How is the house selling season going?

Parent Cafe
1521

<p>As far as vinyl siding goes, I think opinion varies widely. I wanted the “real thing” when we built our house, but a lot of people prefer vinyl. We’ve owned our house over 15 years and only repainted it once and it looks great. I wonder if it varies regionally?</p>

<p>You might recall that our house appraised 25% lower than it did three years ago, and I was worried our refinancing might be affected. Well, the only effect is that our existing home equity line of credit will be lowered from $50,000 to $44,000. We never get close to borrowing that much, so I’m happy! (We need the line of credit because we’re self-employed and occasionally don’t get paid in a timely fashion)</p>

1522

<p>Our house seems to need repainting every five years or so, at a cost of $5,000 or $6,000. Consequently, I’m in favor of vinyl!</p>

1523

<p>That’s great that you home equity line worked out…</p>

<p>Maybe it is a regional thing…but I don’t see much vinyl in the nicer areas around here on the west coast.</p>

1524

<p>My house is all brick and the windows are aluminum clad. Still the estimate I got to paint the trim and the (four foot) eaves was >$10K. :eek:</p>

1525

<p>:eek: indeed! I would get a second estimate!</p>

<p>I understand prices vary according to region, but here is southern Ohio, CertaPro has painted our all-wood ranch home twice now, for less than half that amount. And the paint job lasts 8-10 years. (The paint can says guaranteed for 8, anyway.)</p>

1526

<p>I just painted the trim myself, which was a terrible color, and left the eaves for now. Even that was a big job with the detached garage.</p>

1527

<p>Most of the nicer homes around here are all brick/stone with very little siding. I happen to know a lot about siding due to my last job, and I can tell you that there are huge differences between manufacturers and lots of issues.</p>

1528

<p>Help: We’re in negotiations with MIL’s church to have them buy the house in LA, which they want as is. But…if the negotiations fall through, we need to do some work on the house, which I need to get done reasonably promptly. Can you CC gurus give some advice:</p>

<p>a. Plaster walls (not drywall) – bring in plasterer to fix some cracks, then painter to repaint inside and outside. (Definitely doing this.)</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Roof is an older, rock roof, nearing the end of its likely lifetime. But, we were there last week during torrential rain, and nothing at all leaked. Furthermore, the house does not have any ceiling installation to speak of (1960 ranch with a very mildly sloped roof) and apparently there are some roofing options that can put down rigid insulation before applying a new roof …which won’t be rock. Do, or not do? If do, before or after outdoor paint?</p></li>
<li><p>All of the nicer “done” houses I saw in the area have hardwood or Pergo in the main living area. The house is on a slab, and it looks like putting hardwood in the kitchen, LR, FR/DR and hallway would run about $7000. Do, or not do? I was told we could either have a floating installation or a glue down. Any thoughts?</p></li>
<li><p>Master bath – has vinyl flooring. Redo in wood? Do tile? (Not much different in price). Do you get the $ back if you use fancier tile vs. less expensive tile with some insets of nicer stuff?</p></li>
<li><p>Kitchen cabinets are in great shape. Counters are the original white glazed tile, also in very good shape – but all of the done houses have granite (or one of the cultured products.) So…does $50 a square foot for granite (installed) sound plausible? Would be about $5K given the counter space in the kitchen. </p></li>
<li><p>Kitchen has the original gas Gaffers & Sattler wall oven/broiler in aqua, but the adjacent cooktop was replaced with a plain white gas cooktop a while ago. Yank 'em both, or leave the G&S, and replace the white cooktop with a ss one? (Replacing the wall oven will run about $2500 since it is a small opening and gas, which means there is only one model that seems to fit.) </p></li>
<li><p>How much landscaping should be done? </p></li>
</ol>

<p>We’ve got the money, but don’t want to put more into it than we’re likely to get out of it.</p>

1529

<p>Regarding 4 and 5, if the kitchen will be torn out by the next buyer anyway, I wouldn’t do a thing.</p>

1530

<p>[Still</a> better to rent than buy, unless you’re looking in the East Bay | On The Block | an SFGate.com blog](<a href=“http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/03/23/still-better-to-rent-than-buy-unless-youre-looking-in-the-east-bay/?plckItemsPerPage=50&plckSort=TimeStampDescending]Still”>http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2012/03/23/still-better-to-rent-than-buy-unless-youre-looking-in-the-east-bay/?plckItemsPerPage=50&plckSort=TimeStampDescending)</p>

1531

<p>arabrab - I would do the minimum to make the house look presentable - fix holes, paint everything neutral color. I would re-do master bath flooring with white tiles, not too expensive. </p>

<p>As a buyer, I won’t pay up for renovation unless it is top quality and my taste. Real estate agents like to tell me, “bathrooms are completely renovated.” But why did they use that shining greyish tile? Kitchen completely renovated? Most of time, it’s not the kind of cabinet I would have picked out, and wrong color counter top.</p>

<p>We are almost in contract for an apartment with non-objectionable upgrades, but we’ll want to completely re-do bathrooms and the kitchen and maybe even move some walls. We are giving the seller a little bit more for his upgrades than other apartments as is.</p>

1532

<p>Two houses just sold on my street. One has been on the market since last June, was way overpriced and they kept dropping it in increments of $10K (a total of $50K) until finally the priced it where I felt it should have been all along. What they eventually got I’ve no idea yet. </p>

<p>The other house - which is more like mine - included new addition/kitchen/family room - was on the market in 2010 at a ridiculously high price, didn’t sell and was taken off the market. Back on again at end of 2011 for $30K less (still high, imo) but it sold in about two months - which is very good during winter months in upstate NY - the slowest selling period around here for $20K less than asking price. </p>

<p>The third house on my street has also been on the market since June. They were asking way too much also. It was off the market for a few months in early fall, then back on the market in Dec. also $30K less. It’s in great shape, very well maintained and on a double lot. I’m curious to see what happens now that the selling/buying season is really getting started. </p>

<p>I started a business last fall prepping homes for sale, inside and out (have lots of friends who are realtors and they pay me, not the seller) and I don’t suggest gutting kitchens, bathrooms, etc. I advocate simple fixes (paint colors, take down wall paper and if there are any borders, they have to go, if their is carpet over hardwood, rip it out, if not, make sure carpet is it super clean. take out furniture (it’s amazing how many people have every inch of space in their homes filled,) cut down overgrown shrubs, move plants which are crowded out, and don’t, fgs, put a POD in the driveway - pay for storage space. </p>

<p>I arrange for any workman that need to come, take the seller to the paint store to pick out colors and do hands on de-cluttering, and will assist the seller with the landscaping part if they can do the work themselves without needing a landscape maintenance. I’m an avid gardener so unless they are elderly, I can help the seller with most of the things that can be done outside to spruce up their home. </p>

<p>Arabrab, if you want PM me and I will give you my email and you can send me pictures. I’d be happy to offer you my opinion.</p>

1533

<p>We have been looking at a lot of apartments, and I can’t believe how messy people’s closets could be. If I knew people would be opening my closets, I would at least fold my clothes or hang them up.</p>

1534

<p>I’d pay for paint and a plain tile on the bathroom floor. I might put wood on the slab. I know I considered it a huge plus that the house I am living in now had real oak floors under the hideous pink carpet. I don’t actually know what’s better - we have very few slabs around here. I wouldn’t bother with the kitchen. Someone might think that aqua oven is cool and it’s too easy to spend money on granite that someone else will hate.</p>

1535

<p>The Bay Area continues to heat up w/respect to real estate. The house in Palo Alto that I mentioned a few pages ago, with 38 offers, is shown here. You’d think for $1.65million you’d get a working oven, but apparently not.</p>

<p>[Buyers</a> compete for short supply of homes in Bay Area - San Jose Mercury News](<a href=“Buyers compete for short supply of homes in Bay Area – The Mercury News”>Buyers compete for short supply of homes in Bay Area – The Mercury News)</p>

1536

<p>Looks like cost of living may be a reason to expand tech companies in other areas like Massachusetts:</p>

<p>Westford - Internet technology provider Red Hat signed a lease agreement this week with the Gutierrez Company to expand on Route 110, choosing to stay in town rather than move to one of two locations in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Read more: [Red</a> Hat will expand in Westford - Lowell Sun Online](<a href=“Red Hat will expand in Westford – Lowell Sun”>Red Hat will expand in Westford – Lowell Sun)</p>

<p>(180 new full-time jobs over 5 years)</p>

1537

<p>vballmom, that is one ugly house for $1.65 million. The closet doors aren’t attached right in the bedroom they show.</p>

1538

<p>Vballmom…that is a great link…</p>

<p>"“It’s amazing what’s not out there right now,” he said. "There are only 32 homes in the whole city of Santa Clara. We’re down 74 percent from February…
Sales were up across the Bay Area in February, the strongest showing for that month in five years, according to DataQuick, a real estate information service.
Silicon Valley is having its fourth-highest year in sales since 2000, said Richard Calhoun of Creekside Realty in San Jose. Calhoun, who has tracked the inventory of homes for sale in Santa Clara County for more than a decade, said that in some parts of Silicon Valley, including the Palo Alto area, the entire stock of homes for sale would be exhausted in less than a month.
“The housing market has definitely bottomed and is on a recovery path,” said Ken Rosen, chairman at the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley. “I think it is a real recovery happening, around the whole country.”</p>

1539

<p>Tear-down in Palo Alto, ya think?</p>

1540

<p>Things must be picking up a bit around my part of the country. Some homes that went on the market the end of Feb / beginning of March are already under contract. The prices were realistic, but not lowballed. Nice to see some good news.</p>