The realtor calls it a walk-out basement....
alisonn
10 years ago
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alisonn
10 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (72)Hi All, I have been a member of Garden Web for many years but have not used the site much. Since I found Tara's plant swap last year I have been here much more frequently :o) I am looking forward to the swap this year!!!! I have a 100 acre farm between Rochester and Syracuse in the little township of Varick, in the heart of the Fingerlakes. I have been here 32 years, but a 26 year army career caused my plans for my farm to be put on hold. I retired in 2004 and am now slowly spreading my gardens around, though only have a drop in the bucket done so far. Most of my land is rented to a local farmer, but I have ponds and several gardens started. I really need an army of clones to accomplish what I would like to do, but that wont happen in my lifetime. I have been gardening for most of my life, though most of that has been vegetable gardening. I have always gone 100% organic, which causes it's own issues with bugs and weeds, but just can't bring myself to use chemical controls. I grow most of my plants from seed, do a bit of propagation, buy some and swap with one of my sisters, my niece, and friends. In addition to veggies, nut trees and a little fruit, I am into color and/or themed gardens, so I have a white garden, black and white garden, yellow gold garden, bird bee and butterfly garden, ornamental grass garden, frog pond garden, and am just getting started on what I call a citrus garden (orange lemon lime colored plants and flowers) a red garden and a bog garden. I had an herb garden but it has gone to wrack and ruin so I am pulling it out and making an echinacea garden there and will start over somewhere else with the herbs. I love willows and have plans for some living structures and fedges. I hope to put up a small greenhouse this year or next. I have been trying to get some pics up on Facebook, made possible since I bought my husband a hot new camera this year. http://snipurl.com/it4pr I was going to build a new house this year, but the farmhouse that was originally part of this farm looks as if it will be on the market sometime this year, so we will probably wait and see what happens with that first. the people who owned it put in a large pond many years ago, and dug it too deep so it never held water, and I have always dreamed of putting in a sunken garden there. Do I sound a bit ambitious? I AM crazy, that is definitely true. My soil is very clayey, and very productive, so though it takes several years to get anything established, it usually does well once it takes hold. I tend to grow lots of things Brenda (gottagarden) calls INVASIVE - but they tend to keep under control in my heavier soil. I have to go out and plant beans, so no more procrastinating on gw! Nice to make your acquaintances, and hope to see lots of you at Tara's plant swap! -Rosalinda...See Morebasement options? walk out, look out?
Comments (21)We just built a walk out basement and love it! We came from Missouri so we were VERY accustomed to walk outs with the hills, but when we moved to Oklahoma, the land is just to flat. But we found a hill! Most people here have no idea what a walk out basement is until they see a picture. We have very young boys but I am not nervous about having the walk out. The deck is high but really the railing is tall and tight so I have no worries about them falling. I like having a level front yard and level backyard. Our landscaping is simple, we built a boulder retaining wall to hold back the dirt on one side of the house but the other side has a gentle slope so we just graded it off. Most people see the front of your house anyway and it just looks like a normal house. The basement ceiling is over 9ft and with huge windows so it is very bright open and doesn't feel like a basement at all. There is no doubt that we would do a walk out basement again. I love being able to access the backyard from the basement and having a patio and deck is nice. We planned the deck so we could add stairs from the deck to the backyard later if we decide to, but I like how useable the space is without stairs. The energy efficiency of the basement is so much better than a normal 2 story would be and we still get the space without a huge footprint....See Morehas another realtor 'gone bad' and would you lower price--long
Comments (34)Staging and adding color to curb appeal would go a long way. It looks like you got the decluttering thing down, but maybe a little too much--some rooms are a little too spartan and thus not very welcoming. My first impression after looking at the photos was: -The kitchen was updated, but the color and style clash with the table and there are no stools at the island. These things tell me that I will need to repaint either the kitchen or the rest of the house right off the bat to make them flow better. The table (while it would be going with you & not staying) gives the wrong feel to the otherwise modern kitchen & the green tablecloth has to go. The absence of stools at the island make me wonder if there is not enough room for the stools and the table in that space. The chandelier & light fixture don't look like they were updated (the pots hanging from the ceiling draw your eye upward so you definitely notice the lights)--check out the big box stores for some affordable, easy to install updates. Love the window treatments and that wonderfully large window! -Living & Dining rooms both feel very spartan and cold in the photos. Pulling the curtains back will help bring in more natural light and make it feel more welcoming & open. Is the dining room table centered in the room or pushed off center toward the window? It seems cramped at the window end which to me says the room is small and family dinners will be elbow to elbow. As mentioned above, too many different paint colors--the yellow doesn't do much for me & the white or pale blue in the living room is very cold. Framed prints on the walls and an area rug would go a long way to warming the rooms up. -Bedrooms need warming up too--more framed prints & an area rug needed. Slide the bed in the master over so its more centered in the room. The way it is now, it appears cramped. It looks like there is a tray ceiling in there too--an off center bed is negatively accentuated in this situation. The green curtains need to go and be replaced with neutral colored ones and again, pull them back to let in natural light to give an open welcoming feel. -Masterbath needs some warm welcoming touches too. Framed prints, some candles, strategically drape a folded towel along the edge of the tub, add a pretty container of bath salts to the tub corner, add a pretty window treatment to the window above the tub vs. the plastic mini-blinds. Warm, fuzzy, yet tasteful bath rugs will help too. The walls need some color. Make it feel like a spa environment-somewhere potential buyers would like to retreat to after a long day at work. Don't forget a handtowel on the towel ring! -Love the family room--maybe an area rug...that's it. -J&J bath--looks good. Add a framed print or two, a window treatment, fuzzy warm yet tasteful bath rug & hang the hand towel up. Choosing a nice neutral color of towel throughout all the baths would help too. Something in a fluffy white or beige to give that spa like feel would be good. -Laundry looks great--open the curtains. -Nursery looks great--maybe a framed print or two. -Exterior: Deck needs new coat of paint. The front looks a little tired. Adding some spots of color will help the curb appeal--a tall fat planter with colorful flowers on both corners of the porch, some colorful flowers planted in the beds, maybe a couple tall plants under the porch lights. another planter or two with plants and flowers on the back deck would help make it seem more welcoming too. It seems like you were working on updating the house and managed to get to the kitchen, family room, laundry, nursery & J&J bath. The rest appears to have not been updated since the house was built. While I love antiques, the furniture in the unupdated rooms with this scenario does not help. The obvious brass fixtures in the master bath scream 1980s and most if not all potential buyers are wondering how hard will it be to update them. You definitely have 3 vastly different styles going on in the house which can cause a major disconnect with potential buyers. If you were to repaint the kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, master bath & living room to more neutral colors (similar to family room & J&J bath) + update brass fixtures + add warming touches as outlined above to rooms for staging + exterior color and I think you could probably relist for the $290K in the spring and walk away with around $260-$250K. My BIL is a real estate agent and when we sold our house with him he even said not to tell him the absolute lowest price we were willing to take for the house. I can confidently say that repainted & staged well (including replacing a couple light fixtures, new comforter for DS's room, new bathroom stuff, quick exterior spruceup by adding color) when we sold our house. We listed the house $10K higher than the exact house down the street that sold a couple weeks earlier for a higher than average price for our neighborhood. We had an offer in 2 days and ended up with a bidding war between two potential buyers that ended on day 5 on the market. Trust me, potential buyers need to be able to see themselves living in your home and driving up to your home everyday--your staging makes all the difference. Good luck to you!...See MoreShould I get an inspection before calling a realtor
Comments (15)It's not uncommon to do this where we live, but you do have to then disclose anything the inspection reveals. (When we bought our house, the entire inspection report that the seller had done before listing was part of the disclosures.) However, in our area you also have to disclose inspection findings by potential buyers who then walk away, so there would be no option for the seller to "not look" at it--by law it has to be disclosed to the next buyers who come in. The way this worked with our home, and the way many sellers in our area seem to handle it, is that the pre-listing inspection was included in the disclosures. Many major items that might have been dealbreakers were fixed prior to listing on the seller's terms (in our case, it was a new roof and some other repairs), and many other items were left as-is (in our case, lots of small cases of dry rot, an older electrical system, etc.) but were made clearly evident to potential buyers so that they could then be factored into the offer price. (Our seller also included things like estimates for upgrading the electrical and repairing the dry rot in the disclosures packet.) I would wait to do this until you talk to a realtor, but I do think it is a great thing to do if you are willing to hear about and able to deal with any major problems that might surface in the inspection. As first-time buyers, we were more likely to bid on homes that included the inspection report because we felt more confident in the home's condition (even though most/all of the issues should turn up in the buyer's inspection anyway). Whether it makes sense for you really depends on your local market and whether this is customary or not, though. A realtor can advise you on that....See MoreTxMarti
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