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Status:
"I didn't do it, nobody saw me"
(set 1 day ago)
Location: Ocala, FL
6,484 posts, read 10,360,322 times
Reputation: 7940
Quote:
Originally Posted by manekeniko
Yeah, but it's true. Don't listen to me; any experienced flipper will tell you so.
I am not disagreeing with you.
I once bought an apartment in a 4 unit building that was not pleasant to look at but was dramatically turned around when I finished with it. Still renting it out and earning a nice income from it considering I paid so little for it and did most of the work myself.
You see it in listing-after-listing. And now that even once-fine magazines like Town & Country and Architectural Digest have become sleazy rags, you see thinly-disguised real estate ads in them, cluelessly touting any architectural monstrosity with even vaguely neoclassical details, as being "replicas of Versailles".
When we were shopping Old Westbury, about a decade back, the only two openly-listed homes which caught my eye, turned out to have been described, in listings, with Versailles-derived terms. One was finally revealed to be Victoria Gotti's neo-Roman pile (which I'd mistaken for a badly-renovated Beaux Arts number from the '20s), and Bernie Madoff's brother's excessively-understated Depression-era French Provincial home (with tacky Twentieth Century Contemporary pool area). (and yes, the experience also taught me that on that end of Long Island, anything worth having, is going to have a soft listing - for which I'll need Warburg, and that there's something seriously wrong with me, if houses like those two, jump out at me, from among a host of candidates)
Neither being French, nor being neoclassical, makes something "Versailles". And there are plenty of neoclassical French buildings, besides those at Versailles, which can (and do) serve as precedents and inspiration to designers. This has been the case, for centuries.
Versailles is, for the most part, entirely unoriginal, and mostly inferior to the greater architectural triumphs of France. It was built by a family of hoodlums, who had usurped their nation's legitimate ruling classes. The palace was built, mostly in haste, using exceptionally exploitative labor practices. And frankly, it's not that attractive. I've spent plenty of time there - both on VIP tours, and as a guest at entertainments. I'm sorry. It's just not that wonderful. It's the architecture of totalitarianism, and is every bit as klutzy as the worst palaces in Saint Petersburg.
Realtors have no idea how insulting it is, to potential buyers of important homes, to have kindergarten-level terms inappropriately thrown at us. And "Versailles" is the worst of the worst of those terms. The word makes us feel sleazy. It makes us feel stupid and uneducated. "Modeled after Versailles", makes us wonder whether something might be wrong with our taste.
Similar with "pride in ownership shows" or something of that nature...'This house was maintained by a Bob Vila acolyte who has the aesthetic sensibilities of Al Borland."
“In case it’s not clear yet, the language of real estate listings is bogged down in secret rules and code words. It’s a language where 'modern' means the opposite, and 'unique' is just about the worst thing you could be.” ____Spencer Rascoff, Zillow CEO
Oh my God! What do you use in place of these? Walking or rolling distance? Extra living area for non-binary person?
I used to work in our newspaper's classified department back in the 1970's. Things have certainly changed!
Don't use = Use instead
New/Better than new (My least favorite of all is better than new. What's better than new even mean?) - Roof replaced Sept 2021.
Walking distance to school - .5 miles to school.
Master suite = owners suite
Perfect for first time buyer/executive home/empty nester/downsizer/growing family = Don't say anything about who the perfect buyer is at all.
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