Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have become the very thing I hate, and I figured I'd post here to see if anyone has seen this lately. And if so, how do they handle it?
I'm currently relocating to Michigan. I'm relocating to what I am told is a very hot market, and as such, homes sell easily. The trouble I am having, however, is the condition of the homes I'm looking at. Not structurally. Just cosmetically. It seems that people in this area just cannot be bothered to do the most basic things to prepare their homes for the market. I've seen homes where the photos on the MLS are taken with a cell phone. I've visited homes that had dirty dishes, laundry, and mess everywhere. I've visited a home where the grease on the oven hood was so thick, it most likely wasn't cleaned for over 5 years. I even visited a home where there was visible black mold crawling up a basement wall. And no, I'm not in the low-end of the market either. I'm looking slightly above the median to the upper-middle end of the market.
I used to watch House Hunters and roll my eyes at people who couldn't see past the cosmetic issues in a home, but now I'm right there. My home that is on the market has has nearly 75% of all the belongings moved out and put into storage and has been professionally staged. I have a cleaning service come in twice a week to make sure it is **** and span for a showing. Yet I'm visiting homes where people can't even be bothered to make a bed.
I'm struggling to spend several hundred thousand dollars on a property where the owners don't seem to be interested in taking care of it in even the most basic way. But the only problem I'm having is EVERY occupied house I've seen is like this. It's epidemic.
Has anyone ever encountered an experience like this?
Rent for a year or two, see how things sort out with the job, make some friends,
and THEN (if you still want to) explore whats real and what isn't in the RE market
rational.
He is correct.
Rent.
Figure out where the hidden gems and great values are.
I found about a new one in greater Denver 2 days ago and I have lived here 32 years.
I found 3 of them last weekend during a modern home tour.
Ṣpic and Span **** 'n Span - Home is censored? Seriously? OK, this is silly. What will the PRs think?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57739
You probably don't want to live in a neighborhood where people are so careless about their home care. If those for sale look that bad, imagine what the others are like. MrRational is right, rent and take your time to discover where you will be happy living before getting tied into a mortgage in an area that could be going downhill.
First . Rent for job relo. Don't buy for a few years. What happens if you have to relocate again in 3 years. You'll take a bath if its a down market. Or lose any equity gained to commissions
As for the experience with houses yup I saw that a lot when I was looking. One guy didn't even bother to wash the dishes or pick up the dog poo. Out of the 12 or so houses I liked at only four were completely clean and two were remodels. The other eight were but dirty smelly and trashed. And they were asking top dollar. Inthought the same way you did. JC im about to drop 5-600k on a house and this guy lives like a pig. Not this kid.
I never understood people who want to sell anything yet refuse to do the least amount to show it well like a basic pick up and clean
Last edited by Electrician4you; 09-13-2013 at 09:53 AM..
It's all about location. If the location is hot and homes fly off the shelves regardless of condition, then there's little motivation for the seller to spend any more money than needed. I lived in NYC, and I've seen dated apartments and homes get sold within days or weeks.
Yeah but come on. Spend a few hundred to clean up the pig pen and hell tack it on to the price of the house. If I walk in a dirty house I automatically take off 20k. Why? I figure if you can't spend the time to do some basic cleaning you probably don't maintain the house either.
Last edited by Electrician4you; 09-14-2013 at 03:52 PM..
even though i myself am all for making the house look as good as it can be when its time to sell. I can see where in a hot market you would not be able to take off 20k from the price just cause the house is dirty or needs cosmetic repairs. the sellers knows the market is "hot" and it will sell for the asking price or close to it with or without a good cleaning.
I am getting ready to put my house in Aston, PA on the market this winter/spring. I have lived in it for years and not done much for the curb appeal outside or inside, besides redoing the kitchen 7 years ago and installing new hardwood floors. I basically just did the necessary maintenance over the last 15 years and called it home. since I am selling it I am installing new vinyl siding and windows, new tankless hot water heater, new vanity/sinks and toilets in the bathroom and finally fresh paint throughout the house followed by a real good cleaning. I will install new flower beds and green shrubbery. I will also clean it out and move my belongings to my other house I will also pay to have it staged professionally with rental furnishings and not live there while its for sale all this extra effort is just to try to get as close to my asking price as possible. when all is said and done all the extra work I am doing will probably net me no more than 12k extra versus selling it like it is now. I just feel that why not get the most you can for it especially if all that's involved is your own labor and just materials costs If all works out I will have an extra 12k to spend on a boat or wasted a lot of my time for nothing only time will tell.
Yeah but come on. Spend a few hundred to clean up the pig pen and hell tack it on to the price of the house. If I walk in a dirty house I automatically take off 20k. Why? I figure if you can't spend the time to do some basic cleaning you probably don't maintain the house either.
This. Some people are just clueless and they (and apparently their realtors) have no sense that cell phone photos and other terrible pictures are BAD for marketing something which is selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. These same people have no sense that clutter and dated decor is bad. Or they just don't want to, or can't make the effort. When my house was on the market we spent MONTHS getting it ready, putting half our stuff in storage, keeping it clean 24/7. It was a huge amount of work, and there's no way we wouldn't have done it (frankly I would have been embarrassed to interview realtors there had we not done it, let alone have buyers come in.) But I understood why so many other houses seem totally unprepared.
But when it comes to true filth, that is a different story. That is where I start thinking that other much more important parts of the house would not have been maintained.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Oh, Mr Rational is so...
