what is it with brightly colored walls in houses? (days on market, for sale)

[GuyFriendly]

Originally Posted by ButtercupMcToots

Do you really think we want to keep our houses on the markety that long?

WNC is a colorful place. Are you moving to Asheville?

IF .,.. IF we sell this house in AZ before the toilet that is the market here is finished flushing, then yes, we are moving to Western NC... preferable the Hendersonville area but with a wide circle of looking from Black Mountain to Brevard.

As for the time on the market, take a look at the MLS listings... There are so many homes over 400 days it is ridiculous. Even more over 300. I can't believe anyone would let them sit that long, but there you are.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by GuyFriendly

It is so different from AZ where a blue house like ours is looked at with disdain by RE agents because it isn't tan or pale pink or pale red like 99% of the homes out here...

... and they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same...

Wow. Well, here people like uniformity in the yards and tasteful colors on the exteriors, but then really personalizing the inside of the home

[ButtercupMcToots]

Originally Posted by GuyFriendly

IF .,.. IF we sell this house in AZ before the toilet that is the market here is finished flushing, then yes, we are moving to Western NC... preferable the Hendersonville area but with a wide circle of looking from Black Mountain to Brevard.

As for the time on the market, take a look at the MLS listings... There are so many homes over 400 days it is ridiculous. Even more over 300. I can't believe anyone would let them sit that long, but there you are.

With this being primarily a retirement area a lot of them are estates.

So what should we do?

[Cofga]

Originally Posted by lovesMountains

Wow. Well, here people like uniformity in the yards and tasteful colors on the exteriors, but then really personalizing the inside of the home

I think what you and those trying to sell these homes is that it doesn't matter what you want the house to look like--its what the buyers expect/want that matters. Also, a house full of clutter and dark rooms makes it look smaller, which no one wants to buy.

As for days on the market, I'm sure no one wants them on that long. However the reality is that the average is now 163 days to sell a house in the Asheville market. And there is a 22 month inventory of unsold homes--anything over 6 months is considered a buyers market so to sell under those conditions you absolutely have to do everything you can to make the house desirable to a potential buyer. Put the clutter in storage, get rid of old excess furniture, paint everything a neutral color, and open the curtains and turn on the lights. We did all that and a lot more and sold our homo in NVa in 2 days--it really works.

[Jellobiafra]

That's completely opposite from here in SW Florida. I'm continually amazed at how many people stuck with the hideous exterior paint trends from 30 years ago, when people were painting their houses bright yellow, green, and some other just horrifying colors. But...to each their own.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Cofga

I think what you and those trying to sell these homes is that it doesn't matter what you want the house to look like--its what the buyers expect/want that matters. Also, a house full of clutter and dark rooms makes it look smaller, which no one wants to buy.

As for days on the market, I'm sure no one wants them on that long. However the reality is that the average is now 163 days to sell a house in the Asheville market. And there is a 22 month inventory of unsold homes--anything over 6 months is considered a buyers market so to sell under those conditions you absolutely have to do everything you can to make the house desirable to a potential buyer. Put the clutter in storage, get rid of old excess furniture, paint everything a neutral color, and open the curtains and turn on the lights. We did all that and a lot more and sold our homo in NVa in 2 days--it really works.

I agree - it does work - we sold ours in Charlotte in under 90 days - which is good right now

[queenofbavaria]

funny - when I started to look at some houses, I was released to FINALLY see houses, which are not looking neutral from outside AND inside.
I guess, you would be shocked by my apple green walls in a contem. kitchen

When I see a house and I like layout, size, location, schools ...etc. I then check on the kitchen - since this is a bigger investment, floors and then bathrooms (which would be minor issue).
very often I find walls very neutral, off-white, beige, vanille and I then try to imagine, how it would look painted in warm orange, bright green und skyblue . thank god i have a good imagination. and - as others have said, paint, even very good one, which covers well, is so inexpensive and you can make a house yours in 2 days.

I am sure, there are houses out there for everybody and they come in all sizes and colors.
and they will look SO different in real.
I am much more amazed by the bad, bad quality of the pictures, you find very often . great pics and the job is half done.

good luck !

[Tiger Beer]

Love bright colored walls.

Regarding the selling things and fixing things up. I think either people KNOW that stuff, or they don't. Personally, I think you are ALL better off that they don't!

It basically means you'll have a much stronger advantage when you sell your home...PLUS...you can negotiate a much better deal buying one...

[the Parkies]

Originally Posted by GuyFriendly

This [mold] is my biggest concern, actually.

Mold is one of the two biggest health concerns when you buy here. Basements are very commonly built into mountain hillsides as foundations for living space above. We strongly suggest you avoid below-grade levels. All of the below-grade levels we visited stunk with mold, including the lower level of the nice house we rented in Hendersonville. The rental company brought in dehumidifiers and we closed below-grade doors, but the smell still wafted up the staircase. That was all good prep for buying a house--no basement for us!

So the 20-year-old house we bought had no basement, yet we still had to deal with mold problems. The three-to-four-foot crawl space below the house harbored enough mold that the inspector had to highlight it. Sellers gave us $4,000 to install a French drain at the bottom of the slope behind our house to eliminate the source of the moisture causing the mold. That worked well. Today, no more mold. But we check now and then to make sure it's still dry down there.

Minor structural issues can allow moldy air, even in the crawl space, to be sucked up into the house by the heating and cooling system's air handlers. We had ALL the flooring, joists, vents, air handlers--everything--examined and corrected before we closed on the house. If a fairly well-ventilated crawl space can provide enough mold to cause health problems, imagine what a closed-in basement can do!

Radon gas needs to be your other major concern in WNC. Your inspection should definitely include reference to the level of radon, which I understand can be easy to eradicate but is a definite health hazard, so you need to deal with that, too. Our house was low in radon gas emissions.

These conditions, like the presence of poisonous snakes, pesky insects, and too-friendly bears, if your property happens to include those, you either live with or learn to deal with. We can easily overlook a few negatives when the positives are too many to count.

[mm_mary73]

Originally Posted by GuyFriendly

It is so different from AZ where a blue house like ours is looked at with disdain by RE agents because it isn't tan or pale pink or pale red like 99% of the homes out here...
... and they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same...

there's your answer..... pale walls "...look just the same"