The awesome small house that was the symbol of inspiration for the Pixar film “Up” has been for sale with no takers. Its original owner, Edith Macefield, was stubbornly determined not to relocate nor allow her home to be leveled when she refused to sell in 2006 to developers who wanted to make her property part of a large shopping mall in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. She turned down one million dollars, and they had to build their mall all around her house and small yard and not disrupt anything.
It is sad that Edith passed away from pancreatic cancer only two years later. She left the property to Barry Martin, a construction chief at a nearby building site, because he had kindly taken her to doctor appointments and looked after her.
Barry was not able to complete plans to make the house into a memorial, and he sold it to a real estate firm, Reach Returns, that promised to make improvements and lift the house up 30 feet into the air. Money was collected from many investors, but after only fixing the walls and replacing windows, the plan collapsed and the money ”vanished”.
Those lenders got possession through foreclosure and put it up for sale by auction in March of 2015. With $300,000 owed in lien taxes, the house didn’t sell. Now it has been listed again without any tax lien and is for sale to the highest bidder.
The forlorn little house tucked between towering buildings often has colorful balloons adorning it. It should appeal to some buyer who will want to preserve this famous sentimental landmark.