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OT: A house that won't sell

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It is a bit unusual but at the right price it will sell. Send in a painting crew and in a couple of days it is normal.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

How thick would you have to apply paint to keep the crap from showing through?

I am thinking fresh sheet rock

Reply to
T

What would you do with the toilet and sink fixtures? Replace them?

Reply to
T

Yes, with plain white!

If the paint has texture you may be able to spray a finish on it that has a stipple finish like some new houses have.

Floors may be possible to sand, if not, one of the pre-finished flooring or laminate.

May even be some trim or door in a kids room you could leave, but not much.

Hello Amazon? Send me a drum of Kilz.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

50 grand would pretty much look after the redecorating - might want to upate the kitchen and bath as well - so add another 20 grand and you'be got the place the way you want it. ANYTHING will sell at the right price.
Reply to
Clare Snyder

$50k is probably a good number but that will be going from FEPA/C to market. My buddy did a bunch of chinese drywall houses and that was basically what he was doing, Striping them to the studs and build them back, high end.

Reply to
gfretwell

I had neighbors in my apartment building in NY, and the wife had painted the place beautifully, with the moldings a tan etc. After they moved, the idiot landlord painted everything all white again.

Reply to
micky

I'm not contradicting you. In the url the place is something most people would object to. My friends' place was something no one would object to and much more 'elegant' than plain white.

The building had been sold and the new landlord was basically a slumlord. Ours was the most expensive buildilng he owned and it got treated a little better.

But he turned the heat down during the day, illegally. This was bad for the old people, women in their 80's, and the babies, who didn't go to work. I broke into the furnace room just to look around. Saw that there was no "thermostat", nothing with 68, 70^ etc., just a heat amount control, so I turned the heat control up one increment, then loosened the set screw and removed the knob and put it back on pointing to the original place. I don't think he ever noticed.

I removed one cover elsewhere and found that he had disconnected or bypassed the industrial style fire/smoke alarm. Maybe because there had been fires. There were times the heat was out for a day. He was supposed to be a plumber but there was a plastic dishpan under one of the pipe connections with oil that had dripped from the joint. It was like that for years. My friend the architect, who had lived in the apartment at the top but had with a partner bought the similar sized building across the street, said we were probably still safe because of the thick cement ceiling, no stairway up, only elevator shafts with metal doors.

I put the furnace room lock back the way I found it, moistened the screws so they would rust again by the next time they looked, and afaik he never knew anyone had been in there. He never changed the lock and hasp arrangement to keep me from unscrewing it.

To get to the basement: They started locking the button to go to the basement, which the prior landlord never did. So late at night I took off the brass plate that covered all the buttons and I ran some lamp ccrd from the key switch to just where the bottom edge of the brass plate went, so when back together, I could unlock the basement button by pushing that button and at the same time putting a quarter or a screwdriver up so it touched the lamp cord. That lasted until I moved, but when I was back there 3 years later, they'd found it.

He didn't know how to run the water supply pressure either but that's another story.

The building was sold again not too much later and the new owner has undone most of the damage of the prior owner.

Reply to
micky

I worked realty for a while and saw houses remodeled for company sales when employees were transferred and company paid for move an took over sale of the house. Everything was painted white and carpeting when put in was neutral shades. People do not want to move into other people's shrines. You do not color a room but bring color into the room in terms of your furnishings.

Reply to
Frank

If I'm painting my house to live in it for 30-40 years, I'll paint it whatever color I want.

Twenty years down; twenty to go on this house.

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
Cindy Hamilton

Exactly. I doubt the next owner of this house will enjoy our tastes either but that is why they have decorators and painters. The reality is the next owner will most likely tear this place down anyway. That does seem to be the trend on waterfront property here. I will be dead so I won't care. I will be buried in the back yard with my dogs if I get my way.

Reply to
gfretwell

I'm leaving instructions to cremate me and put the ashes in the trash. If that's not legal, they can dump them in the back yard before they sell the house.

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
Cindy Hamilton

Of course you should paint the house as you like but if selling you might consider neutralizing to help sale. You might want to depersonalize it putting up for sale like removing pictures etc. People buying are looking for a place to live in and do not want to feel like they are moving into someone else's place.

These kind of changes do not cost much and return could be high if selling. Changes you make now should be for yourself and not the next guy.

I had a next door neighbor over extend himself in remodeling his place for sale including things like new carpeting and a complete bathroom remodeling. The family that bought it tore out the carpet for the hardwood floors and completely remodeled the newly remodeled bathroom to suit a family elder.

Reply to
Frank

That's going to be someone else's problem. I'm going out feet first.

Of course we did that for the houses we've sold. Not that we have many pictures of people, anyway. We don't have very extreme taste, so we never needed to repaint to sell.

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
Cindy Hamilton

Two years ago when we put our house for sale I did three things: Frequent trips to Salvation Army to donate. Cheap plain carpet in a spare room to hide the original ugly one from 1978 Rented a Pod. Loaded it up with things to take but would not need in the next few months.

Had no problem getting a few offers. There was no clutter. It was kept up over the years and the new owner did a few things to their taste.

This time around we bought a brand new house and could personalize it so no changes planned.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

That is not actually ashes. That is your ground up bones that would not burn

Reply to
T

Yikes!

I hated renting. The best description I can comes up with for renting is "camping".

The landlords complain about tenant abuses and the landlords aren't any better.

When I rented houses, I found the landlord would pull out a card and read the same exact message to you "This is a long term investment. You can stay in the house as long as you want". Translation: it was on the market for sale. Liars.

Reply to
T

Same here but I am specifying the yard by my dogs. The trash might be illegal but your yard isn't.

Reply to
gfretwell

Or the stuff out of his charcoal grill. I never assumed these were actually just the ashes of the deceased. It really looks more like boiler scale to me. (I have done this 3 times).

Reply to
gfretwell

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