All Forum Posts by: Jacob A.

@Rob K. that is the plan. I''m getting a pretty overwhelming response not to paint the brick. So I think the plan will be to paint the trim white and go with some freshly painted shutters to match whatever color front door I go with. I also plan to do some landscaping in the front to break up the brick a bit. Thanks for the feedback!

Awesome response from everyone I appreciate all the great responses.

@Jim M.

That's exactly the same scenario I'm in at the moment. On the street are about 20 other brick ranches that all look very similar and I was hoping painting it would help it stand out a bit to a potential buyer. Did you get any feedback from buyers specifically on the paint job during the sales process?

@J Scott

The brick is actually in pretty good shape. A good power wash will have it looking like new. Brick just seems so 70's looking to me, especially on the lower end homes. But, you can't argue with experience. I appreciate the info.

@Jean Bolger

I'm planning on some nice new painted shutters and trim so I appreciate the reinforcement!

Dear BPer's,

I was hoping to get some feedback from some of the experienced rehabbers out there. I will be closing on a gorgeous little brick ranch on Tuesday and was tossing around ideas of how to spruce up the curb appeal a little bit. The idea came to my attention when watching flip this house the other day to paint the brick a very neutral gray, beige or off-white. I was wondering if any of you have had experience painting brick and if it yielded good results for you or not? Thanks in advance.

@Bill S.

I negotiated the 5%. If the agent thinks there could be future listings it's pretty standard here. I've dealt with a few agents now and they were all at 5%.

Don't forget your fixed costs!

@James Vermillion

It is extremely painful. My contractor has been at the property probably 10 times now we've had so many delays meeting with all of his subs to get a game plan in place. I know one thing. We will be prepared when we finally close!

Update time! So my closing attorney found two of what she thought were assessments. One of which was a sewer assessment from the city for about $15 (no big deal I'll pay it to save some time) and the other was a $3,000 estimate to hook into the city water system. Supposedly this isn't actually an assessment and is just an estimate by the city to determine the price it will cost to hook into the city water lines. Because of this delay it has pushed my closing back until the 13th of August. I had hoped to post about demo at this point but things seem to keep coming up. Anyways the closing statement is in Fannie Mae's hands at this point and I should have myself a house next week.

Chris Pizzulo If you are netting around $13k I'm assuming your total investment in the property is around $80k so thats right in the 15-20% ROI range. Sounds like it could be a decent deal if you can sell it with the train tracks there! If only you could pick it up and drop it somewhere else....