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Shunning the Tired Home
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"And then I'd tear everything out of there," she said, adding that the walls, the cabinets and the bathrooms looked straight out of the 1970s. In the end, the cost of redoing the house was enough to turn her away.
"You need someone with deep pockets, and that's not me," said Gruenebaum, 57, vice president of an executive search firm.
Still, the house generated interest, according to the listing agent, Anne Hatfield Weir of Washington Fine Properties, an affiliate of Sotheby's International Realty. She said last week that it was under contract. She called the house "spectacular and architecturally interesting."
She added: "It needs a significant renovation. The people who have bought it are happy to do the renovation at their leisure."
In Montgomery County, buyers had similar qualms about a five-level house in Glen Echo Heights. The view of the Potomac River from the patio was a plus, they said, but they were not highly impressed with its interior.
The children's rooms were each decorated entirely in one color (two in bright pink, one in blue). Buyers were particularly perplexed by one room with a peculiar set of steps leading to a large platform in the corner.
Was it a place for the bed, in case you wanted to sleep at a higher elevation than the rest of your furniture? Or was it for storage? Rose Clifford had no idea.
As the 45-year-old nutritionist from Bethesda wandered through the house, she said that although she enjoyed the view, the house appeared dated. The kitchen, bedrooms and light fixtures needed work.
The price, almost $1.4 million, was just too high for her. "It's a lot of money to pay for a house that needs hundreds of thousands of dollars of work," she said.
Alex Sturdza, who walked through the same house, had similar thoughts. He said it was well-designed, with the exception of the "weird thing about the stairs" to the platform. Still, he said he could not afford to update it significantly.
"I see all the problems, and it costs too much," said Sturdza, 59, a commercial artist.
The house was originally listed at just under $1.8 million, but after two weeks, the sellers lowered the price. Ruffin Maddox, a real estate agent with Washington Fine Properties who represents the seller, said that "since then we've been having steady showings."
