Cheaply Renovated Properties Are a Trojan Horse

Of all the picturesque animal-related metaphors to emanate from inside the Beltway, “herding cats” is one of them. Anyone who has tried to get two or more children ready for school at the same time knows the feeling, even though here in D.C. we tend to use the metaphor in a workplace context. We must look far afield of the District of Columbia, though, to find proverbial expressions for apparently precious gifts that bring misfortune to the recipient. In the Iliad, a Greek poem more than 2,500 years old, the Trojan horse was an enormous statue of a horse presented as a gift to the people of the city of Troy, but when they opened the gates of the city to bring the statue in, numerous enemy soldiers who had been hiding inside the statue came out and conquered the city. Likewise, in Southeast Asia centuries ago, kings would keep royal menageries of light-colored elephants; to receive a gift of such an elephant was a great honor, but it was also prohibitively expensive. The laws in these kingdoms forbade using white elephants as pack animals, so the recipient of the gift was responsible for paying for the elephant’s care, but could not use the elephant as an income generating asset, like one might do with an ox, donkey, or ordinary gray elephant. When it comes to buying real estate, you should look for signs of lipstick on a pig before you end up with an apparently valuable asset that wrecks your finances. For cautionary tales about real estate properties that bear signs of lipstick on a pig, contact a Washington, D.C. real estate lawyer.

Beware of “Lipstick on a Pig” Renovations

The expression “putting lipstick on a pig” refers to making superficial cosmetic improvements to something that, to discerning observers, retains its undesirable qualities. Here in Washington, D.C., we use it to refer to long-shot legislation with some lagniappe clauses thrown in at the eleventh hour to attract bipartisan support, or to political candidates who spout clever campaign slogans while basing their campaigns around policies that have proven consistently unpopular with voters.

In real estate transactions, sellers are willing to spend money on improving the “curb appeal” of their properties, making the properties look appealing on online listings. Sometimes they do this by making renovations which will attract prospective buyers’ attention, but they might make these renovations as cheaply as possible, meaning that the buyers will need to redo these same repairs shortly after buying. A new, cheap paint job might fool buyers who need to choose a property quickly because they are relocating to D.C. for work, but if the roof and the appliances are old, the buyers will soon need to replace them at the buyer’s own expense. These are what real estate agents call lipstick on a pig renovations.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. About Avoiding Costly Mistakes in Real Estate Purchases

A Washington, D.C. real estate attorney can help you deal with the consequences of buying a sloppily renovated property.  Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C.  in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.

Source:

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