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Old 09-22-2011, 10:19 PM
 
10,219 posts, read 19,095,917 times
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I'm guessing you haven't seen actual original 1960s un-updated houses. There's a few out there but not many. Hallmarks include oak hardwood floors (showing their age) in the bedrooms and living areas, ceramic, linoleum or vinyl asbestos tile in the kitchen and possibly family room (no carpet), colored appliances usually including a double wall oven, colored bath fixtures, no central air, and wallpaper. Windows are generally double-hung single pane with true divided lites; any screen or storm window is a later addition. Paneling would usually be a 70s addition.

Anyway, if you're moving into an un-updated home, it's not that big a deal, you just have to make sure the price reflects it. My wife and I moved in to a poorly updated home about 18 months ago; we've since replaced almost all the flooring, painted everywhere, and had the kitchen redone. Windows and bathrooms (1 largely original, 1 poorly redone) are the major items remaining.
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Old 09-24-2011, 09:11 AM
 
19 posts, read 26,384 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nybbler View Post
I'm guessing you haven't seen actual original 1960s un-updated houses. There's a few out there but not many. Hallmarks include oak hardwood floors (showing their age) in the bedrooms and living areas, ceramic, linoleum or vinyl asbestos tile in the kitchen and possibly family room (no carpet), colored appliances usually including a double wall oven, colored bath fixtures, no central air, and wallpaper. Windows are generally double-hung single pane with true divided lites; any screen or storm window is a later addition. Paneling would usually be a 70s addition.

Anyway, if you're moving into an un-updated home, it's not that big a deal, you just have to make sure the price reflects it. My wife and I moved in to a poorly updated home about 18 months ago; we've since replaced almost all the flooring, painted everywhere, and had the kitchen redone. Windows and bathrooms (1 largely original, 1 poorly redone) are the major items remaining.
Yikes! I've seen a bunch of these! (Can't comment on the asbestos though!). It seems to be stark white walls or pastal/floral wallpaper throughout, wood paneling, outdated floor tiling, and outdated tiled bathrooms. Yes, there is definately sticker shock which is seriously depressing. We bought our 5000 square foot home 3 years ago for just under $500,000 and it is only 5 years old with a very modern kitchen (we even did a few more upgrades based on personal preference) with modern appliances, and all designer bathrooms! But you can't get to NYC from here so it's a trade off!!
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Old 09-25-2011, 09:50 AM
 
133 posts, read 501,171 times
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I agree with the OP...I've lived in NJ all my life. It wasn't until I traveled to other parts of the US that I realized how expensive NJ was and how most people who buy houses here are forced to spend more than 3-4x's their salary and have nothing left over to decorate or renovate. I also think in NJ, the location is the most important as well as school district, so New Jerseyans are more willing to buy an "ugly and outdated" house just to get a "slice" of a great town and all it has to offer.....And I also noticed when a newcomer comes on here or someone who is not a native of NJ, and they complain how they can't get a decent house for a million dollars the natives really come down hard on them! But even though I have lived here all my life, I have traveled so much and can sympathize with the shock of what you can get here for 1 million in "Summit" and the like. But OP, I think you expressed yourself in a great way and didn't make the mistake like so many others do and complain that they can't get a decent house for 1mill plus. You were able to state things in a way that didn't offend so many New Jerseyans!! LOL!!!!
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Old 09-25-2011, 01:45 PM
 
Location: Elsewhere
87,961 posts, read 83,789,860 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Taliana View Post
I agree with the OP...I've lived in NJ all my life. It wasn't until I traveled to other parts of the US that I realized how expensive NJ was and how most people who buy houses here are forced to spend more than 3-4x's their salary and have nothing left over to decorate or renovate. I also think in NJ, the location is the most important as well as school district, so New Jerseyans are more willing to buy an "ugly and outdated" house just to get a "slice" of a great town and all it has to offer.....And I also noticed when a newcomer comes on here or someone who is not a native of NJ, and they complain how they can't get a decent house for a million dollars the natives really come down hard on them! But even though I have lived here all my life, I have traveled so much and can sympathize with the shock of what you can get here for 1 million in "Summit" and the like. But OP, I think you expressed yourself in a great way and didn't make the mistake like so many others do and complain that they can't get a decent house for 1mill plus. You were able to state things in a way that didn't offend so many New Jerseyans!! LOL!!!!
Hahaha, I agree. The OP made it an interesting thread. And we didn't have to beat her up or anything!
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Old 09-25-2011, 02:13 PM
 
Location: Vermont
5,439 posts, read 16,800,371 times
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Old houses are a lot of work just to maintain, let alone update. It is expensive. Also labor in NJ is very expensive. I would absolutely say what you are seeing could be true for starter homes. 500k will not get you a ton. You can have bigger, or updated. If you want 5k sq ft and updated, try 2 million.
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Old 09-25-2011, 02:47 PM
 
Location: Elsewhere
87,961 posts, read 83,789,860 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainNJ View Post
one thing i notice about an older development is the trees and other vegetation are more overgrown and covering more of the houses. when i was growing up, my development was relatively new. you could see the houses, yards were well maintained, trees were moderately sized. now so many houses are covered by trees, yards arent as well maintained, its more depressing.
I am the opposite. When my parents had their house built in 1957, it was a wooded lot and the builder cut down just enough trees to build the house and have nice-sized front and backyard areas, but at that time they didn't clear the whole lot and then plant one or two spindly trees. Those older homes you see probably had trees there all along. I'd rather have large older trees on my property (if I had property) than have it all open with just the bare house sticking up like NJ suddenly became the prairie or something.

Now if by not maintaining, you mean not trimming shrubbery and cutting lawns, I agree. However, along with the chopping down of all trees came the idea of perfect lawns with perfect grass and the pesticides and crap that were necessary to keep it that way. Before the 1980's, the unnatural treeless lots with perfect lawns were not the norm, and that look still screams out "FAKE!" to me.

Now that I think about it, that's the same time period in which people first started using fake siding. Now almost everyone has the fake siding, so I guess that's just what Jersey has become. A once-beautiful place of woodlands and plant life and houses of brick, stone and wood now mowed down and filled with plastic houses.

I'm depressed now. I need ice cream.
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Old 09-26-2011, 03:49 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,328,292 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jm1031 View Post
I went to b-school with a woman who worked at a company that manufactured paint and part of her job was picking the color names. Boy, did she have fun doing that! Your choices sound both pretty and delicious.

I'm definitely of the "I don't want to pay for someone else's decorating" school, but I can see that it would be preferable to start with a clean slate and not have buyers worrying about how to cover over the red paint. It's weird how different your perceptions are when you're the buyer and when you're the seller.
painting can help increase interest, but that's mostly because of people not being able to realize that the color of a wall shouldn't influence their house decision. really, this is only applicable to very different colors. my dining room is dark red, but i bought the house because i realized if i paint a lighter color, the room won't look as dark as it does. some people don't realize this, and you'll lose them as potential buyers because of something silly.

the big important things is reducing clutter and staging it better. little improvements go a long way.
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Old 09-26-2011, 03:55 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,328,292 times
Reputation: 3730
Quote:
Originally Posted by nybbler View Post
I'm guessing you haven't seen actual original 1960s un-updated houses. There's a few out there but not many. Hallmarks include oak hardwood floors (showing their age) in the bedrooms and living areas, ceramic, linoleum or vinyl asbestos tile in the kitchen and possibly family room (no carpet), colored appliances usually including a double wall oven, colored bath fixtures, no central air, and wallpaper. Windows are generally double-hung single pane with true divided lites; any screen or storm window is a later addition. Paneling would usually be a 70s addition.

Anyway, if you're moving into an un-updated home, it's not that big a deal, you just have to make sure the price reflects it. My wife and I moved in to a poorly updated home about 18 months ago; we've since replaced almost all the flooring, painted everywhere, and had the kitchen redone. Windows and bathrooms (1 largely original, 1 poorly redone) are the major items remaining.
have you done these things yourself, or did you use contractors? i know you're in west orange, and i'm looking into kitchen redo, so i'm curious.
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Old 09-26-2011, 04:00 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,328,292 times
Reputation: 3730
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801 View Post
I am the opposite. When my parents had their house built in 1957, it was a wooded lot and the builder cut down just enough trees to build the house and have nice-sized front and backyard areas, but at that time they didn't clear the whole lot and then plant one or two spindly trees. Those older homes you see probably had trees there all along. I'd rather have large older trees on my property (if I had property) than have it all open with just the bare house sticking up like NJ suddenly became the prairie or something.

Now if by not maintaining, you mean not trimming shrubbery and cutting lawns, I agree. However, along with the chopping down of all trees came the idea of perfect lawns with perfect grass and the pesticides and crap that were necessary to keep it that way. Before the 1980's, the unnatural treeless lots with perfect lawns were not the norm, and that look still screams out "FAKE!" to me.

Now that I think about it, that's the same time period in which people first started using fake siding. Now almost everyone has the fake siding, so I guess that's just what Jersey has become. A once-beautiful place of woodlands and plant life and houses of brick, stone and wood now mowed down and filled with plastic houses.

I'm depressed now. I need ice cream.
my town still has a lot of that original charm. very old trees, the traditional siding, etc. i want to keep my siding and get it repainted and restores where needed. but we do have updated windows. i also want to look into getting my stairs and molding in the house refinished. think it will really bring the place to life, even though the wood looks really nice currently.

funny thing is, people want "updated" where they get fake wood instead of cherry wood, along with a bunch of other cheap remodels that became popular in the 90s and 00s.

i love the charm of my neighborhood because of the old homes. but they have their drawbacks too.
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Old 09-26-2011, 04:39 PM
 
831 posts, read 2,816,598 times
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Originally Posted by finallykf View Post
the homes have been owned by the same people for 40 years and they moved in and never bought new furniture or updated the kitchen, appliances, or carpeting.
This is true. Just look at the crap these million dollar home owners throw out on bulky waste day. I can not believe they even had that old dated stuff in their beautiful homes. Same with garage sales, 40 years of accumalation, and when the crap doesn't sell, they haul it back in.
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