Grey brick house - hard to resell? (Houston, Dallas: purchasing, living in)

[roskybosky]

I am fanatically into design and architecture and I love gray brick, and I love bedrooms upstairs. Downstairs MBR are strange to me, and I would jump at the chance for all the BRs to be upstairs. If you are handicapped or elderly, that's another story.

But, I gobble up design books every month, and push furniture around my house for a fun time, so I could be different.

All the pink and red brick in Dallas looks monotonous and commercial to me. Painted brick is gorgeous-you will find a buyer for your house no matter what. Anything in the Coppell isd flys off the shelf. I have 2 friends who recently sold their houses in Coppell (older homes, about 280-350k) They both received offers the first day-both received offers over the asking price.

Buy the house if you like it and it serves your needs. It's in a good spot.

[CMC_TX]

Originally Posted by ashtank

We saw a house (1993 built) in Southlake/Coppel ISD. The interior of the house looks great and fits all of our needs. The exterior is Grey brick. The house also has Master BR upstairs (level 2).

We were almost considering making an offer on the house but our realtor gave some feedback which got me thinking. Our realtor says it is very hard to resell a grey brick house. On top of that having a master Br upstairs is another negative for resell.

I have barely seen any grey brick houses in Southlake and as such do not have any opinion (good/bad) about them. What are your thoughts?

Thanks!!

I assume you mean Carroll ISD since Copell is a totally different city. By grey brick, do you mean like the house I linked below:

1301 Normandy Ct, Southlake, TX 76092 - realtor.com®

If so, yes, it is uglier than the 90's pink and will limit your buying pool, but as others have noted, buy the home that works for you. Any house in a nice area with a desirable school district will sell, as people will always have to make some compromise.

I agree the early 90s gray brick is very different from the trendier painted grey you see today, which can actually look good. Painted brick has been popularized now on the home remodel shows with the white paint, german schmear, etc.

[Hacker1234]

I am a huge fan of Master Bedroom up, never understood why it was bad in Dallas.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by Hacker1234

I am a huge fan of Master Bedroom up, never understood why it was bad in Dallas.

It's in minds of realtors only and they keep putting it in minds of buyers. When it comes to real people, there are ones who prefer master upstairs and others who prefer downstairs. Imho, there are pros and cons for both but ultimately it's about your lifestyle.

[Hacker1234]

Coming from California I thought it was very weird having the master bedroom down. When we moved to WA it was like being back home with the master up.

When I bought my first home in Frisco, we got one with master up.

[ashtank]

Originally Posted by CMC_TX

I assume you mean Carroll ISD since Copell is a totally different city. By grey brick, do you mean like the house I linked below:

1301 Normandy Ct, Southlake, TX 76092 - realtor.com®

If so, yes, it is uglier than the 90's pink and will limit your buying pool, but as others have noted, buy the home that works for you. Any house in a nice area with a desirable school district will sell, as people will always have to make some compromise.

I agree the early 90s gray brick is very different from the trendier painted grey you see today, which can actually look good. Painted brick has been popularized now on the home remodel shows with the white paint, german schmear, etc.

Yep you are right! I meant Carroll ISD. Sorry about the mix up!
And that is THE house i was referring to!

I did'nt think it had any curb appeal whatsoever. But my husband thought it popped out amongst all the shades of pink/red brick houses around

[ashtank]

Originally Posted by calgirlinnc

Can you paint the brick?

We checked that option but were told that apparently the 90's grey bricks are so porous that it will need a few coats of paint and even then it may not look good.

[CMC_TX]

Originally Posted by ashtank

Yep you are right! I meant Carroll ISD. Sorry about the mix up!
And that is THE house i was referring to!

I did'nt think it had any curb appeal whatsoever. But my husband thought it popped out amongst all the shades of pink/red brick houses around

How funny! I picked it randomly and you're right, there aren't many with that shade in Southlake. I'm on your side there is not much curb appeal. In this case, I don't think standing out is a good thing, especially with the difficulty painting you noted.

[crone]

We once had a gray trimmed house to sell. The agent i was talking with said gray houses are hard to sell.

DH said find an agent with a gray office. We did and the house sold, no problems.

[Rakin]

Very strange... Some idiot Realtor listed this home in the Houston MLS system and not in the North Texas system. May not get a lot of lookers.

Traditionally, grey has been a hard color to resale. Same with Master bedrooms upstairs. Most anyone over 40 and with older kids don't like the Master being up.