It came to me this morning, after yet another failed attempted to revive the third expensive Cuisinart coffee maker I have owned. Three days now without coffee may have something to do with the cynical tone of today’s post. I was thinking, like coffee makers, the most expensive home features are really not always the best. Right now,.. I’m digging through the garage for the old Mr. Coffee, you know the one with the brittle glass carafe and yes, I think it’s plain ole white, not the shiny stainless mirage of a coffee maker now disgracing my kitchen counter.
New home features change with time. Trends in decorating, in design influenced by “the Jones’s” in other countries, in other parts of the nation or even down the street wind up in designer showcases and showroom floors and eventually on the walls, ceilings and floors of most new construction or remodeled homes. But are they the “best” features? Are they as good as the “old” features? That is something that is debatable.
Last month I closed a house with a circa 1980’s sub zero refrigerator. Wood panels to match the maple cabinets and all, however it was broken, however, did it have value to the buyer? Well, after an examination by the only man in Tallahassee who word on Sub-Zero appliances, it was determined that these “relics” are less expensive to repair, and more reliable than it’s newer counterparts now filled with plastic parts, with motors made of parts surely designed for limited lives and to keep the manufacturers in perpetual business. surprisingly, the parts for the relic Sub-Zero, cost less than $200 and resulted in a unit that STILL outperforms it’s more expensive, cheaper made competition found in most stores today.
Remember the Nutone systems, Central Vacuum systems, intercom systems? Nutone even made ventilation fans for bathrooms. I swear, I still see these in homes today, I chuckle every time a buyer says, “look at that old thing!” Recently we remodeled a home with a Nutone intercom-radio system, we almost tor it out, but I said, wait,..let’s see what it would cost to repair it. Again, the cost of repairs was so low, I almost wanted to give the guy a tip to make myself not feel so guilty! Parts for these relics, which are made in the USA, and are so inexpensive that it makes no sense to get rid of them, but to simply repair the ones that are there!
The point is,.. next time your tour a home for sale in Tallahassee, FL and you see a few “relics,” don’t be so quick to judge or to replace with a more modern, shiny replacement. Looks aren’t everything. As for me, Mr. Coffee will have a permanent place on my kitchen counter from now on. I couldn’t kill it if I tried, and Cuisinart, you could learn a thing or two from the old guys.
Armor Realty of Tallahassee, Inc.