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Harry Strauser IV, of Uniontown, stands in front of the Cramer Avenue house he bought at age 14 from savings that included earnings from his Herald-Standard paper route. Harry made improvements to the home while a student at Uniontown Area High School and recently put it on the market. "I bought it to be an investment and use the money for college,'' said Harry, now 18 and preparing to start his freshman year at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Frances Borsodi Zajac|Herald-Standard
Harry Strauser IV is shown in this family photo standing in front of the Cramer Avenue house on the day he bought it at age 14. The Uniontown youth made the purchase from savings that included earnings from his Herald-Standard paper route. Harry made improvements to the home while a student at Uniontown Area High School and is selling it to raise money for college. Harry, now 18 and preparing to start his freshman year at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, is grateful for the support he received from family and friends: "I couldn't have done it any other way.''
Harry Strauser IV, right, is shown in this family photo working with his father, Harry Strauser III, to put up new vinyl siding on the Cramer Avenue house the Uniontown youth bought at age 14 from savings that included earnings from his Herald-Standard paper route. Harry made improvements to the home while a student at Uniontown Area High School and has put it on the market to help pay for college. Harry, now 18 and preparing to start his freshman year at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, said of taking on the house, "I think it helped me grow. It helped me learn a lot.''
Harry Strauser IV, of Uniontown, stands in the newly remodeled kitchen of the Cramer Street house he bought at age 14 as an investment to help pay for college. Strauser, now 18 and ready to start his freshman year at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, recently put the house on market. He said of taking on the project, "I think it helped me grow. It helped me learn a lot.''
Harry Strauser IV, of Uniontown, is shown in this family photo re-glazing the bathtub in the newly remodeled bathroom of the Cramer Avenue home he purchased at age 14 from savings that included earnings from his Herald-Standard paper route. Harry made improvements to the home while a student at Uniontown Area High School. "I bought it to be an investment and use the money for college,'' said Harry, now 18 and preparing to start his freshman year at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Harry Strauser IV, of Uniontown, is shown in this family photo cutting a hole to fit around an electrical outlet in drywall in the Cramer Avenue house he purchased at age 14 from savings that included earnings from his Herald-Standard paper route. Harry made improvements to the home while a student at Uniontown Area High School and recently put it on the market. "I bought it to be an investment and use the money for college,'' said Harry, now 18 and preparing to start his freshman year at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
This newly remodeled bathroom is one of many improvements Harry Strauser IV of Uniontown made to this Cramer Avenue house he bought at age 14 as an investment for college. Strauser, who recently put the house on the market, graduated in June from Uniontown Area High School and is preparing for his freshman year at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Uniontown teen funds college with real estate investment he made at 14
By Frances Borsodi Zajac fzajac@heraldstandard.com
Buying and selling property is a responsibility usually taken on by adults, but a Uniontown teen is selling a house he purchased at age 14 with savings that included earnings from his Herald-Standard paper route.
"I bought it to be an investment and use the money for college,'' said Harry Strauser IV, now 18 and preparing to start his freshman year at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, in North Union Township.
Harry is the owner of a one-story, two-bedroom house at 18 Cramer Ave. in Uniontown.
Harry first saw the house when his parents, Rachel and Harry Strauser III, considered purchasing it as a possible home for Rachel's grandmother.
"When we told Harry we were not going to buy it, he asked if he could,'' said Rachel. "We let him make that decision. It was a big purchase but that's what he wanted to do.''
Harry bought the house in 2014 with savings accumulated from his earnings as a Herald-Standard carrier as well as monetary gifts for birthdays and Christmas.
"I started when I was 9,'' Harry said of the paper route, noting he then took a little time off in those early years before resuming the route he continues to work today.
"We started early teaching him to save and to give,'' said Rachel, explaining the giving includes donations to Grace Community Church in Uniontown where the family belongs.
Harry used a cashier's check for the sale, recorded with photographs taken by his family of both the signing and Harry standing in front of the house. Rachel's name appears on the deed as well since Harry was under 18 at the time the property was purchased.
The house, built in the 1930s, was a white, frame structure. The front wood porch had a wooden railing and steps on the side that led to the concrete driveway.
"I thought we were painting it and that was it,'' said Harry.
But by Spring 2015, Harry was making major improvements to his house.
It started when Harry's grandmother gave him a gift by offering to pay for new windows in the house.
"They wouldn't open. Some were damaged and some were painted shut,'' Rachel explained of the old, aluminum-frame windows.
Harry accepted the gift and the family soon realized it would be a good idea to replace the white aluminum siding with new vinyl siding, light brown in color. This also permitted Harry to have the large window at the bathroom replaced with a smaller window of glass block to allow for greater privacy.
While someone was hired to put in the new windows, Harry helped take out the old and worked alongside his family to remove the old siding and put up the new.
Then the front wooden porch was replaced with an expanded, concrete structure that now opens to the lawn, also re-landscaped to take out overgrown bushes and a dead tree and replace them with flowers and plants as well as a curved sidewalk that leads to the driveway. Harry had a concrete small wall put on the back porch to give it the feel of another room. Other outside work included a new roof, soffit and fascia.
"That's what he was doing on his 16th birthday, tearing shingles off the roof,'' said Rachel.
The house also underwent changes to the interior.
"For the most part,'' said Harry, "while we worked on the outside, we gutted the inside.''
Improvements were made to the electrical work and plumbing, new floors were installed as well as remodeling the bathroom and kitchen, complete with new fixtures and appliances. The interior walls were painted shades of taupe and a bedroom closet improved.
While professionals were hired for some projects, Harry worked alongside them. He also received help from his parents, his brother, John, 14, and sisters Abi, 16, and Jocelyn, 11, as well as grandparents Craig Carson of Fairchance and Linda Carson of Uniontown and other family members.
"I couldn't have done it any other way,'' Harry said of the support he received from his family and some friends from Grace Church. "I was only 14. This wouldn't have been possible otherwise.''
Harry began this project before the start of his freshman year and completed the work just after his June graduation from Uniontown Area High School. He was also involved in cross country, swimming, track and a member of Boy Scout Troop 623 that meets at Grace Church. Harry used the house for his high school senior project but earned his Eagle Scout rank by doing another project: finishing a supplies closet for groups to use at his church.
And beside the paper route, Harry started a second job this past spring working at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington.
While Harry earned money, he also spent it on his house.
"Whenever he had to write out checks for taxes or contractors, it was a little painful, but he got an idea about how much things costs and sacrifices,'' said Rachel.
But besides the work, there was fun. Harry hosted a couple of sleepovers in the house with his friends, calling a shout out to "The Quebec Boys. I love you guys!'' He also wants to thank the Herald-Standard customers on his paper route who gave him support.
Harry said what he learned most from the project was "how everything takes longer than expected, as a rule.''
What pleased him the most was finishing it.
"I think it helped me grow,'' said Harry of taking on the house. "It helped me learn a lot.''
Harry Strauser Iv
Herald-standard
zubar Aug 14, 2018 10:00am
What a wonderful story. this young man is destined for great success in whatever field he chooses. God Bless Him
Drewenoch Aug 14, 2018 2:50pm
That's awesome. I have a similar story. My wife and I went through a house fire in 2015, about a month before our wedding. We took what little money we had and our wedding money to buy a cheap house on Elma Ave in South Union. We've spent the past several years fixing small and large problems with the house, mostly by ourselves.
When we moved in, we had to put duct tape on the shower walls to seal them up, dug up one side of the basement to stop it from flooding when it rained, and I had to climb on the closet roof in the rain to duct tape plastic over it to stop it from leaking. Now we have a beautifully renovated bathroom, dry basement, and a new roof over the closet. Our first years of marriage were very challenging with all the struggles we had.
My wife and I are preparing to sell the house, as we just moved for work. We hope to use the profits from the house to pay off her student loans.