Popcorn Ceiling in rental

[susieq]

I am a long time nest / bump poster but have just been lurking here since most people moved over.

All the comments about the flip houses popcorn ceiling intrigued me. We just purchased a house that we are going to renovate and rent. It has popcorn ceilings! I wanted to remove them but found the cost to be 3500 to 4000 for the whole house and 2000ish for just the kitchen, dinning, and living rooms. Worth it or not for a rental house?

We do want to be able to sell it quickly if we had to (we bought it way below market value and even with renovations could list it at a steal).

How much would having popcorn ceiling sway your decision to rent or buy at a great price?

[emoflamingo]

No, I don't even look at ceilings (in general) when looking at houses to buy.

[tarheels]

No. And sorry if I offend anyone, but I think the hatred for popcorn ceilings is one of THE stupidest things to worry about since man first sought shelter.

[housegeek]

To rent I don't care, to buy it would be an issue.

[Susie]

It wouldn't be worth that kind of money to me.

Our friends' house has popcorn ceilings in the living areas, and it gets gross with dust, etc. I get why people hate it. But it's not a couple grand-bad.

[slug*bug]

I noticed it. And I was actually really surprised at the number of homes that still had it.

It depends. For the right price, I can overlook a lot of things. That said, I was really surprised when homes would have tons of renovation (new cabinets! granite! whatever!) and then a popcorn ceiling. It was definitely odd.

[susieq]

Jun 27, 2012 14:56:03 GMT -5 slug*bug said:

It depends. For the right price, I can overlook a lot of things. That said, I was really surprised when homes would have tons of renovation (new cabinets! granite! whatever!) and then a popcorn ceiling. It was definitely odd.

We are redoing the flooring, new cabinet doors, painting, changing light fixtures and taking down the wall between the kitchen and dinning room. This is not going to be a granite high end redo.

I really want them gone. I just dont think I want to pay a couple grand for them to disappear, but will if it makes that much of a difference in the speed at which it rents / sells.

[minniebee]

Not a big deal at all to me. I definitely wouldn't spend $2-4K on removing them for a rental/flip.

[emoflamingo]

I know I'm biased but in this area, the only houses without popcorn ceilings are brand new houses. Like "hey, we just finished painting the walls" new. I don't think people who remodel houses here to sell even take it out.

[kaylie]

The rental we recently moved out of had them and I didn't really care, but I wouldn't have bought a house with them.

Most of the houses we looked at (50-ish) did not have popcorn ceilings and almost all were built between 1960 and 1995. There was one house that had a great layout and location, but the popcorn was extreme - as in, they paid for extra popcorning or something. It took over a year for them to sell and went for 85% of asking in a market where most things go for 97% of asking to more than asking.

Our house did have popcorn ceilings and after four months on the market, the sellers took it off the market to have the popcorn removed. When they put it back on the market it was under contract in 24 hours with multiple offers.

Maybe it isn't as big of a deterrent elsewhere, but I would consider how popular it is in your market. If majority of houses have them, then I don't think it's as big of a deal. Here since there are so few that have them, I think it's a pretty big turn off for people.

[tarheels]

Jun 27, 2012 16:21:14 GMT -5 @jimbooo said:

I hate it. It just screams "dated" and I think it affects the entire room. This is irrational but I also just consider it poison because of asbestos, even though it's likely not a threat if it's untouched. We paid $3k to remove it from our ceilings. I think if the property is empty, I'd jump on it as it's sooo much easier to do it then and you'll be set if you decide to sell down the line.

Asbestos was only used before 1978. After that, they used little styrofoam pellets coated in goo. Please do make the distinction so people aren't needlessly freaking out.

And I agree with another poster that the norm is defining. I've always lived in "new" cities, where there'll br a handful of houses from the '30s, but where the vast majority of construction was done in the '60s (those areas are often undesirable now) with most building done in the last 20-30 years, so nearly every house has popcorn. It's NBD here. This must be one of those weird regional things like the ceiling fan hatred.

[midwest07]

If you had the money and nowhere else to spend it, I think it's a nice touch to remove, but I think most buyers can look past it. We have the 1990s textured/popcorn ceiling. I do dislike it and possibly plan to have it removed on the main floor when we redo our kitchen, but it's not on the top of my priority list. It sounds like you are doing everything but the ceiling, so it's not like buyers will have a long list of to do's, plus the ceiling, it will be the only thing they may have to consider putting money into it. It doesn't sound like this house is in the price range where it would be expected to be a flat ceiling.

[sailorgray]

It wouldn't break a deal, but if I was torn between two houses, then it's something I would def take into account. They would have to be fixed before I moved in b/c they are just so, so dated and ugly to me and I wouldn't want to deal with having them removed after moving in.

In a rental, I couldn't care less.

[monarch]

I don't think I have ever noticed what kind of ceiling is in a house. So I wouldn't think it's worth it. However if most of the other homes in your area in that price range have a certain kind of ceiling, I'd stick with that.

[sunny]

i'd leave it as is in a rental. if I were buying a house, I would want it removed (we removed ours before moving in).

[orangeblossom]

Not for a rental.