House for sale - give me your opinion.

[MemoryInAGarden]

I am not the owner of this place, but having known the owner personally since I was a little boy (she was like a second mother to me) and having stayed in the house quite a bit, my jaw nearly hit the floor when I saw what she was asking for it. They are asking $230,000, and while this is a large house and newly remodeled, it's still a little spartan on the inside with a lot of stuff having not been updated at all. Parts of the outside are absolutely derelict; the gutter in one of the pictures actually collapsed at one point and it's just propped up. The roof is in bad shape (that's easily visible) and the buildings outside have deteriorated to the point of being unsafe. I think this house has sat vacant since the early 90s.

Let me give you a little story on the house. The current owner lived here in the late 80s/early 90s with her husband and little boys. She divorced this man, remarried, divorced the second man, and married a third man within the last year or so. It's been for sale off and on since then, outlasting each of her marriages. She's apparently asking far too much ($230k in this market, in this area, could get me a lakefront lot and modest home, much newer than this one) and it just won't sell. In addition, some residents in the neighborhood swear the place is haunted; I've never noticed anything out of the ordinary but I know some people who are so nervous of it that they won't even walk up to it.

I can't see her getting $175k for this place, let alone $230k. She'd be best to keep it for when this next marriage goes belly-up

Here's a picture I took of the house back in the spring. I think it's more colorful and better than the similar view posted in the listing

http://img225.imageshack.us/my...db7819f49a19b6dcw8.jpg

Listing

 

[Slew Foot]

Everyone thinks their house is worth too much.

 

[FoBoT]

the only thing that determines the right price is what someone will pay

if she wants too much, it will never sell

then she'll die

then someone else will sell it for the right price

 

[Dean]

That house would cost at least $250,000+ here, even though it is a fixer upper. It is a large home with enormous potential.

 

[Dirigible]

I can't give you an opinion worth a darn. Around here that house would be extremely underpriced. I've no idea what the market in your area is like.

 

[Vette73]

Says it was last "Sold 11/10/2006: $195,000"


http://www.zillow.com/search/S...SPAN%3EGO%3C%2FSPAN%3E

 

[Squisher]

When I see ginger bread like that I think of sitting there drinking ice tea in a rocker on the front porch OF SOMEONE ELSE'S HOUSE! I lived for twenty years in a turn of the century house. I was still fixing things as we sold it and I'm sure the new owners are cleaning up what I didn't fix.

 

[mrrman]

looks to old for me...I wouldnt even look at it

 

[HannibalX]

How old is the house? Any historic value, any land?

From what you have told me here in Cookeville, TN that home would not sell for over $175 IMO.

 

[dainthomas]

A house like that would get AT LEAST 400-500 around here. Too bad it's in BFE. 230 still seems like a good deal.

 

[Descartes]

The land alone would get you more than $230k in the Atlanta area in all but the absolute worst (or BFE) neighborhoods.

 

[MemoryInAGarden]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
How old is the house? Any historic value, any land?

From what you have told me here in Cookeville, TN that home would not sell for over $175 IMO.

This realtor *says* 1900, but that would put it before the closest town was developed. Blountville would have been the nearest town at the time, and it's around seven to ten miles away from Blountville. I can't see why anyone would have built this here in 1900; it would be in the absolute middle of nowhere. If it really was built in 1900, then it would have been the first house in that general area. Zillow says 1969. but my gut feeling is that it is older than that.

The original owner's father had a lot with a pond across the street from the home that I always assumed came with it, but he's been dead for more than ten years. I have no idea who the pond and lot went to. It sits on less than an acre, and to my knowledge, there is nothing noteworthy about the house except some neighborhood gossip and innuendo about the hauntings.

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Says it was last "Sold 11/10/2006: $195,000"


http://www.zillow.com/search/S...SPAN%3EGO%3C%2FSPAN%3E

The square footage is completely off-base on this site. I don't know if the agent is spot-on with her square footage, but this is EASILY larger than 1,900 feet. Like I said, it's a behemoth compared to everything around it and overwhelms the other homes. It looks very out of place in the community. Also, it's obvious that most homes in the community fetched a little less than the $150k I thought they would. There are several bunched around $150k, with a few outliers, but you can get an idea of the pricing of the neighborhood by that map.

If it was sold, it was sold to someone who knew the original owner's family. The truck that was once stored at the original owner's father's house is now up there. There have been some crews fixing up the inside this summer, but the woman I thought owned it was there, so I have no clue who might be the current owner. At any rate, no one was living in it before it was sold, and to the best of my knowledge, it's been vacant for years.

 

[ViviTheMage]

offer 190k + they pay all closing costs :

 

[Scarpozzi]

Houses in that area simply don't have the appeal that they would in the downtown area of a larger city. A house is valued by the quality, style, and location... Usually, if the house is older you're buying style. This house probably doesn't have much of a location.

The only thing that might make this house worth $230k is if it's within 5 miles of a McDonald's, a state park with riding stables, a pottery store, and perhaps a cheap movie theater. I doubt it has all that.

 

[TwiceOver]

Land is everything. My aunt pretty much traded in her land (house was demolished) for a 750k house fully paid for in Minneapolis. Granted they owned 3 lots.

 

[AMCRambler]

4 Bedrooms and 3 baths would go for $350,000.00 around here.

 

[Parasitic]

A house like that would be worth a million in California.

 

[gsethi]

Originally posted by: Parasitic
A house like that would be worth a million in California.

not if it is Haunted that picture with the round table and 4 chairs reminds of the ghostly games etc.

Also the fireplace looks like there is a dead body buried behind it and dont forget the bell that rings on its own in the back yard

 

[BigJ]

Looking at the pictures on the listing, it needs tens of thousands of dollars of work. I don't think spartan is the right word for the interior IMHO. I'd go with antiquated. Especially the fireplace and doors/trim. The interior paint color is junk too.

The exterior is plain crap concerning appearance.

 

[Epic Fail]

tell her to watch some HGTV

 

[So]

Originally posted by: gsethi

Originally posted by: Parasitic
A house like that would be worth a million in California.

not if it is Haunted that picture with the round table and 4 chairs reminds of the ghostly games etc.

Also the fireplace looks like there is a dead body buried behind it and dont forget the bell that rings on its own in the back yard

The "haunted" angle will get you a 50% markup from bozos with "ghost meters"

 

[GagHalfrunt]

It's impossible to value a house without knowing the entire market. What's worth $150,000 in Mississippi might be worth $1.5 million in parts of California. Almost every house enters the market overpriced. After it sits for a while it'll eventually correct downward until it finds the right level.