Expensive houses that look cheap

[kgb18]

DH and I are hoping to put our house on the market in a year or so. Our timeline got pushed back when we had baby #2 a little sooner than expected.

We've been keeping an eye on the market, and once every couple of weeks I search houses online. I've noticed something in our area that really irks me. People have built these fairly big houses, and they aren't cheap, yet they have cheap cabinets and counter tops, cheap trim work, etc.

I don't really get what people were thinking when they built these houses and what they think they can get for them now. If I'm going to buy a house with a generic kitchen, the price had better reflect the work that's going to have to go into it.

[Deleted]

When I was looking at houses last year I noticed a lot of kitchens where people put in granite but kept the crappy cabinets (and they weren't in great shape). I would have preferred new cabinets with a nice laminate countertop or black appliances rather than stainless if they needed to save money. who wants to have to replace cabinets yet keep the current countertop - seems like it would be a pain. Another thing was people who did NO updating. Replacing the crappy builder grade hollywood lighting in bathrooms is pretty inexpensive yet does wonders for a bathroom.

[kgb18]

I'm also amazed at the number of houses that have gas heat and an electric stove. Now that's not a big deal. We'll just put in a new stove. But don't these people cook a lot? I HATE electric stoves.

[Deleted]

Oct 1, 2012 20:07:50 GMT -5 kgb18 said:

I'm also amazed at the number of houses that have gas heat and an electric stove. Now that's not a big deal. We'll just put in a new stove. But don't these people cook a lot? I HATE electric stoves.

my current house has gas heat, gas stove/over, gas hot water and electric dryer @@.....my previous house had gas heat, gas cooktop, electric double over, gas hot water and electric dryer (which I had changed over to gas - luckily I was dating someone with plumbing experience sot it was pretty cheap).

[Deleted]

Oct 1, 2012 20:07:50 GMT -5 kgb18 said:

I'm also amazed at the number of houses that have gas heat and an electric stove. Now that's not a big deal. We'll just put in a new stove. But don't these people cook a lot? I HATE electric stoves.

be careful - it can be expensive to run the gas line even if there's gas already coming into the house.

[alabamagal]

Oct 1, 2012 19:45:23 GMT -5 kgb18 said:

DH and I are hoping to put our house on the market in a year or so. Our timeline got pushed back when we had baby #2 a little sooner than expected.

We've been keeping an eye on the market, and once every couple of weeks I search houses online. I've noticed something in our area that really irks me. People have built these fairly big houses, and they aren't cheap, yet they have cheap cabinets and counter tops, cheap trim work, etc.

I don't really get what people were thinking when they built these houses and what they think they can get for them now. If I'm going to buy a house with a generic kitchen, the price had better reflect the work that's going to have to go into it.

Not a HGTV watcher here, but can you tell from just a picture?

We redid our kitchen 3 years ago (it was 1978 original, although the colors were not bad). Put in "nice" cabinets (I think), granite countertop. House is all electric.

Personally I don't like the white cabinets, and just about every house for sale around here has them, thinking they were just painted.

[zibazinski]

Nothing wrong with electric to cook on. I like it better than gas. I now have a gas cook top and an electric oven. Everything else is gas. In Florida everything is electric. Electric oven is better for even baking.

[zibazinski]

But we rented a huge home with nothing nice in it but space. Cheap kitchen, cheap floors, but they wanted over 350k for it which is why it became a rental.

[973beachbum]

How much are the houses though? I ask because when I watch house hunters the kitchens they all want are $80K worth of kitchens. That is fine if the house is $500K-1mil but for the vast majority it just isn't worth it to put that much money into one room IMO. these expensive kitchens have become the standard which people are looking for the question is are people really willing to spend that much to get it.

I live in what is an older neighborhood that has homes built in the 60's-70's. They start at about $300K. The 300K homes are you basic 3bd/1bth houses. If someone wants a $80K kitchen they shouldn't be looking in this price range though! That type of expensive kitchen is in the $500K and up range at least. Looking at houses under it is great as long as people realize that they aren't going to get those finishes for that price.

[973beachbum]

Oct 2, 2012 7:22:25 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Nothing wrong with electric to cook on. I like it better than gas. I now have a gas cook top and an electric oven. Everything else is gas. In Florida everything is electric. Electric oven is better for even baking.

I wish I had a flat top elec range. I HATE cooking on a gas burners. I have no problem getting the elec burner hot enough to cook anything I want since I'm not cooking chinese takeout. ;D I just need to get the burner low enough to simmer things. The stupid thing on the lowest setting is way to high to do anything but boil.

The flat tops ranges are also way easier to clean!

[happyhoix]

The houses that make me pause are the nice big ones built near eye sores.

There is one McMansion nearby (four stories, beautiful terraces, fire pit, BBQ island, etc etc). It was built on a sharp embankment, so basically it's hanging over a freeway. Granted if you stood on one of the lovely terraces you could look out and see a lake, but if you look down, you'd see four lanes of traffic. I guess they figured the lake view canceled out the road noise.

Back when we were house hunting I saw a picture of a charming house in the country at a ridiculously low price. I drove out to look at it and sure enough, the house itself was charming, sittin up on a small bluff, surrounding by woods. What the picture failed to show was was shanty town in the ravine below the house - ancient trailers, little cardboardish cottages, yards choked with weeds and junked cars, surly bare chested heavy set men glaring at you from sagging porches and rusted mobile homes, fierce dogs chained in the yards. The house for sale looked fairly new, the shanty town was ancient, so clearly the shanty town was there when someone decided to build this quaint country home over looking it - but why put it there? Was the cheap lot price that much of an incentive?

[happyhoix]

"People have built these fairly big houses, and they aren't cheap, yet they have cheap cabinets and counter tops, cheap trim work, etc."

Also keep in mind the age of the house. Ours is about 20 years old and has a plain jane kitchen and bathrooms. At the time, that wasn't that unusual. However, in talking to a realtor I know recently, she told me that now, everyone wants granite counter tops and stainless appliances in the kitchen, and the bathrooms need to be 'spa like.'

Watching house hunters, it does seem that people expect to see granite countertops and stainless appliances even in little starter homes. It doesn't make sense that the kitchen should cost 1/3 of the home's value.

[Deleted]

I love gas cook stoves! That is my favorite thing about my kitchen here in Italy...gas stove. I did have to learn how to use it since I have had electric for years.

I am not a big granite counter top/stainless steel person. I don't know....it just isn't the look I really like. I really like poured concrete countertops with clean lines. I actually like the Ikea kitchen look, but with better quality cabinets than Ikea has.

I HATE white cabinets. My upper cabinets are white and I am constantly having to scrub them. I live in a rental though so I can't do anything about it.

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2012 8:00:23 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

"People have built these fairly big houses, and they aren't cheap, yet they have cheap cabinets and counter tops, cheap trim work, etc."

Also keep in mind the age of the house. Ours is about 20 years old and has a plain jane kitchen and bathrooms. At the time, that wasn't that unusual. However, in talking to a realtor I know recently, she told me that now, everyone wants granite counter tops and stainless appliances in the kitchen, and the bathrooms need to be 'spa like.'

Watching house hunters, it does seem that people expect to see granite countertops and stainless appliances even in little starter homes. It doesn't make sense that the kitchen should cost 1/3 of the home's value.

the kitchen doesn't have to cost that much. Stainless appliances can be bought on clearance. Granite countertops - you can puchase a leftover piece. cabinets - get stock cabinets and add crown molding for a custom look. there's lots of ways to do it on the cheap.

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2012 8:07:35 GMT -5 @angel33 said:

I love gas cook stoves! That is my favorite thing about my kitchen here in Italy...gas stove. I did have to learn how to use it since I have had electric for years.

I am not a big granite counter top/stainless steel person. I don't know....it just isn't the look I really like. I really like poured concrete countertops with clean lines. I actually like the Ikea kitchen look, but with better quality cabinets than Ikea has.

I HATE white cabinets. My upper cabinets are white and I am constantly having to scrub them. I live in a rental though so I can't do anything about it.

I'm with you - cooking on electric sucks. You turn down the temperature and it doesn't actually go down. I grew up cooking on a gas stove and oven and was so happy when I finally moved somewhere with gas.

[Deleted]

I think some of it is a function of our recent housing crisis. People who stretched to buy their homes couldn't afford all of the upgrades, so they got a fancy house with contractor grade insides.

In some cases that was smart - if you have limited resources, better to invest in the brick exterior or other major construction costs that will be with the house permanently. Then you can save up to upgrade the kitchen in 10 years. Or you buy a top of the line kitchen from the get go and you still need to replace it in 15-20 years, but the bones of your house aren't as good.

(And in other cases, people were just plain over-extending themselves)

[Deleted]

I am another one who would rather cook with gas. We had electric in our old house and I'd have 2 burners going -- one on high and one on low, so when I needed to lower the temp I'd just move it to the back burner.

[sheilaincali]

People the build houses tend to spend money on their lots and square footage but totally forget the parts of the house people can actually see- lighting, doors, cabinets, etc. Fortunately the lighting is easy to replace- everywhere we have ever lived (except the house we had custom built) we replaced all the builder grade light fixtures.

I think the problem is that by the time they get to picking out the finishing touches (cabinets, lights, etc) they are already over budget so they go as cheap as they think they can get away with.

[bean29]

I am pretty sure that when we built our house we paid for a gas and electric connection for the stove. As long as DH is alive we will always have gas. I grew up with electric and am not sure I have a prefrence. He is more of a gormet cook. If he is not around I prefer something simple.

I upgraded my cabinets, staggered height, crown molding, extra height cabinets and pull out shelves. We have an open concept living center, and my kitchen looks great - it gives me a lot of satisfaction. We were going to do a quartz counter top, but I backed out at the last minute, and did laminate. People don't seem to realize it is not granite. My brother is looking at quartz counter tops, and asked me this weekend if it was the newer high resolution vinyl. As far as I know, it is regular laminate. We do have beveled edges though. (Our upgrades totalled over $20,000 - exposed basement, catherderal ceilings lots of electrical upgrades, windows in the basement, the cabinets, the beveled edge on the counter top, a door and stairs from basement to outside etc.). We also did flooring outside the contract and had brick added to the front of the house outside the builder's contract.

I hate the look of a basic saltbox house with no porch or brick or anything. Imo, they do look cheap. I also don't like a drive way that is two cars wide - you step out of the car and step on the grass.

[chiver78]

Oct 1, 2012 20:07:50 GMT -5 kgb18 said:

I'm also amazed at the number of houses that have gas heat and an electric stove. Now that's not a big deal. We'll just put in a new stove. But don't these people cook a lot? I HATE electric stoves.

that's my problem, but I'm in a row of townhouses. I don't think any of us can individually just get gas for cooking. what's even worse is that some of the buildings in my complex actually have gas for cooking.

[sheilaincali]

Angel: I used to design and manufacture custom concrete countertops when I lived in CA. Some famous people have my countertops in their kitchens ;D This winter I'm going to make concrete countertops for my kitchen and island. I was hoping to do it last winter but DH never had a slow time at work. I'll like to keep it with simple lines and that but I may incorporate a few tricks that I have picked up. If you google concrete countertops Fu-Tung Chang is a genius and the one of the people that I trained under.

[Deleted]

That is awesome Sheila! I really like the look...

Chiver, didn't you do concrete counters in your townhouse recently?

[chiver78]

I did, but mine weren't poured. they built an Advantech* surface, then sprayed a concrete solution in layers over the top.
*Advantech is a decking material that's more water-resistant than particle board, which is more commonly used as base counter layers (in this area, anyway)

sheila, that's pretty sweet!

oh, and I'm totally with you on hating the stainless/granite look. thankfully I only have to look at half that combo until I can unload my place.

[Cookies Galore]

I miss cooking with gas, I hate electric! A friend has one of those duel ranges. Her stove top is gas and she has both gas and electric ovens. I want. I think it's perfectly reasonable to include a line item in the budget for one of those when we finally buy. Lol

[Deleted]

A nice kitchen can be expensive. DH did all the work himself (gas, plumbing, electrical, new windows, etc) and our new kitchen cost about 30k, I think. We did move it from one side of the house to the other. The cabinets alone were 12k but they are really nice - drawers, smooth slides, soft close.

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2012 9:10:51 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Oct 1, 2012 20:07:50 GMT -5 kgb18 said:

I'm also amazed at the number of houses that have gas heat and an electric stove. Now that's not a big deal. We'll just put in a new stove. But don't these people cook a lot? I HATE electric stoves.

that's my problem, but I'm in a row of townhouses. I don't think any of us can individually just get gas for cooking. what's even worse is that some of the buildings in my complex actually have gas for cooking.

if you have a gas line coming into your individual townhouse, then you can just get it run to the stove.

[Abby Normal]

Oct 1, 2012 20:07:50 GMT -5 kgb18 said:

I'm also amazed at the number of houses that have gas heat and an electric stove. Now that's not a big deal. We'll just put in a new stove. But don't these people cook a lot? I HATE electric stoves.

I'm afraid that is us. The gas line is already to the stove area, just not tapped. When we bought the house, it had a cheap electric stove. We were intending to replace it in a couple years. But we went to look at, and decided against. Not because of money, but because of our dog. At the time, most of the ranges on the market had the on/off switches in the front panel. I didn't trust our dang dog not to accidently turn it on while chasing the cat when we weren't home. Odd thing I know, but it actually happened to someone in our area.

Now the have some down the side, the cat is deceased, and the dog is older and calmer. We are looking at replacing again.

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2012 10:33:18 GMT -5 @anne81 said:

A nice kitchen can be expensive. DH did all the work himself (gas, plumbing, electrical, new windows, etc) and our new kitchen cost about 30k, I think. We did move it from one side of the house to the other. The cabinets alone were 12k but they are really nice - drawers, smooth slides, soft close.

yes, once you start moving plumbing and electrical or reconfiguing everything, the price starts going up.

[justme]

I want a gas stove and an electric oven...the open flame broilers on gas ovens are just asking for trouble when it comes to me.

[sheilaincali]

Angel/Chiver- Thanks- it was a really cool chapter in my life. We did countertops, sinks, bathtubs, showers, floors etc. I mean seriously- how many people can say that someone died on a floor they designed on the tv show CSI?