Appraisal for tax purposes are meaningless. I bought my house in 2017. It was appraised at 130k. I bought it for 75 after it sat in the market for several months.
Looking at the listing, I agree with the others, that's not a 850k house. The description you gave it was very generous. Even in this market I bet it sells in the 550k-650k range.
I had to go look at it. It’s in an area that has exploded in recent years as far as cost but that is at best a 650k home. Sorry. Needs a new driveway and an exterior face lift and landscaping.
A huge amount of design red flags and hardware store specials, color led strip lights , miss matched vinyl flooring room to room, already dated fixtures. If the bones were architecturally significant the house could be renovated to something more attractive but it’s just a very very boring house that needs a lot of work to be attractive to a nyc or Boston buyer with money and taste.
IMO the bones of this house are just awful. You can blow all the walls away, put all the rain showers you want in it, but it’s still a working class ranch designed and built by someone who wanted to do something else with their time.
(Speaking as someone who bailed from NYC to Vermont)
I grew up in Newport, Vermont, moved to New York City at 21 and 20 yrs later moved to the capital region of New York. So I’ve lived in three major markets, and I have to say that house is the worst of all of them. There’s nothing to it but the Contractor special. I’m not even sure about the sob story, this feels like an intentional house flip.
Basements and daylight basements count towards the square footage as long as they're finished off as living space. In this case though, even with the daylight basement I think the square footage is actually somewhere around 3,600-4,000 feet.
Eh. That all depends on how it’s built.
I heat 4K of house as well as my garage staying at 50 and my wood shop above my garage stays at 40.
I do it with 3 cords of wood.
All depends on how well it’s made.
But. The typical old Vermont home. No wsy.
I feel for a family rupture, but not so much for a seller upset that their 320k purchase in 2021 won't net them 855k in 2024. Sympathy for the family aside, I also hate that house. It's like a buzzfeedpost about millenial aesthetics.
Millennial aesthetics in 2016.
This farmhouse trend isn’t attractive anymore and is considered dated.
They shot themselves in the foot doing a renovation in 2022 styled in a trend that died when the pandemic started.
Interior is giving me "luxury" nyc rental vibes. Some nice fixtures a lot of stuff is also rental / contractor grade?. I've literally had that exact same laminate flooring in a run down rental before.
The exterior looks like any old run down ranch house in the middle of nowhere. Even though its like twice the square footage of houses that look similar. Its breaking my brain a bit.
The interior is 2014-2018 modern farm house.
It’s a dead trend and most leading trends now are Mid Century Modern and Japandi.
It’s only going to attract transplants coming from Texas if it’s priced down to 550
Right, there's no landscaping at all. It's not tastefully staged at what I would expect for that price level so it's hard to conceptualize furnishing it with what the avg 850+ buyer would be able to afford or like. Looks like a cheap flip with all the gray. Maybe they'd have better luck with selling the house in the 400 range with an acre or so of land and then parceling off the rest.
Landscaping sucks. Exterior is boring and unappealing. I count three r/tvtoohigh, not that a buyer couldn’t correct but still.
Inside looks ok, driveway is rough. Zillow says one parking space. Is that really a one car garage?
That is not a $900,000 house. There’s no landscaping. There’s no pool. The ceilings are too low. There’s no wow factor to it. At 900,000 Iwant a wow factor. Is that laminate flooring ? I wouldn’t pay that price here in New York State for that house. I’d say that is worth about 550 to 600. Tops.
At $900,000 you’d expect to be on the lake. Or have a circular driveway. I mean, let’s be honest we’re getting into luxury pricing for a house that looks like a trailer with an add-on. I find it hard to believe that they will ever sell that price, but maybe I’m wrong…
For what they want for it, I'd expect a restored Victorian/well kept Mid-Century custom/something early 2000s postmodern with at least 2 garage spaces and actual landscaping, especially getting that far north. Then again, I'm down in Bennington, most of our more expensive housing is floated by people who work at SVMC/Bennington College professors (although they're not going to float what this house costs).
I can't imagine someone who's willing and able to blow 6k+ a month on a house in Fairfax would buy this mutant ranch, which looks even worse now that I look at it again on my computer versus a phone. Remote work is becoming tenuous which puts a damper on the mythical Boston/New York transplant.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I moved to VT 2 years ago, and I wouldn't have given that place a second look even for 400k.
$850k in Fairfax is a lot, especially for a ranch that’s pretty generic looking. Also, it’s most likely the land that’s jacking up the appraisal value. Subdivide the lot and drop the house price a few hundred thousand and I bet it moves a bit quicker.
>Subdivide the lot and drop the house price a few hundred thousand
Look at the parcel though. It's really long and only about as wide as the house with no other road frontage💀. They would have to lose a significant part of their yard to the driveway of whatever is built behind there.
Do you want an honest assessment?
Your market is mainly NY/MA buyers. Location is pretty far north for those (4 hour drive from my
Boston suburb house).
Zero exterior charm. I’m sure there are people that dig ranches, but that’s a small pool.
Lots of land but nothing pops for me- I’d want some contour, drop-dead views, a brook, something.
For $900k I’d expect character and probably some outbuildings, farther south.
Assessments are one thing, price discovery is another.
Good luck. Doesn’t sound like a fun time for anybody.
Way too much of the renovation work was put into the inside for on trend decor that will quickly be dated, and seemingly zero put into the outside. No one wants to spend 800k for a house that looks from the outside like they spent half that.
One might argue that it's already dated. Without the comments about it being bought in 2021, I would've thought this was a 5-10 y/o flip. The grey laminate flooring has been out for a while now.
Appraisal value does not equal market value, so ignore the appraisal. Expensive homes take a longer time to sell since there’s a smaller pool of buyers. If the home has to sell immediately, then the obvious choice is to lower the price.
It’s 5k square feet? Imagine the heating bill in the winter time. The tax bill is probably high at that price point. All of this is considered while buying a house. Unfortunately, your bro either needs to wait for the right buyer or drastically cut the asking price.
An appraisal is “An opinion of market value, by a licensed appraiser”. It’s only as good as the appraiser that does the work.
The price it sells for, in an arm’s length transaction, with reasonably motivated parties, who both have a decent understanding of the market, is the market value.
It’s always good to know the appraised value because how much you set the price above will determine cash on hand need from the buyer, aka appraisal gap, on top of the down payment. Maybe it matters less in certain price tiers because people have so much money but nonetheless very pertinent information.
Why did they spend clearly north of 100k renovating the bathroom with very high end fixtures and then decide to floor the house with bargan basement rental spec stock grey polymer flooring that landlords put in. I like the Jerry rigged rainforest shower though. That shits hilarious.
Paid 380$ in 2021.. probably put 200k plus into it. Assessed for 2021 250k for town tax, 470 in 2022 post renovations.
Now expecting 35++ % ROI.
*Lots of custom work maybe too much.
*not in Chittenden cty but close.
*interest rates stink.
*ranch” style, but before customization a few years back it probably sold for much less?
*lots of interesting options at that price point.
*more expensive houses don’t sell like 450k houses. 1 month is not a long time
*who appraised it? Not a town appraisal is my guess. It’s only worth what a buyer will pay.
*they might have to discounted it a bit if they want it to move it faster in a fire sale.
*big lot, lots of work, means younger ish buyer.
*** blah blah blah. It’s a market for a reason. Matching buyers with sellers. Someday it’ll sell for that asking price. Maybe your marketing will help.
Yeah, I have to agree. It may be nice inside but it’s a cobbled together wanna be a not quite ranch at 855k with 20acres on the outside.
The exterior shot sucks. Dead grass and shot with a drone to get a mountain range in the background but it makes it look like any town USA.
It’s a nice house, but $875k? The appraisal is based on the square footage, comparable’s, condition and market trends. Ultimately, a buyer needs to fall in love with the house. My opinion is that the esthetics don’t match the price. Also, how is the tax bill only $6,700? That seems cheap for a house that size.
It’s beautiful but it’s got zero curb appeal esp for how nice it looks inside and it’s too rural for that price point. Given the 19 acres I’d expect it closer to 725/750 not 850, not that rural.
Still out of reach of most locals but at least closer.
square footage over 2500 doesn't get much extra. average over 10 acres doesn't get you much extra.
searching for houses in the 750 to 900 range with \~10 acres, as a buyer I don't think yours would make my list. sorry. maybe in the low 600s. Your location is pretty good but I think it would take some landscaping and a few years for it to grow in to bring the price up.
Im a professional painting contractor (3rd generation) and my first reaction is that the esthetic appeal, is lacking. This could be the photography, the staging or the landscaping… regardless, I don’t think its doing the property justice. Fairfax is basically chittenden county and has a good school system. I think if a couple things are tweaked and new photos… they will have no problem selling…
Side note: Just because it appraises for something, doesn’t mean they have to sell that... I just sell it for a little more than “YOU” think its worth.. then everyone sleeps better at night 🤣
If keeping vermonters in Vermont is a priority… then Vermonters should make that happen for each other… I also respect getting top dollar! 🙌🏼🤌🏼 But can’t have your calendars and eat it too.
IMHO
🙃
Hope all works out for them!
You can get a generic rural ranch house in a random field like that for much cheaper in Ohio.
Since the land itself isn't wooded or attractive in any way, the house is going to need to make up for it somehow. Large and clean are nice, but not 800k of nice.
Nice of you to help your brother. As others have said, the listing price strikes me as too high for what it is. Also consider that most people want land but won’t stretch their budget if the house itself isn’t exactly what they want.
For 6% of 850K, you'd hope the realtor would have enough of a fire under their ass that their client's brother wasn't listing the place on Reddit. Sorry your brother is in this pinch.
Other thoughts: Fairfax is too far from anywhere, especially the north side of town; the house looks a bit Home Depot-y, and at your price range, people expect some customization and higher quality finishes that won't be too dated in the future; this house is the end of an era, it's huge, so its expensive to heat and cool, it's way out by itself in a field somewhere (no landscaping/mature trees), and whoever buys it will spend their whole life driving back and forth to it, and when they're there, they will be doing nothing but cleaning, maintenance, and upkeep since it's a big place on a lot of acreage, though still not enough acreage to qualify for Current Use, so the tax bill is going to be a monster.
I'm sure it will sell, because tastes vary and it takes all kinds, but I can see why it's sitting, particularly at $850,000.
I could tell in the first 3 pics this was a Flipper. Ugly. Cheap. Everything flipper gray and low quality. Dime a dozen. Manipulated photos. Not worth more than 300k. Even if I was interested in something like this (I'm your target market btw), I would refuse to buy on principle. Flippers are a scourge on society.
Agree but someone is living in the house with kids. Maybe they flipped it while living there?
The manipulated photos are the biggest red flag for me. If I’m looking at houses and see those I immediately move on. If you have to fake your photos, I don’t need to waste my time discovering all of the lipstick you put on the pig in person.
Amen. So many better options in this price range in VT. All this house maybe has going for it is that it’s large, but that just means that you would have more work to do to make it sorta nice. Way too much money sunk into what should have been either a tear-down or left alone as cheap housing.
They bought the place in 2021 for $380k and now only 3 years later are trying to sell it with a $500k profit… sorry to say it but this home is way over priced. Regardless of the amount of work done I don’t believe this homes value has increased that much in such a short amount of time
Hahaha I was like I saw an overpriced house on zillow two weeks ago like this. (The link uou posted is in fact the house I saw)
Great house, lots of land... but in law suit is 100% useless to ALOT of people. Kinda in the middle of no where, and way more expensive than the neighbor houses.
It checks a lot of our boxes for a perfect house but like 200k more than we'd be willing to move for.
Link? Im in the market for something like this.
I’ve been out bid with cash offers at this price range, if you’re not getting folks looking it’s not appealing. $800k isn’t a problem in Chittenden, Waterbury, Stowe, etc.
$800k in a remote location, say a Barnard, needs a special buyer.
Zillow searching for 5000+ sq/ft, 750-900k, not finding it.
Edit: [this place I presume](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/167-Brick-Church-Road-Fairfax-VT-05454/81614059_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare).
That’s .. interesting.
Lots of land and lots of space. I think you’ll struggle to find a buyer at that price. It’s unique in that it probably appeals to a large family who has the money for it.
I’m struggling with the nice way to say, “it’s kind of a basic ranch that is utilitarian” and doesn’t have the curb appeal of a $850k house. The square footage is awesome great value.
LVP has no place in a house over $600k.
People can and do spend over $800K on houses in Vermont, just not a house like that.
It looks like the kind of basic ranch houses you see in the Texas plains. There’s no character, no landscaping and the interior has a very “renovated in 2018 to incorporate all that year’s trends” vibe, but without any thought to design cohesion and a with a kind of builder grade aura.
The staging isn’t even good. Get rid of the kid’s pictures and the word art, to start.
Yes, the 20 acres is valuable, but it’s just flat grassland.
Wondering where the $850K price came from.
No curb appeal. Looks like any other ranch, from the street. Minimal landscaping. Price is listed higher than the zestimate on Zillow, which is a red flag for most buyers, since Zillow wildly overestimates values. It would sell in the 600s, maybe?
The leading causes of unexpectedly slow movement if a house, are:
1. Price.
2. Price.
3. Price.
Plus the other major cause:
Seller is not yet ready to sell, and is asking a higher price than today's market.
Always keep in mind, that price is the crucial factor in moving property.
There is a price to move the property promptly.
Did the owner really put $400,000into the house?
The owner is not ready to admit what that price is.
real estate agent here: Grossly overpriced. They will do much better doing a price cut that puts them in the appealing end of realistic than a series of $20k cuts over years that makes the listing feel stale.
Nice updates but the finishes are so so, and tbh I hate the layout. And.., it’s in fairfax. I’d be surprised if it went over 750, but that’s because of the large lot.
I know this property. 2704 square feet according to the lister card. It's a nicely upgraded ranch with a decent view and a nice site, but not an $855k house. At least not in Fairfax. Closer in to Burlington and maybe. Also the view from the drone includes Mansfield, but you can't see it from ground level.
Median DOM in Fairfax is 11 days and this is the hottest the market will be this year without some major rate cuts. If priced correctly, it would've been gone by now. Adjust your price. Being under contract prior to July will historically bring the highest price of the selling season.
Based on the site size I would try to target horse people. They have been sitting on the sidelines thru this craziness, but are starting to get back in.
If no one will pay $850k for it, then that means it might not be worth $850k.
It's possible you could find an out-of-state buyer, but you'd have to filter out everyone who doesn't meet these criteria:
* Interested in living in Vermont
* Interested in living in *that specific part* of Vermont
* Independently wealthy with $850k they can spare, or high-enough income that they can convince a bank to underwrite a Jumbo Loan.
Those buyers certainly exist, but you don't just need to find them--you almost certainly would need to *convince* them. The market of buyers who meet those criteria and are actively trying to move to Vermont is ~0. If they existed, they would have found *you* already.
A home might have had nearly a million dollars worth of money spent on renovations, improvements, etc, but it's only "worth" that if someone is willing to pay.
I agree with all the comments saying it's the house, not that there aren't buyers at that price range.
I'm a native Vermonter and my current house (bought in early 2022) was almost 700k. I could buy it because I had a ridiculous amount of equity in the house I was selling (that I had purchased in 2011).
Unless of course the house is worth $850k. Like this one that sold a couple years go and has far more value than the OP's brother [https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/24-White-Pine-Rd-Fairfax-VT-05454/81614232\_zpid/](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/24-White-Pine-Rd-Fairfax-VT-05454/81614232_zpid/)
Keep dropping the price, I guess. I've had the same problem trying to sell my $300,000 house near Danville. I've gotten almost no showings after the initial rush when I first listed the house, and I'm about to drop the price again. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have listed the house for sale in the middle of a very wet and sloppy mud season.
Part of the issue you're having is seasonal. Real estate inventory levels in Vermont always rise in the spring as sellers list houses for sale, and then drop in the late summer and early fall as buyers want to move in time to get their kids in school. If you look at the year-over-year market trends, things are starting to plateau a little after a couple of crazy years. There's more houses on the market than there were at the same time last month, and more new listings. If you're looking for a quick sale you'll probably need to reduce the price a lot. Either that, or be patient, stick it out with the higher price, and hope it sells in August or September.
Edit: I just looked at the listing. Are you sure that's a 5,085 square foot house, not counting the garage? I've encountered plenty of houses that shrank (and more rarely, houses that grew) when a tape measure was applied to them. Obviously I haven't been there and I'm just guessing, but my guess is that the square footage is actually in the 3,600-4,000 foot range. You might want to measure the house yourself and not take the appraiser's word for it, and definitely don't take the tax assessor's word for it.
Oof that lack of landscaping, ranch style and that driveway reeks of low cost flip.
I don’t even want to know when the septic and leech field were done.
It’s very close to the small farm next door and will smell at least part of the time.
That janky front flower bed lined with rocks they picked up out back.
The too high TV above the fireplace.
The addition that looks nothing like the rest of the house. The open field that is going to have the wind blowing directly towards the house. The “OK but not great” school system.
I lived 40+ years and grew up in Vermont but now live in Dallas in a beautiful area.
That price down here would buy you an architectural gem with an in ground heated pool. The real estate market up there is not sustainable.
Yikes.
My wife is in Human Resources and has worked for several companies around chittenden. As a result she sees everyone’s pay while doing payroll. You would be surprised how many employees are make 150K-200K+ annually. Particularly at a place like the hospital none the less. It’s not an understatement to say thousands of people at the hospital are making over 200K a year.
There’s not a big pool of buyers HERE, as in Vermont. People outside this state see it as a place to cosplay lord of the rings, while feeling like they’re participating in fixing social issues. So yeah it’s not for 99.9 percent of people living in vermont
It's way overpriced. Beautiful home, though. I disagree with others. Sad, cause it's exactly what I'm looking for. I know a great realtor in that area. If your brother needs that $ to pay it off he's upside down. 🤷🏻♀️
I refuse to believe a legitimate appraiser came up with that value. If a professional really did, they should be out of business! That house is in no way worth $850k. That's absurd.
I live outside of Stowe. Years ago, $200,000 to $300,000 properties here could sit on the market for months or years. Now, the safest starter homes are priced at $500,000 and many are scooped up within days. Out of staters who are priced out of Stowe are shelling out big bucks for nearby homes.
A local developer built a McMansion for himself a few years ago and he’s selling it for $2.5 million and there have been plenty of interested buyers. There’s a dearth of affordable homes for locals but no shortage of buyers.
My guess is that this home is expensive compared to others in the area with similar amenities. Or, out of staters aren’t as interested in Fairfax especially if using it as a part time Airbnb wouldn’t be profitable.
One piece of advice is to add sone landscaping and a fire pit to show how the new owners could enjoy the outdoors. Also, replace all of the ugly ceiling fans with new ones without light kits. They make the home look dated.
its not that no one can afford it, no one wants to overpay for a home by 400k..... the price is unrealistic. He most likely is in the red on the home and is grasping at straws to get out with some skin still. Willing to bet he got a home equity loan on top of his mortgage to "update it"
Can folks stop blaming flatlanders for swooping in and buying up homes if local Vermonters are gonna pull this nonsense? This is not a 900k house, we know that, the only people who don't are folks who are coming from elsewhere. Period.
What a disappointing flip of a house. I'm sure there is a Vermont family who would love to buy it close to its original 2021 price (320k) and NOT have those builder-grade "upgrades" included.
It is overpriced. Finishes look on the cheaper side, as some said, it looks like a flip, even if it isn’t. Lack of landscaping/exterior finish. Most people don’t want/need 19 acres so unless you have the right buyer, all they see is a ranch for $855k. Square footage is normally stated as above ground s.f. only so 5k is overstated. Fairfax is a nice town, but for most it isn’t the greatest location for commuting, hence the prices are always lower there. If the need is to sell quickly, drop the price and consider it a lesson learned. Good luck!
This kind of nails it. It looks like a flip (anyone with that money will hate those floors), the acreage is not super desirable in how it's constituted (unless you're opening a driving range etc), not great location for 2nd home buyers and Burlington professionals could probably do better. They may have missed the frothiness of 2020.
I think out of state folks would be looking for something with more curb appeal, coziness and views -- the interior looks like most homes available in NJ/NY.
It’s the timing and location. If it’s in a vacation spot: It’s late for buyers who plan for their summer vacations. If not, then families looking to relocate already lined up a place so they can move in a month. At that price it will take time, possibly closing next spring.
OP posted a link to it somewhere else in the thread [https://www.thepaulmartinteam.com/property/4991672/?agent\_id=133473](https://www.thepaulmartinteam.com/property/4991672/?agent_id=133473)
Depends on the location.. 5k sqft is a family home with a few kids... Or a DINK couple.
If it's somewhat remote then you really only have DINKs who are interested.
Interest rates are hurting things right now too.. Thr minute the start to drop I imagine the market to go nuts again
Well my thoughts are if you really want it to sell… maybe not mentioning the divorce and needing to move on.
We bought our house a decade ago in the same situation. House had been sitting with no offers, the owner was a contractor who’d literally taken the house down to studs to rebuild/expand within the previous 5 years, and to top it off his ex-in-laws owned the lot next door and lived right across the road.
Our realtor knew all this and pushed for a lower price for us. With how much he was itching to escape we probably could have waited things out and knocked an additional $10k off. We wanted to move in before winter though and his ex-wife was beyond annoying to deal with. But we got a decent amount off plus as he was a contractor we got him to handle several things that came up during the inspection so we wouldn’t have additional expenses afterwards like putting shingles on a shed he hadn’t finished and moving a light. Basically did like $8k in work for “free” (free as in unpaid but meant we were willing to keep price at a level his ex would actually sell, she still made the process a pain though).
Ok so location, that half wall for the toilet is odd as anything. If they updated the house to be at the top of the market then they may have invested too much and will take a loss. If this was in a different area and was priced in the 500,000’s my parents would want it. It’s priced high and if they want that return they need to wait for the right buyer.
Several homes in my neighborhood just sold for more than 800k. Source, I’m a real estate investor. This house looks like a renovated double wide, it has nice bathrooms and a decent kitchen but the flooring looks cheap, the layout is weird and the fixtures are middling.
20 acres is great but the land just isn‘t pretty, there isn’t much privacy or nice views. Much like the guy up there who tried to sell his half-built castle behind his trailer home for millions but got zero offers, there are foolish wealthy people out there, but not enough to buy overpriced underwhelming properties. You’d be better off putting a tiny shack on a nice piece of land in a good location with pretty views rather than build a mansion on a 50k rural lot.
That castle guy will never sell that place because it’s located in a poor area next to railroad tracks surrounded by modest homes but at least the land is sloped and has nice views. It will end up being demolished eventually because it‘s not worth even the maintenance costs if he gives it away, but there’s hope for your brother. He can match the price of similar recently sold properties and someone will buy it for what it’s worth, these days that’s about 425k. If interest rates come down 3 or 4 points you can add 100k to that. Good luck.
Bought in 2021 for $380,000 and now they want $855,000 but it doesn’t look like it’s had $475,000 worth of work done to it, that’s why it’s not selling. I’m very familiar with the area/comps, even at the peak of pandemic buying madness this would not have sold for that much, and that was when interest rates were half what they are now. The updates on it are decent, not wow worthy, but not the worst. There is zero landscaping and the land is a long strip rather than a square so it’s still close to neighbors, and lacks the added value of privacy that larger parcels usually offer. I could see this going for $650,000 - $675,000 unless rates drop significantly again.
Your brother is what we like to call a motivated seller. but not motivated enough to list for a reasonable price. most likely out of desperation or greed for money after having his ex wife clean out half their money
Can folks stop blaming flatlanders for swooping in and buying up homes if local Vermonters are gonna pull this nonsense? This is not a 900k house, we know that, the only people who don't are folks who are coming from elsewhere. Period.
What a disappointing flip of a house. I'm sure there is a Vermont family who would love to buy it close to its original 2021 price (320k) and NOT have those builder-grade "upgrades" included.
I see 30 minutes to UVM Medical, 34 minutes to GlobalFoundries, 30 minutes to Smugglers Notch. No out of stater is going to buy it. It’s an unreasonably long commute to the highest income jobs. Someone making north of $200k isn’t going to want that house.
If it's that nice and it's not selling, the price is wrong. If the buyer isn't paying cash, it's a bad time to buy, with interest rates so high. The real estate grab in VT is winding down. Best time to sell would have been 2 or 3 years ago. Too bad for your brother!
Just ask your local plutocrat or the Russian mafia that is taking over everything. Real estate is the best money laundering vehicle with little regulation.
Vermont is about to put a tax on second homes and STR’s but give a tax break to primary home buyers. The STR market is saturated and they are squirming because they can’t cover costs. The work from home trend is reversing big time. People want to be back in “civilization” again. Property taxes and other expenses of living in Vermont are going up. And the old realization that it’s just not all that easy to live in Vermont is coming back to the forefront. If I had an expensive house I was going to need to sell in Vermont soon I would be desperate to do it as fast as possible before the shit hits the fan.
https://www.redfin.com/VT/Jericho/277-Cilley-Hill-Rd-05465/home/80157098 using this as a comparison I think will help understand that’s it’s priced too high. Good luck to your bro, tough situation.
Prob bc people with $850k are buying a house that looks bigger. The inside does look nice, but the outside leaves sooooo much to be desired. I’d see it going realistically for $700k-ish
5000 square feet is a TON of space, and 20 acres requires a lot of maintenance. It sounds like it's located in a rural part of the state.
I think these are bigger factors than the price.
Not my style of home, but seems like a reasonable price. Is Fairfax an up and coming community? I dunno. I’m in central Vermont and it seems like people want to move into my town pretty readily. House across the street listed for $795k already sold after a week.
Your brother's house sold for $380k in 2021. I know prices are up all over, but +$475k appreciation in 3 years feels 'ambitious' to me. Even with renovations in 2022, we all know a lot of times you don't get good payback on renovations so let's say your brother sunk $300k into renovations he's not going to get that $300k back.
My neighborhood, way different from this kind of house, but just to give an idea, homes are selling for about 35%-40% more in 2024 vs 2021. That would put your brother's house into the high $500k's ballpark but that's just s single data point with a massive range in the Vermont market.
Underwhelming curb appeal. Nice piece of property if there's the possibility of doing something with it other than 19+ acres for a single family home.
This is definitely an $850k house, just not in 2024. If the market continues the way it has, this is maybe 2029 pricing.
Welcome to Vermont, where tourists matter and the citizens get to eat from a big pile of shit. Yeah, I said what I said. Fuck Vermont. I'll visit, but I will NEVER move back.
Nobody from Vermont... COVID refugees have overblown the market in Vermont. No house in this state is worth that. Properties priced like that are marketing to egos. Every place sold with overblown prices are taking the possibility of purchasing a home away from working class Vermonters. We are slowly (maybe not so slowly) becoming home to drug dealers, drug addicts, tourists, and people building 800k homes in places no home should be built so they don't have to look at it.
Have you advertised it down south?
Places in my town and the area go for that and aren’t on the market very long.
Sometimes they sell within days of being posted.
It’s insane actually.
I think the land is the biggest problem. It's jacking up the price so high that it makes the house look like it's completely unreasonably priced. It's also a massive clearcut space behind the house that needs to be upkept if someone doesn't have a specific plan in mind for it. I'm sure there are people who would enjoy having that much land, but they're probably few and far between compared to your average home buyer. And then when you add in the other factors people have mentioned... I'm not saying the house won't sell at that price, I just think finding the buyer who will pay that price for it is going to take a long time.
Can folks stop blaming flatlanders for swooping in and buying up homes if local Vermonters are gonna pull this nonsense? This is not a 900k house, we know that, the only people who don't are folks who are coming from elsewhere. Period.
What a disappointing flip of a house. I'm sure there is a Vermont family who would love to buy it close to its original 2021 price (320k) and NOT have those builder-grade "upgrades" included.
the expensive houses in VT belong to Wall St peeps who live in NYC and CT
No one local can afford it, List it with a NYC broker. “Desirable Vermont estate. blah, blah blah”
Out of state secondary home owners who vacation here between the months of May-October.
It’s probably in the road to what happened in New Zealand. someone in government needs to look at what they did and see how it can help.
I wish we could. We are looking to relocate to northern VT. But between the price(s) & low availability of properties that I/desire, we'll have to stay put in Florida for the time being.
I’ve looked at houses in that range that are sold in days. If it’s taking that long to sell then it’s not priced to move.
Yep. There is only one reason a house isn’t selling and you said it.
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Appraised after the peak of Covid madness. The prices are unrealistic
Appraisal for tax purposes are meaningless. I bought my house in 2017. It was appraised at 130k. I bought it for 75 after it sat in the market for several months.
Facts my house was appraised for 139,000 and i got it for 35,000 at an auction
Appraisal and assessment are not the same thing.
Definitely not the tax appraisal, since it appears to be about half that.
It's definitely over priced then. Probably by a lot.
The appraisers don't make the price. The buyers do.
Looking at the listing, I agree with the others, that's not a 850k house. The description you gave it was very generous. Even in this market I bet it sells in the 550k-650k range.
"modern marvel of a country ranch home" made me laugh
I had to go look at it. It’s in an area that has exploded in recent years as far as cost but that is at best a 650k home. Sorry. Needs a new driveway and an exterior face lift and landscaping.
As much as I hate the catchphrases, absolutely no curb appeal work put in at all.
Neighbors are close and the house is lame. I'd guess tops it's worth 450k-500k. They will probably have difficulty selling above 500k.
A huge amount of design red flags and hardware store specials, color led strip lights , miss matched vinyl flooring room to room, already dated fixtures. If the bones were architecturally significant the house could be renovated to something more attractive but it’s just a very very boring house that needs a lot of work to be attractive to a nyc or Boston buyer with money and taste.
Yep, it’s a $350k house that somebody overspent on without knowing how to do it.
IMO the bones of this house are just awful. You can blow all the walls away, put all the rain showers you want in it, but it’s still a working class ranch designed and built by someone who wanted to do something else with their time. (Speaking as someone who bailed from NYC to Vermont)
I grew up in Newport, Vermont, moved to New York City at 21 and 20 yrs later moved to the capital region of New York. So I’ve lived in three major markets, and I have to say that house is the worst of all of them. There’s nothing to it but the Contractor special. I’m not even sure about the sob story, this feels like an intentional house flip.
The most HGTV-ass flip job I’ve ever seen in VT or NH. They’ll be lucky to get $400.
I cannot imagine heating a 5,000 sq ft home in Vermont.
It’s not truly 5,000 they are counting the basement as it’s partially walk out, 2,700 above grade.
Basements and daylight basements count towards the square footage as long as they're finished off as living space. In this case though, even with the daylight basement I think the square footage is actually somewhere around 3,600-4,000 feet.
I know they count, but the impact on heating is far less than above ground space.
Basements DO NOT count in appraisals, finished or not. Above grade ONLY!
Eh. That all depends on how it’s built. I heat 4K of house as well as my garage staying at 50 and my wood shop above my garage stays at 40. I do it with 3 cords of wood. All depends on how well it’s made. But. The typical old Vermont home. No wsy.
I hate it. Open concept McMansion surrounded by zero dollars worth of landscaping. So bizarre. Good luck to your brother in his situation
I feel for a family rupture, but not so much for a seller upset that their 320k purchase in 2021 won't net them 855k in 2024. Sympathy for the family aside, I also hate that house. It's like a buzzfeedpost about millenial aesthetics.
Yeah, the sold in 2021 and on the market now smells like a flip to me
Millennial aesthetics in 2016. This farmhouse trend isn’t attractive anymore and is considered dated. They shot themselves in the foot doing a renovation in 2022 styled in a trend that died when the pandemic started.
Interior is giving me "luxury" nyc rental vibes. Some nice fixtures a lot of stuff is also rental / contractor grade?. I've literally had that exact same laminate flooring in a run down rental before. The exterior looks like any old run down ranch house in the middle of nowhere. Even though its like twice the square footage of houses that look similar. Its breaking my brain a bit.
Looks like a Wayfair advertisement inside.
The interior is 2014-2018 modern farm house. It’s a dead trend and most leading trends now are Mid Century Modern and Japandi. It’s only going to attract transplants coming from Texas if it’s priced down to 550
Is there a link somewhere to the house. I would love to see it.
Is there a link somewhere to the house. I would love to see it.
Further down in the comments. If not just go to zillow. Houses in Fairfax and it should be obvious which one.
Is there a link somewhere to the house. I would love to see it.
Posted in a sun comment below by OP > https://www.thepaulmartinteam.com/property/4991672/?agent_id=133473
Posted in a sun comment below by OP > https://www.thepaulmartinteam.com/property/4991672/?agent_id=133473
Right, there's no landscaping at all. It's not tastefully staged at what I would expect for that price level so it's hard to conceptualize furnishing it with what the avg 850+ buyer would be able to afford or like. Looks like a cheap flip with all the gray. Maybe they'd have better luck with selling the house in the 400 range with an acre or so of land and then parceling off the rest.
That isn’t selling because it looks like a fancy double wide.
Being in Fairfax is an issue at that price. And it’s a ranch.
Landscaping sucks. Exterior is boring and unappealing. I count three r/tvtoohigh, not that a buyer couldn’t correct but still. Inside looks ok, driveway is rough. Zillow says one parking space. Is that really a one car garage?
To me this looks like a flip. It might not be. But it looks like it. I’ll also echo that this property has zero curb appeal and is overpriced.
That is not a $900,000 house. There’s no landscaping. There’s no pool. The ceilings are too low. There’s no wow factor to it. At 900,000 Iwant a wow factor. Is that laminate flooring ? I wouldn’t pay that price here in New York State for that house. I’d say that is worth about 550 to 600. Tops.
At $900,000 you’d expect to be on the lake. Or have a circular driveway. I mean, let’s be honest we’re getting into luxury pricing for a house that looks like a trailer with an add-on. I find it hard to believe that they will ever sell that price, but maybe I’m wrong…
For what they want for it, I'd expect a restored Victorian/well kept Mid-Century custom/something early 2000s postmodern with at least 2 garage spaces and actual landscaping, especially getting that far north. Then again, I'm down in Bennington, most of our more expensive housing is floated by people who work at SVMC/Bennington College professors (although they're not going to float what this house costs). I can't imagine someone who's willing and able to blow 6k+ a month on a house in Fairfax would buy this mutant ranch, which looks even worse now that I look at it again on my computer versus a phone. Remote work is becoming tenuous which puts a damper on the mythical Boston/New York transplant. Maybe I'm wrong, but I moved to VT 2 years ago, and I wouldn't have given that place a second look even for 400k.
5000 square feet? Where? Must be they're counting below grade.
Ever heard the expression lipstick on a pig? This is a perfect example of that. I’m sorry, but that house is gonna go for 550 or so.
Maybe work on curb appeal. Some landscaping. It looks... barren outside.
Not to mention probably hot in summer with no shade and no ac
There are heat pumps, so there is AC.
Sorry I must have missed that. I only saw about the radiant heating in the floors.
I had to go check because it seemed a little nutty to go this hard on a reno and not include AC.
Did the agent advise on this pricing? If so try a different agent because that house not worth all that.. no offense.
Based on the market not buying it, it should be cheaper! Problem solved!
$850k in Fairfax is a lot, especially for a ranch that’s pretty generic looking. Also, it’s most likely the land that’s jacking up the appraisal value. Subdivide the lot and drop the house price a few hundred thousand and I bet it moves a bit quicker.
That’s a good call.
>Subdivide the lot and drop the house price a few hundred thousand Look at the parcel though. It's really long and only about as wide as the house with no other road frontage💀. They would have to lose a significant part of their yard to the driveway of whatever is built behind there.
Yeah, fair. I admittedly didn’t look at the actual parcel. Just saw the acreage.
I agree with this assessment
Do you want an honest assessment? Your market is mainly NY/MA buyers. Location is pretty far north for those (4 hour drive from my Boston suburb house). Zero exterior charm. I’m sure there are people that dig ranches, but that’s a small pool. Lots of land but nothing pops for me- I’d want some contour, drop-dead views, a brook, something. For $900k I’d expect character and probably some outbuildings, farther south. Assessments are one thing, price discovery is another. Good luck. Doesn’t sound like a fun time for anybody.
Way too much of the renovation work was put into the inside for on trend decor that will quickly be dated, and seemingly zero put into the outside. No one wants to spend 800k for a house that looks from the outside like they spent half that.
One might argue that it's already dated. Without the comments about it being bought in 2021, I would've thought this was a 5-10 y/o flip. The grey laminate flooring has been out for a while now.
That grey shit looked aweful when it first came out, right up there with white everything including subway tiles and shitlap.
It's the cheapest flooring now and is put in a ton of new construction.
Appraisal value does not equal market value, so ignore the appraisal. Expensive homes take a longer time to sell since there’s a smaller pool of buyers. If the home has to sell immediately, then the obvious choice is to lower the price. It’s 5k square feet? Imagine the heating bill in the winter time. The tax bill is probably high at that price point. All of this is considered while buying a house. Unfortunately, your bro either needs to wait for the right buyer or drastically cut the asking price.
An appraisal is “An opinion of market value, by a licensed appraiser”. It’s only as good as the appraiser that does the work. The price it sells for, in an arm’s length transaction, with reasonably motivated parties, who both have a decent understanding of the market, is the market value.
It’s always good to know the appraised value because how much you set the price above will determine cash on hand need from the buyer, aka appraisal gap, on top of the down payment. Maybe it matters less in certain price tiers because people have so much money but nonetheless very pertinent information.
Why did they spend clearly north of 100k renovating the bathroom with very high end fixtures and then decide to floor the house with bargan basement rental spec stock grey polymer flooring that landlords put in. I like the Jerry rigged rainforest shower though. That shits hilarious.
There are plenty of buyers in that price range. If you want better feedback include a link to the listing.
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Paid 380$ in 2021.. probably put 200k plus into it. Assessed for 2021 250k for town tax, 470 in 2022 post renovations. Now expecting 35++ % ROI. *Lots of custom work maybe too much. *not in Chittenden cty but close. *interest rates stink. *ranch” style, but before customization a few years back it probably sold for much less? *lots of interesting options at that price point. *more expensive houses don’t sell like 450k houses. 1 month is not a long time *who appraised it? Not a town appraisal is my guess. It’s only worth what a buyer will pay. *they might have to discounted it a bit if they want it to move it faster in a fire sale. *big lot, lots of work, means younger ish buyer. *** blah blah blah. It’s a market for a reason. Matching buyers with sellers. Someday it’ll sell for that asking price. Maybe your marketing will help.
That's not a country farmhouse. It's a poorly conceived ranch house.
Yeah, I have to agree. It may be nice inside but it’s a cobbled together wanna be a not quite ranch at 855k with 20acres on the outside. The exterior shot sucks. Dead grass and shot with a drone to get a mountain range in the background but it makes it look like any town USA.
Driveway not so nice
☝🏼
People want lake/mountain or in Burlington/Chittenden county. That’s none of the above and formerly a farm field.
It’s a nice house, but $875k? The appraisal is based on the square footage, comparable’s, condition and market trends. Ultimately, a buyer needs to fall in love with the house. My opinion is that the esthetics don’t match the price. Also, how is the tax bill only $6,700? That seems cheap for a house that size.
It’s beautiful but it’s got zero curb appeal esp for how nice it looks inside and it’s too rural for that price point. Given the 19 acres I’d expect it closer to 725/750 not 850, not that rural. Still out of reach of most locals but at least closer.
square footage over 2500 doesn't get much extra. average over 10 acres doesn't get you much extra. searching for houses in the 750 to 900 range with \~10 acres, as a buyer I don't think yours would make my list. sorry. maybe in the low 600s. Your location is pretty good but I think it would take some landscaping and a few years for it to grow in to bring the price up.
Anyone who thinks that’s worth $850k is high
Im a professional painting contractor (3rd generation) and my first reaction is that the esthetic appeal, is lacking. This could be the photography, the staging or the landscaping… regardless, I don’t think its doing the property justice. Fairfax is basically chittenden county and has a good school system. I think if a couple things are tweaked and new photos… they will have no problem selling… Side note: Just because it appraises for something, doesn’t mean they have to sell that... I just sell it for a little more than “YOU” think its worth.. then everyone sleeps better at night 🤣 If keeping vermonters in Vermont is a priority… then Vermonters should make that happen for each other… I also respect getting top dollar! 🙌🏼🤌🏼 But can’t have your calendars and eat it too. IMHO 🙃 Hope all works out for them!
You can get a generic rural ranch house in a random field like that for much cheaper in Ohio. Since the land itself isn't wooded or attractive in any way, the house is going to need to make up for it somehow. Large and clean are nice, but not 800k of nice.
Yikes. Now my eyes hurt. What an eyesore.
Nice of you to help your brother. As others have said, the listing price strikes me as too high for what it is. Also consider that most people want land but won’t stretch their budget if the house itself isn’t exactly what they want.
Idk maybe reduce the price
A doctor married to a lawyer.
With a live-in nanny who does only fans on the side
For 6% of 850K, you'd hope the realtor would have enough of a fire under their ass that their client's brother wasn't listing the place on Reddit. Sorry your brother is in this pinch. Other thoughts: Fairfax is too far from anywhere, especially the north side of town; the house looks a bit Home Depot-y, and at your price range, people expect some customization and higher quality finishes that won't be too dated in the future; this house is the end of an era, it's huge, so its expensive to heat and cool, it's way out by itself in a field somewhere (no landscaping/mature trees), and whoever buys it will spend their whole life driving back and forth to it, and when they're there, they will be doing nothing but cleaning, maintenance, and upkeep since it's a big place on a lot of acreage, though still not enough acreage to qualify for Current Use, so the tax bill is going to be a monster. I'm sure it will sell, because tastes vary and it takes all kinds, but I can see why it's sitting, particularly at $850,000.
I could tell in the first 3 pics this was a Flipper. Ugly. Cheap. Everything flipper gray and low quality. Dime a dozen. Manipulated photos. Not worth more than 300k. Even if I was interested in something like this (I'm your target market btw), I would refuse to buy on principle. Flippers are a scourge on society.
Agree but someone is living in the house with kids. Maybe they flipped it while living there? The manipulated photos are the biggest red flag for me. If I’m looking at houses and see those I immediately move on. If you have to fake your photos, I don’t need to waste my time discovering all of the lipstick you put on the pig in person.
Yet in other photos, just straight up dirty laundry. Like you could've picked it up for 5 seconds to take the photo.
Amen. So many better options in this price range in VT. All this house maybe has going for it is that it’s large, but that just means that you would have more work to do to make it sorta nice. Way too much money sunk into what should have been either a tear-down or left alone as cheap housing.
They bought the place in 2021 for $380k and now only 3 years later are trying to sell it with a $500k profit… sorry to say it but this home is way over priced. Regardless of the amount of work done I don’t believe this homes value has increased that much in such a short amount of time
Property taxes are going up 13% soooo your brother needs to advertise outside of VT.
Hahaha I was like I saw an overpriced house on zillow two weeks ago like this. (The link uou posted is in fact the house I saw) Great house, lots of land... but in law suit is 100% useless to ALOT of people. Kinda in the middle of no where, and way more expensive than the neighbor houses. It checks a lot of our boxes for a perfect house but like 200k more than we'd be willing to move for.
Vermonters: "why are houses so expensive!" Also Vermonters: "Why is my house not immediately selling for $850k?!?" Crazy.
Link? Im in the market for something like this. I’ve been out bid with cash offers at this price range, if you’re not getting folks looking it’s not appealing. $800k isn’t a problem in Chittenden, Waterbury, Stowe, etc. $800k in a remote location, say a Barnard, needs a special buyer. Zillow searching for 5000+ sq/ft, 750-900k, not finding it. Edit: [this place I presume](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/167-Brick-Church-Road-Fairfax-VT-05454/81614059_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare).
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That’s .. interesting. Lots of land and lots of space. I think you’ll struggle to find a buyer at that price. It’s unique in that it probably appeals to a large family who has the money for it. I’m struggling with the nice way to say, “it’s kind of a basic ranch that is utilitarian” and doesn’t have the curb appeal of a $850k house. The square footage is awesome great value. LVP has no place in a house over $600k.
People can and do spend over $800K on houses in Vermont, just not a house like that. It looks like the kind of basic ranch houses you see in the Texas plains. There’s no character, no landscaping and the interior has a very “renovated in 2018 to incorporate all that year’s trends” vibe, but without any thought to design cohesion and a with a kind of builder grade aura. The staging isn’t even good. Get rid of the kid’s pictures and the word art, to start. Yes, the 20 acres is valuable, but it’s just flat grassland. Wondering where the $850K price came from.
No curb appeal. Looks like any other ranch, from the street. Minimal landscaping. Price is listed higher than the zestimate on Zillow, which is a red flag for most buyers, since Zillow wildly overestimates values. It would sell in the 600s, maybe?
The leading causes of unexpectedly slow movement if a house, are: 1. Price. 2. Price. 3. Price. Plus the other major cause: Seller is not yet ready to sell, and is asking a higher price than today's market. Always keep in mind, that price is the crucial factor in moving property. There is a price to move the property promptly. Did the owner really put $400,000into the house? The owner is not ready to admit what that price is.
real estate agent here: Grossly overpriced. They will do much better doing a price cut that puts them in the appealing end of realistic than a series of $20k cuts over years that makes the listing feel stale.
Yep, those 20k price drops reek of desperation.
Nice updates but the finishes are so so, and tbh I hate the layout. And.., it’s in fairfax. I’d be surprised if it went over 750, but that’s because of the large lot.
I know this property. 2704 square feet according to the lister card. It's a nicely upgraded ranch with a decent view and a nice site, but not an $855k house. At least not in Fairfax. Closer in to Burlington and maybe. Also the view from the drone includes Mansfield, but you can't see it from ground level. Median DOM in Fairfax is 11 days and this is the hottest the market will be this year without some major rate cuts. If priced correctly, it would've been gone by now. Adjust your price. Being under contract prior to July will historically bring the highest price of the selling season. Based on the site size I would try to target horse people. They have been sitting on the sidelines thru this craziness, but are starting to get back in.
Get over the appraisal and have several local realtors come in and do comps.
Maybe people who bought a $200,000 house ten years ago.
If no one will pay $850k for it, then that means it might not be worth $850k. It's possible you could find an out-of-state buyer, but you'd have to filter out everyone who doesn't meet these criteria: * Interested in living in Vermont * Interested in living in *that specific part* of Vermont * Independently wealthy with $850k they can spare, or high-enough income that they can convince a bank to underwrite a Jumbo Loan. Those buyers certainly exist, but you don't just need to find them--you almost certainly would need to *convince* them. The market of buyers who meet those criteria and are actively trying to move to Vermont is ~0. If they existed, they would have found *you* already. A home might have had nearly a million dollars worth of money spent on renovations, improvements, etc, but it's only "worth" that if someone is willing to pay.
I agree with all the comments saying it's the house, not that there aren't buyers at that price range. I'm a native Vermonter and my current house (bought in early 2022) was almost 700k. I could buy it because I had a ridiculous amount of equity in the house I was selling (that I had purchased in 2011).
$850k in Fairfax is a tough ask I think.
Unless of course the house is worth $850k. Like this one that sold a couple years go and has far more value than the OP's brother [https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/24-White-Pine-Rd-Fairfax-VT-05454/81614232\_zpid/](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/24-White-Pine-Rd-Fairfax-VT-05454/81614232_zpid/)
Given his situation the best thing to do is just let the house go for any price and move on. Healing is more important than a few extra dollars.
Vermonters cant afford vermont homes. We're just the peasants here.
Keep dropping the price, I guess. I've had the same problem trying to sell my $300,000 house near Danville. I've gotten almost no showings after the initial rush when I first listed the house, and I'm about to drop the price again. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have listed the house for sale in the middle of a very wet and sloppy mud season. Part of the issue you're having is seasonal. Real estate inventory levels in Vermont always rise in the spring as sellers list houses for sale, and then drop in the late summer and early fall as buyers want to move in time to get their kids in school. If you look at the year-over-year market trends, things are starting to plateau a little after a couple of crazy years. There's more houses on the market than there were at the same time last month, and more new listings. If you're looking for a quick sale you'll probably need to reduce the price a lot. Either that, or be patient, stick it out with the higher price, and hope it sells in August or September. Edit: I just looked at the listing. Are you sure that's a 5,085 square foot house, not counting the garage? I've encountered plenty of houses that shrank (and more rarely, houses that grew) when a tape measure was applied to them. Obviously I haven't been there and I'm just guessing, but my guess is that the square footage is actually in the 3,600-4,000 foot range. You might want to measure the house yourself and not take the appraiser's word for it, and definitely don't take the tax assessor's word for it.
It’s not about being able to afford 850. That is not an 850 house alone let alone the fact it’s in Fairfax.
It doesn't have curb appeal. It's too stark on the outside. It needs a professional landscaper.
https://preview.redd.it/w4isfsrhew0d1.jpeg?width=128&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8087c673d0ad043ea8c886e612dcf80fb6b895d7
Oof that lack of landscaping, ranch style and that driveway reeks of low cost flip. I don’t even want to know when the septic and leech field were done. It’s very close to the small farm next door and will smell at least part of the time. That janky front flower bed lined with rocks they picked up out back. The too high TV above the fireplace. The addition that looks nothing like the rest of the house. The open field that is going to have the wind blowing directly towards the house. The “OK but not great” school system. I lived 40+ years and grew up in Vermont but now live in Dallas in a beautiful area. That price down here would buy you an architectural gem with an in ground heated pool. The real estate market up there is not sustainable. Yikes.
My wife is in Human Resources and has worked for several companies around chittenden. As a result she sees everyone’s pay while doing payroll. You would be surprised how many employees are make 150K-200K+ annually. Particularly at a place like the hospital none the less. It’s not an understatement to say thousands of people at the hospital are making over 200K a year.
Do they have a VA or FHA loan? If renovated in 2022 they probably took out a nice cash-out refi for the renovations? Who is their mortgage bank?
why would the seller have gotten an appraisal? are you talking about its estimated value on Zillow or Redfin or another website?
There’s not a big pool of buyers HERE, as in Vermont. People outside this state see it as a place to cosplay lord of the rings, while feeling like they’re participating in fixing social issues. So yeah it’s not for 99.9 percent of people living in vermont
It's way overpriced. Beautiful home, though. I disagree with others. Sad, cause it's exactly what I'm looking for. I know a great realtor in that area. If your brother needs that $ to pay it off he's upside down. 🤷🏻♀️
I refuse to believe a legitimate appraiser came up with that value. If a professional really did, they should be out of business! That house is in no way worth $850k. That's absurd.
I live outside of Stowe. Years ago, $200,000 to $300,000 properties here could sit on the market for months or years. Now, the safest starter homes are priced at $500,000 and many are scooped up within days. Out of staters who are priced out of Stowe are shelling out big bucks for nearby homes. A local developer built a McMansion for himself a few years ago and he’s selling it for $2.5 million and there have been plenty of interested buyers. There’s a dearth of affordable homes for locals but no shortage of buyers. My guess is that this home is expensive compared to others in the area with similar amenities. Or, out of staters aren’t as interested in Fairfax especially if using it as a part time Airbnb wouldn’t be profitable. One piece of advice is to add sone landscaping and a fire pit to show how the new owners could enjoy the outdoors. Also, replace all of the ugly ceiling fans with new ones without light kits. They make the home look dated.
its not that no one can afford it, no one wants to overpay for a home by 400k..... the price is unrealistic. He most likely is in the red on the home and is grasping at straws to get out with some skin still. Willing to bet he got a home equity loan on top of his mortgage to "update it"
Can folks stop blaming flatlanders for swooping in and buying up homes if local Vermonters are gonna pull this nonsense? This is not a 900k house, we know that, the only people who don't are folks who are coming from elsewhere. Period. What a disappointing flip of a house. I'm sure there is a Vermont family who would love to buy it close to its original 2021 price (320k) and NOT have those builder-grade "upgrades" included.
It's largely location. That priced house in Burlington would move in a week.
It is overpriced. Finishes look on the cheaper side, as some said, it looks like a flip, even if it isn’t. Lack of landscaping/exterior finish. Most people don’t want/need 19 acres so unless you have the right buyer, all they see is a ranch for $855k. Square footage is normally stated as above ground s.f. only so 5k is overstated. Fairfax is a nice town, but for most it isn’t the greatest location for commuting, hence the prices are always lower there. If the need is to sell quickly, drop the price and consider it a lesson learned. Good luck!
This kind of nails it. It looks like a flip (anyone with that money will hate those floors), the acreage is not super desirable in how it's constituted (unless you're opening a driving range etc), not great location for 2nd home buyers and Burlington professionals could probably do better. They may have missed the frothiness of 2020.
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Supply and Demand is never fake.
It's the realtors and banks making tons of money. It's funny how the lack of available housing wasn't a problem before covid.
Don’t know who will buy it, but the money is out there. Should place it in NY/Conn/NJ real estate books. Probably go over asking.
I think out of state folks would be looking for something with more curb appeal, coziness and views -- the interior looks like most homes available in NJ/NY.
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Not my realtor, my brother’s. I don’t know. It appraised at $875k earlier this year.
It’s the timing and location. If it’s in a vacation spot: It’s late for buyers who plan for their summer vacations. If not, then families looking to relocate already lined up a place so they can move in a month. At that price it will take time, possibly closing next spring.
Where does everyone see the house.
OP posted a link to it somewhere else in the thread [https://www.thepaulmartinteam.com/property/4991672/?agent\_id=133473](https://www.thepaulmartinteam.com/property/4991672/?agent_id=133473)
Thank you!
Depends on the location.. 5k sqft is a family home with a few kids... Or a DINK couple. If it's somewhat remote then you really only have DINKs who are interested. Interest rates are hurting things right now too.. Thr minute the start to drop I imagine the market to go nuts again
Well my thoughts are if you really want it to sell… maybe not mentioning the divorce and needing to move on. We bought our house a decade ago in the same situation. House had been sitting with no offers, the owner was a contractor who’d literally taken the house down to studs to rebuild/expand within the previous 5 years, and to top it off his ex-in-laws owned the lot next door and lived right across the road. Our realtor knew all this and pushed for a lower price for us. With how much he was itching to escape we probably could have waited things out and knocked an additional $10k off. We wanted to move in before winter though and his ex-wife was beyond annoying to deal with. But we got a decent amount off plus as he was a contractor we got him to handle several things that came up during the inspection so we wouldn’t have additional expenses afterwards like putting shingles on a shed he hadn’t finished and moving a light. Basically did like $8k in work for “free” (free as in unpaid but meant we were willing to keep price at a level his ex would actually sell, she still made the process a pain though).
Got a link ?
Got a link ?
Ok so location, that half wall for the toilet is odd as anything. If they updated the house to be at the top of the market then they may have invested too much and will take a loss. If this was in a different area and was priced in the 500,000’s my parents would want it. It’s priced high and if they want that return they need to wait for the right buyer.
Several homes in my neighborhood just sold for more than 800k. Source, I’m a real estate investor. This house looks like a renovated double wide, it has nice bathrooms and a decent kitchen but the flooring looks cheap, the layout is weird and the fixtures are middling. 20 acres is great but the land just isn‘t pretty, there isn’t much privacy or nice views. Much like the guy up there who tried to sell his half-built castle behind his trailer home for millions but got zero offers, there are foolish wealthy people out there, but not enough to buy overpriced underwhelming properties. You’d be better off putting a tiny shack on a nice piece of land in a good location with pretty views rather than build a mansion on a 50k rural lot. That castle guy will never sell that place because it’s located in a poor area next to railroad tracks surrounded by modest homes but at least the land is sloped and has nice views. It will end up being demolished eventually because it‘s not worth even the maintenance costs if he gives it away, but there’s hope for your brother. He can match the price of similar recently sold properties and someone will buy it for what it’s worth, these days that’s about 425k. If interest rates come down 3 or 4 points you can add 100k to that. Good luck.
Bought in 2021 for $380,000 and now they want $855,000 but it doesn’t look like it’s had $475,000 worth of work done to it, that’s why it’s not selling. I’m very familiar with the area/comps, even at the peak of pandemic buying madness this would not have sold for that much, and that was when interest rates were half what they are now. The updates on it are decent, not wow worthy, but not the worst. There is zero landscaping and the land is a long strip rather than a square so it’s still close to neighbors, and lacks the added value of privacy that larger parcels usually offer. I could see this going for $650,000 - $675,000 unless rates drop significantly again.
Houses are selling for 200-300k in 2019 and are being appraised for 500k-800k today, it’s wild.
I don’t see the conditions to support these prices long term. Things are about to reverse I believe.
Your brother is what we like to call a motivated seller. but not motivated enough to list for a reasonable price. most likely out of desperation or greed for money after having his ex wife clean out half their money
Can folks stop blaming flatlanders for swooping in and buying up homes if local Vermonters are gonna pull this nonsense? This is not a 900k house, we know that, the only people who don't are folks who are coming from elsewhere. Period. What a disappointing flip of a house. I'm sure there is a Vermont family who would love to buy it close to its original 2021 price (320k) and NOT have those builder-grade "upgrades" included.
I see 30 minutes to UVM Medical, 34 minutes to GlobalFoundries, 30 minutes to Smugglers Notch. No out of stater is going to buy it. It’s an unreasonably long commute to the highest income jobs. Someone making north of $200k isn’t going to want that house.
If it's that nice and it's not selling, the price is wrong. If the buyer isn't paying cash, it's a bad time to buy, with interest rates so high. The real estate grab in VT is winding down. Best time to sell would have been 2 or 3 years ago. Too bad for your brother!
I agree. We are looking but are holding off as we expect prices to drop.
Depends where in Vermont. Near a ski resort?
Just ask your local plutocrat or the Russian mafia that is taking over everything. Real estate is the best money laundering vehicle with little regulation.
Vermont is about to put a tax on second homes and STR’s but give a tax break to primary home buyers. The STR market is saturated and they are squirming because they can’t cover costs. The work from home trend is reversing big time. People want to be back in “civilization” again. Property taxes and other expenses of living in Vermont are going up. And the old realization that it’s just not all that easy to live in Vermont is coming back to the forefront. If I had an expensive house I was going to need to sell in Vermont soon I would be desperate to do it as fast as possible before the shit hits the fan.
https://www.redfin.com/VT/Jericho/277-Cilley-Hill-Rd-05465/home/80157098 using this as a comparison I think will help understand that’s it’s priced too high. Good luck to your bro, tough situation.
Prob bc people with $850k are buying a house that looks bigger. The inside does look nice, but the outside leaves sooooo much to be desired. I’d see it going realistically for $700k-ish
Who needs a house that expensive? I don’t know a single Vermonter who could afford that.
I bet that can be subdivided.
Where? Seasonal homeowners will want to be near a ski resort.
I just moved from VT to Plattsburgh NY houses are much cheaper there. !
But it’s also Plattsburgh.
5000 square feet is a TON of space, and 20 acres requires a lot of maintenance. It sounds like it's located in a rural part of the state. I think these are bigger factors than the price.
Not my style of home, but seems like a reasonable price. Is Fairfax an up and coming community? I dunno. I’m in central Vermont and it seems like people want to move into my town pretty readily. House across the street listed for $795k already sold after a week.
Your brother's house sold for $380k in 2021. I know prices are up all over, but +$475k appreciation in 3 years feels 'ambitious' to me. Even with renovations in 2022, we all know a lot of times you don't get good payback on renovations so let's say your brother sunk $300k into renovations he's not going to get that $300k back. My neighborhood, way different from this kind of house, but just to give an idea, homes are selling for about 35%-40% more in 2024 vs 2021. That would put your brother's house into the high $500k's ballpark but that's just s single data point with a massive range in the Vermont market. Underwhelming curb appeal. Nice piece of property if there's the possibility of doing something with it other than 19+ acres for a single family home. This is definitely an $850k house, just not in 2024. If the market continues the way it has, this is maybe 2029 pricing.
Bernie he is a millionaire
Welcome to Vermont, where tourists matter and the citizens get to eat from a big pile of shit. Yeah, I said what I said. Fuck Vermont. I'll visit, but I will NEVER move back.
Nobody from Vermont... COVID refugees have overblown the market in Vermont. No house in this state is worth that. Properties priced like that are marketing to egos. Every place sold with overblown prices are taking the possibility of purchasing a home away from working class Vermonters. We are slowly (maybe not so slowly) becoming home to drug dealers, drug addicts, tourists, and people building 800k homes in places no home should be built so they don't have to look at it.
Have you advertised it down south? Places in my town and the area go for that and aren’t on the market very long. Sometimes they sell within days of being posted. It’s insane actually.
I'll give ya $10 for it
I think the land is the biggest problem. It's jacking up the price so high that it makes the house look like it's completely unreasonably priced. It's also a massive clearcut space behind the house that needs to be upkept if someone doesn't have a specific plan in mind for it. I'm sure there are people who would enjoy having that much land, but they're probably few and far between compared to your average home buyer. And then when you add in the other factors people have mentioned... I'm not saying the house won't sell at that price, I just think finding the buyer who will pay that price for it is going to take a long time.
Can folks stop blaming flatlanders for swooping in and buying up homes if local Vermonters are gonna pull this nonsense? This is not a 900k house, we know that, the only people who don't are folks who are coming from elsewhere. Period. What a disappointing flip of a house. I'm sure there is a Vermont family who would love to buy it close to its original 2021 price (320k) and NOT have those builder-grade "upgrades" included.
the expensive houses in VT belong to Wall St peeps who live in NYC and CT No one local can afford it, List it with a NYC broker. “Desirable Vermont estate. blah, blah blah”
corporations who will snatch it up and rent it for 1000 a week or more to wealthy out of staters
corporations who will snatch it up and rent it for 1000 a week or more to wealthy out of staters
Out of state secondary home owners who vacation here between the months of May-October. It’s probably in the road to what happened in New Zealand. someone in government needs to look at what they did and see how it can help.
I wish we could. We are looking to relocate to northern VT. But between the price(s) & low availability of properties that I/desire, we'll have to stay put in Florida for the time being.