Born to renovate: The house where Bruce Springsteen wrote Born to Run goes on sale

Sellers hope the new owners will preserve ‘the Bruce factor’ in the two-bedroom house in Long Branch, New Jersey

It’s not exactly a mansion of glory, but at least the traffic outside doesn’t look bad – there appear to be no signs of the highway being jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance powerdrive. And now the house in which Bruce Springsteen wrote the entire Born to Run album has gone on the market.

The two-bedroom house, at 7 1/2 West End Court, Long Branch, New Jersey is on the market for $299,000. If you don’t want to sit inside all day trying to soak up the Boss ambience, it’s only a block and a half from the beach.

However, you will be paying a premium – a Brucie Bonus, if you like – because comparable properties in the area sell for $170,000-£275,000. In fact, if you’d had the forethought to buy the house in 1992, you could have secured it for just $92,000.

The house is currently owned by Springsteen fans Jerry Ferrara, Kim McDermott and Ryan DeCaroli. who paid $280,000 for it in 2009. They are selling because they no longer have the time to devote to the house.

They told nj.com they hoped the new owners would preserve the spirit of the house. “We probably paid more than it was worth when we bought it because of what we call ‘the Bruce factor,’” said Ferrara, 58. “We still think it’s worth it.

Surprisingly, this was not a case of Springsteen mania getting the better of otherwise sound minds. In fact it was Ferrara’s father who suggested he buy it, sand Ferrara did not at first take him seriously.

He was, however, attracted by the chance to own a piece of unusual Springsteen memorabilia. “We’d been to a couple of auctions where people paid a ridiculous amount of money for a (Springsteen) signed guitar,” Ferrara said. “To me, the house is better than that stuff. It’s the place where he wrote Born to Run.”

“I hope it doesn’t just become some house on West End Court,”McDermott told nj.com. “We would hope someone would keep ‘the Bruce factor’ in it.”

She added: “In a dream world, Bruce would show up and say ‘I think I should own this still.’ But I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Via the Guardian