I was offered a great job in Connecticut in 1984, and my wife and I decided to relocate there from Manhattan. Over the course of three days, along with an undaunted and patient Realtor, we wandered in and out of 43 houses. All were re-sales; some showed very well and others not so well. One in particular was just nasty looking on the inside but had wonderful curb appeal, with two large maple trees in the front, and a wooded backyard with the community’s paved walking trail at its far edge.
The floors were covered in worn multi-colored shag carpeting that showed signs that the couple’s cats may have overshot their litter boxes. But during our re-visit, we pulled up the edges of the carpet to reveal beautiful oak hardwood floors (albeit slightly pet-stained). Furthermore, the ceilings in almost all the rooms were ringed in a stale yellow that confirmed that the owners were chain smokers. The slightly acrid air was further proof. Although comparable homes in the neighborhood had sold at $150,000 and above, potential buyers were scared away by the cosmetic problems inside. (An engineering report later confirmed what we had surmised –- that cosmetics were essentially the only issues with the home.)
We put in an offer of $129,000, and it was accepted without dickering. Before we moved in, we had the carpets all pulled up, the floors re-sanded and stained, and all the rooms repainted. Total costs to bring that home up to our code were less than $10,000. We sold the home two years later for $199,000, pocketing a net $60,000 that we used to buy another, bigger home.
Homes in many golf communities in the southern U.S. are beginning to show their age, especially those built in the late 1970s and 1980s. Original owners, many now in their late 70s and 80s, haven’t been able to keep up with the requirements of an aging home or spend the money to hire outside firms to paint, update wallpaper, or replace carpeting. Roofs and exterior siding are long overdue for replacement as well. Owners, many of them desperate to move on, know this and price their properties accordingly. They also tend to be more flexible during price negotiations.
These homes remind us of the archetypal librarian, hair in a bun and sporting ugly black glasses. But when the glasses come off and the hair comes down, that ugly duckling turns into a beauty. If you are searching for a golf home in a community that has been around for a few decades, look beyond the cosmetics; you just might get much more than you bargained for.