A few years ago, State Employees’ Credit Union purchased a block of rundown houses in Durham. The bank updated, renovated and, rather than put the houses up for sale in a buyer’s market, they turned them into rentals. Two years later, SECU has a real estate division overseeing the bank’s collection of rentals across the state.

The reasoning: it makes more sense to renovate and rent than to try to sell or rent as is, according to Wesley Jones, Washington SECU vice president/city executive.

One of SECU’s rental properties just went on the market in Washington — and was just as quickly taken off. A cozy, 1,500 square foot cottage with a view down the Pamlico River, the property was snatched up before it had even been officially advertised. That’s likely due to the fact that when SECU becomes a landlord, the bank does it right.

While many landlords will do the minimum to make a property presentable enough to rent, SECU goes above and beyond the merely presentable. The Simmons Street home was on the receiving end of a major renovation before it was considered ready to rent. From inside out, the home was restored, starting with gutting the old and putting in two new bathrooms, a new kitchen, and new drywall to replace cracking plaster throughout the 100-year-old house. New light fixtures abound throughout, with the exception of two antique overhead fixtures that are original to the house. Carpet was replaced in the one room — a spacious den with a view — that does not have heart of pine floors. Both interior and exterior got a new paint job. The front porch and back deck were repaired and painted, and doors replaced as needed.

“We try to make them energy efficient. We don’t want to rent something for $500 a month, then have the utility bill be $800 a month,” Jones said.

This house is typical of a modest, 100-year-old home: high ceilings, hardwood floors. A wide hallway bisects the home: cozy living areas — parlor, dining room and kitchen on one side; bedrooms and baths on the other.

Like many of these homes, an enterprising past owner, Bob Stewart, added a den on the back, one with a beamed vaulted ceiling, French doors opening onto an expansive view of a placid Jack’s Creek and the many local folks who come to spend a summer evening fishing from its banks. From one bedroom, the parlor and porch, the view is unexpected — a clear shot over Havens Gardens and down the Pamlico River. It’s a gem of a Southern cottage, tucked into a peninsula between the creek and river.

While the new occupants will move in early August, Jones said market recovery will likely determine when SECU will eventually sell the house. Then the bank may make an offer to the current tenant first.

“I’m assuming at some point we’ll put it back on the market, but I’m not sure when that’ll be,” Jones said.

The Simmons Street home is not the only rental property SECU has in Washington, however. Another bank-owned property on Fifth Street is in an earlier phase, with local construction companies currently bidding on the renovation work to be done there.