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This thread has been enlightening for me and will now definitely change the way I look at homes on the market. The problem for us is that we know absolutely nothing about fixing up a house. I suppose everyone has to start somewhere. I feel a bit naive asking this, but how do you learn to do all that do-it-yourself stuff? Are there better ways than others to learn how to fix up a house?
Jump right in and READ, READ, READ! I read everything i could get my hands on. Of course I made mistakes, luckily most were easily correctable. Also, know your limits. Aside from basic plumbing and electrical, I leave the more in depth stuff to the pros. Those are areas I don't mind paying someone else to do.
After reading all these posts - bottom line is make sure you look closely at what you are buying. It easy to walk into a home and be impressed by the shiny new kitchen, but if you open up a cabinet and see a home depot special you know you'll probably be replacing them within 10 years. We are expecting snow here tomorrow so my appointment to see the "flip" might be canceled, but now I really want to get in there and see what was done!! And BTW - I can tell a $2.00 light fixture from a $75.00 one.
Sad to say, most people are lazy or so busy with two wage earners working that they don't want to have to change ANYTHING when they move in. So, yes, if you really want to sell quickly, paint that room. Take a few pictures for yourself first!
The other condition people want when they buy a house is for the house to be CLEAN. When we sold our house in FL in 4 days, the buyers said one reason they liked our house was that it was the only clean one they saw.
This thread has been enlightening for me and will now definitely change the way I look at homes on the market. The problem for us is that we know absolutely nothing about fixing up a house. I suppose everyone has to start somewhere. I feel a bit naive asking this, but how do you learn to do all that do-it-yourself stuff? Are there better ways than others to learn how to fix up a house?
Both Home Depot and Lowe's have do-it-yourselfer Saturday morning lessons. I went to one on installing laminate and felt confident to do it myself. I went to another one on plumbing and learned that I'm better off calling someone in
One of my kids' rooms has the lower 3 1/2 ft of the wall painted bright red. It's a nascar themed room (featuring Dale Earnhardt Jr.) Well it's a fun room and it's well done. But do you think a buyer would walk in there and rule the whole house out because of it? The rest of the house is very neutral.
Some buyers would. I'd deduct from my offer for any room that I had to re-paint. Whether the walls are red or just dirty, if it needs to be painted I don't want to pay for it.
I am with the OP. I prefer doing my own timeless and tasteful updating.
So many people however, don't even want to paint and something as simple as a wall color is a turn-off for them. And there is something as too much neutral- too blah.
This is where a good buyer's agent needs to educate a buyer about what's really important versus not.
And don't get me started on the granite thing. It's already begining to date, in some markets.
I sold a house (got divorced) and we painted every room a neutral color before putting it on the market. My fiance's fixing to sell his house and even though it's already painted neutral colors, it's getting a fresh coat of paint in every room. I think a house that's move-in ready is more attractive especially in a buyer's market. That's just me though.
We're going to buy next year and since there's tons of inventory on the market in the areas we're interested in, I think we can afford to be picky. Why buy a house with offensive paint colors when I can get the exact same house (same floor plan, even) 3 blocks away for the same price but don't have to paint any walls? Sellers need to get real. Neutralize!
You are not alone - which is why the So Cal housing market has pretty much come to a grinding halt. It's almost laughable how many flippers are now floppers - aka got left holding the bag on their over-inflated, no-equity 'cash cows' that are now just wandering around in a barren pasture. One only has to look at the sale history on these mostrosities to see how foolish they look now.
So I know this is an old thread now, but I can't help updating everyone on the flip that I saw on Friday with my sister - IT WAS HORRIBLE. I had high hopes for her since her house search has become somewhat frustrating. But anyway in the middle of a snowstorm Friday we ventured over with her realtor (I couldn't believe the realtor wanted to go in a storm, but went we did!). The house did have great curb appeal so I'll give it that, but it went pretty fast downhill from there. First walkaround the house, freshly painted and hiding a multitude of sins. There were actually a few loose shingles that I could easily lift with my hands and the paint on some sills was already peeling. Couldn't see the roof with the snow, so who knows!
Inside the first thing that hit me was that they had textured the walls in the foyer and some in the kitchen with some pointy hard texture stuff. I don't think it was compound because it was really hard stuff. Closer inspection revealed that there was actually wallpaper under the new fun texture stuff?? As a matter of fact, someone had fun with texture because most of the rooms had a different texture on the ceilings. Floors were new laminate - not a fan. The living room had styrofoam beams that had not been removed. Most of the rooms on the lower level had paneling that had been painted over. As a matter of fact the entire house had a fresh coat of white, flat paint. Thats good I guess, but no semi-gloss for the trim because I guess that would be too much work?? The kitchen was suppose to "wow" us because it was new. Lets see, cheapest cabinets and appliances possible (scratch and dent microwave I think) - glacier bay faucet, no disposal. One small light above the island for the entire kitchen?? Bathrooms were very neutral, but I didn't even know they made plastic vanity cabinets, but somehow this house had them and the upstairs bath, the vanity had been leveled with a piece of cardboard?? No bathroom fans at all. Bedrooms were all carpeted very nicely, its too bad they painted over all the wallpaper in the house. And finally, my favorite - all new windows, too bad they were not fitted properly and an additional piece of trim had been added by the flipper to hide the gaps around the window. A quick chat with some neighbors who were plowing the snow told us that the basement had flooded last spring....I think well pass on this one...
The house next door to us is a flip. It was a forclosure. The guy bought it and "fixed" it up. I saw the before and after. No thanks. The only nice thing was his carpet choice. There is a 4 seasons porch that I'm pretty sure has the orginal windows, metal. The best I can describe them are panels. 14 of them with 3 windows in each panel(3 walls of windows). One old door going onto the deck.
He fixed up the deck and it does look nice. However, all the bushes that surrounded it, he ripped out. He ripped out bushes in the front as well. He took the stumps out in the front, but not in the back. He covered them with mulch. He put this small white decoration "fence" around them as well. There is a shed in the back that he repainted. The grass in the back is pretty much all creeping charley. He told me that he had big plans for the backyard and I wouldn't even it recogonize it. I assumed this meant doing somekind of landscaping. He didn't do anything. It's a shame too, because it's a huge fenced in yard and the view from the deck/4 seasons room would be amazing with some really nice landscaping.
The inside needed a ton of work from what I saw before he started. The downstairs bathroom ceiling was peeling. I assumed he would re drywall it. Nope, scraped and painted. Looks horrible. The kitchen is very small(no room for a table). The only appliance is the dishwasher. He retiled it and painted the cabinets. It looks okay, but for the price he is asking, it should have the stove and fridge as well.
The siding and roof need to be replaced as well. It's a one car attached garage that needs a lot of work. The windows in the garage inside and the outside are terrible looking. Need replacing.
He's asking $139,000. This house is just a tad bigger then ours. We had ours up for sale for about a week and it was up for $114,900 and I know it would have sold before his. We had 1 open house and 2 showings. After we took it off the market our realtor called with someone who wants to buy it after her lease is up in May. I don't know if we'll be able to move by then, but he wants us to let him know. Our realtor said that the guy is about 20 grand overpriced and he is. It's been sitting for 4 months now with not a lot of action. I wouldn't take it if it was free.
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