy nice houses as solutions for ugly situations, such as job loss or divorce.
She declined to say what she offered for the Petersburg house. The deal still hasn't closed. But she'll clean, secure and relist it for $29,500. A tenant was living in it until June.
"It's a funny fun thing," Mullikin said, about submitting photos of the house for consideration in the ugly contest. "It's the ability to tell a bad joke on yourself."
The top three winners get reductions in advertising from HomeVestors, she said.
America decides which house is the ugliest in an online contest through Nov. 15 at www.theugliesthouse.com
Voters will be entered in a cash drawing for $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 in prepaid debit cards. Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or chazard@timesdispatch.com.
