Real estate General topic

[Dynahinte]

Being upfront about your budget after the viewing can sometimes work in your favor. The land seems to be a big part of the value, and in a lot of areas, that's what people are willing to pay for. If you and your wife decide you really like the property but the price feels off, you could consider offering what feels fair to you based on the value of the land and house separately, like you're planning.If you’re still exploring similar listings or even considering something further afield, check out options like acresdubai.com. It’s interesting to look at how pricing and available properties compare in different regions.

 

[2manyrocks]

Wow. Losing proposition, in every way.

If successful, it'll be good incentive for no one to ever buy property in CA, it'll be far cheaper to just rent!

Whoever wrote that 60% rule must not understand basic compounding, the gap will only grow with time. If CPI averages around 4% for 10 years, the landlord's approximate costs go up 48%, but they can only increase rents by 27%. Brilliant.

The landlords costs will double every ~18 years, at least those that track with CPI, yet rents will only double after 30 years!

I tend to think legislation like this is effectively an unconstitutional taking of property by the government when they make this kind of rule, but also think many judges are financial illiterates who don't understand these things or they look the other way because of political affiliations. Plus, this kind of thing is meddling in contract terms between private parties. Maybe it could be justified as an emergency measure in times of public health emergency, but long term?

 

[wilso]

The pri

I saw a house my buddies wife is selling back where I grew up.
Expected to see 300-400, was 697,000 -----

Crazy

That price is wild! It's surprising how much the market has changed. I’ve seen similar trends in my area, too.
We thought about buying a second house but decided to put this idea aside because of this situation with the prices. I've recently checked out the Local Home Buyers reviews in the hope someone can help navigate this crazy market. Finding the right buyer or agent can really make a difference these days. What a shift!

 

[WinterDeere]

Nothing in my old neighborhood under $2M anymore, and those are the tear-downs. My parents bought one house there in 1971 for $22k, and a second at $125k in 1980 or 81.

I find the area less desirable today, than 40 years ago, but others clearly think differently.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Down here, that would be a pretty fair asking price. Maybe go for $250k, but it would likely have some possible hits at $299k

Yeah, 4 acres alone here is about $80k. Throw in a liveable house and you are over $200k easy. I mean, a double wide on a 1/4 acre here is selling for $170k typically.

Our 8 acres, new home and new 40x60 shop are worth more than most folks retirement funds.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, long time, no update, but been busy with hurricanes, working, ect. I have some time coming up off from work to get after the repairs/clean up, ect of the old house. Now, older house, foe context is upper low income range, targeting between $185-215k sales price, 1400 sq ft 3/2 double wide, manufactured, 1994 model; on 2.0 acres on a paved road.

Now, I've already ripped the cracked tile out of master bath, have to repair 2 pieces of laminate wood flooring in living room, replace a couple door thresholds, patch 2 areas of drywall, replace a cieling fan, and paint. Those are all pretty affordable repairs. My question is, the kitchen... cheap manufactured home cabinets, but 2 of the cabinet doors need replaced, really need replaced, dish washer leaked and the wood swelled badly. I can replace the doors for about $50/each. Several other doors don't look "good" but they are less bad. I believe I could replace all the doors with cheap crappy unfinished ones, no hardware, and still have to paint them, for around $1000. I'm not going to replace cabinets, or tops; although one bottom is bowed from that leak, and I might install a painted plywood bottom "floor" of it.

I'm not trying to turn a mid to upper lower class home into a lower middle class home; think starter home/rental. I dont want to spend money I won't get back plus more, for repairs.

Outside, I might add a 2ft border of new, clean red mulch, just for the clean look, around the entire house.

Does that sound reasonable? Am I wasting 40 hrs of work, and $1500 in materials? Should I just replace the 2 or 3 doors?

Also, I do have to replace 1 window, and a set of porch steps.

I build a large-ish porch, 12x24, covered, and a 6x10 laundry and freezer room on the porch, and converted the laundry to a pantry. Should I remove the shelving and move laundry back inside?

Planning on a tile backer board and a water proof, vinyl plank in master bath.

So, am I under doing it and loosing money, over doing it and loosing money, or kinda on target.

 

[paulsharvey]

Maybe I should re say that in a shorter way;

If you had a small, older home to sell for $185-215, with a few water damaged cabinet doors, and needed to replace a master bath floor, and general landscaping; what would you do?

 

[ning]

Can you replace the 2-3 doors, and paint them all to look more consistent?
Definitely make it look like water damage hasn't happened.

 

[paulsharvey]

Can you replace the 2-3 doors, and paint them all to look more consistent?
Definitely make it look like water damage hasn't happened.

That's kinda the direction I'm leaning. I was going to originally sand, bondo, and paint; but I just don't think that is worth it.

 

[ning]

That's kinda the direction I'm leaning. I was going to originally sand, bondo, and paint; but I just don't think that is worth it.

Time is money.
Usually I don't mind spending time on a project (besides, it's an excuse to get more toys! (tools)), but my guess is that this isn't going to be a project with great personal satisfaction, so just git'er dun

 

[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