Gut it

What an unfortunate name for a neighborhood - grew up in DC and lived in various places, never heard of this one before. Lot seems nice, would second the tear-down suggestion.

tear down and rebuild

Oh wow...the antique buffet table in their dining room (pic number 3 on the left hand side) --I have one almost exactly the same!

Anonymous wrote:I am looking for a home in Mantua and this one takes the cake

http://franklymls.com/FX7708722

Are these people delusional. Ad says it's in good condition just needs some "updates." How do you like the hot tub in the panelled family room?

Or the blue carpet in the bedroom. Please tell me something better is out there in 600-700 range!

Under contract, looks like asking price lowered $30K. Not so delusional......

Anonymous wrote:I agree most of the fixes are minor, but for me the house is way over priced then again so is everything around here. Not going to pay $600+ grand for a POS house maybe $400

Mantua is in the desired WTW pyramid so that alone will bump up the price. The same house in the Robinson or LB pyramid will cost 100K less. Plus, the easy access to 236/50 (depending on which way you leave the subdivision) makes it an ideal location.

Plus, you have a huge yard.

True, it needs a ton of updating, but that's a personal choice and leaves a ton of potential. The house is actually priced right for Mantua if you look at the comps.

Anonymous wrote:I agree most of the fixes are minor, but for me the house is way over priced then again so is everything around here. Not going to pay $600+ grand for a POS house maybe $400

Yeah, good luck with that. I assume you mean "overpriced" relative to your budget.

It costs next to nothing to take care of carpet and walls. You could even do the small bathroom for under 10K. If the house has a great location, updated expensive things like furnace, good electrical etc, and a solid inspection then it is worth more than one with beautiful, up-to-date decor but expensive hidden problems.

The upside to buying a house with cosmetics that you hate, hate, hate is that you will take care of it before or soon after you move in. Houses look so much better when you update walls and floors all at the same time rather than room by room. You also get what you like. We bought a house that the previous owners had completely updated and owned for 3 years. The owners before them had lived here for 20+ years and never changed anything. The previous owners did an OK but not great job with lots of builder type or really common granite and wall color. Its OK and not worth it to change out from a time or expense standpointeven though I would prefer something else.

We have several friends in Mantua and they have gutted the interiors of their homes but the exteriors still scream 1950. Great area for families.

The in house hot tub gave me a really good laugh - thanks OP.

It definitely needs updating but the advantage of houses from that era is that they're pretty solidly built, unlike some of the shiny new stuff built during the housing boom which is brick facing over ticky tacky tape.

And a similar house in comparable school districts would run 200k more.

It looks clean to me and definitely liveable while updates are taking place. I like the lot.

I agree most of the fixes are minor, but for me the house is way over priced then again so is everything around here. Not going to pay $600+ grand for a POS house maybe $400

That's funny, we're actually hoping to eventually buy an "old people" house somewhere in a good neighborhood. All I want for the house to have good "bones", and most major systems and structures in good working order. I would much prefer to fix it up to my taste then buy something that was fixed up a few years ago. I am too practical to tear out a perfectly good, new kitchen or bathroom just because it is not my taste - but here I would have free hand to do as I pleased. I'd say it's a bit overpriced, but not hugely. You can fix carpets, bathrooms and wallpaper. You can't fix a crappy location or a small lot.

Agree
wallpaper and carpet are an easy fix
Otherwise the floorplan and layout is nice. Location great