Leaving something for house buyers?
dedtired
17 days ago
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Home buyers: Do you drive around looking for houses for sale?
Comments (17)I search various real estate websites online, everyday. It's like a part time job for us. Not so much remax, century 21, or weichert, since their sites tend to be so overwhelming and cluttery. I tend to choose local real estate company websites, which in my experience have been a bit more accurate with more detail and clearer photos. If I find a house I like, I try everything to find the address to visit it first before wasting our agents time. Real estate agents aren't what they use to be (no offense). It use to be that they showed you houses that truly matched your criteria, now you can't trust an agent, especially if you live out of state. They will show you the junkiest houses, in the worst neighborhoods, with no regards to your wishes or needs, and let me tell you we're not picky. All we're looking for is a fixer upper on a wooded secluded lot. We're willing to do the roof, the floors, doors, trim. All we need is at least 3 bed, 1 bth, but leave it to your agent to show you houses that are undoable. In their defense though, I understand they have to show off the houses that have been sitting for a while to demonstrate effort to the seller, however, it's not cool when your agent knows you're driving 3-4 hours to see a house and you have specifically asked them if the house is secluded and they tell you yes, only to get there and see another house in plain view. Thank goodness we decided to rent in the area we're looking so we don't have to drive 3-4 hours anymore.....See MoreHome buyers only care about the look of a kitchen
Comments (44)Just make sure removing an island doesn't leave you with bigger problems (no workspace, replacing flooring -- especially if that could lead to larger or other changes). An isolated change is one thing, but project creep is the one thing you want to avoid in you situation. If your solid surface counters are in good shape, I wouldn't change to granite. Some folks don't like granite and would rather have the alternative. A lot of folks might prefer their choice of granite over the generic one chosen for resale. And the folks who might rather reno the whole kitchen if they aren't paying for the updating too have already been mentioned. You see a fair number of whiners on HGTV who want move-in ready, but even they seem to be willing to paint a couple of rooms, change a floor before they move in or even have granite put in to make a good house their own. The higher the market, the more people seem to want something to make it their own. I also wouldn't paint the cabinets white. My next door neighbors hired painters to paint their oak cabinets white, then paid a contractor to resurface them. We gutted our kitchen and changed out to frameless cabinets with more drawers, added organization and function and a lot more usable space and our kitchen probably took less time in the end -- we wonder if they spent much less or even more than we did. We know it took longer. First thing I would do is look into refurbishing the finish on the cabinets. I'd remove the hardware on a couple of those drawers and see what you can do with them. First thing is to give them a good cleaning using a cleaner intended for wood finishes and make sure you don't leave any residual cleaner on the surface. Products to try once clean would be Old English Oil and/or Scratch Cover (look at their website for more info before you shop, but you can probably find these at your grocery store, Walmart or Target), Restor-a-Finish in a color to match the cabinets (both this and Scott's Liquid Gold have some solvents that will smooth out a worn old finish -- they are meant for solvent based finishes, not a poly based, so test if you aren't sure). Formby probably has some similar products, but the point is that if you give the cabinets a good cleaning and then make the best of the cabinets as they are, you will probably come out way ahead. Working with what is there is almost always the best bang for the buck. Go from there....See MoreReplace our realtor or are we at fault (1st time home buyer)?
Comments (10)Sounds like you have a crappy real estate agent, not to mention I never heard anyone making cash offers way beyond asking price, even in a hot market. The reason for a cash offer and quick closing is the ideal negotiating point to purchase the home under asking price and preferably under the market value. I don't know about the Seatle market, it sounds like people there just dump money over the asking price without any entry bid proposal, followed by negotiations and paying over the market worth value... Even in Manhattan, NYC where a typical townhouse goes for $2,000 per SF and up, people always bid low and negotiate from there and nobody is in the rush to pay more than it is worth and I'm sure they could easily pay anything. Like Denita said, get a new agent and don't be so eager to throw your money around for something that worth-less as the market value goes... Good luck...See MoreHome prices and what buyers want in a home.
Comments (250)I understand that many people feel a personal call to become a teacher and get great satisfaction from it. I'm not familiar with what happens in Canada and I'll restrict my remarks to what I see in my US setting but the fact is, the job market doesn't place a high value on the occupation. So salaries are low. When salaries are too low for a given job type, job seekers go elsewhere. But that doesn't happen with teachers, jobs do tend to get filled. Districts don't need to pay more to get applicants. Why? In my exposure to teachers and schools, it appears that these jobs are often directions chosen as a last resort for people needing gainful employment when their college years end. Classes are not difficult, demands within the programs are not too high for most to accomplish. Career redirects for people unhappy in other occupations. Job opportunities for those who weren't able to pursue other directions in their education and are relatively uncompetitive as job seekers. If teaching jobs paid more, we'd get a better incoming supply. If civil service-type rules of job protection didn't apply, poor performers could be dismissed and (hopefully) replaced with more capable souls. None of that is likely to ever happen so we have what we have....See Morebpath
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