Real Estate Section

This one-bedroom detatched ranch is the perfect starter home. Click here for details.

Newburyport condominiums and detached houses sold at a faster rate during the first three months of this year than they did in the first three months of 2009; and the condo market was considerably stronger.

Read more: Newburyport housing sales pick up in first quarter

A recently renovated Plum Bush Downs home, that included adding a solar shield to the side of the house, will be featured on a national television show, HGTV’s “Bang for the Buck.”

Read more: Local home to be on HGTV

A national television show, HGTV’s “Bang for the Buck,” will feature the renovations to a Plum Bush Downs home that included adding a solar shield to the side of the house. On the show will be homeowner Joselyn McLaughlin and Newburyport architect Andrew Sidford. The show is scheduled to tape this weekend.

Read more: Plum Bush Downs home will be featured on HGTV

Keystone Development, which is converting an old apartment building at 254 High Street into condominiums, has agreed to reduced the number of units from six to five, eliminate two controversial parking places and lower the profile of the renovated building.

Read more: 254 High Street will be five condos

Not far from homes hundreds of years older, a modern house with the look of an antique Colonial has come up for sale in Newburyport’s North End. At 50 Spofford Street, the house is only blocks away from Moseley Woods park and Maudsley state park and is an easy walk to the Chain Bridge over the Merrimack River. Inside is a modern, open house with amenities to meet the needs of any family.

The openness of the house is striking from the front door. The staircase creates a two-story entry that is continued into the family room with its vaulted ceiling. Large windows and sliding-glass doors bring in light and provide views of the landscaped yard. With four bedrooms and an office, the house is well suited for a large family. It is listed for $739,000.

Read more: Modern Colonial has open space inside and out

Officials from the City of Newburyport and the Town of Salisbury, which are considering adopting the so-called "stretch code" building regulations for homes and commercial buildings, were expecting more opposition Wednesday night from builders, remodelers and others at its workshop.

Read more: Local officials consider more stringent building codes

High Street homes in Newburyport may offer more surprises than almost any city in America, but few homes serve up as good a surprise as the historic Gambrel-style Georgian Home at 346 High Street.

Built in 1780, the blue-painted Seaport Grande Dame, which faces Bresnahan School, was called the Bullard House and has retained many of the original features and design, including wide-planked flooring. The four-bedroom house was restored and expanded during a renovation in 2005 and 2006, adding modern plumbing and wiring and energy-efficient heating and air conditioning systems and windows.

With more than 3,500 square feet of living space, the three-story home is listed by Lea Cabeen with Keller Williams Realty for $975,000. It has been on the market for about a week.

Cabeen said: “This home is special even for High Street. It has a unique combination of an early American historical style and design with newer renovations and unusual decorations that bridge modern and antique.”

Read more: High Street home bridges early and modern

Amesbury – The Amesbury Municipal Council has approved development of the almost 25-acre tract at Bailey’s Pond on the southern side of Interstate 495. In a special municipal meeting on Tuesday night the council unanimously approved the agreement executed last month by Mayor Thatcher Kezer and Fafard Real Estate.

Read more: Bailey's Pond agreement approved

The year the house at 434 Main Street in Amesbury was built the British were busy forcing King James II to flee the country in what historians call the Glorious Revolution of 1688. King William replaced him on the throne the same year.

By the time the colonists got around to having their own revolution in 1776, this 1,474-square-foot house on overlooking the Merrimack River Point Shore was almost 100 years old.

Today, the house is listed for sale at $399,900. It has many of its original features, coffered ceilings, oversized moldings, exposed beams and built-ins. There are two full bedrooms, plus a third room that might serve as a bedroom, and two full baths, one on each floor.

Read more: Amesbury antique features river views