A WORD FOR TODAY, July 14, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, July 14, 2025
“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation and isn’t able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’” Luke 14:28-30, WEB
I follow a page that watches houses that have been put on the market that are interesting or unusual. Many of them have “gone wild.” They make me laugh, cringe, and dream. Some are spectacularly decorated, huge homes worth millions of dollars. Others are homes that have a reputation of some sort. Yet others are surprising in their lack of concern for the people looking for a house. Most realtors will advise sellers to remove personal décor that would not interest others, like the “Star Trek” room or the pink bathroom with flamingo fixtures (I confess I would probably like that one!) On another site I saw a home with a full size above ground swimming pool in the living room.
I once saw an article about all the things you should not do if you are trying to sell a house. The article had photos of homes that would make any home buyer run in the other direction. The first house had holes in the walls, odd brown stains, and blankets used as curtains. The second house used mood lighting to make the house look nicer, but it only made me wonder what they were hiding. The third house seemed to be a storage unit, with boxes everywhere, clothes hanging from the furniture, multiple televisions and other electronic equipment. All three used nice sounding terms in their ads that were red flags. Do you really want a “great opportunity” or something that needs “just a little TLC”? The sad part is that most of those houses might be good, but you can’t see the bones under the clutter, dirt, and unusual personal tastes of the sellers.
I’ve been there. Most of our moves were done by the military, so we simply packed our stuff and moved one. However, thirteen years ago we sold one house to buy another. There was so much work to get ready for the market. Our realtor did a walk through and suggested that we begin packing, to remove as much as we wouldn’t miss as we invited buyers into our home. They tell you to remove that wall of family pictures, lighten up the bookshelves, get rid of the nicknacks and clean the children’s rooms. We even had to tidy our closets. Realtors want buyers to imagine the home as their own, not as you love it. It is hard to put away your life, emotionally and physically, but it really does help. Realtors will also help you decide what work should be done to upgrade or repair the home. The house with the holes in the walls and brown stains would have looked much better with some patching, paint, and a carpet cleaning. I didn’t want to put too much money into my house, but I did make sure that the obvious imperfections were fixed. The houses in the article might have been more work than the people could either afford or accomplish, but why would anyone think pictures like those would sell their house?
At least we know that they are being honest with their photos. When we were house hunting, we saw examples of how realtors can use photography to the best advantage. You don’t see the details when you are looking at pictures. You don’t see the grout that is coming out from between the tiles or the dirt in the corners. The realtor doesn’t photograph that corner with the crack or the side of the house that has a dying tree. They angle the photos to hide the ugly furniture and use lighting in creative ways. I’m not sure I would call it dishonest, but it can be deceptive. I learned how deceptive it was I visited the houses that looked fantastic in pictures.
We visited one house that was a dream. It was very affordable (a red flag, I suppose) but had some fantastic features. We called to arrange a viewing but was told the house was not locked (another red flag) and we could visit it anytime. We could tell from the photos that the house would need a little work, but it seemed as though the shell was good. I still laugh about that visit. We drove up to the end of the driveway, which ended with a large drop in the asphalt. The garage was 20 feet away. There were bird nests in the trellis that served as the roof over the back porch. The front door was a little dirty, but it was lovely, although the carport over the circular drive in front of the house looked unstable. It was so wobbly that a major storm a few weeks later with high winds knocked it over.
The house originally had a spiral staircase that went upstairs to the master bedroom. That stairway was gone, so there was no way to go up to see what it was like on the upper level. We could see that the door to the balcony was wide open. We’ll never know because we couldn’t get up there, but there was probably water damage, and possibly critters living up there. On the main floor, it appeared as though someone was trying to flip the house but was stopped mid-flip. The work was poorly done. Tile was not evenly spaced. The paint colors were outrageous. The kitchen would have to have been completely redone because the cabinets were halfway removed. No attention was paid to acoustics, to lighting, to traffic flow. The roof would probably have had to be replaced. It was not a “great opportunity” or a house that needed “just a little TLC.” The house may have been cheap, but we would have had to take a huge loan to afford to make it livable.
I was disappointed. I fell in love with the potential I saw in the photos but when I saw the reality I knew that it was impossible. The cost would have been too great. We could not live in the house while it was being repaired. The work was beyond our scope, so we would have to have hired a contractor. We would have to sell our other house before we could afford the new one. Where would we live? How would we deal with the kids and the cats? We had to count the cost before we could buy the house. Somehow houses like those in the article are eventually sold, although usually for much less than it would have been worth if the people had put some time into preparing the space.
I like to look at the photos of those houses on that Facebook page, but I would think twice (or more) about ever purchasing them. The big, beautiful houses might be wonderful, but I couldn’t afford to furnish them and I’d never have the energy to clean that much space. Could I live with the attention those homes with a reputation experience? I would probably be frustrated by everything that is left behind in those homes with unusual décor or disgusting messes. We have to consider the cost of our decisions. Can we finish what we began? Can we make it livable? Can we make it a home that will bring joy and peace to those who walk through the doors?
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