[aljetmet]

Wife invited a realtor today to advise what we needed to do to sell the house.
This is going on while I'm writing this at work....

I told her to bake cookies and put a vanilla bean in the microwave.

15 months 5 days to retirement....

[quirky3]

Good luck with everything! Enjoy your countdown! 26 months for me till retirement!

[aljetmet]

Have to take down the wall paper in master bathroom, powder room and kitchen.

Well I'll take down the kitchen because most of the seams are opening.

But the master bath is hugh (15 X 12). Think I'll paint over. Seams are fine and the paper is 16 years old (sames age as the house). I did get an estimate to take down the paper and re paint of over $2K

Anyone experienced in painting over wallpaper?

[missypie]

Good luck with everything. My friends had a 6 year old house in an upscale neighborhood and the inspector for the buyer had so many ridiculous demands. It has cost them thousands because the buyer has the ball. So when you think your house is perfect, think again. The house inspector for the buyer has to substantiate his value to the buyer that is paying him and stupid stuff came up. The important things didn't come up, so we let it go.

[tainsley]

Originally Posted by aljetmet

Have to take down the wall paper in master bathroom, powder room and kitchen.

Well I'll take down the kitchen because most of the seams are opening.

But the master bath is hugh (15 X 12). Think I'll paint over. Seams are fine and the paper is 16 years old (sames age as the house). I did get an estimate to take down the paper and re paint of over $2K

Anyone experienced in painting over wallpaper?

I just took the wallpaper off my kitchen walls at the suggestion of my realtor. Squirted the walls with warm water and took the first vinyl layer off; then squirted again to remove glue/paper (came off very easy) took about four hours. When I tried to paint over wallpaper in the past the seams opened. If you are going to paint over paper, do a small section first. Good luck selling your house!

[BeeGee]

that's usually a bad idea. I've stripped wallpaper before. Got a product called "Dif" from Home Depot or Lowes - score it first with a "tiger" a little gadget you can also pick up at same store. Dif is a spray-on gel-like product....works really well.....the people who owned the house before us had a LOT of wallpaper and they painted over the half bath....sure wish they hadn't done that. I've also used a steamer to remove wallpaper and didn't like it as well as the Dif. JMHO

[Doodlegirl]

use a good primer and paint the walls, then paint with the color you are using.
I've done this several times without problems. However, it also depends on
whether the wallpaper was seam to seam or whether it was overlayed. If
it's been overlayed, then you probably ought to take it off. That is a really high figure you obtained for removal tho...maybe check some other places.

[Pturner]

Hi Aljetmet,

How exciting to start the journey and begin the countdown. Hope all goes smooth as silk!

[renrod]

Originally Posted by aljetmet

Have to take down the wall paper in master bathroom, powder room and kitchen.

Well I'll take down the kitchen because most of the seams are opening.

But the master bath is hugh (15 X 12). Think I'll paint over. Seams are fine and the paper is 16 years old (sames age as the house). I did get an estimate to take down the paper and re paint of over $2K

Anyone experienced in painting over wallpaper?

Remember first impressions count. If someone comes in and sees you painted over wallpaper, they might also wonder what else?? So, do it right the first time and be able to WOW them! Remember you NEED them.

[wendyquat]

I would not paint over the wallpaper. As a buyer, I would not like this and you want to do everything you can to please buyers! You will be "up a creek" if you have to remove the wallpaper AFTER painting over it. Be careful with a "Paper Tiger". I used one and when I got the paper off the drywall was pitted with tiny holes. This would be ok to paper over but not if you are using paint. DIF works great but if you run out you can also mix a little Downy with water and it does the same thing. Vanilla beans are expensive. Just pour a little vanilla flavoring in some water in a bowl and put that in the microwave.

Good luck!

[Trish Crocker]

I'd remove it...the guy that painted our house painted over paper in one of the bathrooms...now I can see a bubble ...unless the paper was put on without priming the wall first it should come off somewhat easily. If it was put on over drywall without primer....forget it!! Just paint it. I tried removing a border off a wall once that was put directly over drywall...pain in the ..........

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by aljetmet

Have to take down the wall paper in master bathroom, powder room and kitchen.

Well I'll take down the kitchen because most of the seams are opening.

But the master bath is hugh (15 X 12). Think I'll paint over. Seams are fine and the paper is 16 years old (sames age as the house). I did get an estimate to take down the paper and re paint of over $2K

Anyone experienced in painting over wallpaper?

It is a huge job but removed wallpaper in several of the rooms of our home getting it ready. I would advise you to NOT paint over wallpaper as the moisture in the paint can cause the seams to unglue and the seams will show and it will look like painted over wallpaper. We painted...(ourselves) every room of the house we just sold too. This is a tough market and anything you can do to give yourself an edge, do it.

[GTTPF]

Hi Al, I wouldn't paint over the wall paper. Usually doesn't turn out very well. I have stripped it in the past several times with several different products. I have found white vinigar and water in a spray bottle to work well unless the paper is vinyl. It's a pain but if you soak it good it comes off well then do it again to scrape off the glue. As for your PM I think they are looking to make some money off free advice. Don't spend too much on the house because in this market you won't get it back but it can make the difference to the buyer if it's between you house and another. The count down is were headed down in 38 days!

[Dirigo]

Originally Posted by missypie

Good luck with everything. My friends had a 6 year old house in an upscale neighborhood and the inspector for the buyer had so many ridiculous demands. It has cost them thousands because the buyer has the ball. So when you think your house is perfect, think again. The house inspector for the buyer has to substantiate his value to the buyer that is paying him and stupid stuff came up. The important things didn't come up, so we let it go.

You got that right

Our buyer's Home "Invader" as I like to call him, pointed out something that is not code yet, but will be code for new construction as of July 1, 2012. Older homes will be grandfathered and will not be required to be bought up to code.

The Buyer insisted the we bring the house up to code anyway. It is costing us $2600! And her contractor's proposal does not really bring the house up to the forthcoming code. I know this because a friend of mine is a code officer in a neighboring town. I had her sign an addendum saying that if the work in her contractor's proposal was completed as written it would meet her requirements. She signed it, thank goodnes!

These Home Invaders have to find something to justify their fee. And, thankfully, our margin was such that we could suffer the $2600 loss and still make the deal go.

[graciegirl]

I have great sympathy for any and all of you who are going through this process. We sold our home in nine days with multiple offers and I know WHY that happened. We had worked for three years getting it ready and trying to make it look like a model home. We repainted all of the walls to neutral...an UP TO DATE neutral and took down all wallpaper and borders. We had the carpet restretched and cleaned...and repeated the cleaning every three months. We got rid of furniture and accessories and made the house practically useless to live in but very model like. We got rid of almost half of our clothing and hats and shoes and boots and coats so as to make the closets roomy and neat. We did NOT agree many times as to what HAD to go but we soldiered on. Sweetie was asking about the guys family over at the Goodwill store as he was seeing him about four times a week. We hid ALL pictures of relatives and took down anything personal...including golf trophies and diplomas. I watched HGTV and Henry listened and followed the list made out by our realtor...Took up perennials that were overgrown and not flowering, had trees trimmed and trimmed back the bushes so they looked small and just planted. Removed bird feeders and little statues and stuff that we liked from back yard. Bought new cushions for outdoor furniture and recovered others. Put away ALL appliances in the kitchen and made everything sparkle. Company clean is NOT clean enough to sell a house. Brand new is what it needs to look like. Check the area around the door knob on front door and both sides of the garage door. We are serious here.

When the house was shown we packed up three unwilling cats and took them with us....along with the food dishes and the litter boxes. YES we did. OUR REALTOR said it was important.

You may want to consider paying for staging. I think it is a great help.....a GREAT help.

We priced the house fifty thousand dollars less than what it would easily have sold for five years ago and after studying what Zillow and Trulia said it was worth and most of all what our realtor, a family friend for 40 years said it was worth. We went under what we thought was reasonable a year ago.

We were fortunate that the people had half the money to put down because we didn't have to worry how it would be appraised. The short sales have devalued everyones neighborhood, no matter where you live.

Then the unfair inspection and the dumb stuff you had to do. And the serious stuff that you thought you might have to do............

You wonder why we are so grateful and happy to be here?