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I'm just curious because when I look at listing photos, I see older homes that have perfect walls and trim and doors, no scuffs or dents or marks. They don't look like they've only been painted; it looks like a new house inside. I'm wondering if they actually have all the sheetrock and trim replaced to get ready to sell? Wouldn't that be expensive?
I mean sure you see some homes that look bad, but for the most part, at least from photos, I'm impressed with how perfect everything looks. I'm talking homes that are 50 to 100 years old and you would expect to not look new inside - and yet they do.
And some of the homes are lower end homes, so it doesn't seem like replacing everything would be very cost effective.
There's no way to tell from listing photos whether that older home was always maintained well or just got a lot of work done before putting it on the market. Many homeowners take pride in older homes and keep them up. OTOH, lots of new finishes could have been done cheaply; slap dash shiny coverings trying to hide big problems. The home could have been updated by a flipper too.
Only a local realtor could advise someone about what might be worth doing or not doing to get an older home ready for sale. If the home was mine, I would first take care of the things that would be called out on an inspection. Deal with the safety, structural, mechanical basics so the place is livable and a buyer can get financing for it. Cosmetic things could be left for a buyer depending on the market.
Hardly ever have to re-sheetrock just to have a place look nice, though sheetrock sometimes has been re-done for other reasons, like new wiring, plumbing or insulation. Scuffs in walls can often be patched, caulked, puttied before painting or refinishing to look new.
In many cases this is the magic of digital photo processing technology. Just like free apps instantly can remove all imperfections from your face when you do a selfie. And make you look thinner. And more tanned. And with a distinct healthy glow.
The interior and exterior photos increasingly are very heavily processed and have an almost painted quality to them.
Thanks for the responses! Just something I had been thinking about because my daughter is looking at houses and I was struck with how perfect all the homes look on realtor websites.
Thanks for the responses! Just something I had been thinking about because my daughter is looking at houses and I was struck with how perfect all the homes look on realtor websites.
Realtors are trying to sell something. 'Nuff said!
Well, when we sold our previous house (build in 1926 and major renovation in 1987) in 2011, we hired our handyman to take care of a lot of minor items. $4000 later, it looked much better.
That was less than the $10000 roof replacement.
Last edited by davebarnes; 03-16-2018 at 04:28 PM..
There's no way to tell from listing photos whether that older home was always maintained well or just got a lot of work done before putting it on the market. Many homeowners take pride in older homes and keep them up. OTOH, lots of new finishes could have been done cheaply; slap dash shiny coverings trying to hide big problems. The home could have been updated by a flipper too.
I agree. The older homes that have been made to look au courant are USUALLY not done as well as an original home. A house on my block had been beaten to death with all sorts of problems that remained after 20+ years of being a "community home" with far too many people living in it. At the open house you could see all the many problems. All the plumbing was a mess. The house smelled. It was dirty. There were other serious problems from having been chopped up in order to house more residents.
Then a flipper/renovator (nice guy) bought the house and updated it, put in new kitchen cabinets, added a fancy front door with beveled glass and turned the house into a rental that I presume he will ultimately sell. But some of the most important problems (the ones that buyers can't see and inspectors can't, either) were not addressed. Also, a major load-bearing wall was cut way back to make the house look "OPEN", a feature I personally hate, whether the house is new or old.
I wouldn't touch that house, would never want to live in it, even though it now "looks nice" in the front part of the house.
Give me an older house that is being sold by the original owner and let me renovate it myself, if I choose to do so. That's a much wiser thing for a buyer to do.
Thanks for the responses! Just something I had been thinking about because my daughter is looking at houses and I was struck with how perfect all the homes look on realtor websites.
It’s like all of those vacation homes you see for rent, they all look perfect in the pics, but when you get there... not so much.
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