Fair Park Roaring Twenties Abode Needs Only a Little Love

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fair parkToday’s Dallas Under $100,000 is in the Fair Park area, and is an example of how the smallest, cheapest things can help sell a house.

The home we’re looking at this week is at 3815 Wilder Street, about 10 minutes from Fair Park. Built in 1927, this home has been on the market one day, and has three bedrooms and one bathroom.

And overall, it’s in good shape. Nice laminate and vinyl floors, a bathroom in good shape, a kitchen that needs a bit of love, but is still functional. And it’s almost 1,300 square feet — which is something you don’t see a lot of in this price range.

It’s a great home, and with a little more work it could be a fantastic home. If you’re in the market for a starter home for less than $100,000, you should definitely look at this home.

But just a few things can distract buyers from the good bones and the work that’s already been put in to update the home. And at this point, we’re not suggesting that you need to stage it with a bunch of furniture and fresh paint, but there are easy, zero-cost things that help potential buyers fall in love with a home.

Take, for instance, the curb appeal. Yes, painting a house is expensive, and selling a home in the winter months is hard on the landscaping. But moving the grill and trash cans out of the photo for a few minutes would have made the home look so much better.

The living room is clearly a decent size, and the floors are upgraded. And while staging a home costs money, moving miscellaneous bric-a-brac out of the frame of photo can do a lot to sell a room.

fair park

fair park

In the kitchen, someone clearly started a remodel and possibly was almost finished. But it’s hard to notice the progress with the cluttered countertops, dust on the floor, and the random can of air freshener  laying about. Still, there’s a lot of potential here for a buyer who wants to freshen this space up. 

fair park

With slight tilt of the camera, the naked hardware in the wall would not be in the picture of the bathroom. It looks as if a tenant vacated this property very quickly, as there is a washcloth on the windowsill and the shower curtain is draping the tub. Still, it’s heartening to see recent tile.

fair park

The object of pointing this out is to show how for nearly nothing you can showcase your home’s strong points. This house has three generous bedrooms, a good-sized bathroom, and is a lovely historical home.

But whether a home is $80,000 or $800,000, the simplest of details can make the difference between multiple offers above asking price and sitting on the market for months.

fair park

Bethany Erickson lives in a 1961 Fox and Jacobs home with her husband, a second-grader, and Conrad Bain the dog. If she won the lottery, she'd by an E. Faye Jones home.
She's taken home a few awards for her writing, including a Gold award for Best Series at the 2018 National Association of Real Estate Editors journalism awards, a 2018 Hugh Aynesworth Award for Editorial Opinion from the Dallas Press Club, and a 2019 award from NAREE for a piece linking Medicaid expansion with housing insecurity.
She is a member of the Online News Association, the Education Writers Association, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and the Society of Professional Journalists.
She doesn't like lima beans or the word moist.

2 Comments

  1. Joanna England on February 22, 2018 at 5:43 pm

    There’s a lot of housing stock in this area that could easily be renovated to be more livable. Here’s hoping that happens!

  2. KS on February 23, 2018 at 11:00 am

    At least, they are honestly showing the window A/C unit in the living room so buyers know there is likely issues cooling the house. Perhaps the seller figures they don’t have to work hard to sell this property at this price?

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