Home for Sale...very cute row!

[Lyceum]

Just put my little Ripka st. row house up sale.
Market kinda stinks, but due to 3/5 year rule, I have few months to sell it (otherwise I have to pay capital gains tax on it if it sells after 12/31/12.
I must try. I love this little house (currently a rental), however, we need the $$$ to continue restoring the Lyceum Ave home.

Just in case anyone might be interested; the MLS link is below.



REALTOR.com - Real estate listings & homes for sale

[mixiboi]

That house is so colorful...

[Lyceum]

Yeah, it really is an artist's house; a mix of Mexican, and Victorian. I never wanted to live in a battleship grey/bland house ; )

[mixiboi]

He don't knock grey till you tried it

[Lyceum]

hehe...it was battleship grey when I bought it and everything inside was 10-different shades of brown; walls, floors, ceilings...even the toilet. It took me 4 years to remove/cover every trace of that blah! : )

[The Rox]

Just put my little Ripka st. row house up sale.
Market kinda stinks, but due to 3/5 year rule, I have few months to sell it (otherwise I have to pay capital gains tax on it if it sells after 12/31/12.
I must try. I love this little house (currently a rental), however, we need the $$$ to continue restoring the Lyceum Ave home.

Just in case anyone might be interested; the MLS link is below.



REALTOR.com - Real estate listings & homes for sale

Looks like a great little home!

If I come across any clients who would like to go see it, I will be sure to schedule it with Matt.

Best,
Tim

[Naveen]

hehe...it was battleship grey when I bought it and everything inside was 10-different shades of brown; walls, floors, ceilings...even the toilet. It took me 4 years to remove/cover every trace of that blah! : )

Never understood the people who smother their homes in dark colors. Seems pretty common in Philadelphia "granny" homes (along with gaudy furnishings).

[Lyceum]

Looks like a great little home!

If I come across any clients who would like to go see it, I will be sure to schedule it with Matt.

Best,
Tim

Thanks Tim!! I appreciate it!

[Lyceum]

Never understood the people who smother their homes in dark colors. Seems pretty common in Philadelphia "granny" homes (along with gaudy furnishings).

Yep! I know...I think so much of that was the sign of the times; cheap paint, utilitarian lifestyle, etc.. Even though I am all about sustainable living, I draw the line at depressing colors! Let the light shine in!

[Lyceum]

Geez...the market is worse than I thought.
Just lowered it to $149K.... maybe that will help.
Weird time to sell a little house

[D-man]

I hear ya, Lyceum. We listed our house last August, and had to take it off the market in January. Little to no interest, at all. It seemed that the few folks who did walk through our house were looking for a complete rehab or new construction. They didn't like seeing any part of the house that was slightly used.

We were under contract to buy a house in W. Mt. Airy and we finally had to cancel the contract. We couldn't keep extending the contract when it was apparent that our house was not going to sell quickly.

[Burholme06]

Some buyers are so finicky now that they won’t even consider painting walls if they don’t like the color. That being said, you may not want to live in a battle ship grey house but many others do. Maybe consider some painting to “tone it down”?

[Debbie1125]

I hear ya, Lyceum. We listed our house last August, and had to take it off the market in January. Little to no interest, at all. It seemed that the few folks who did walk through our house were looking for a complete rehab or new construction. They didn't like seeing any part of the house that was slightly used.

I'll probably have the same problem when I decide to sell my house. It needs some updating and cosmetics. I just don't have the money to do any kind of major renovation. I read where buyers are looking for updated kitchens (granite countertops, etc.) and a bathroom for each bedroom. I've noticed that in a lot of the new construction in Manayunk. The homes will say 4 bedrooms and 3 or 4 bathrooms. My house just has 1.

[PhilaCap]

Cool house. 2 bedrooms is a tough sell, because your pool of potential buyers is much smaller than with a 3+ bedroom house.

Hard time to sell, but a great time to buy. Good luck.

[Lyceum]

Bingo.
I think that's exactly it--people want a brand new Pottery Barn/Ikea house with a Viking stove & central a/c.
No one wants to invest the $50 to prime or paint a wall color that they don't like, but they will pay $75,000 more for a house that has a fresh coat of white paint vs an yellow wall. Central AC is nice, but it's more economical to cool the room that you're sitting in vs. every room in the house. Very strange.

I guess I am old school--when looking at houses, I don't look at paint, ceilings, wallpaper, doors, etc...those are things that are inexpensive fixes. I am living in a big house that has been totally gutted without a "real" shower (the sit-and-spray in an old clawfoot tub is functioning, for now) for nearly 2.5 years while the house is being restored. I think it was a pretty sweet deal. LOL. It may take 5 years to get it going, but it will be a great house (one day...!).

I remember the days when junky little house would last 1-day on the market. People would put a sign up at 9 AM and by 12 noon it was under contract. Geez! I wonder if those days will ever come back...maybe in 10 years!

[Lyceum]

Yeah, Debbie, that's the traditional row. I think little row houses are great for first time buyers, single people, a couple, etc.... With the prices of them, they can be less or the same as rent. I've seen signs outside of similar houses that say "For Rent--$1800." I think that's outrageous for a rental. That is a mortgage payment for an awfully nice house. I don't know how people are affording rents like that these days. However, I guess home loans are tough for people to get, so it's now become a big rental market.

[D-man]

Lyceum, Debbie & Burlholme, I agree.

When I bought my house 11 years, it was a rental property in good shape, but it needed updating. 11 years later, we have replaced everything, except the kitchen. The one consistent comment from all the people that looked at our house was that the kitchen needs to be replaced. Now, all the appliances in the kitchen are early '90s vintatge, the countertops are formica and the floor is linoleum. If I was looking to buy the house, I would negotiate a good price and then customize the kitchen to my own taste. The old kitchen still works fine, so the buyer can live with it until they save up enough money to re-do it. However, it seems like the buyers nowadays are looking for a kitchen that is already customized to their taste. This might be indicative of the type of buyers that are out there now. They have enough money to demand whatever style in finishings they are looking for.

When I bought my house, as a first time home buyer, I was just looking for something in move-in condition, that I could then customize myself.