Delaware Off-Topic (Dover, Smyrna, Milton: equity, hoa, luxury)

[Charley]

Originally Posted by elizamary

For those selling their homes.........Don't forget about St. Joseph. My home sold 2 weeks after we buried him and said the novena. I am a firm believer in his help.

Well, let's says for almost everyone selling their homes

[anniebleu]

Delly, I'm usually on and off this site so quickly that I was astonished to notice your reply while I was still in the vicinity.

But isn't replacing a driveway, a good-sized one, very expensive? No one has tripped on ours; it's not that bad--just noticeably cracked. At this point I think it's more a question of aesthetics rather than function.

I still think that women, and my friends seem to agree that women get the last word on whether to buy a particular house or not, are more impressed with kitchens, bathrooms, and updated interiors! We are not going to do the interior painting ourselves this time, so that adds to the expense. As one friend says, "I'd look at a cracked driveway and think that my husband can patch it for the time being, or that we'll get it replaced sometime, but no need to think about that for now."

Our landscaping is pleasing, and will be more pleasing when the house goes on the market.

Nope. We're not thinking of adding the cost of our improvements to the list price. We are quite focused, however, on size. That's confusing too, though. New houses within a couple miles of us have considerably less square footage, but they are NEW. So, I wonder, how close can we come to them in listing price?

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by elizamary

For those selling their homes.........Don't forget about St. Joseph. My home sold 2 weeks after we buried him and said the novena. I am a firm believer in his help.

Our property has been on the market since July 18, 2007 with Saint Joseph buried there, additional Holy Water sprinkled by a priest, and countless novenas. The market is down right now, and many factors figure into the marketability of each individual property.

[anniebleu]

Hi Eliza and Charley! I think I'm supposed to spend my time here today.

I heard a report about the St. Joseph statues just this morning. One factory was saying they couldn't keep up with the orders!

Eliza, yes, you do need that one "right person" to walk through the door, and I've certainly heard of situations such as you describe: the seller does this and that, but the new owner does it all over immediately.

I think that a few things may entice a buyer though, that perhaps it's possible to turn someone who comes through the door into the "right person" if you've chosen the things to freshen, update, and so forth--at the very least, that you may be able to sell the house more quickly.

Laural, if you see this, forgot to agree with you regarding keeping the house light. This has always been important to us.

Thanks all.

[rdlr]

Annie,
In my business, a new kitchen and new bath ching,ching,ching the value of the subject property immensely. That is a proven amenity when comparing comparable sales to your home. A new driveway, while very nice, adds to appeal and the first impression from curbside. Cracks are not a problem, trip hazards are. You'll never get your money out of a new driveway....but maybe a quicker sale. If your driveway is macadam/blacktop, I've seen those sealed and the cracks don't show. If it's concrete, that's another problem. I've seen homeowners get a quick fix by having the cracks filled in, and a thin coating of concrete applied. I don't know what that costs. But, all things considered.....I wouldn't sweat the driveway, but would concentrate on the kitchen/baths. As Charley said, new cabinets can be re-faced, but a new floor and new appliances bring it back up to the "new look".

I don't know how old your house is, but appraisers do not compare a new home, with a 20 year old home, even if it's down the street. Underwriters want appraisers to compare apples with apples, and their guidelines are more strict than usual these days.

[elizamary]

Hey Anniblue..........you can spend all the time you want.........glad to have you
The market is bad and st joseph is quite busy and not able to answer all the requests in a timely manner
but never hurts to try.
I do understand there are certain incentives that are given to lure the prospective buyer.
We started cleaning the clutter 2 years before we moved. This was a 2 year plan.
We were looking for our last home before we go to the home. hehehe
it was a 2 year plan. Planning my retirement, selling our home and buying a home. All this plus a full time stressful job. Whew, dont' know how I did this but it couldn't of worked out better if I wrote the script.
We donated, sold and threw out most of our possessions. Moved with very little and then bought all new stuff.
We did give an incentive which was $1000 to the realtor that brough the buyer through. That is what happened. The realtor wanted that incentive and bought the woman through that wanted our house.
So incentives do help.
Good luck.

7

Originally Posted by anniebleu

Hi Eliza and Charley! I think I'm supposed to spend my time here today.

I heard a report about the St. Joseph statues just this morning. One factory was saying they couldn't keep up with the orders!

Eliza, yes, you do need that one "right person" to walk through the door, and I've certainly heard of situations such as you describe: the seller does this and that, but the new owner does it all over immediately.

I think that a few things may entice a buyer though, that perhaps it's possible to turn someone who comes through the door into the "right person" if you've chosen the things to freshen, update, and so forth--at the very least, that you may be able to sell the house more quickly.

Laural, if you see this, forgot to agree with you regarding keeping the house light. This has always been important to us.

Thanks all.

[Charley]

I always found "curb appeal" (including landscaping, front facade of house, driveway, front door, etc) to be a challenge only because I've become so accustomed to the way my house looks that sometimes I overlook the obvious.

What I've done recently is to go up to similar looking houses in the neighborhood and assessed what I see about THEIR house, and then do some comparisons to my own.

I've found that to be helpful in discovering some of the things about my own house that need improvement.

Charley

[anniebleu]

Delly, the bad news is concrete. (Driveway.) Never heard of patching the cracks and putting a thin layer of concrete over. Will have to talk to husband about this.

Thirty-year-old house, but maintained all the way. Roof has been done twice; heater and AC both recently replaced, ditto both hot water heaters, recent kitchen and bath updates, but I still think more is needed.

I see what you mean about not comparing new with older, yet I know we can offer some things that the nearby new houses don't have. We do have a problem with comps, because the houses most like ours, and around the same age, in this neighborhood are not truly comparable.

Thank you!

[elizamary]

Annie, you are correct............the woman do have the last say usually. And yes, Bathrooms and kitchens are what they look for.
My bathroom floor in the old home was a mess. So I went to Odd lot and bought tiles and tiled the floor myself. Added nice towels and a few coat of paint.
I dont' agree with going into an expense cuz the people that buy your home may not like what you do and re do it anyway.
As far as the driveway, I would just patch up. to put in a new driveway would be expensive and not something we would be willing to spend a large amount of money on/.
We did have to put in a new heater and airconditioner but that was something necessary.

Originally Posted by anniebleu

Delly, I'm usually on and off this site so quickly that I was astonished to notice your reply while I was still in the vicinity.

But isn't replacing a driveway, a good-sized one, very expensive? No one has tripped on ours; it's not that bad--just noticeably cracked. At this point I think it's more a question of aesthetics rather than function.

I still think that women, and my friends seem to agree that women get the last word on whether to buy a particular house or not, are more impressed with kitchens, bathrooms, and updated interiors! We are not going to do the interior painting ourselves this time, so that adds to the expense. As one friend says, "I'd look at a cracked driveway and think that my husband can patch it for the time being, or that we'll get it replaced sometime, but no need to think about that for now."

Our landscaping is pleasing, and will be more pleasing when the house goes on the market.

Nope. We're not thinking of adding the cost of our improvements to the list price. We are quite focused, however, on size. That's confusing too, though. New houses within a couple miles of us have considerably less square footage, but they are NEW. So, I wonder, how close can we come to them in listing price?

[rdlr]

Good points, Charley! and for Annie, also.....
Another point not mentioned.....I don't know about your market, but in Delaware, closing costs paid by the seller on the buyers' behalf is typical here. Those sellers offering to contribute $5,000-$10,000 so the buyer won't have all those fees to pay, sell their properties quicker. My experience has been ..... If you want to net, bottom line, $100,000, list it higher....say $105,000, and offer $5,000 in closing cost assistance. Now that doesn't always work, because if the house doesn't appraise high enough, sometimes all is lost. Then again, sometimes negotiations are back on the table, and maybe the seller will either reduce the sales price, contribute less to the buyers' closing costs, or both. Creative financing is big these days, as you know.