Before covid, the local realtors knew us and would ask what we thought of the price 😂😂😂

adding that house is darling

Jinx, yes, it is very much like Kevin's place in Philly sans the garden... Beacon Hill in Boston is very much like Society Hill in Philadelphia. Was he on Elfreth's Alley?

Your realtor asks you what you’d price your house at because he knows you monitor every sale in your neighbourhood...and city!

Tell the truth Robo ...is there a spreadsheet involved?

Lol, I’ll bet there is!

Do you ever wonder why the Realtor chooses the order of the photos?

Years ago, when I worked in RE I usually showed a nice front exterior shot, then highlighted the main living spaces, but not with many multiple pictures of one room. People generally want to see the detail of the kitchen, so I would feature that if it was a good kitchen.

I hate the pictures taken with a lens that distorts the room, or pictures that are close ups of the owner's art or furnishings. Like this:

What pictures do you like to see in a RE listing?

I like to see a floor plan! And preferably early on, so I can get a handle on the room flow.

Bpath, I think a floor plan is really useful, but I almost always see them at the end. Personally, between floorplans, photos of each room (highly suspicious if they skip a room) and google maps, you can nearly buy remotely.

I agree with you, Teri, about photos that show decor and not bones, but I suppose they want to evoke a mood or lifestyle.

After the foyer, I often skip to the end to see if there is a floor plan, then back up to the top. I can “walk through” the rooms as I see them.

I do NOT like to see a shot looking straight up the stairs. That doesn’t tell me anything, Show me stairs from the side, so I can see how they relate to the first and second floor.

My addiction is Redfin. Yes, I too have spent too much time perusing the local real estate market, as well as the area where we are planning to buy soon. I developed this “hobby“ when looking to sell/buy about 6 years ago. Like you I have seen the same house listed by consecutive owners, it is amazing how many homes were listed more than once over the last 6 years. Heck our house where we lived for 23 years has sold a second time. Sometimes I remember the homes well enough to recognize upgrades or other changes, such as removing a pool. I also

tend to critique the listing description, photos, price and staging. Mainly just the really horrible listings, as some are surprisingly bad.

Love the Boston home.

Add those cool 3D doll house models you can walk through, and we did buy remote.

Your realtor tries to recruit you multiple times!

I won't be too shy (or embarrassed) to raise my hand! I sometimes look at Price History, then go to Refin to their PH since they will often have previous listing photos available.

The current owner could play in Lars' portrait thread.

Ive been looking a lot on behalf of my dd. I usually start with the map view and quickly go to satellite. I want to know why certain homes seem like a bargain. ( relatively speaking). Usually you can tell pretty quickly: railroad tracks across the street, industrial plant one street over, that kind of thing. I also fixate on backyards.

I have 5 zip codes that are at the top of my search list. I always go to map view first. When there is a new listing I get all tingly.

(Realtor often has more listings then Zillow - so I MUST check both.)

I mostly look at Zillow. Every time I go there it shows all the houses for sale in the littl town where my parents grew up. The house my aunt lived in was for sale and I’d always check to see if it had sold yet. Houses are so cheap there! I always check my own zip code and nearly choke at the prices. Keep hoping a perfect little house will pop up for a reasonable price. Fat chance.

Houses are still selling here (Tampa area) quickly. Two, within a block of me, were listed Friday. Both are pending this morning.

I wonder if it did not sell because there are some repeat pieces of furniture in both listings,like the grandfather clock. It might have been requested by the buyer or to complicated to move but I think it likely did not sell last time around and maybe just refinanced.

Raises hand. I look just to see what is happening in my area. It gives me a peek in some of the houses I’ve always admired from the outside sometimes I’m disappointed.

I use a couple local real estate websites because I’m just looking around my own area out of curiosity, not because I’m in the market for anything. Sometimes I’ll look on Zillow because I like their price history and sometimes Realtor because they’ll have all the photos for Sold listings. You see some astounding stuff - good and bad - when regularly perusing real estate ads.

I know the inside is bad when they start with 20 outdoor photos. I too dislike the closeups of the owners furnishings or decor - waste of time. I love those 3D walk throughs though - better than a floor plan. Floor plans are rare in listings I see unless it’s a new build. Sometimes there are way too many photos of the same thing. Used to be about 20 photos, now often over 60. Unless it’s a really big place you don’t need 60 photos.

Here's something I'd not seen before. Yesterday we bought a swivel wooden desk chair on Craigslist (the Itty Bitty Stonehouse will soon be the Itty Bitty Zoomhouse). Anyway, when DH and I went to pick it up, he remarked that he thought it was funny that someone with such a nice house bothered to wait around to sell a $79 chair. Then we discussed the approx value of the house (not a fair fight, right?). I guessed $2.5mn. He thought more like 3, so we googled it, and there was a listing. (guess who was right BTW? Realtor.com Est. was $2,459,300).

Anyway .... look at this listing. It took me a while to see what they did. I have never seen that before other than new builds. It's probably a good idea.

https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/ct/new-canaan/113-thurton-dr/pid_36085574/

Robo, Our records don't show refinancings. They do include the records of transactions, and it says "sold." It would not surprise me if people bought furniture from the PO; we did. Esp in an urban setting with narrow halls and such, moving furniture is a PITA.

I don't often look at realty websites. We are not planning on moving. I will sometimes look at a listing if it is here near us, to see what prices are in our area.

@maddielee same for our area. We close on our rental house next week. No realtor, did not even "officially" put the house up for sale. We mentioned to neighbors near the house that we might sell and had two buyers contact us. Houses are selling for insane amounts! My sister put her house up for sale on a Friday and it was under contract the following Monday.

Love the outdoor spaces of that home, Mtn! But where do they eat? I looked at the floor plan and there was no dining room? (Maybe I missed it.)

I only pay a little attention to local listings, but lately I’m paying a lot of attention to beach house listings bc I have an itch I need to scratch soon, lol.

Mtn I don’t keep a spreadsheet all the time but you better believe when we are buying it comes out!!!! 😹

Nini, exactly! The drop leaf table at the end of the LR is my guess. In reality, I think the study is, and should be, the DR. I love this little place but its too small. DH says until each kid has their own place, we have to have space for all 3 and I think that's right. "Empty nests" can sometime be quite full.

I am guilty -- but only at times. I realized 2 houses on our street had gone on the market and I didn't even go look them up. That's not like me. Maybe I'd better go look before they get taken down. LOL

ETA: I missed one -- don't like the other as much as I expected to. And we can tell exactly when the kitchen was updated by the glass door bins on the end of the island. The microwave is above double ovens -- lovely.

Since I am actively looking for a house and have pretty strict criteria, I check Redfin every day, sometimes twice per day. Luckily, on Redfin, if I don't clear my browser, new listings show up in a darker color than listings I've already viewed, so it only takes me a few minutes to check the neighborhoods of interest to me. I admit that I will view listings that are above my price range, too, just to see what different budgets offer. We have such low inventory that there hasn't been a listing that I wanted to view in person since last summer.

I love the 3D walk-throughs! Those are better than a floor plan for me and you can often see what the view is out of the windows of the rooms. The virtual staging/painting that shown in the Thurton Dr. house could be worthwhile depending on your buying population. On the house we sold last year, we did virtual staging because the house was empty. I think it made the listing more appealing.

Wow, mtn, I’ve never seen listing pictures done like that! I’ll have to pass that along to the RE agent I’m working with!

I know BBSTX, that was what I thought too!

Honestly, I think it’s a good idea ---- but --- at least on the site where I saw it, it didn’t seem clearly labeled and I was confused at first.

The fact is homes that have darker wood and warm colors are just not as desirable right now as cool colors and white. And it really makes a substantial difference in the desirability of the house today, IMHO. And in fairness, it's mostly about paint and changing the furniture.

You know that you spend too much time on realtor.com when...you can correctly guess the neighborhood based on the home's exterior.

Raising hand. I'm a daily or near daily realtor.com follower of listings in my own town, occasionally in other areas I've lived. I've never stopped checking since buying my forever home, although now it's much more frequent. Many of the houses here list as contingent within a few days or less, and there are not many new listings compared to the Spring rush as in pre-pandemic years.

Mtn, I've seen that before. It's a step beyond just photoshopping furniture into an empty house.

I had not seen that before. I've seen virtual staging with furniture though. Popular or not that whitewashing looks hideous - the warm woodwork is gorgeous. I guess we go through cycles of this just like everything else - paint the woodwork and then down the road someone else can't believe anyone would have done such a dumb thing.

See, i don't think the white is hideous at all (albeit a bit extreme in this execution). I don't think that wood is hideous, either, but it would not be my first choice.

Around here, people generally are equate warm wood tones with "old" and white with "new." There are some exceptions, but in our market the house would definitely be more salable white, as it would appeal to younger buyers.

Ya, I'm old - I like wood.

I like balance, but I've seen examples of both styles that I like.

You are right of course, the pendulum will swing. Where do I go to get my brass back?

I still get the daily email from our real estate agent with local listings in my price range...from when we bought our house 3 years ago. I could stop it, but I like to see what’s going on. (and for reassurance that we didn’t overpay haha)

Yes, I continue to look all the time and sort by newest listings ( so I never miss anything lol) and then do recently sold. I do this just about every day.

I have seen quite a few where they do the virtual staging and it is stamped "virtually staged" on the photos.

I too like to see the transaction history, although recently it seems very few listings are ion the market for any length of time and very few get reduced.

Jinx mentioned Kevin's home in Philly. There are 2 quite different versions of his property - one shows his home as he decorated it and the other - well - let's say it isn't his style at all.

Zillow -

https://www.zillow.com/homes/331-S-Camac-St-Philadelphia,-PA,-19107_rb/10197478_zpid/

Redfin:

https://www.redfin.com/PA/Philadelphia/331-S-Camac-St-19107/home/38172318

Geez, here is what's striking. The link I posted that started this, where I realized I've been looking at the same stuff for 2 years, is priced as follows:

Kevin's old house, is very similar. Historic Society Hill vs Beacon Hill. Both colonial maisonette with private courtyard, K and baths in excellent shape, etc. But in Philly it only sets you back...

I've often said this, but for a city of its size and amenities, Philadelphia seems to be chronically cheap.

PS I think this understates the issue but its interesting all the same: The cost of living in Boston, MA is 32.9% higher than in Philadelphia, PA. Employers in Boston, MA typically pay 5.2% more than employers in Philadelphia, PA.

#TeamKevin

oh, I know I spend too much time on Redfin. it's my favorite waste of time.

a celebrity chef I love mentioned on instagram that he moved to Seattle. based on some visual details from a few of his videos, it took me about 20 minutes to find his house on redfin.

also whenever House Hunters is in Seattle, 9 times out of 10 I can locate the featured homes (and then I can use that to spot their lies). I friggin love looking at real estate online.

It was nice to see Kevin’s place again! Thanks, Maire. Wonder whatever happened to him?

He got married, which is the reason he sold. He bought a much bigger home, it I don’t remember where.

Some trivia: I also remember he and Palimpsest having a conversation about Pal being across the street but not going over to meet Kevin.

No, Pal is not across the street, but they are both in Philly. I know this for a fact.

No, he was visiting there, i didn’t say he lived there. Don’t exactly remember why he was there. He did do interior decorating as his side job. So, maybe that.

Oh. So you mean Pal was doing work across the street from Kevin and did not say hello? I don't recall Pal ever having work in that area (he does not do many decorating jobs as it is not his primary vocation). I suppose it could have happened but I never heard that.

Yes!

Not exactly sure, but I remembered the discussion the two of them had.

I loved Kevin's place. He has impeccable taste.

What I remember the most is his new Hancock and Moore leather chair that had to be hoisted from outside through a second or third or fourth story window.

I am also addicted to real estates listings. I can tell you every place that has come onto the market in both of my areas. I know every listing price, selling price, DOM, sq. footage, amenities, lot size. Not really, but kinda sorta. I am in group therapy for it. :-)

I remember that comment too Eld and you're also right about Kevin marrying and moving to the suburbs. I'm not positive but I think Pal may have been going to an Open House in the area. He often went through homes that were on the market.

I’m about to sell my home so check Zillow and Realtor twice a day. I have had to do comps outside my neighborhood as nothing is for sale here. I’m a little gated more modest community in SE Fl surrounded by multi million dollar homes. My neighborhood used to be more high-end but is now a small fry comparatively. It’s amazing how much money there is in my immediate area. I look at the upper tier listings but few make my heart sing. Maybe I’m trying to convince myself I’m missing nothing lol.