For Sale: Entire Block

Minutes from downtown Charlotte, N.C., is a safe, welcoming neighborhood, nurtured with pride by residents over the years.

Young families live side by side with retirees, such as Charlie and Helen King.

Helen tells Strassman, "It's a beautiful place. The neighbors are lovely, and just like family."

Even if you don't live on Sherbrooke Drive, it feels like home, says CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann.

"I've heard it referred to as a 'Leave It to Beaver' neighborhood," says resident Keith Fackrell, "and probably, in the truest sense of the words."

So, asks Strassman, once you're lucky enough to live on a street like that, who would ever want to move?

The answer, he says, is everyone.

Sherbrooke drive is for sale. Not just one house or another, but every house on the block, 22 families in all, people eager not only to leave their all-American street, but to see every house flattened.

"I think everyone thought we were nuts," concedes resident Jim Rogers. "Me more than anyone."

Rogers is a realtor. But, notes Strassman, this is also Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.

He persuaded his neighbors to do business with people they know — each other — and sell. And every last one of them agreed.

Residents of Sherbrooke Drive hope to sell its sixteen acres, as one property, to a developer, Strassman says.

The neighborhood they love would disappear, and change into a pricier subdivision, like one going up around the corner.

Fifty developers are now considering the idea.

At the asking price of $16 million dollars, each of Sherbrooke's residents would double, even triple, what they could sell for individually.

Everyone on the street would pocket an equal share, regardless of lot size.

And the homeowners say they are in a win-win situation: If they don't sell, they can still stay in their homes.

"So," says Rogers, "everyone accepted that. No sentimentality. No emotion. Just a once-in-a-lifetime possibility."

Like all their neighbors, the Kings want to cash in. On its own, they say, their house is worth $300,000.

"Bottom line," Strassman asks, "if someone walks up to you and says, 'Mr. and Mrs. King,' here's your $700,000 …"

"I'm gone," Charlie quickly responds.

"We'd be staying at a motel," adds Helen.

Strassman wondered if it seems funny to Rogers that the best way to sell his house is to ask two or three times what it's worth.

"There again," quipped Rogers, "yeah, that would be pretty funny."

Laughing all the way to the bank, Strassman says.