<p>
That’s just bizarre.</p>
<p>A friend of mine was renting a place with glass bedroom and glass bathroom doors. </p>
<p>Looked good. Not too functional.</p>
<p>They were beautiful doors, I’ll give them that. Looked brand spanking new. You could just see the moldy carpet through them from across the house…</p>
<p>You’d think they’d have to know that a buyer is going to take those down, and most likely replace them with CHEAPER doors. It seemed like a terrible waste, especially with how much work the house needed to even be livable. I haven’t seen anything quite like that yet in the other houses we’ve viewed.</p>
<p>And I’m not even sure if you’re allowed to have bedroom windows that don’t open. I’d need to double check that, but if you’re not the brand new windows would need to come out, too. There go all the improvements they made on the house, besides maybe the front door-- that looked new, too.</p>
<p>Bedroom windows are required by code to have openings of a certain size and height, unless there is another means of egress that opens directly to the outside (like a door, and it must swing out, which is a security issue).</p>
<p>If the window doesn’t open it’s not legally a bedroom.</p>
<p>Lipstick on a pig, eh?</p>
<p>Our focus for photos/putting on market/showings has been decluttering first and foremost - beginning inside closets and storage areas and working our way out. Got rid of more than half of our belongings in that phase, easily (15 years in this house). Then looking around to see what needed attention, decided to paint most rooms. Did whatever minor repairs were needed. Then cleaned the heck out of everything. </p>
<p>After all that, I had a friend come help “stage” - moved furniture around, changed purpose of one room, added flowers, hung a couple of pieces of art back up, borrowed a porch swing, etc. </p>
<p>Now we are in week 5, it’s mainly a matter of staying on top of cleaning, mowing. In the newly empty closets and cabinets, we store the stuff we use daily - toaster, coffee maker, towels that aren’t for showings, etc.</p>
<p>Funny, when I am looking at houses to buy I don’t even see the decorating. I am looking right thru that at what stays and what they might be hiding with a rug or wall art, etc. I know I’m not buying the stuff. But people are dumb.</p>
<p>Some people have no imagination. All I am looking for is function and how much money I’ll need to put into the house immediately to make it livable. Cosmetic things, we can address those little by little as we go if we need to. The house that I loved and would have put an offer on if the HOA hadn’t banned fences, my bf couldn’t seem to get on board with because he said it was dirty. The kitchen needed sweeping. Who cares. </p>
<p>I don’t envy you sellers. You can’t please everybody.</p>
<p>Why do you need fences? Do you have a dog?</p>
<p>People are dumb. We got a good deal on our house because every wall (except a few with fake panelling) was pink. There were pink curtains, and a dirty pink wall to wall carpeting everywhere. Under the carpet were hardwood floors. Solid 1923 house. Kitchen and upstairs bath needed updating. We still haven’t done the kitchen, because while it’s ugly, it works pretty well.</p>
<p>I’ve seen bathroom doors with translucent glass in order to let light into a center hall. I don’t mind it.</p>
<p>And yes any code based on the International Building Code (most of the state codes) will require operable windows in the bedroom of sufficient size that you can get out. Many older houses, especially those with double hung windows, don’t meet current code.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We are going to get dogs once we have a house, that’s all we’re waiting for. I don’t believe in using electric fences as a substitute for a real fence, as they don’t provide any protection for my pets. While a fence doesn’t substitute for supervision in any way, it does help to ward off other animals, neighbor children, and thieves. We also plan to have a pool. And really, I just don’t want to walk into my backyard and see what all 50 of my neighbors are doing. Some people like the “open vista” layout, I just don’t.</p>
<p>"… baby maple trees growing in the gutters."</p>
<p>In other words, you didn’t care for the landscaping??? Guess you can’t please everyone.</p>
<p>Did I say something to make you mad? That seems like a needlessly snarky comment. If that were the only problem with the house I might have purchased it, I don’t mind cleaning the gutters, but the backyard was literally so overgrown that you could NOT walk from one end to the other. It’s like they intentionally planted a jungle three years ago, which probably looked decent at the time, and then never touched it again. We’d have to rip out pretty much the entire yard and plant new grass to even have a lawn-- and to top it off the house was falling apart and filled with mold and water damage, and outlandishly priced. I was merely pointing out that I thought it was odd that they chose to spend so much money on windows that aren’t up to code and doors that aren’t going to be particularly appealing to the masses, while letting the gutters get so filled with honest to god TREES that they look like they might fall off the house. I know cleaning gutters isn’t that big of a deal and wouldn’t let that keep me from buying a house all by itself, I just used that as an example of how unkempt the outside was because I thought it was amusing. Sue me.</p>
<p>I didn’t find NewHope’s post to be snarky, I thought it was kind of funny.</p>
<p>^ Relax, NewHope33 was being tongue-in-cheek.</p>
<p>Cleaning gutters is a nasty nasty business, standing on a ladder scooping out wet, muddy, half-rotted debris is no fun, which is why I put gutter covers on mine.</p>
<p>Well worth the $100 and couple hours of labor it took.</p>
<p>Something like this: <a href=“Gutter Leaf Guards: Hoods & Covers | Gutter Supply”>http://www.guttersupply.com/p-gutter-protection-solid-gutter-cover.gstml</a> (I did not use this web site to buy it)</p>
<p>Oh, I guess I misinterpreted. Sorry. :\ I’d just said “you can’t please everybody” so I thought that was being thrown in my face for some reason… I didn’t think I’d said anything unreasonable! But now that I am rereading, I think you’re right. Oops.</p>
<p>I hadn’t thought about installing gutter covers, but that is probably something we’re going to want to think about when we do buy. My parents got them a few years ago and I’d forgotten what a pain it was to clean them before that.</p>
<p>So… the photographer and agent’s assistant just left. They were here an hour plus to photograph and take some notes on our house. I’m happy with how the house looked except for my son’s bathroom. If you have a son, you might understand what I’m talking about. My wife “final inspected” his bathroom. I wish I had wandered down to his end of the house. :(</p>
<p>Sorry E, I thought your post was pretty funny. And no, I don’t think gutter growth is a sales feature either!</p>
<p>Gutter growth = not remotely recent cleaning out and probably never was regular = water damage to walls? insects? water sitting by foundation? Who knows. Gutters with current debris are one thing, gutters that have clearly been left for a long time *could *mean bigger problems.</p>
<p>We had a second showing today, their first was yesterday. They stayed past the appointment time, I saw cars when I drove by to see if I could return home. Second drive by I saw a local high end custom builder’s truck out front. After about 30 minute I gave up and went to a neighbors to hang out… in the end they stayed more than an hour past their appointment. I wonder if that all means something good…</p>
<p>^ builder’s truck means either they know the builder and are using him for an informal quick inspection, or they are getting a ballpark for the renovations they want to do to your house.</p>
<p>Either one seems pretty positive to me.</p>