I wish I had kept track of how many houses, condos, townhomes and cabins I’ve been in since I become a real estate broker. It’s a lot!
Of course, the vast majority of those listings my clients never bought. Most of them were just houses and have quickly faded from my memory.
But some of them will stay with me forever. Either because they were beautiful, unique, charming, peaceful, stunning or in the case of this home, the most fixer upper of fixer uppers I’ve ever been in.
Fixer uppers all have their own stories. Some of had bad tenants, inattentive owners, or were the victim of natural disasters or deferred maintenance issues. Sometimes families hold onto old homes, unsure of what to do with them, and they sit empty for years and years.
While it was obvious this particular home had been unlivable for quite some time, it still sold fast and over list price because for a certain kind of person, a picture like this is gold.
In addition to a general state of dirt and disrepair, there were vines growing into nearly every rooms. And even in the rooms that didn’t have vines, namely the kitchen, had vines painted on the wall.
The nicest looking area of the entire house was the garage.
Like I said, this home was popular and there was a line of people wanting to see it when I pulled up. My clients decided it was just too big a project for them at that time and didn’t make an offer. But someone else did. They put in the work and now it looks like a clean modern home again.
Fixers have an important place in the market. I’ve sold a few myself but this is the only one I’ve seen nature try to reclaim so aggressively.
Michael Perrone is a licensed managing real estate broker in Washington State and is the owner of The Perrone Real Estate Group. You can reach his office at 425-224-6040 or by subscribing and responding to these newsletters.