Laundry Afterthoughts?

November 15, 2010 at 4:11 pm (Uncategorized)
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One of my personal pet-peeves on home plan layouts is the laundry room. It is amazing how long laundry rooms have been available inside homes, yet they still seem to be a tragic afterthought.

I even notice this when it comes to home buying & selling shows. The one area of a home that most often is not highlighted is the laundry.

Now thinking of floor plans I have seen & experiences.

The basement laundry.. this was where they started, due to the weight and vibration of the machines… so I understand why they started off there, but definitely never liked the dungeon laundry.

The pass-thru, this is the most after-though laundry room… the laundry that is squeezed in between the garage & home. There is no room to open the door, to load/unload the units, if someone is entering/exiting the garage, they are held hostage if laundry is being changed. We have this laundry.. it drives me insane!

The kitchen-laundry… where you have to pass through the kitchen to get to the laundry. For me it does not matter how spacious or amazing the laundry room is in this case.. you end up hauling dirty clothes through the kitchen, yuck!

The entry-laundry. This may look innocent enough, but imagine sorting and working on laundry next to your front door.. and you get a surprise guest. Again this is something so unappealing.

Where does the laundry belong? Well where are the clothes? Instead of hauling laundry up and down stairs, or through a kitchen, or in what should be a mudroom, in a dungeon, or at the entry door… the laundry should be where the bedrooms are. Why don’t builders get this?

One of my wish list ideas, if we stay in our home for many years… is to move our laundry upstairs. It would be an expense & ordeal.. but it would be nearly a straight shot one floor above where our laundry is currently located, and would actually make sense. I would not have to throw clothes down the stairs, and sort in a hallway, hang clothes to dry in the hallway, or haul clothes back up the stairs. Ahh dreams. 

For Fun: Laundry History  they also have a portion on “the Right to Dry”… due to bans on clotheslines.

Outdoor drying is one reason I can understand having a main floor laundry space, but most neighbors do not permit line drying your laundry.

This video surely will help appreciate the benefit of modern machines… Laundry Day.

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Spend $1,000 to get $700?

November 7, 2010 at 9:58 pm (Uncategorized)
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How many times have you see this? Kitchens & baths sell homes.

Ok sure, a great remodel can encourage a buyer to bite… BUT, if the seller has decided to fork out for a remodel right before putting their home on the market, do they see that money back? Rarely, if ever, and certainly not in this market.

The reality is while you get some of your loss back, the bottom line is it is often a loss. You might see around 70% on a remodel, maybe. On average a kitchen remodel can cost around $25k, that is a $7,500 loss.

I have seen so many home selling shows, where the buyer thinks the more they put into the home for sale, the more he/she will get back. They end up being dead set on a certain selling price, and are willing to spend $5k, to get $1k more on the home sale.

People really have gotten that out of touch!

Does it speed up the home sale? Not always, especially if your competition is foreclosures, or homes just selling cheap and needing some work. A willing buyer, who wants to do the work their own selves, or maybe someone does not think the work the seller put into the home is not worth the asking price, or maybe they just do not like the work the seller completed.

It is a tough market, the reality is.. if you are staying, and can enjoy the remodel, fine. But if you are trying to remodel to catch a sale, in this market.. seriously reconsider.

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Stainless Steel

November 6, 2010 at 1:30 pm (Uncategorized)
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You would think that home buyers think that “stainless steel” means the appliances are upgraded, top of the line.

Psst… home buyer.. it is just an exterior finish, often just a panel, or even a peel & stick concept.

I do get a kick how wrapped up home buyers are over the idea of having stainless steel appliances. Yes it is a look, but it is just a look.

Personally, when the trend started, I dreaded the idea of stainless steel appliances (one of my first jobs was in a food place, and I still remember cleaning all the stainless steel equipment through out the day).  They have come a long way, and have nice finishes that do not  offer identification of every person who passed by the appliance since it was last cleaned.

Yet for homebuyers who for some bizarre reason think that stainless steel appliances would be a make or break of a home choice, really need a reality slap.

Even if the appliances are new, odds are the home seller has chosen the cheapest, perhaps recall-happy, damaged, or somehow rejected models that were dirt cheap.

Think about it.

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Back Splashed

November 6, 2010 at 1:17 pm (Uncategorized)
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It is a must do! So say any home renovation, home selling and buying shows. They all have this excitement over the tile back splashes. It is a selling point. Really?

What if? You don’t like that tile, that texture, the color, that pattern?

Yet, how many home shows have you seen the pride of the owner about the tiled backsplash. In a home selling show, the home seller noting they JUST added that back splash. Why? and again What if the potential home buyer does not like it? How much money did you put into that project? Do you think you will get that back? Don’t count on it, of course certainly not in the current market.

Flashback… the faux brick.

Think about it, when you see a home buying show where a home owner checks out a 70′s home. The horror over the brick backsplashs that were a common choice back in the 1970s. Yet no one seems to realize trends happen, they are hip and then hype, eventually ho-hum.

I have seen some hideous choices for backsplashs, and they pretty much are either very personal or extremely boring. There is little loved by all options.

So just a note.. selling your home? don’t add tile… not to the bathroom, not to the kitchen.

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De-Construction: Tearing down walls.

November 6, 2010 at 12:54 pm (Uncategorized)
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The trend of home builders choosing the cheap route of construction has resulted in a trend, making people think they want or should have an “open floor plan”.

I grew up on the east coast, the home of the Colonial or four-square plan. Over the years walls have vanished. The wall between kitchen and dining, and the worst was the wall between kitchen and living/family room.

Typically, it is the first home buyer who has been conditioned to believe they want an “open floor plan” . They see these “grand open” spaces, and then believe it is their desire to have that type of floor plan.

Why did they believe they wanted it?

  • The social aspect. They have been conditioned to believe that they will be left walled up in a kitchen away from their guests.

What will they soon come to realize?

  • The noises and smells from the kitchen will soon permeate the entire home.
  • That they don’t want to be still cooking in front of their guests.
  • That they need to keep that kitchen immaculate, all the time… eventually avoiding using it just to maintain a perfect appearance.

I wonder will the trend die off? Will builders stop creating homes without walls?

Thinking about home shows where home buyers look at a home and talk about walls they can remove, will we soon see people buying the un-walled homes and be discussing walls they can add?

Check out this nice site with descriptions of floorplans TheHouseDesigners and AntiqueHomeStyle

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