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jterrilynn

Why do ppl do stupid stuff to kitchens for resale?

jterrilynn
12 years ago

My husband and I as well as son have been looking at investment properties. I thought I had seen it all until the last townhouse. They painted everything badly in flat white paint. I'm talking everything, the Formica countertops the Formica backsplash the fake wood laminate (?) slab doors the walls...everything but the floor and appliances. Why do people do such stupid things? For my young son who has been saving for his own place for a while, well maybe the formica backslash was good enough for now or maybe even the countertops. Maybe he could have lived with the fake wood slab doors until he had enough money to redo the kitchen. People kill me they really do!

What odd things in real estate have you seen where people actually think it's an improvement?

Comments (40)

  • blfenton
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    When we were deciding to do a whole house reno we went to a bunch of open houses in our neighbourhood that were advertised as having been renovated(I use the term loosely)to hopefully get some ideas.
    Poor paint jobs, putting new granite in but doing nothing to the 80's very worn oak cabinets, spending a lot of money on renos but leaving the popcorn ceilings in, redoing kitchens and the "Public" rooms but then leaving the blue and gold bathrooms as is. Now I know that budgets are a concern and people just want to get their houses sold but some of the stuff that we saw was mind-boggling.

  • jterrilynn
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I know what you are saying and I'm thinking that a lot of agents encourage people do certain things so they can sell faster. Although I will give some agents the benefit of doubt and say that the way the owner heard the words "improve for resale" may not have been what they had in mind. I think all the hgtv shows have warped peoples idea on what's important for resale. I'm so sick of looking at places with nasty shoddy work or new but ugly outdated tile and wish the owners would have put money into a new a/c instead or a new door with frame or replaced the wobbly fence at town homes with patio's. In other words I wish people would fix what's broke or breaking but not try and remodel with 1980's stuff from someone's garage on CL and expect to get top dollar.

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  • palimpsest
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Because they see on television that a weekend, $2000, paint, and maybe a granite countertop are all you need to do to sell your house.

    I saw a house go from having worn, but pretty floors to one with cheaply and badly refinished floors with sawdust and footprints in the finish (on subsequent visits).

    I've seen bifolds taken down and replaced with shower rods and cheap curtains (but with all hardware left in place)

    Brand new carpet of the cheapest quality installed through the whole house. (Rolls and cuttings still in the closet)

    New appliances of the cheapest quality and (and granite) installed in very old kitchens.

    Really cheap (and possibly against restriction) vinyl windows with fake muntins replacing historic sashes.

    The horrible paint job is almost a given.

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Palimpsest beat me to it. Isn't there some show where they get your house ready for sale for like, $1000? Absurd. Especially as they are always in CA, where, like on east coast, the only houses you can makeover for $1000 have Fisher Price logos on them.

  • dianalo
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    mtn - LOL


    'nuff said

  • palimpsest
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Its misleading too, because its $2000, but they are get probably getting some "considerations" on pricing and they are providing about $10K in free labor of people who actually know what they are doing. The intent of these shows is good, I guess but it has gotten out of hand and provides a false message.

  • plllog
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What makes it even weirder is that there aren't many places in California where it's hard to sell a house, and, at least in the older, more urban areas, buyers expect to redecorate. If they spent the same money on interim storage, animal boarding and a top notch cleaning crew they'd do just as well.

  • artemis78
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ha, we have a house like that! :) I didn't quite get it when we first moved in, but once I started researching the remodel, I figured it out---they were trying to make our 1940 cabinets look like the cherry kitchens with granite and tumbled travertine backsplashes that were en vogue circa 2007 (still around now and often beautifully done, of course, but particularly popular in California for a few years mid-decade). So they painted the cabinets pink (though in fairness, I saw the paint can with sample later and they likely thought it would come out closer to brown) and slapped on the cheapest granite you can buy so they could check the "stone" box on the MLS listing.

    The only thing they did right in our case was the paint job, which was terrific with high quality paint throughout the house (I'm only now fully appreciating the dollar value of that!)---but since it was a two-tone pink color scheme in the kitchen, there wasn't much saving it. Ah, well. The interesting part is that we learned from neighbors that the PO of our house handed the house over to the realtor for a solid three months for him to work his magic on it---some of the things he did were great (e.g., paint job and keeping vintage stove), some terrible (granite!), and some questionable but understandable (removing original 1920s garage doors and putting in a stock automatic garage door---upside is it's super convenient, but down side is the old doors---still visible in the Google Street View shots of our house!---were to die for). I imagine a lot of it is focused on what you need to be able to say in the listing to get people in the door, but still. Really frustrating, especially with an old house. :(

    I do understand the people who just leave one or two rooms untouched, though. We'll likely be in that category with our bathroom---it was last remodeled in the mid-90s with cabinetry from the 50s and looks it, and I would *love* to put back the hex tile floor (we found some of the old tiles!) and claw foot tub---but what's there now is totally functional, so there's really no good reason to drop much money on it. We'll likely leave that for the next owner to do, just because it will make sense to do when that stuff is 20 or 30 years old, but not now. I'm sure a period bath would get us a bit more resale interest, but likely not enough to make up the cost. Who knows, though!

  • harrimann
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It kills me when an older home is recarpeted with cheap white carpet for resale, when the house has hardwoods. At showings, potential buyers end up peeling back the carpet to verify that there are hardwood floors underneath. The best thing you can do to sell a house like that is pull up all the crappy green shag old lady carpeting, take it to the dump, and show the beat up hardwoods as-is. The new rental property grade carpet will ultimately get torn out when the new owners REFINISH THE HARDWOODS! People who pay $1 million for a house DO NOT WANT CHEAP WHITE CARPET! Arrrgh!

    I've also seen 1920's homes where someone tore out the kitchen and slapped some cheap golden oak and laminate HD crap in its place so the realtor can say that the kitchen is "updated". Often the layout isn't changed (so not very functional). I always wonder whether some really cool built-ins fell victim to a HGTV-inspired renovation.

    Today, I decided to visit some open houses in my neighborhood and look at the kitchens with my newly TKO eyes. Ugh! Every house had a brand new kitchen with high range appliances. (So the good news is that I didn't overspend for my neighborhood.) But, it appeared that no thought went into the kitchens. It looks like a realtor called his minions and ordered up a new kitchen and all that matters is that it have granite and high end appliances. Functionality doesn't matter at all. Most of the kitchens were of the Tuscan variety and most of the houses were of the MCM variety. I'd hate to buy a house like that because it would be too wasteful to rip out the baltic brown granite and tumbled travertine and I'd feel obligated to live with it (while turning up the crockpot to "High" in hopes of accidentally cracking the granite).

    Oops. I think I got carried away. :)

  • natschultz
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    People are under the delusion that a $20 can of paint can fix everything. Ridiculous. HGTV used to be a lot better, but today it's mostly patch and paint. And, no offense, but here in NY the only $20 can of paint is Behr and that takes 3-4 coats to look halfway decent, whereas a $50 can of BM takes 1-2. And they never, NEVER use primer! My eyes start bleeding when I see them remove wallpaper and just roll on some paint - that stuff will be peeling off the walls in no time.

    As a buyer, nothing makes me more sick than seeing an nice old house that was gutted and replaced with "plastic" for re-sale. All true value in the house was lost and they want DOUBLE the price?

    3 doors down from me is this super-cute turn-of-the century Victorian Cape (built 1901). Back during the "Housing Boom" a lawyer plunked $500,000 down on it in hopes to "flip" it. Moron. It was just too small. Then the market crashed, he couldn't sell it and the bank sold it for cash to someone (bidding started at $250,000 - hundreds of people lined up, so I don't know the final selling price). The house had been owned by the same old lady until she died about 10 years ago - it was all original. There was no real fitted kitchen, so her niece tossed some HD crapo cabinets in there and replaced the antique stove with a modern piece of crap. The lawyer never got to do anything to it.

    After it was sold for cash the buyer "renovated" it and put it back on the market. UGGH! It is a REALLY SMALL house - about the size of the boat houses and servants quarters that still exist behind some of the old estates (mostly gone now). The upstairs only has standing room in the center - the ceilings are very sloped. The only staircase was a very narrow winder at the back of the kitchen. BUT, it had a gorgeous built-in hutch, great corner fireplace, beautiful old oak floors and a big bathroom with clawfoot tub.

    So I went to the open house - everyone entered from the large round room surrounded by windows off the side of the large front porch - the actual front door was closed. HMM, curious! So I walked in, and there was ENGINEERED walnut flooring in that round room and ALL THROUGHOUT the first floor! What happened to the original long-plank oak floors? I think (hope) they are under that fake stuff. LAZY BUMS! Then, you walk into what used to be a huge living room / dining room combo, and there is a HUGE staircase splitting the entire front of the house in half! NO DINING ROOM! And the LR is TINY now. The huge corner fireplace is useless now - the staircase is right next to it, so there is no place to put furniture! Then, as I was standing at the bottom of the staircase, I look and notice that it is right smack in front of the front door - I think the front door might actually hit the staircase railing - THAT's why they didn't have people enter via the front door!

    So we went into the kitchen - a very efficient layout. Good looking, and they blew-out the ceiling and left exposed collar-ties, so it made the small space very airy. Beadboard-style white cabinets. "Ooohs and Ahhs" from all the viewers. So I opened a drawer - all plastic! I turned to my mother and said "Don't even THINK about it - it's all for looks, this will be falling apart in no time!" Marble counters were beautiful though.

    So we went up the back staircase - what is up there? A big open space between the two staircases, a tiny bathroom under the eaves, and the Master Bedroom - also under the eaves with 3' high closets. They DESTROYED the entire first floor to put a giant staircase to a Master Bedroom "Suite" (bathroom was in hallway - cute but small). WHY? There is only ONE bedroom - why couldn't they just use the original back staircase?

    Downstairs were the other two bedrooms and the bathroom - totally redone - the clawfoot tub was GONE! And after all the house destruction, they put it on the market without ANY landscaping - the front looked like crap and the back was full of thicket and weeds. They didn't even bother repairing or painting the detached garage. I felt bad for the neighbors. A much better ROI (at least for the buyers who actually have to live there) would have been to repair and paint the structures and put in a nice fence so the entire back yard isn't visible to all the neighbors on the sides and back.

    Anyway, it was re-listed for $450,000 and sold soon after. Go figure!

  • natschultz
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Palimpsest, we did replace our old windows, but not with vinyl replacements. Ours have the grilles between the glass. Honestly, I do prefer the look of the originals, and while I think most post-WWII building materials are crap, the one that I do think is an improvement are the windows. But, you MUST get the new windows to match the originals. My neighbor across the street "forgot" to get the classic Foursquare "diamond" grilles and put in plain. It looks very odd. All the character in that gorgeous house was lost. The house itself is still cool looking, but the large bank of empty bowed windows facing the street makes it look like something is missing.

    Even after repairing the windows so they were no longer painted shut, the old windows were just so annoying. Very cold and drafty. If the weighted track thingy was off the window would come slamming down. Slammed down on my arm when I was a kid, and when we recently replaced them I scored the plaster around the frames so the plaster wouldn't crumble (old frames are plastered into the walls) around them. Then as I helped my brother to remove the large front window, I opened the bottom sash and put my head out to talk to him and it came slamming down on my head like a guillotine.

    One nice compromise some people around me have done is to leave the original "diamond" windows that face the street and replace only the windows facing the sides and back.

    I kept the old sashes to build a greenhouse with (yeah, if I EVER finish working on the actual HOUSE ;)

    --

    mcmjilly,

    When my Dad and his siblings sold my Grandparent's house, they did just that - they tore out all the wall-to-wall carpeting to expose the old oak wood floors. They were in great condition because my grandparents had carpeting from day one. My Grandfather designed and built the house in the 1960's - a huge MCM ranch on a gorgeous wooded lot. The windows were "State of the Art" at the time - I LOVED those black iron windows with very narrow frames and sashes. They NEVER fell down! I am afraid some moron will remove them. My cousin's husband took the vintage GE "Christmas Edition" fridge to sell on Ebay (don't know what he got for it, though).

    The den ceiling was gorgeous Pecky Cyprus planks. I can just imagine the new owners ripped that out or painted it (idiots - the old stuff is worth a fortune).

    I wanted to keep the house, but the taxes were over $20,000/year back in 2003. Then again, we just got our post-addition re-assement and our taxes will now be over $15,000/year for a lot 1/4 the size.

  • paige16
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    To his credit a painter actually refused to spray paint exposed brick in the kitchen a very glossy chrome like silver.

  • natschultz
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Um, Chrome Brick?!?!

  • djg1
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My wife and I bought our house about 13 years ago. We bid, and successfully negotiated a contract, after it had been pulled from the market. One marketing problem, I thought, was the kitchen. The house had been built c. 1959-60 for a single businesswoman who had been its sole owner for nearly 40 years (5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, one inhabitant). No updates during her tenure. There seemed to be an ongoing conflict within the estate, with arguments about how to present the house for sale and what to ask (and settle for). As a result, the kitchen got new granite counters (not fancy ones, but solid, neutral, and fine), new mid-level cabinets, and mostly new appliances (GE Profile level). The dirty, torn vinyl floor stayed, along with a cheesy sign offering 600 dollars or something towards a new floor. Apparently they could agree that something needed to be done about the floor, but not on what (or how much to spend on it). So they spent a bunch of money and ended up with something that still looked pretty bad -- very conspicuous, the moment you stuck your head into the kitchen (24 x 14' and the whole floor looked bad). I think it's one of the factors that contributed to our getting a good deal, for the market at the time (fabulous deal for today's market, but that's just our historical luck). I mean, they didn't ruin the kitchen, or present us with the need (perceived) for a full renovation or remodel, but it seemed a really striking case of penny wise and pound foolish -- spent a bunch of money and still had an eyesore. And for that I thank them.

  • jterrilynn
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The properties we are looking at are mainly townhouses built around the mid 1970's to early 1980's. I wonder if it's just me but I would rather have the off white or white Formica countertops, fake wood slab doors and the off white vinyl flooring in the kitchen that was common then instead of some nasty cheap tile that they put on top of the vinyl and other nasty updating. Like someone mentioned above, those new ugly builder grade cabinets are harder mentally to rip out because it seems so wasteful. If people want a quick very fast sale why don’t they do a thousand or two at closing for improvements and skip the sewage sludge decorating. I'm in my early fifties and although its hard to remember how it used to be...didn't people back in the day just fix things that were broke for a faster resale?

  • kadydid
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    In my moms house the previous owners converted a garage into a living room and painted everything flat country blue. Door knobs, weird makeshift cabinet they built for the water heater, doors, it was all flat country blue.

  • natschultz
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    djg1,

    I see that a lot - relatives trying to up the value so they have more money to split.

    You may like the kitchen, but if I walked into that house and was told that story I'd immediately have asked to have the original metal cabinets back!

    Seriously. I've seen some nice old houses (exterior) for sale that say "All new drywall - plaster removed." I run the other way! If I must settle for drywall it will only be in a house I build myself, but if I end up building my own house it will be super-thick concrete, no drywall needed!

  • palimpsest
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My current rule of thumb is if the listing photos

    *don't* show the kitchen and bath(s) its a house worth looking at.

    Anything that says "recently upgraded" gets a pass unless its really inexpensive (rare) or they show pictures and it looks good (also rare at my pricepoint).

  • enmnm (6b)
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    ^ ^ Ditto, I want to see places that HAVEN'T been updated in the last 10-15 years. My realtor thinks I'm nuts but so what.

  • harrimann
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "Updated kitchen with granite."

    Translation: "Kitchen updated in 1979. Granite slapped into kitchen by heirs to estate in 2011."

  • aloha2009
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That answer to your question Jterrilynn is simply it works for the majority of buyers.

    After reading the responses and my personal thoughts, I too hate it when someone tries to "update" things. We saw a flip in our neighborhood, that had different woods carelessly butted up next to the other wood (I've seen carpet better butted up). My DH noticed the basement remodel had completely enclosed the water heater! When the water heater needed replacing it would involve remodeling and tear down of the walls and disruption to the flooring. The average buyer wouldn't have even noticed.

    I think perhaps that GW people are watchful of quality and structure more then most. I know when we "staged" our house for resale after 14 years, I didn't put near the amount of thought nor money into fixing those last few items. A person has to detach from their house emotionally and from that point it's trully about the bottom $.

  • jterrilynn
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here is an example of what I'm talking about. See the white backslash and countertops? These are Formica and have been painted over in flat white paint with no primer, you can lightly touch it with your finger nail and it scraps right off. See that makeshift leaning Tower of Pisa breakfast bar? In real life that breakfast bar is about to topple over. Well they put new ugly tile down and tiled it in. This picture actually makes it look much better than seeing it in person as it looks like a three year old painted it in place with drips and all. I wonder what kind of drugs these people were on.

    http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/?action=view&current=flatwhitepaintkitchen-1.jpg"; target="_blank">

  • palimpsest
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This thread interrelates with my thread on "How Forthcoming are you at Open Houses". I went on my round of open houses today:Four, and three of them I have looked at before.

    One I had looked at last year (at a much higher price), and historically these houses sell fast, so when it was taken off the market for the season I had assumed it sold.

    The Realtor was giving a little spiel since there were several people looking and said that there were several new appliances and that the current owners were planning on California Closets for the third floor master dressing area.

    When he asked for feedback, since the one of the other people said "the bathrooms are ugly, " I decided to be forthcoming myself because I happen to like these houses (I have looked at 5-6 over the years).

    So, I said:

    Don't do the California Closets, they are too user-specific.

    The new appliances are fine but even someone who is not into a well-designed kitchen is going to redo this one (its too small for the 60's cooktop separate wall oven set-up it has). So, no more changes.
    --I would be fine buying a house with cheap new appliances to replace old dirty ones, because I might do this myself in the interim before I designed the new kitchen, but this one had Bosch DW and maybe a Gaggenau cooktop--pricey for appliances you may not want in the new design.

    I also said "Given what these homeowners personal aesthetic is (Carpenter Victorian screen doors, victorianish vanities and toilets put in bathrooms with 1960s pink- and blue-accented tiles, painted Lincrusta in the MBR which is going to be a bear to strip, a Victorianish bracket shelf on a 1960s corner fireplace)...I would convince them to NOT do anything else as their Realtor". I did not give him those specific examples. But I can see them doing the dark cherry CA closets in the dressing room and if I bought the house it would all go--I like cherry but its not the house for it.

    I said I general, I have looked at some of these houses more than once over a decade, and the more people tend to do, the worse they look because there is a particular scale to these houses that people don't respect. Its one thing if you are planning on living there and you do what you like, but if you are doing this to improve its resale, thats a mistake.

  • formerlyflorantha
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Makes me feel better about selling my Greatest Generation mother's house a few years ago. We really considered updating it. Instead we put a line into our promo pam: "Because we care about the environment, we are allowing you to redo this kitchen. We didn't want to install anything new that would end up in a landfill any time soon." (We didn't admit that we had replaced a decidedly "cute" 60s light fixture. At least we didn't do new cabs, counters, floor, appliances, walls, floorplan, or muse.)

    We staged the room with attractive coordinated colors in jaunty semi-mod dishes, placemats, rug at sink, handtowels, pots holding fresh new green plants. We also put in promo a photo of Mom sitting at kitchen nook saluting the camera with a mod cup of coffee. I think her apparent happy outlook and the scrupulously clean room did us a service.
    ___
    jterrilyn: I didn't realize until much later that our kitchen had probably been painted right before the PO bought it. Baby blue paint with obvious gobs of animal hair mixed in. I don't think the PPO had even dusted before painting. Even when we bought, we knew the kitchen would need undoing and expanding. We repainted and put in new cabs and floor within a couple years but it is inexplicable that we waited until last year to do the expansion, 38 years later.

    I suppose you could say that the PPO were successful despite their awful paint.

  • warmfridge
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    There are 2 things that always leave me my shaking my head. One is the new liner in an old tub/shower that just makes the rest of the bathroom look even more dingy. And the other is repainting the entire interior of the house in what must be the present owner's favorite colors. If the house needs new paint, fine, but paint it white, not tangerine, olive, mauve, s***brown, and other hues that a buyer will want to change first thing.

  • dretutz
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Probably one reason is siblings who want to rent and then sell the place and cannot agree on how to get rid of the truly "awfuls" that must be replaced. When we moved my 91 year mother to a senior apt. we had to get consensus from three sisters on what to do with the 1960 bathrooms: 9 foot long, "mediterranean" vanities with cultured (read fake) marble counters and sinks in both baths. The shower was unspeakable in the guest room. So, one sister insisted everything should be painted white and new tilework must be white squares. Other sister wanted new bathroom floors in large procelein tile in beige with matching showers. It was a hellish negotiation as the 2600 square foot condo is in a desirable location in a 1960 building which is not great. Compromises, compromises and ugly results, but beat the heck out of what was there--unless we could find that tenant that went for the Man from la Mancha decor. We needed to rent it out knowing it would be on the market in the matter of a few years.

  • jterrilynn
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi warmfridge, I think my house color could be a problem with out-of- staters if I were to sell now (I'm not for at least 6yrs)it is a warm sort of mediterranean yellow orange lol. After I painted mine three houses near me painted theirs a similar color though. I have a blue house on one side and a green house accross the street. It doesn't look at all odd in my neighborhood. However, there has been a few comments from people from the midwest states when they come down, I hear things like...What's with all the Weird colors you people paint your houses with"? Maybe I will think about offering a small amount at closing for them to pick what they want or maybe not.

  • jterrilynn
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Note: the above mentioned is on exterior not interior paint as was talked about.

  • jterrilynn
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Florantha, what a wonderful way to market your mothers home.

  • artemis78
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think the house color norms (interior and exterior) are regional, too. The many colored rooms of our house (which are pretty normal colors except for the kitchen) were all chosen by a designer from the BM fan decks and they really unified the spaces---definitely a selling point for us relative to houses where everything was painted white. But apparently the PO of our house had crazy colors in here (bright red and green, etc.) so the new shades were already toning things down! Most of the professionally staged houses we looked at had similar paint jobs, though I don't know how many were painted to sell and how many were there before. The outside of our house is also painted lavender, which I'm sure would be a downside to some---but it works in the neighborhood, where many houses are circa 1910s and 1920s and it's not unusual to see the vintage bungalow color schemes (the lavender-black-white combo is one). Orange is not uncommon on the Spanish Mediterraneans here, for instance! :)

  • plllog
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just looked at one of the shows in question. They didn't do anything we'd call "bad". They scrubbed the heck out of everything, and moved most of the owner's stuff out. Things any seller should do. Then they had an experienced designer choose some paint colors that actually showed the space off better than what had been there. They only painted the rooms that had bad colors, and an accent wall that showed off interesting architecture. The accent wasn't garish--just a darker version of the neutral wall color in the rest of the living room. Then they put out a few accessories, again chosen by the designer, to give it the kind of appeal that well designed furniture stores have--makes you feel at home and trendy without personalizing the space.

    The lesson being, less is more, and a professional stager or interior designer is going to give you a lot more bang for your buck (including their fees) than a lot of remodeling.

    But...in Jterrilynn's example maybe they painted the Formica because the waffle iron blew up and both the counter and backsplash were scorched something fierce? Figured you'd rip it out anyway, but it would look better painted than left looking like garbage?

  • formerlyflorantha
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OT Tjerrilyn: what kind words!

  • cooksnsews
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow! I'm so glad I used the realtor I did when I had to sell my parents' house 3.5 yrs ago. While she said to be prepared to make some improvements before listing, she also said to not do anything until after she had seen it. In the end, she recommended we do nothing, except clean and de-clutter. The house was definitely dated (our family is always several generations behind style-wise), but was very neat and well maintained. While it was likely new owners would want to re-do almost everything, especially the kitchen, at least they could comfortably make do until they were ready.

    Everyone seemed to want to know about the hardwood that was under the carpet, which was a major selling point. I had to keep my tongue in check, even to the realtor because, while there was indeed hardwood under there, it was not continuous as POs had enlarged the LR and converted two BRs into one large master. I answered all the questions correctly, but was never asked the tricky ones...

    Anyway, we ultimately sold at for a peak price, to a young single who planned to totally renovate. But apparently he has been a victim of economic misfortune, and hasn't been able to start yet. Wonder what he's done about the hardwood???

  • jterrilynn
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cooksnews, wow it sounds like you had a great realtor. I have only used a realtor twice in my life one for a buy and sell and one for a sell, other than that I have sold my own properties so I can't say I have much experience with them. Neither of those realtors suggested I make any changes though for sale. I have read on here a few times how others have had their realtor suggest to them to put granite counters in and I have acquaintances that have been told this as well. I just do not see the point in that if it's an old outdated kitchen or bath but I guess maybe I'm the minority. I mean it's not that I don't like granite (I have it) but I couldn't imagine buying a property just because it had granite. What if I hate the color? What if I hate the color and the fact that the kitchen needs to be ripped out? It's all just more of a problem for me that its there. same with that flat white painted over formica countertop above. Maybe if a portion was damaged my son could have had that portion replaced to make due until he could replace it all. I guess because I know how to do a lot of things I look at these bandaids as just being a lot more work in labor and wish people wouldn't put junk ontop of junk.

  • dianalo
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    When we sold our first house, I rented a storage unit and started to pack like crazy. I put away all our winter stuff and the boys' baby things, took out half the stuff in our linen closet (and painted the interior) and edited out as much as I could stand everywhere without being obvious. We were moving because we outgrew the house, but I don't think the buyers needed to see crammed closets and storage areas. It made the eventual move easier as much was already packed by the time we left our house. I'd have to stifle a laugh when people would ask how I kept things so organized with 2 little kids in the house. I'd be dying to tell them they should have seen the place the month before, but I kept quiet. I also did not mention being up to all hours every night keeping things looking perfect and the gallons of glass cleaner I went through every time we had an appt coming.
    The only other things we did was touch up some paint on all the walls and paint the railing by our stairs. We made it a silver/gray color and I immediately wished I had done that years earlier instead of leaving it black. It was the only dark color fixture in the house and it had stood out.
    It usually pays to paint a light fresh color if any walls are drab or worn looking and pull up carpeting if there is hardwood that is not stained underneath. No matter how trendy strong colors are, it is best to leave that for the new buyer to do. You don't even need to refinish the floors, but to just show their base condition. Clean and neat sell houses. I'd rather buy a well cared for home than a fancier one that has rough edges. Slapping paint up in a rush is a mistake. if you can't or won't do it right, don't do it. Sweep the stoop, de-clutter everywhere and touch up signs of wear. If you have ugly/dated hardware on decent cabs, then swap them out. If the cabs will still look bad, then save your time and money and skip it. Keep it simple!

  • annac54
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    After looking at quite a few houses for sale a few years ago, we decided to buy a brand new house. The houses we had looked at for sale either had dumb stuff done to them, or the owners just really didn't care, both of which were a big turn off for us. So we went for the new build. We needed to get a good price for our old house(built approx 1987), so we took about 4 months (while the new one was being built)and really looked at what needed to be done to help it sell. At the time, the market was relatively hot, so the better your product, the more likely you were to sell. It was in relatively good shape, but did need some work. We basically did things that we would have done anyway if we were going to stay there.

    We had it re-piped (the older houses around here are notorious for defective/degrading steel pipe). This was our biggest expense, approx $5K. We would have had to disclose it to the buyer and either lower the price or offer an allowance for it, so we figured that having it already done would be a selling point.

    We finished repairing and repainting the walls that were damaged in an earthquake. We tiled the floors in the kitchen and one of the bathrooms that had horrible ugly vinyl with a nice, light neutral ceramic tile (great buy on discontinued item).

    We repaired/replaced anything functional that needed it, front porch roof, side garage door, hanging light fixture, etc.

    We also cleaned everything, put excess items in storage, and had someone come in to cut back/clean up the landscaping.

    It took more than a weekend to fix it up, and we spent a little money, but I think the results were worth it. The first people who looked at it bought it for the asking price. We had two realtors call and ask to look at it because they had similar houses in the neighborhood that weren't selling and wanted to find out why ours had sold.

    There were plenty of other things we could have done, but I think we did a good job of picking those that helped the house sell, actually improved the property, and didn't take a horrendous amount of time or money to accomplish.

  • jterrilynn
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh I so agree, clean clean clean and put stuff in storage. When I sold my last house I cleaned everything even the water heater and all the pipes under the sinks, air vents, everything. The buyers had the house inspected and the inspector told them and me he had never seen a house so clean. Funny enough though, I did not have to neutralize any interior paint colors. I had multi dimensional eggplant glazed walls and cut squash painted walls and a mural on the kitchen ceiling. Not only did I sell the house in under a week I had multi offers. This was before the building boom and although my house wasn't grand it had the 2nd highest selling price. However, as mentioned above I think my ability to pull this off had something to do with the region I live in and the fact that I was in a great school district.
    This cleaning part of conversation brings up another annoyance on house/townhouse hunting. On top of people putting nasty stuff on their nasty kitchen stuff to (in their minds) spiff it up...why then do people leave big poodloo stains on the 2nd and 3rd bedroom carpets? Makes no sense!

  • marcolo
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't know if I mentioned this house on another thread or not, due to impending senility, but I clearly remember the most tragic house I've ever seen flipped for reno.

    A Tudor, circa 1930, that belonged to a prominent dairy family (as in, their name is on milk cartons). Sweeping staircase with wrought iron railing. Vintage architectural glass tile on every bathroom surface. Gorgeous wood-paneled living room with huge fireplace and hidden built ins. A truly vast butler's pantry, seemingly a mile of glass-fronted cabinets. A half-rounded breakfast nook with narrow Tudor windows all around the bay. The basement had been remodeled in the '50s. It had a bar with built-in mixing equipment, a fireplace, and a hidden panel near the fireplace holding a black and white TV.

    All gone now.

    There is a large home depot kitchen replacing the butler's pantry, original kitchen and breakfast room. The irreplaceable architectural glass tile, in the dumpster. New Home Depot bathrooms. Midcentury basement bar, gutted.

    Of course the idiots did not make back the money they spent, but that hardly suffices as their punishment.

  • jakkom
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think many people don't have a good 'design eye.' Which is separate from knowing what it will cost to do something and estimate payback.

    My MIL's house was a particular architectural type, popular on the West Coast, built in 1930. It had many lovely touches, but was also dated and cluttered. I've related elsewhere how helpful our realtor was in helping us ready this house for sale.

    My DH and I had previously discussed possibly moving in and remodeling when his stepfather died. I told him I didn't want to, even though MIL's home was extremely valuable, far more so than our home will ever be. But it has a particular design style that is very, very difficult to expand the kitchen.

    We have visited at least 30 open homes of this architectural type and only 1 was ever remodeled successfully - at a really stupendous cost putting in equivalent quality materials to the originals. It was a real labor of love as well as a commitment to stay true to the home by the owner, architect, and contractor. It was a real pleasure to tour that one remodeled home.

    I relate this because a much larger, mansion version of this type of home was for sale many years ago, and we stopped in to tour it. It was like visiting the Madonna Inn (not a good thing)! The owner was in love with the color raspberry pink and had used it in a hideous flat paint, EVERYWHERE. Can you imagine a magnificent ballroom, with paneling and wall sconces and stunning hardwood flooring with inlaid mahogany, with all four walls (including the wood paneling) and ceiling painted flat raspberry pink?!?

    It was a truly painful sight.

  • Fori
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just had to paint over a freshly done army green bedroom in my "new" house.

    Of course I painted it electric blue which probably isn't much better...

    There is a maroon accent wall over a fireplace. I think I will put up a sketch of Ol' Sarge.

    I wish they'd done something to the kitchen. I'd have taken stupid.

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