Real estate General topic

[paulsharvey]

I do try to be realistic; and our market of buyers are people who need a house. The kinda folks that go, yep, this will work, and yep, that price will work. It's not the market of people who are wowwed or fall in love with a home.

We could probably drop $50k into it, and raise the value $30k. That's not at all what I want to do. I'm trying to do the 80/20 thing. I don't want people viewing it, and going eww, what happened here.

IE, repairs, not remodel

 

[kenmbz]

We found that anything that looked like it could be ongoing damage would turn buyers off.
Old mold on cement in basement
Anything that even remotely looked like water damage, ceiling/walls etc.

Cleaning up the front so presentation is nice and clean. Doesn't mean you have to add a lot, just make it look cared for.

People want to think they are walking into something they can make their own, but don't want any troubles, even if they are no longer happening.

We added cheap beige carpet to one of the upstairs rooms in my first house after cleaning up the tile. Was three days work and cost a few hundred in carpet. Probably did not add value, but if we left this, might turn buyers off.

 

[BackRoad]

What will not pass buyer's inspection?

 

[paulsharvey]

What will not pass buyer's inspection?

Well, generally, my understanding, any exposed wires, any structural additions Connected to the home, any active leaks, and of coarse roof/foundation. The roof and foundation are 100%. The porch is not connected to the home, and is free standing.

 

[BackRoad]

Wife suggested painting some outdated Oak cabinets in one of our past houses before selling.

Sherwin or Benni Moore (likely BM) had paint specifically for cabinets. Though it was a fair amount of effort pulling doors and drawer fronts for painting, it turned out very good and showed well.

For the most recent house, WE thought we were ready to sell. It was pristine. Realtor had a house stager on retainer, who handed us 8 pages of recommendations just 2 weeks before the open house.

Some were minor, but it included repainting all 10 rooms to Revere Pewter. We worked our arses off to get through the list and it looked like a Pottery Barn store when we were done. Not our style, but it sold from the open house at asking price so it was worth it...

We were motivated to do the work and get it sold since it was the last domino to fall...we both retired the day after the house sale closed.

 

[WinterDeere]

Yeah, 4 acres alone here is about $80k.

$20k/acre for a medium lot like that would be a steal, around here. Local pricing is more like $1.0 - $1.4M per 1/2 acre in town, down to $100k per acre for 2 - 10 acre lots outside of town.

Larger lots are cheaper per acre, and those under federal or state protection (open space deals) are even cheaper than that. You can buy 80 acres of protected land outside of town for nearly the same as 1/2 acre in town... but you can't put but one house on it!

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

$20k/acre for a medium lot like that would be a steal, around here. Local pricing is more like $1.0 - $1.4M per 1/2 acre in town, down to $100k per acre for 2 - 10 acre lots outside of town.

Larger lots are cheaper per acre, and those under federal or state protection (open space deals) are even cheaper than that. You can buy 80 acres of protected land outside of town for nearly the same as 1/2 acre in town... but you can't put but one house on it!

Funny thing is, 4 acres here, 6 years ago, was $20k

 

[RjCorazza]

I bought a 3.5 acre building lot 20 years ago for $85k. I recently removed 2+ acres from the lot and added it to my house lot to allow me to build a small barn. The 1.2 acre building lot is still worth around $300k, which is not much less than it was at 3.5 acres.
Current 25 acre zoning here makes existing individual small lots more desirable.

 

[paulsharvey]

Sunday, had a kinda family reunion kinda thing at mom's house. My sister had stopped to look at a piece of property, 6.0 acres, just over 200 lf of lake front; nice large lake, same one mom's house is on. The property has a small, abandoned home, from 1950s, on it, 2 wells, and i assume a septic. I walked it with her afterwards. They are asking $165,000; I figured a "good deal" price on it was $132,000. It is well cleared, good access, paved road frontage, and has power. I told sister to assume the septic was a total lose, and the wells, 1 is a 4" with no down pipe or pump, and the 2nd is a 2" casing, with a 1" pvc down pipe, but no pump and no pressure tanks.

I basically told her; the home, at a min the back porch (clearly a later additon) is a total lose. The basic structure of the home, probably a 800 sq ft block, 2/1; likely is a gut and start over, but could be a track hoe and a dumpster kinda home; but with power (and potentially well); it wouldn't make a bad RV or camp site. With the home (doesn't matter that it's unlivable) you could have a travel trailer set up an unlimited amount of time, vs the 90 day max of "camping" on a site without a home.

She was concerns about 3 or 4 low bowl kinda holes; that she thought could be sink holes. I told her, my guess, burn pits or holes from digging a large stump. None bigger than 3 ft deep and maybe 8-12 ft around, and none near the home (or a likely new home location).

 

[paulsharvey]

We went to change our drivers licenses, voters registration, and get our Home Stead ported over to the new home. Also spoke with the lady over the Bona Fide ag deduction stuff; and apparently for cattle, we would need 6 animals, in place, by Jan 1, and also have a completed IRS Schedule F. Not saying we would be against having 6 cattle; but not to start out with... I was hoping that actively working on pasture improvement would show sufficient seriousness. Oh well