The New York Times has come to Scottsville for the purpose of house-hunting. In its recurring property-values feature, the Times chooses a figure—$700,000 in this case—and hunts out three properties around the country that are listed at that price. Today’s story finds $700,000 abodes in Scottsville, Orlando and Tucson—and a fine trio they are.
The Orlando place ($699,800) has Craftsman style and one of those trendy apron-front sinks in the kitchen, and the Tucson house ($729,000) has a kiva fireplace next to the in-ground pool, but the Scottsville property ($695,000) is a sweet 1860 cabin on 45 acres that both preserves the old (a still-functional barn) and embraces the new (stainless-steel countertops in the kitchen). The Times is typically stone-faced about both Scottsville ("Bread, beer, and sundries are available at a general store, nearly a mile from the house") and the property ("Through the entryway is a living room with a stone hearth"), but the property listing on mycaar.com is predictably more effusive: "superb, nicely restored…a special find."
Check out the Times’ slide show for your local and national fantasies: ceiling-hung daybeds on the screened porch in Florida, Spanish tile in Arizona, cedar siding cut on-site in Southern Albemarle…sigh.

All this—including a stamp of approval from the paper of record—can be yours for $695,000.