Some of you know or realize that I’m a Real Estate agent. We have a company that prepares properties for sale. There are some things we will not do. Hiding known defects or covering what we know to be defects are some of those things. We do paint, repair, and carpet so people can move right in. We never advocate refinishing harwood floor, but do have them screened and coated.
We think people should be able to move in and live comfortably until they make a property thier own. I always recommend some one live in a property for a year or two before doing a remodel or make over. We do heavey fixers to bring them into today’s standards with the idea that some one will want the spaces the way we make them. There is always more to do.
Some Real Estate agents encourage sellers to do work to properties to make them more salable. We are in favor of that. Painting paneling, basements, or front doors are great ideas. Putting in carpets, linoleum, tile, and lamenets also add to a living space. All of these things are for salability and have no value. Counter tops, cabinets, and fixtures are grey areas that if done correctly can benefit the seller.
Rot work adds value, structural repair is essential. As long as the property is going up for sale that’s the time to rip stuff apart and fix it for the new buyers. You make money by being ahead of a potential work order. Addressing property issues that effect the property has a value. In the most direct case, fixing a concrete patio only adds value if you fix the cause of what made it crack in the first place.
This brings us to what I saw yesterday. Two houses in the same neighborhood with less than scrupulous Real Estate agents have problems that are being “fixed.” One has water leaking into a finished basement, the other has a make over that leaves the crappy house essentially intact.
The leaky basement has had paint and carpet throughout that the seller is in the process of drying out. There are about four nonconforming bedrooms in that basement. The bedrooms are constricting air flow to begin with. The fix to the leak was to divert the down spouts further from the house. It’s hard to explain, the house faces a ravine, and has an obviously failed french drain system around the house. All of the concrete surrounding the house is cracked, broken and shifted. The whole yard is in need of a major excavation and the seller is putting some pipe on the down spout ends. The ground water issue is apparent now, while in the spring or summer it may have a different look.
The crappy house is a small 800 sq ft original foot print with three different additions, obviously done without permits. The seller is a builder who, as he says, has built over five hundred homes in the Bellevue area. Judging by the work inside, I believe him. The seller has done a masterful job of the make over. The house has the kitchen, bath, carpet, paint and trim work package we have all come to expect. He ran some new circuits to the electrical box and changed out most of the galvanized plumbing. The problem is that the house needs a complete remodel to make the three additions cohesive. In other words the whole house needs to be gutted, lifted, shifted, then put back together.
Every Real Estate agent has a little bag of tricks. They all espouse the same paint, carpet, landscape, salability techniques as though they have a working understanding of how these things help. In fact, it’s my opinion, that if you bought a house with concealed defects you should have the right to sue no matter when the defects are discovered. Uh Oh, that happened this past year.
In terms of the house that needs the french drain, that is a matter for the seller to disclose. What do you want to bet the seller will make the claim the down spout extensions fix the problem? In the crappy house make over the buyer’s agent is the one who should point out that the house needs structural work to make the house fit together.
Either way, I do think the Real Estate agent is responsible for the transaction. I think Real Estate agents should have product knowledge. People pay a lot of money for houses and should know that when they plunk the money down that the person advising them did due diligence.
