When You Wish Upon a PRICE

How to settle on a realistic value for your mid mod home.

WHEN A SELLER OF A MODERNIST HOUSE CALLS AND ASKS MY OPINION ON PRICING,

I try to be helpful, but I’m not a real estate agent or appraiser. What I can ask is, how did the caller arrive at that price? If it was based on solid comparable houses, they are likely on the right track. But sometimes, the seller has invented a price, fixated on it, and only wants to hear agreement from me. Here’s a typical tale.

Three siblings, Rick, Hudson and Janine, must sell their mom’s 1962 modernist ranch designed by a talented local architect, Bob Cartwright. They ask Rick’s wife, Barb, to be their realtor. Barb has never sold a house like this before. The best modernist realtors have a network of inspectors, appraisers, roofers, architects and other specialists, in addition to direct experience. Barb, however, is baffled by Midcentury Modern design. She recommends an appraisal—which the family rejects. Hudson, having watched way too much HGTV, declares the house is “too unique” to appraise and is “worth a fortune” because of the Cartwright design. The family lists the house at a price everyone agrees “feels right.”

The house sits for three months with three showings and no offers. Preservationists, Cartwright fans and fellow agents tell Barb the house is overpriced. The siblings insist everyone is wrong. Instead, they lower the price 5 percent and replace the cute pink bathrooms hoping that will do the trick. A year after the initial listing, with no offers, the siblings lower the price again, tell Rick to tell Barb they “want to go in a different direction,” and hire a realtor promising more advertising. Eventually, needing to close the estate, the siblings sell the abandoned house (with new water damage issues) to a developer for land value. Another cool house bites the dust.

Wishful thinking is a poor valuation strategy. Get on the right track toward determining a market price with an appraisal. Most appraisers are not familiar with modernist architecture and tend to appraise low, so ask your appraiser to compare against other houses by the architect plus other similar modernist houses in town. An appraiser may claim that including houses outside the neighborhood is prohibited, but it’s only true when a bank or mortgage company pays for the appraisal. Better yet, work with a knowledgeable real estate agent specializing in listing Midcentury Modern homes. The bottom line: Buyers are going to be well-informed about pricing. You need to be equally well-informed, rather than wishing on a star.

TOP LEFT: TROY WINTERROWD AND KELLY ERIN-SPINNEY OF MODERN ASHEVILLE REAL ESTATE IN ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, SOLD THIS COOL MIDCENTURY DECK HOUSE WITH MOUNTAIN VIEWS FOR $945,000 IN AUGUST 2018. TOP RIGHT: THEY SOLD THE REMODELED ATOMIC RANCH, WITH THE FOYER SEEN HERE, FOR $924,000 IN OCTOBER 2018.

ABOVE LEFT: THIS KITCHEN IS IN THE HOME OF A 1964 STUNNER SOLD BY JESSICA SIERACKI, OF MODERN SOUND LIVING IN SEATTLE. ABOVE RIGHT: THIS FUN 1965 RANCH WITH A VIEW WAS SOLD IN JULY 2018 FOR $325,000 BY NAVIGATOR NW REAL ESTATE IN SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

George Smart founded NC Modernist Houses and Usmodernist Houses, together the largest open digital archives for residential Modernist architecture. He is host of the podcast Usmodernist Radio, which posts every other Monday on itunes. www.usmodernist.org.