Tours of $2 Million "Pop-up" House This Weekend

Fans of origami, erector sets and barn raisings find common ground in the new wave of pre-fab construction spearheaded by an innovative firm called Blu Homes.

The unfold-and-setup homes are popping up all over the North Bay with the popularity of gourmet food trucks, and leading the way is Blu Homes out of their San Francisco office. Though they target developers, they find new clients by pushing public viewings of their pricey pre-fabs: Home owners, American dreamers, anyone who hopes that a half-million dollar home (exclusive of property, foundation, permits and utility access) might be within reach.

Here in Sonoma, a new Blu Home is opening for tours this weekend, the popular Breezehouse style that the Massachusetts company has been evolving since 2005. This single-level Breezehouse with two-car detached garage is located just three blocks from Sonoma’s Plaza, on Donner Street. There will be guided tours of the property on Friday and Saturday, but you have to sign up to get in line.

This house, like the others in the region, was built at the Blu Homes factory in Vallejo. The houses are completely assembled, from wiring to walls, then folded up and shipped overland to their destination. It's then unpacked and set up in a process that takes only a two or three days; it becomes move-in ready within a couple weeks, a far shorter time-frame for new-home construction than previously possible.

Until now, Healdsburg has had the inside track on these top-quality Blu Home projects, with its 2012 “Sunset Idea House” drawing hundreds of curious visitors over several weekends last summer. There are several other Blu Homes in Healdsburg, but this is the first one in the Sonoma Valley.

The house is a “developer house,” or what used to be called a spec house in the trade. The contractor or property owner builds a showcase home and invites real estate agents and potential home buyers to view the completed home, hoping to turn a tidy profit on the investment.

In this case, the home was added to the property following a tear-down by an out-of-town owner. It's open to the public per terms of an agreement between the owner and Blu Homes, stipulating a period of six weeks or so when the home is available for public viewings like this one.

The home and property on Donner St. is not currently listed, but realtor Lisa Albertson of Frank Howard Allen thinks it will find a buyer at over $2 million. Albertson has also represented Blu Homes elsewhere in the North Bay. “Most of the buyers we're seeing now are looking for second homes, and paying cash,” she said.

If anyone shows up at the open house this weekend with a thick wad of bills – a very thick wad – and the current owner agrees with the price, the agreement with Blu Homes to show the building could be voided. See it now, while you still can.