DH got a nice surprise while out working at the property yesterday
morning. His best buddy, who now lives in Texas, pulled in. He was so
surprised. He was on his way to visit his brother and stopped to say hi. Spent a
couple hours there and then DH picked me up at the house and we 3 had
lunch in town before he headed back on the road. So good to see him.
He's lost like 66 pounds. He still has a lot more to lose, but he looks
(and feels!) so much better than last we saw him! He looks like this big
bad biker dude (and he kinda is) but he's actually the biggest
sweetheart there is. He'll cry at the drop of a hat. LOL.
While we were eating lunch our realtor called me. He said he had an agent ask him what all upgrades we did - to justify what we are asking compared to what we bought it for 2 years ago. I had already told him everything we did, but I went over it again. He then said - well, you should probably give it a few more weeks and then maybe consider dropping the price.
Later that evening, the more I thought about that question the more irked I got. Two years is quite a bit of time in the real estate market. Obviously the market has gone up in price since then. I sent him an email listing out in writing what we did to the house after purchasing, so he has the detail if anyone else asks:
Shop: (672 sq ft)
spray foam insulated
ran electricity to shop for power and lights
added a heating unit
added a man door
repaired the roll up doors, so they worked properly
this morning I realized I also forgot to add that we installed these insulated panels that fit on the inside of the garage door panels, to insulate it even more.
had the old (in bad shape and no top rail) fence that only covered front yard torn down and replaced with new fencing around the whole lot, as well as a large gate in back for rv access to the back, next to shop.
completely landscaped (there wasn't a tree or shrub on this lot)
Garage:
tape/textured/painted walls and ceiling
added heating unit
added shelving
House:
added hickory medicine cabinet to master bath
added laundry room cabinets
replaced blinds in office/bedroom with bali blinds
I didn't mention all the crap the previous owners left that we had to clean up and get rid of. What would the place still look like if we had just left all the forms, lumber, metal siding and crap out behind the shop?
I added that per some info left with the house (the previous owner was the builder of it) it had appraised at $183,500 back in 2008, when built, and that was with no shop and no fencing. Our neighbor across the street is putting a metal shop up. Just a bare shop, no electricity and no insulation is costing him $20,000.
Then I added to him that it might be worth noting that the 6 lots for sale in our subdivision have increased in asking price by 40% in the last 2 years. Not to mention our cost to build our new home and shop increased by that same percentage compared to what our builder quoted us 2 years ago vs. what we are paying now.
I told him I'm not really too concerned that we are asking more than we paid for it. Not to mention I don't really know for sure why the previous owner priced it so low and accepted an even lower price, other than he had told my DH that he wanted to sell it quickly because he was working/living out of state. We also found out during closing that the developer still had a lien of $25,000 for the lot on it and it sounds like one of the reasons they wanted to sell was so they could get the money out of it and finally get him paid back. They had never intended to live in the house, and were going to pay the developer for the lot when this house sold. Right after building is when the economy crashed and so they ended up moving into it because nothing was selling.
Not to mention the neighbor! 2 years ago it looked like a parts/wrecked car lot there. Now it's clean and looks like a house should. While I'm sure it's hard to put a dollar value on that, it does have an effect on home values and curb appeal. In my book there is some value to the time, effort and headaches we put forth last year to get this issue resolved and make our neighborhood look nice.
I'm certainly no real estate expert, but I'm also not going to give my house away, just because I got a good deal on it 2 years ago.
Sadly with real estate unless you upgrade a bad kitchen or add livable square footage, improvements add little to the value of a house. Been there done that!
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure I agree, completely. If we had not worked so hard to fix up our old house those years before we sold (not knowing we were going to move, we just wanted it nicer) inside and all the landscaping we did on it, I do not think we would have gotten near what we did out of it. Plus, I think mostly the value is based on the current market, not a market from a previous sale price. I would think we should be able to base our asking price on the market in the area, what other similar homes are going for, not based on what we bought it for, 2 years ago.
DeleteSadly, when it comes down to selling a house, you rarely get everything out of it what you put in. While upgrades may help a house sell, it really comes down to what a person is willing to pay for it. The house we sold 3 years ago was resold just a year ago. While they sold it for $30K more, they easily put $50K+ more into it. I think their intention was to stay, but they received an out-of-state transfer. Market values change, and I do agree, that that should be a factor in current pricing-and not what you paid for it.
ReplyDeletefor sure. I think the majority of it is where the market is at. And like you and Anne said, improvements don't always help. Which I think is why I found the question the other realtor asked about what upgrades we did, kind of stupid, LOL. It's priced based on what the current market is, not what we paid for it 2 years ago and not really what we added to it, though a buyer is certainly getting better than how we bought it.
DeleteIt all depends on how badly you need to sell. If you still have time, do not drop the price. I would crunch the numbers and see for how long I can get by without selling. People tend to move a lot in the summer after the schools are closed and before they are opened again.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right. We don't have to sell fast (we'd just like to haha) and our realtor did say mid June is the start of the "selling season".
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