Just Needs Paint: the Story Behind the Name

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This is it! The “Just Needs Paint” house original MLS listing photo

Just Needs Paint arises from an unexpected adventure during a normal event: house hunting! In February of 2009, I started looking to buy my first personal residence. This was about a year before the bottom of the housing crisis in metro Phoenix. Homes in every price range were in some sort of disrepair because the vast majority were foreclosures.  Before turning in the keys, people were stripping homes bare: every last light fixture, appliance, cabinet and even kitchen sinks came out and went up for sale.

It was an absolutely insane time to be looking and there are definitely stories to share from the hunt itself. There were many potential homes as well as many duds. However, there was one house in particular we visited and still laugh about to this day.

Looking for something that just needs paint?

The listing suggested the house only needed just a little more than paint (per the MLS archive): “This is a beautiful custom home that is in construction phase. It’s on a corner lot within a private community with scenic views of the mountains. It lacks flooring, appliances and paint. Seller was unable to obtain final approval for completion. ‘As Is’.”

As you might have gathered from my past posts, a lack of flooring is not a deterrent for me.

Did someone say tile?  A reason to break out my DeWalt wet saw? Sign me up!

Appliances?  Craiglist!

Paint?  I got this.

Google maps assured me the house was surrounded by nice neighborhoods despite the fact the lone picture accompanying the MLS listing called the description into question. Other listings may have had limited details too, but they were generally close to describing the actual state of the house.

The rest of the street had not been built out yet, but my realtor and I gave the listing the benefit of the doubt and theorized perhaps the house was in an earlier phase when the pictures were taken.  Maybe progress on the house was further along than the photo suggested?

I was optimistic.  First, the listing’s photo shows that the garage door was not even closed!  Second, if I owned a stucco or painting company I would come back for my scaffold. I stood behind my reasoning.

Seeing is Believing

When we showed up to the house we discovered the picture were more informative than the description. It only took two seconds (and that’s generous) to replace my optimism with disbelief. To be fair, there was some truth to the description: it did, in fact, need paint!

The outside needed an initial coat of primer and color coat over the stucco.  It also needed paint on the interior drywall that was “missing.”  When I say missing, I mean the first floor had electrical wires ripped out, leaving holes in the walls. Copper pipes? Not anymore. The second story did not have any drywall at all!  This poor building also needed many more “finishing touches” beginning with a rewiring and plumbing of the entire house, a kitchen and all 2.5 bathrooms.

Did you notice the tile neatly stacked on the roof just waiting for installation?  How long had they been sitting there?  Long enough to see some water damage on the second floor exposed plywood. I still remember thinking the exposed OSB on the roof and the subfloor of the second story would likely need replacement.

A Memorable Learning Experience

In retrospect, one bonus of choosing the “just needs paint” house would have been only needing to install exactly what I wanted rather than gutting the bathrooms first.  I had to tear out the shower and bathtub surrounds on the house I eventually chose (which still would have happened in any of the other houses I viewed).  I also really liked the turret style entrance.

Imagining what the “just needs paint” house could be was a lot of fun. I could already see it in my mind during our tour!

The downside was that I was looking at a house because I needed a place to live– now. Of course, immediate needs are often why we buy our houses.  This was certainly not a house with a certificate of occupancy.

We laughed our way out of the house for the price the bank was asking (not because of all the work–it really did look like a fun challenge). To this day, any project requiring more than a little extra work is labeled “just needs paint” at some point in the process. We laugh, even if it is just on the inside at that moment, and soldier on.

A big thank you goes out to Bob Neuzil (bob@bobneuzil.com), owner of Imperial Realty Services, LLC for the background information on this post.  It is too bad I did not take interior pictures of this gem at the time.

Check out this link for the next update on the Just Needs Paint house!