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Remodeling a Bath in Land Park
Remodeling a bath always starts with an innocent idea. You know, it would be nice if the tub faucet didn’t leak. I could replace it, yeah. New hardware. Maybe bronze, that seems somewhat timeless and not as trendy as brushed nickel. It’s really tough to make a decision on hardware because one day everybody loves chrome; the next day it’s gold-tones and then a decade later it’s back to chrome. You don’t want your new remodel to look dated a few years after you’re done. Remodels should transcend trends and time.
After I got past the thought process of replacing the hardware in the bathtub and changing out the dippy showerhead from 1948, it occurred to me that I am staring at a wall of glass. The other side of the wall is cedar. The easiest way to remove the fixtures is to remove the sheets of glass covering the walls. My husband and I own one of the few homes in Land Park in which many walls were once covered in colored glass.
Ack. The tiled floor. What moron installed that horrid 12-inch tile in the guest bathroom? Oh, wait, it was this moron. What ugly tile. So dated. So rosey beige. Like somebody spilled cherry Kool-Aid on top of cat puke. We definitely need to consider remodeling the bath. I felt myself begin to gravitate toward 24-inch or 18-inch.
And before you can say travertine or marble, I am in the midst of tearing out the walls and the flooring, coupled with replacing the fixtures, the light bar over the sink, and installing a new light fixture with an exhaust fan over the tub.
I asked my husband what level of involvement he would like as his participation in this bath remodel project, whether he had opinions or preferences. The response I received was amusing but typical. Is there such a thing as a negative involvement, like a minus 10?
Fortunately, I’m not all that fussy and have a pretty well formed idea in my head of how this should look. Decisions are not that difficult for me. It’s not agonizing to select tile or light fixtures like it is for some people, and once I make up my mind, I don’t vacillate.
While I did not intend to embark on a 3-week project, it’s actually a very good idea. Sometimes we live with our present environment for so long that we don’t see it the way others do until we lock out the exterior world and focus on it. There are other people who view a bath remodel project such as this as unnecessary. Other people might say that as long as everything works and you don’t fall through the floor, it doesn’t need any work. Of course, those other people aren’t watching the tub faucet drip.
Selling the White Elephant on the Block
Part of my 40 years in real estate involve a stint during which I bought homes to fix up and sell — and, I’m proud to say, not one of those homes was a white elephant. Doing the buy, fix and sell was easy for me for several reasons. First, I was single, so I didn’t have to argue with anybody about my material choices or order of construction, not to mention, I didn’t have anybody under foot. Second, I had a lot of experience selling homes to draw upon. I didn’t do stupid things, and much was based on experience plus my excellent intuition. Third, I was willing to take the time to learn how to do the work myself, and time was not of the essence because I lived in the house — so no matter how many times I messed up, I could repeat the task until it was perfect.
There are some homeowners who don’t care if their home improvement project or remodel is absolutely perfect, but I am not one of those people. I set high standards — sometimes impossible by another’s definition — and I achieve those goals. I visualize. I will capture an image in my head and intently focus until it comes to life. The ability to focus and direct my energies in one direction is one of the reasons I have become a top ranking agent in Sacramento. I concentrate on the job at hand and do it well, because if it’s not done well, it’s not worth doing.
Today, when I meet with people who have over-improved their home and turned it into a white elephant, or have plans to do so, I cringe. Because I know without a doubt that the challenge to sell will be practically impossible to meet. These over-improved homes will appeal to such a tiny fragment of home buyers that it could take years before they find a buyer who is foolish enough to be underwhelmed by the facts and blown away by the emotional impact.
Because that’s the combination it takes to sell a white elephant.
People by their very nature want to live around other people just like them. They tend to gravitate toward conformity. Nonconformists live in corner homes, for example, but people who are not mavericks prefer the comfort of the middle of the street. If a buyer wants to spend half a million for a home, that buyer will purchase a home in a neighborhood of other homes worth half a million. She won’t buy a home in a neighborhood of $300,000 homes, much less on a busy street, and spend $500,000.
This is basic real estate 101: Location. Location. Location.
Unfortunately, those HGTV shows have turned ordinary homeowners into lunatics. Everybody wants to be a flipper, whether they have experience is not relevant. And that’s how they end up trying to sell a white elephant. Let’s not even try to talk about an appraisal because that discussion will simply make your head hurt more than it already does.
