My home would be a tough sell on today's market

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
A consensus of real estate agents say that people want smaller, economical homes that are in "move-in" condition. My 2500 sq ft Victorian monstrosity that is filled with needed updating (plumbing, wiring, exterior painting, insulation) and functional obsolescence would probably not sell well in today's market. Young people starting out in life don't have much money to afford many and costly repairs. Older people are looking to downsize and don't want big houses.

Any opinions on the housing market?
 

IMO it's all about the price, if the price reflects the work involved then someone will tackle it and repair it or chop it into a couple of apartments.

Sometimes you have to look beyond just the price of the house. Look at the potential savings/reduced expenses of moving into a small modern apartment, the reduced work and worry of trying to maintain the home and the income you can earn by investing the proceeds from the sale of the house.
 
When you say 'the consensus of estate agents' (no 'real' in the UK), I wonder does that translate to "Builders are building 'Little Boxes' (remember the song?), so we have to convince our clients to buy them". That's what seems to be happening here. Towns that have good commuting links are being swamped by small cheaply built houses with virtually no garden or parking space.

When we retired, we actually upsized. For the price of our house in the south of England, we were able to buy a much larger house in N.E. Scotland. We bought a house that was originally built in the 1830's and extended in 1896. Yes, it needed a lot of work, but it is very cosy and has a feeling of security about it. I would never buy a new house in Scotland unless it was built to my own specification. Fortunately there are a few builders who still build a small number of houses in the traditional way.
 

When I see a new house going up, it looks like they erect an already-made frame, then staple or hot glue fiberglass siding over that. I tell people when a big wind storm comes, my house will still be standing and these new houses will be blown away (That actually happened about 20 years ago when a tornado passed within a mile of my house). Their reply...."Yes, but they're NEW!"

Same mentality with garage sales. I have a feeling they are falling off in popularity because young people go to a "big box" store and by cheaply made and shoddy merchandise rather than buy vintage goods that are much more durable at a jumble sale. Why....because they are new.
 
Capt Lightning said:
When you say 'the consensus of estate agents' (no 'real' in the UK), I wonder does that translate to "Builders are building 'Little Boxes' (remember the song?), so we have to convince our clients to buy them". That's what seems to be happening here. Towns that have good commuting links are being swamped by small cheaply built houses with virtually no garden or parking space.

When we retired, we actually upsized. For the price of our house in the south of England, we were able to buy a much larger house in N.E. Scotland. We bought a house that was originally built in the 1830's and extended in 1896. Yes, it needed a lot of work, but it is very cosy and has a feeling of security about it. I would never buy a new house in Scotland unless it was built to my own specification. Fortunately there are a few builders who still build a small number of houses in the traditional way.
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I like larger homes as well. It's actually easier to keep a larger space looking acceptable, especially if you are prone to clutter. And we spend a lot of time at home so for me, having space is important.

It does get more more difficult to keep a bigger place in order, but once I retire there'll be more time for that.
 
Our stick-and-brick is a cozy 1100 square feet and sometimes I think there's too much room at that. The high cathedral ceilings help. I have no desire for anything bigger. I have a relatively small galley-type kitchen open at both ends that I like because all I have to do is swivel around and almost everything is within reach with no more than two steps.

I actually feel more comfortable in our approximately 360 sq. ft. fifth wheel. Just enough room for everything and no temptation to add anything I don't need.
 
We moved to a larger house 30 years ago to accommodate our growing family. Lived there
for over 25 years; once the grand kids became teenagers they did not want to visit as often,
so we sold and I now live in a lovely two bedroom apartment in a retirement community.
 
Debodun - I fear you are correct. There is a shrinking demand for grand old Victorian homes. High maintenance cost and energy inefficiency are killing the market for them. I know that for me, at age 70, I would not take on such a large project. I think my next one will be small, maybe a condo, maybe not, but with a pool. And most likely in Arizona.
 
I don't know what you are going to do with that place. Stay there for the rest of your life?

I still think there are some young and dumb with enough energy to want to take on a place like that. The problem is you keep saying you can't sell it even for cheap in it's present condition. So what are you going to do? I still can't believe you can't do a cheap as is and get rid of it. But I'm not an expert.
 
debodun said:
A consensus of real estate agents say that people want smaller, economical homes that are in "move-in" condition. My 2500 sq ft Victorian monstrosity that is filled with needed updating (plumbing, wiring, exterior painting, insulation) and functional obsolescence would probably not sell well in today's market. Young people starting out in life don't have much money to afford many and costly repairs. Older people are looking to downsize and don't want big houses.

Any opinions on the housing market?
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Does it cost a fortune to heat your house?
 
You'll never know if your house would sell if it's not on the market. There is a lot of new construction here, from "tiny houses" to McMansions. Some people want new homes, others are happy to find a *sound* older house to renovate.
A home that needs all new wiring, plumbing, paint, and insulation is certainly not going to command a premium price.

Generalization are just that.
 
nvtribefan said:
You'll never know if your house would sell if it's not on the market. There is a lot of new construction here, from "tiny houses" to McMansions. Some people want new homes, others are happy to find a *sound* older house to renovate.
A home that needs all new wiring, plumbing, paint, and insulation is certainly not going to command a premium price.

Generalization are just that.
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The same is true here. Victorians have a distinct charm to them and a lot of people like them and would be willing to buy one that needs work at a price that reflects that. People with building, plumbing and electrical skills might find it very attractive. 2500 sq. Ft here is just a mid-size home.
 
There's a house just two away from me that is also a Victorian with a brick exterior, but it's been vacant a long time and in worse shape than mine. Some windows are boarded up, it has a flat roof (I can imagine what that would do to that old house in a significant snow with nobody there to remove it). It was on the market for years, then sold for $35K, still vacant, and now there's another FOR SALE sign in front of it, probably a flipper bought it. It would probably have to be gutted and rebuilt.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/647-Hudson-Ave-Stillwater-NY-12170/32453690_zpid/
 
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It looks like it's a nice area with water views. It looks like a repainting on the trim would make it look nice from the outside. Taxes seem high for the price. But I don't know what NY taxes are based on. The price seems unbelievably low.
 
I didn't notice the additional pictures before. Yeah, it looks pretty rough and would probably be very expensive to do all those repairs. But it looks like it was once a beautiful home. I love the style. Is yours similar?
 
debodun said:
Thank you, but a PITA for an old lady alone to maintain. It needs so much work and I've already spent considerable sums for repairs and it still looks the same. I've been ripped off by so many contractors that I've been soured on having much more more done.
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I can understand how it could be a pain to maintain it yourself. If you have Nextdoor.com around there and there are a lot of members in the area, that can be a great source for contractors and handymen. I just go there and post a question, like, " Does anyone know of a dependable electrician to wire a few switches" or whatever. We have quite a few people in the area, so I get good replies.

It doesn't hurt to just talk to a real estate agent to get an idea of where the market stands. You don't have to act on their recommendations right away. In fact when we sold our last house we spoke to 4 different agents. (And didn't tell any of them who else we had talked to.) There was quite a variance in some of their opinions.
 

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