What's A Partially-Tripped Circuit Breaker?

[Marilyn Manson]

That is exactly their argument: Should have left it as is.

That is exactly what 3 painters have said. The buyer is still balking, offering something like a grand, when the estimates are closer to $3K.

And ready for this? The house was listed at $375K, sold for $415K. Why he's stalling over $2k for a problem he caused is a bit ridiculous.

And ready for more? The sellers weren't even out of the house by the time closing was over. A lot of their stuff was still in the garage while the buyer's movers were moving stuff in. The seller's son was off renting a truck. There were still dishes in the sink and pet hair all over the house. The buyers sat out on the deck - their deck - for

3 hours while a cleaning crew (paid for by the seller) cleaned the house.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Tell the seller the case went to AHR Arbitration. Pay the $3k and move on.

[Marilyn Manson]

I have plaster walls. Removing nails often leaves the crater you mention. Sometimes even twisting them out doesn't work.

My trick is to use a piece of scotch tape, maybe 2" long. Fold over a 1/4" to make a tab (for tape removal purposes) and place the tape over the spot where the nail will go.

The tape will support the plaster around the hole when you ease the nail out. Then grab the tab and ease the tape off. Gentle is the key.

[Ralph Mowery]

Some people can paint,and some like me can not paint.

What little painting in a house I have done looks good. However I have to cover up everything in the house when I paint anything other than using a spray paint can. One year I built a dog house and painted it outside. I somehow got paint on 3 or 4 door knobs inside the house. Grass outside had paint all over it. Takes me 3 or 4 times the paint it should due to the mess I make.

So I hire someone to do the painting. At the price of paint I almost break even on the cost of paint and the cost of a painter.

When buying a house one almost has to factor in things that will need to be done. I would say painting the inside would be one of them. When I bought this house I knew that the wife would want everything painted her colors that did not have paneling.

[trader_4]

But it was stated that the seller is balking at $3k out of the $5k that was set aside. IMO, only a ahole would patch up small holes from pictures and then paint over it without even sanding. That's just ghetto and made what was there worse. Had they just left it alone, they would be on solid ground. They did leave it as is.

[trader_4]

Small claims court takes a couple hours. I doubt your painting of most of a house is that fast. Wrong, always wrong.

[Scott Lurndal]

Keep in mind that what you read on these posts doesn't necessarily match the reality of the situation.

Your 'ghetto' comment brings to mind this rather funny bit:

[Marilyn Manson]

The seller had no authority to patch and paint. The house was purchased as-is other than the reasonable expectation that it be clean. BTW...it wasn't clean and the seller paid to have a professional cleaning crew come in - after closing - while the buyers (the *owners* at that point) sat out on the deck for 3 hours. Welcome home!

(Maybe if he hadn't wasted time painting he could have cleaned and been moved out in time)

Were that the case, they had the opportunity to "chisel" other issues that will eventually cost them a few thousand dollars. They didn't, because they agreed to buy the house as-is, which, after the painting debacle, it wasn't. Paying thousands of dollars to fix someone else's screwed up paint job was not in the contract.

That's aside from the fact that both agents - buyer's and seller's - agree that the seller should pay.

... and that right there makes anything you've said not worth the internet space it's taking up.

[Ralph Mowery]

If bought 'as is' would that not have included everything including the pictures that were on the wall at the closing time ?

[gfretwell]

If it said "Furnished as is" you would have a case. The reality is if this actually got listed by a realtor, they usually stage the house and they prefer them empty, with a fresh coat of neutral colored paint. I bought this house as is furnished and I got everything that was here at the time. The trash man hated me for a while ;-) I only talked to the realtor a couple of times. She left me with the key the first day and told me to drop it off at her office if I wasn't interested. These were snowbirds who didn't make the trip anymore (someone may have died) and I think they planned on renting this in season if it didn't sell. I spent the weekend here, used all the stuff to be sure it worked and on Monday I low balled them with a cash offer about 7500 less than the asking price. They bit.

[Marilyn Manson]

Listed by a Realtor® or by a real estate agent?

All Realtors® are real estate agents. Not all real estate agents are Realtors®.

In a normal market, sure. These are not normal market times.

I have a friend who is an agent in Las Vegas. I just asked him about this:

"In Vegas, there are 4338 properties list for sale right now. 1635 of them are vacant. Usually, only high-end properties are staged. Staging is very rare, especially right now. Houses sell just as quick either way, so there is no need to spend money on staging. Over the past few years, even leading up to this current market, I've seen very few houses that are staged. I mention it to my clients, but I don't recommend it."

He added that he has seen a few listings with houses that are virtually staged. They have to be labeled as such in the listing.

I found this website. They do virtual staging - adding and removing items - and virtual renovations too.

Slide the arrows back and forth for Before and After.

(No affiliation)

I'll bet you didn't buy that house under the current market conditions.

[gfretwell]

Thanks for sticking up for the union. the Realtors® of the world would be proud of you. I bet you also get pissed when people say Kleenex®

I honestly don't know. She was a local agent and they may have been a union shop, I don't know. People were not as f****ng pedantic about it in those days. As I said, my dealings with them were very limited and I never talked to the owner. I looked at the house, I lived in it 2 days, met the neighbors, played with the appliances and looked over the infrastructure. Then I wrote them a check for a grand to show I was serious and waited to see if they would take my offer. A week later I owned a house.

Under the current market conditions I doubt it would have gone much differently. I just would have paid about a half million more. (for the 1984 house, not what it is now)

Waterfront with a dock and lift, direct Gulf access with less than a half mile of no wake is worth $500k right now, no matter what kind of house is sitting there. The people looking will probably tear it down anyway. They are just sticking a sign in the yard and getting offers sight unseen around here. Nobody asks if there is a Realtor® involved or not. Does anyone? I would just hire my RE lawyer for $275 an hour to write the contract.

[Marilyn Manson]

The National Association of Realtors® is not a union.

I'm not pissed. Are you?

...snip...

You really think that what would happen today would be not "much different" than a low ball offer, less than asking?

How out of touch are you?

So what was with your assertion that "they usually stage the house and they prefer them empty, with a fresh coat of neutral colored paint"?

How do you know what people do? Did you ask everyone?

[gfretwell]

It looks and smells like a union. They have simply branded their trade organization. Nobody has convinced me it made the agents any better they just pay their dues.

I am not as hung up on registered brand names as you. Are you in that union?

Read before you argue. I said I would have to pay more. People have started to believe the hype and are asking ridiculous prices. I don't pay ridiculous prices.

If you think "Realtor" gives you extra credibility go for it and keep paying your dues.

[angelica...]

More like a Medieval guild.

Cindy Hamilton

[Marilyn Manson]

But it's not a union. No collective bargaining involved.

Not sure why you bring that up. I sure didn't say they were any better and you just pay your lawyer, so how would you even know. Has someone tried to convince you?

I'm not in any union. Not even in the business. However, I'll bet if someone used the wrong name in the electrical arena you'd correct them in a heartbeat.

What you actually said was "Under the current market conditions I doubt it would have gone much differently. I just would have paid about a half million more."

"Just" as in "only". That does not eliminate the low balling involved in the earlier transaction.

Any attempt to low ball the seller would most likely go very differently today. That was the point you missed.

I don't pay any dues. I'm not a Realtor. I'm not even a real estate agent. No sure where you got that idea.

[gfretwell]

I didn't bother to correct anyone in this thread.

Not necessarily. A lot of sellers have unrealistic expectations and in a bubble like this, I would rather them say no to a fair price than pay too much and be sorry when the bubble pops. I am telling people I know, you might be better off renting and waiting until this irrational exuberance goes away. The only thing that makes real estate tempting now is they are almost giving mortgage money away but I watched that in 2005-6 too. Some of those houses are still upside down.

Perhaps because of the vehemence you expressed when I was not precise with the term. The truth is I know quite a few real estate hustlers and I can't honestly say how many are Realtors®. Some work for pretty prestigious firms but NOBODY has corrected me when I used realtor as a generic term. I am aware of it tho.

[Marilyn Manson]

Vehemence? I stated a fact. You took it the wrong way. I can't help with that.

[gfretwell]

So were you actually defending the trademark of Realtor like it is important or were you just being pedantic and argumentative? Make up your mind.

[trader_4]

Wrong again, getting to be the new normal here.

Who else but a realtor can list a property.

they usually

BS, obviously. And if some realtor happened to suggest that, there are

99%+ that will not. It's absurd. You're selling a house, you're supposed to move out first? WTF?

Good for you, but again, irrelevant.

The trash man hated me for a while ;-)

All irrelevant, of course.