Buying a house is tough and it can be even tougher in older neighborhoods that are often highly desirable due to their character and proximity to downtown areas. If you are someone who loves the idea of walking down streets with large trees and unique homes from these earlier eras. Here are some things to keep in mind if you want to be a person who puts Dave Ramsey’s wisdom into practice and buy the cheapest house on the street and then get ready to quickly add equity. The three examples below were all present in a house on the South Hill in Spokane, Washington in the 99203 Zip Code which is among the most expensive in the city.
Overgrown Landscaping that is Easy to Remove
Many older homes have landscaping that was carefully planted over 30 years ago and now has grown to a point where a significant amount needs to be removed. However, once you remove some of the overgrown portions, what is left is still mature, beautiful landscaping that simply can’t be duplicated in newer homes without spending a small fortune. This is a perfect example of a house where two trees next to the house are completely covering up the window to the dining room, but once those are removed there is still a fully mature landscape in front of the house. A day of yard work and a run to the dump could instantly add significant value to the property.
Weird Decisions that Tank Home Value but are Easy to Undo
In older neighborhoods where the homes have been with the same owner for many years, it’s pretty common for decisions to be made that are either a preference of the owner or some simple convenience item that are pretty devastating to a home’s value. In the same house pictured for this article with the overgrown landscaping there was a bathroom where a shower was removed and then the room was painted a dark red. This is the type of thing you do when you’ve been in your house for decades and you have the place paid off. You don’t need the shower and you like the color so go for it. For many people looking for a house, this is a total deal breaker. It’s weird and the house only has one total shower so most people will simply walk away and never give it another thought. However, the bathroom has plumbing hidden behind the new wall and floor and so it is likely a relatively simple remodel.
The dark red paint is a funny one because the entry in the home we currently live in was also painted this same color and along with the ancient light fixture in that area it made it feel like we were entering a cave. The principle is the same though, it causes an instant ick factor for home buyers, but it only took a couple hours to fix the whole area.
Expensive Updates Complete, Simple Stuff Left Unfinished
This is another one that my wife and I have seen often enough largely because people will fix the biggest eyesore in their house like an old shower, but they are used to the peeling paint in the bathroom so they don’t care to get that fixed. For an older person, all the little items like painting or replacing light fixtures are a bigger ordeal and its expensive to hire contractors so its not uncommon to only see the higher value items completed. This is still a situation that can turn off many homebuyers and bring down the overall feel of the home even though a little paint is one of the easiest DIY opportunities. In a situation like this, the home improvement is simply repainting a few walls and then the value of the bathroom skyrockets.
The big takeaway is that in a softer housing market like it has been in 2024 and likely will be in 2025. These little items can add up and make houses sit longer and drop further in price than they should. These issues caused this home to fall $50K from its initial list price and there are hundreds of homes like this in neighborhoods across the country. A smart, scrappy buyer who pays attention to this stuff and isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty can potentially snag $30K-50K in equity.
