John Rice

Common mistakes sellers make

by John Rice

Besides thinking the people on HGTV really know a lot about real estate, below are the most common ways sellers shoot themselves in the foot.  Granted, we are in a hot market and buyers are easier to please these days, but there are 228 houses in Lexington in the $100-500k range that have been on the market for more than 60 days…..not EVERY house in town is selling in multiple offers the first day on the market.

Here goes:

1. When sellers don’t finish moving out. If you are no longer living in the house, get ALL of your stuff out. You know you are going to have to do it anyway, right? It will make your house look better. Better looking houses sell quicker. Time is money.

2. When you don’t paint because you think you are somehow doing the buyer a favor by leaving it up to them to paint. I hear this a lot: “I don’t know what color the buyer will like and most buyers always paint after they move in anyway.” I can tell you that bad paint keeps a buyer from making an offer. If it doesn’t look good, they don’t want it. Fresh neutral paint is the cheapest thing you can do you make your house easy for a buyer to say YES to.

3. Leaving a lot of room for negotiating. An over inflated price usually drives buyers away. I see all the time where a seller will list for far more than the house is worth and eventually sell it for a little less than it is worth. The best model is to price it right from the start. If a house has been on the market for a long time, buyers assume there is no risk of losing it so they make a low offer just to see what you will take.

4.  Not doing any obvious repairs.  As a seller, your goal is to make it easy for a buyer to say yes to your house.  You want them to be excited and fall in love.  If a buyer walks in and immediately sees work that needs done, they begin to subtract whatever they think it would cost to change it, and they usually overestimate the cost.  You want your buyer to be walking around your house falling in love with it rather than subtracting repair costs off your list price.

I hope this helps you when it is time to sell.  The worst thing that could happen if you did all of this is that you sell your house for top dollar in multiple offers the first day on the market.

MORE similar neighborhoods at different price points

by John Rice

Let’s say you want to be in that sweet spot of the Tates Creek area where you’re equidistant to Hamburg, Fayette Mall and downtown.  You want a traditional house.  Southern Living.  Nice yard with big trees.  I’ve got three more neighborhoods for you at three different price points…..Here we go:

Hartland

I remember when Hartland was brand new.  It was way the heck out there.  (It hasn’t moved closer-I mean that it seemed way out at the time.)  Man O War was a two lane road.  There was no Tates Creek Shopping Center.  Who knew back then that this neighborhood would age so wonderfully.  The design is like nothing Lexington has seen since Chevy Chase.  The main roads have a tree lined median.  All the cul-de-sacs have landscaped islands.  It just feels wonderful out there. The price range for Hartland and all the derivative sub-neighborhoods is about $250k through close to $2,000,000.  Most are in the $300-500k range.  For that, you get a nice big house from the time when J.R. Ewing was shot on Dallas.  Big yards are the norm.  Most I’ve seen are 1/4-1/3 acre.  There is a neighborhood pool/clubhouse.

Here is what you can expect:

 

Cumberland Hill

Built about the same time as Hartland, just on the other side of Tates Creek Road.  Cumberland has a more casual, less pretentious vibe to it than Hartland.  Its the neighborhood for somebody who can afford a Mercedes but drives a Volvo instead.  Being on the other side of Tates Creek turned out to be a good thing, because it gets the very desirable Veteran’s Park Elementary school.  Most of the houses range from the low $200s to the low $300s.  For around or just over $300k, you should expect a nice basement.  One of the coolest things about this neighborhood is that it backs up to Veteran’s Park (The park-not the school.)  At the end of Rockbridge, there is a small parking lot with an entrance to the park.  There is a walking trail and a creek through the wooded areas.  There are a couple of bridges across the creek.  It is very cool.  A pool/clubhouse are at the corner of Tates Creek and Rockbridge.

Here is what to expect:

Contemporary homes were still a little popular in the 80s, so you see a few like this.

 

Ashmoor

This neighborhood is just south of Cumberland and is also across Tates Creek Road from Hartland.  You get the same close proximity to Veteran’s Park and it is in Veteran’s Park Elementary district.  Ashmoor has always seemed like a lite version of Hartland to me.  The houses are similar, just smaller.  My favorite thing about this neighborhood are the huge Pin Oak trees than line most of the streets.   You’ll be around $200k to maybe $250k out here.

Here is what you will see:

It was the late 80s and early 90s, so you do get some houses that are like a mash up of Traditional and Contemporary.

 

There you have it.  From $200k to $2,000,000, there is a house for you in this area!

 

 

3 similar neighborhoods for any budget

by John Rice

What if you want a big lot, close in, something older, maybe Tates Creek Road area.  Well, you have three good options at 3 different price points.

All these neighborhoods are either just inside or just outside New Circle Road by Tates Creek Road.  All are close to things like The Lansdowne Shoppes, Malones, Fresh Market and The Signature Club.  One of the best things about this area is that you can get about anywhere in town easily.  UK/Downtown/Chevy Chase are close.  You are between Hamburg and all that the Fayette Mall/Nicholasville Road corridor offers…..plus, this is arguably the prettiest part of Lexington.

1.  Lansdowne

This is where you go if you have $300-700k to spend.  You’ll get one of the swankiest locations from the 1960s that use to be on the on the edge of town.  I’m taking about roads like Cahaba, Kirkland, Overbrook, etc.  Getting a half acre lot is no sweat here, some are even larger.  Overbrook Circle and Brookhill Circle are my two favorite streets since some of the houses have a view over The Lansdowne Shoppes.

Most of the houses are ranches, but there are 2 story and split foyer/split levels too.  Here is what is typical:

But sometimes you get lucky and find some real architectural gems like:

2.  Lans-Merrick

This is where you land if you want to stay in the $200s-$300s, although there are a few super nice ones that have gone for over $400k.  This neighborhood is right across Tates Creek Road from Lansdowne.   You get a great city park in the middle of the neighborhood which is right beside Julius Marks Elementary school.  Lots out here are usually in the 1/4-1/3 acre range.  Still big by Lexington standards.  Most of the houses were built in the 70s.  Lots of ranches, splits and traditional two stories.  The main roads are Pepperhill and Montavesta.  Fleetwood and Heritage are my favorite streets.

 

Here is what to expect:

But there are some that are like:

 

3.  Gainesway

This neighborhood is beside Lans-Merrick, but is just across New Circle.  It seems just as close in though, so don’t let being outside the circle mess with you.  The oldest part of Gainesway harks back to the 50s.  All the streets were named after local horse farms.  Getting a 1/4-1/2 acre lot is easy here.  Most are ranches.  The beauty of this neighborhood is that you get a similar location and lot size as the other two, but you’ll only drop $150-250k for a house.  Castleton Hill and Castleton Way are my favorite streets here.

This is what to expect:

And you might get lucky and find one like these:

 

So there you have it.  Whether you have $150k or well over $500k, you can enjoy an older home on a large lot in Lexington.

Mold and $5000: Why I feel like Superman

by John Rice

“Do something a person can’t do for themselves or something they don’t want to do and you will always have a job.”

I think my dad said this when I was about 11 years old or so.  It is one of the many things he said to me that has always stuck with me.

I had a lawn care business when I was younger and stronger.  That was clearly something anybody could do for themselves, so what I was doing was something my customers didn’t want to do.

Now I’m a realtor.  To some people, it can look like I am doing something anybody can do.  Sure, people do sell their own houses, buyers do buy without the assistance of a realtor.  The funny thing about it is that those people never really know how well they did…..what did they have to compare it to?  Often, a bad buying decision isn’t discovered until you go to sell.

That is where experience comes in.  I kind of feel like all my life has been preparing me to be a realtor.  I was into architecture as a kid, always drew floor plans, went to open houses and model homes as my hobby.  Took drafting and construction classes in high school and college, worked around building materials at Lowe’s, was an estimator for a construction company.  It’s all helped me to offer something beyond opening doors and filling in the blanks on a contract for my clients.

I recently had 2 experiences that I am pretty proud of:

  1.  I have a client who is building a new home.  We just did what is called a pre-drywall walk-thru.  The builder’s goal is to make sure they have the buyer sign off on where all the outlets and such go before the drywall gets hung.  My goal is to check out the house.  I like to just walk around and look, and look and look.  Besides a few little things, I noticed what looked like mold on the roof trusses.  I sold a newer house to some friends a few years ago.  The home inspector found mold on their trusses.  The trusses are delivered to the site in bundles and sit outside until the workers begin the roof.  If it is really wet, those trusses get mold growing on them and are installed before they dry out.  Ever since then, I am always looking at roof trusses when I have a client building a new house.  It was a real pain for the seller of the house my friends bought, and I don’t want my clients to go through that.  We got lucky this time.  The builder at first tried to say it was dirt, but then agreed to spray something on them that would kill any mold.  That’s a win for my client on several layers, the most important one is their health.  (By the way, the truss in the picture  is cracked, which is also being addressed!)img_1756
  2. One of the most common things I get asked from a seller is what needs done to get their house ready to list?  I had a client whose house had a 27 year old roof.  That is pretty old.  I rarely see a roof that old.  And it wasn’t really in that good of shape either.  He was ready to spend $5000 to replace it before we listed it.  I came out and looked at it.  I told him we should put the house on the market as it is.  If we get lucky, nobody will ask for it to be replaced.  There weren’t a lot of listings available at that time and buyer’s could not be that picky.   We got the home inspection repair list.  Nothing at all about the roof.

So, a little experience got one client a mold free house and saved $5000 for another.  It feels really good to be able to do for my clients what they can’t do for themselves….often simply because they don’t have the experience to know what to do.

 

The house that made me a better realtor

by John Rice

“There is nothing wrong with this house that can’t be fixed.”

Being a young, inexperienced home buyer, these words were soothing to hear from the home inspector.

What I didn’t realize was that fixing everything would take all my time and all my money.

It was April 1st 2002.  Closing on April Fool’s Day should have been all the sign I needed.  I bought what was called a “Fixer Upper” back then.  Now we seem to have shortened it to just “Fixer.”  This was before HGTV, but I had the same aspirations as the home buyers always do at the beginning of the renovation shows.

My house had T-111 siding, which is like grooved plywood and lasts for about 30 years if maintained.  My house was 29 years old.  And it hadn’t been maintained.

It had the old crank out Pella replacement windows.  The kind that after about 20 years, you one day crank to open and the aluminum mechanism inside snaps.  That day had happened on all the windows long before I had ever seen the house.

The roof had two layers on it.  On a positive note, the HVAC was only 2 years old.

As if all this wasn’t enough, the house had a lot of settlement.  That is a nice way of saying STRUCTURAL ISSUES.  The seller gave me an $8k credit for putting piers under the foundation.  The structural engineer (A.K.A.-SALES PERSON) told me the house needed 20 of them.  They were $1k each.  I told him there was no way I could do that since I only had $8k to work with.  Suddenly, he decided that 8 piers would be just fine.

I got what I thought was a bargain. I paid $118,200 and other similar houses were going for $145-150k on the street.

The evening of April 1st, after moving in all day and getting the boy’s beds set up, I decided to take a shower.  As the steam from the shower filled the bathroom, the pea green tiles in the shower slowly started to fall off the wall.  Many had been glued on to what little drywall was left behind them.  It kind of looked like a pizza commercial where the cheese is stretching as somebody pulls out a slice.  The shower had some goofy accent tile that must have been trendy in 1973.  I keep the tile that is pictured below in my office.

Tanforan Tile

Then there was the time we had family over.  I slept on the couch in the basement.  I woke up, ready for my first cup of coffee.  I knew it wasn’t going to be a good day when I heard a splashing sound and my left foot felt wet.  Turns out the basement leaked too.  The seller said they had never had a water problem, although all the neighbors knew otherwise.

But I got a great deal, and there was nothing wrong with the house that couldn’t be fixed.

Oh yeah, now that I am a realtor, I realize that all the other bidders I was up against for this house were investors who were probably offering no more than $90k and wanting to flip it.

So, over the course of several years, I gutted all 3 bathrooms and remodeled them.  New roof.  Some new windows.  New siding. Added a fireplace. Completely gutted the basement since it was wet and moldy.  With some help from my dad and uncle, we turned 2 paneled rooms into one massive space with all new drywall, can lights, new electric and all new trim.

To solve the water issue, I had the leafguard gutters installed, the basement waterproofed with two sump pumps and brought in 3 dump trucks full of dirt and regraded the back and side yard.  Now the house next door gets water in their basement.  I didn’t feel too bad though.  If the builder had graded my yard properly, he would have been getting the water for 30 years.  It was his turn now.

I have always hated this house.  It is sort of funny that I still own it.  We moved out in 2007 and I’ve been renting it ever since.  Part of that is because houses were not selling back then.  Part of it is because after doing all this work to it, I wanted to be the one who benefited from it.

This house was sort of like real estate college for me.  I am a much better realtor having having had these heartbreaking, time consuming and costly experiences.  Having had a house that had just about every problem a house can have and fixing it all has benefited every client I have ever worked with.

And I will never recommend a home inspector who says “There isn’t anything wrong with this house that can’t be fixed.”

Before and after (Circa 2008):