Great views? Better commute? Sold.

Is the light yellow-beige siding (stucco?) that's above the garage also all around the house?

Is the brick on either side of the garage door the same color as that on the main body of the house? Does the condition of the driveway transfer to the foundation of the house?

PS our last house was a tri-level. Now that our kids are a bit bigger I miss that basement family room being 6 steps below the kitchen. Pretty much every day.

The two things I didn't like about our particular tri-level was the corridor kitchen between the garage and the living space (which yours does not appear to have) and climate control. I think hvac is tricky with all tri-levels, but Ive been told there are fixes for that.

I wonder if the brown trim mimicking Tudor beams can be removed? Perhaps the yellowish stucco/siding could be painted a color to minimize the contrast. Maybe a sage green would work with the white windows and brown trim and brick. Good luck!

The yellow siding is something that kind of resembles stucco, but I'm not sure what it is. It has a plastery, smooshed type texture but I think its on some kind of paneling of some sort. I don't think its actual stucco .I don't recall if it goes all the way around the house. The brick wraps around and covers the back exterior on the first and lower level. I'm not sure what the rear of the second story has and I didn't get picture of it.

The brick is all the same except for the portion to the right of the garage. I looked at it and it appears to have been sprayed with a lighter color paint. Not sure what the previous owner was doing. It is only a light (and uneven) coating and I hope it can be scrubbed or otherwise removed.

The driveway is in poor condition. It has pitting which isn't uncommon here, and it also slopes downward to the house due to the grade and I suspect has been scraped up somewhat from that. There is also some settling and it has affected the front porch, but I did not see issues inside the home or basement due to that. I just did a quick walk through today so I could have missed it.

The house needs a lot of work for sure.

Removing the wood tudor trim (beams or whatever they are called) would require all new siding I think. They are set into the plaster looking stuff, or the plaster stuff as set into it. I actually don't hate the style. I just don't care for the current exterior color scheme and I don't know what would work.

Google pictures of real Tudor houses and look for color schemes you like. I still think a darker color would make the whole thing blend together better. Then you could highlight with a bright color on the front door. Leave the garage door dark.

I think your roof is the bossiest of the fixed elements. Fortunately, the brick is pretty neutral and can almost be treated like a pair of jeans that goes with everything.

I've never recommended shutters before, but I think those two windows above the garage are begging for shutters. I'm thinking wood shutters and garage door in a tone that relates to and balances the roof:

I also like how the little roofs project above two of these.

The yellowish color on the pseudo stucco needs to be changed. A light tan that is less yellow and a lighter version of the brick color would blend better and look more peaceful.

The little roof over the porch is a really charming feature -- emphasize it! I agree with whoever suggested a bright color for the front door, so it would draw attention to that nice roofette feature.

FINALLY, do not despair about those white vinyl window frames! I agree they are a major distraction, but think they can be painted. (I am guessing your dream is to make them dark brown like the trim around them?) When we had vinyl windows installed, we wanted the outside to be tan (to coordinate with the trim), and the inside to be white. Our contractor ordered them made in this two-tone style from the factory. But once they arrived, I realized that all they did was to spray the tan color over the original white outside sections! It has held up beautifully. Like any paint/coating job, the preparation is key.

it can be done. yard/house,,,,but it's not going to be super cheap! landscape and paint will give the most bang. But don't neglect windows, garage door (that current one has to go if you want to stay w/the 'tudor' ish look.

some similar homes

the brickwork like this driveway would be a nice addition

I think it is a cute house already! I know it is popular to strip shutters but I think properly scaled shutters on the two upper windows will lessen the face effect it has now. Fresh trim paint, i like the taupe color Beth posted if not brown, drive and walkway pavers and fresh landscaping and it will be adorable! I like location over all else when buying and splits have a lot of usable space too.

I think it is sad you feel you need to apologize for a house you love, are interested in, that works with your budget, works with your lifestyle, or whatever else. Many of us here are “normal people” who also have perhaps not “dream houses”, but houses that work for our dreams :)

I like the colour schemes @Beth H included in her post, especially the third for a more subtle look, and the fourth if you want to go more bold (I really like the last one with the blue trim & bold red door!). Yes, paint and landscaping will do a LOT. Right now it does look very stuck in the 70s with the yellow and brown, but there is a lot of potential there if you are ready to do/hire the work. Whether it will work with your budget or not is for you to determine.

Assuming a house inspection says "yes", it is possible to fix this home up to have the curb appeal you want. I like many of the suggestions made above!

That HUGE pale wall over the garage looks really unbalanced and dominates the house.

Get rid of the fake "Tudor" timbering and replace it with siding to match the rest in the gable. Add some trim to the windows so they don't look so naked.

Consider repainting the trim in a combination of grey-browns to go with the brick.

Much of your curb appeal can come from landscaping, but it's hard to tell what is there right now.

I am fond of Tudors and live in one myself. There are a lot of them in my neighborhood and the paint scheme on the half-timbered part can make a huge difference in the look. Some people have painted the wood and stucco the same color (light or dark), which de-Tudors the look. Or, use different colors but not the traditional light stucco and dark timbers.

My decorator helped me with all the brown tones in my house. Start with what won't be changing (your dark orange-brown roof) and make sure that you don't use other browns that clash with it.

If it were my house, I'd replace the yellowish stucco with a medium gray/brown, and add a few diagonal pieces to further the Tudor look. Add shutters.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think it is possible to improve the curb appeal, I'm just not sure it will be worth the effort. I'm trying to get ahold of the previous inspection reports before I investigate further. The home has been bank owned for a while with more than one failed sale. The price is also high and the way the bank has relisted at a higher price has me scratching my head. I'm not optimistic I guess.

Definitely add everything up first to see if it's worthwhile.

If it is, you might want to take a look at decorator Lauren Liess's current house; she recently moved into and updated an old Tudor house.

Lauren Liess Instagram

Her house after the new exterior paint job; a night-time shot here

Her house before; built in the 70s by an Alsatian couple

I would upgrade the quality of the exterior features.

Better quality windows with true or simulated divided light, carriage style garage door, and a more dimensional quality roof, would go a long way to upgrading the exterior.

With the curved roof over the entrance and the timbering I think you could go a bit storybook-ish here. I would whitewash or German schmear the bricks and stucco because I don't think the bricks coordinate well with the roof. Add shutters like benjesbride mentioned and add a pergola over the garage door. Paint the shutters a natural colour blue or green. Do the trim in dark beige or taupe. Paint the siding a softer blue or green.

Just a Fabulous Place to call Home · More Info

Ps I forgot to mention new garage door or paint it so it matches the trim .

Ps2 also forgot to mention, just because I think you *can* doesn't mean I think you necessarily *should*. Especially given your hesitation. This isn't for the faint of heart.

That interesting house has great potential.

Please. please. ... Do NOT add flower boxes: Pareidolia effect huge!!! They'd look like eyelashes on a face w/huge brown mouth.

Extend the porch all the way forward to the front exterior wall of the garage and then add an arbor across the front of both the porch half gable and the garage.

Dig back the dirt in front of and the width of the brick on the right side of the garage all alongside the driveway at least ten feet (and preferably to the end of the driveway). Add a new retaining wall at the dirt side of that new driveway outline for at least ten feet and then have it turn right across the front hard parallel to the front wall of the house: The height of the wall needs to be sufficient that ten feet or so directly in front of the house almost level. Landscape between that retaining wall and the house with curb appeal in mind. Plant a row of evergreen hedges below that retaining wall.

Cover that very Tudor forward facing gable over the garage with siding -- perhaps you could use vertical board siding from the window tops down and horizontal board siding from the window tops up.

You may want to extend the roofline of that forward facing gable over the garage just a bit as well and create shingled corners in front of the gable end.

You could change the color of all the painted surfaces to be two shades of your favorite color choice -- pale siding and darker trim -- grays or tans/browns or even blues or greens. Alternately, you could paint the garage door and trim and all the window and door trim and the fascia white with any other exterior color siding that you like -- but, please, don't paint the brick.

Add an interesting cupola to the middle of the roof of the main (right) section of the house.

http://www.cupolacreationspa.com/

Whatever you decide, please post pics of the results of your efforts.

Ha. Suezbell - thank you for my vocab word for the day! I had to look up Pareidolia. I need to use this with my kids when they see a face in an inanimate object.

On a sidenote, we had some success mitigating the three level HVAC problem by putting our furnace on three zones with programmable thermostats upstairs, in the living room, and in the family room (four steps down). It seems to have worked and no area is ever unpleasantly hot or cold.

Noticed the pic with flower boxes below the two windows above the garage has been removed. :-(

Your house is actually quite nice just as it is so if you cannot make a lot of changes to the house itself, don't despair. Just doing a spring makeover of the front landscaping will improve curb appeal.

One thought in that regard: You may want to consider planting a tree in the middle of the front yard so it can begin to grow into a shade tree for you because it is very likely that you will eventually need to remove the trees that are now very close to the right of the house.

It's a cute house!! Nothing offensive here.

The driveway and water would be job one here...but you can put in a swale and the runoff would go down the hill...

You have a couple great trees, so that's good...

Totally don't get why the bank would have raised the price??? Interested to find out. From what I understand, you still offer on the bank price.

Get a GOOOOOD inspector...

Let us know the results!

I would be very very careful about getting someone who really understands foundations and drainage to inspect it, since you mention some issue with settling and the porch. On the inside, problems from settling can be masked with carpet (for one thing)

I just wanted to say that my last house was a tri / multi-level house that looks like it had a similar layout. It was a wonderful house for us for years. It had a lot of potential and we enjoyed remodeling parts of it. Ultimately it was not the right "forever" house for us, but I think that shape of house has great potential. The only part that would give me hesitation would be the unoccupied / bank-owned / potentially overpriced concerns you mentioned, not the appearance of the home.

Just jumping in here to say that I agree with the fact that this house has some good bones about it. I think Tudor is an architecturally compelling style that's underrepresented and we've seen some good examples (h/t to Beth especially) of plussing up the surface beam elements with some additional facade work to create a more timeless look.

Adding in to say that I think the slight cantilever of the second level above the garage is a great touch (along with the sloping porch roofline), and one that would be nicely enhanced with a pair of beefy wall lanterns flanking the garage.

Don't forget about nighttime illumination - painting with light can also allow you to accentuate your most effective and appealing areas, and also create a visual hierarchy so the property 'scans' well after dark. Cheers!

NEVER buy a structure where the land slopes toward the house, NEVER,...unless you can get it for a song and have oodles of money to correct the situation.

Hello Reese, what did you decide about this house? If you were my sister (or brother?), I would say DON"T DO IT. Remember that split level our parents bought back in the day, and how much our mother regretted it because of the hassle of stairs everywhere? They moved and sold after just 5 years. Not to mention that this one has drainage issues and who knows what other challenges after being vacant so long. Sounds like a bad risk, even if the price is a bargain (which it sounds like it isn't)

I've decided to not purchase the house, for now anyway. If the bank would accept 50K less than the asking price I'd do it, but the fact that they just raised the price last month after the third failed sale leads me to believe they won't.

The house needs new exterior paint, complete interior paint, all new flooring, kitchen cabinets and countertops, new appliances, new furnace and ac, plumbing repair upstairs, 3 fireplaces that need attention, landscape clean up and probably much more.

I do like the house and the floor plan though. It's not a traditional split level. Main floor has formal living, dining and eat-in kitchen. Upstairs all the beds two baths. Down 1/2 set of stairs from the eat in kitchen is a den and the laundry plus powder room with the garage entrance. The house has a mountain view from the front and the view out the back over looks Utah Lake with mountains that surround it.

I'm going to wait and see what happens. My current home will sell in a flash, so the issue for me is finding a new home. I'd like to reduce my mortgage payment, but home prices are such that it's looking like that won't be much of an option. I really do like my current home except for the fact It's 50 miles from my workplace. I'm going to sit tight for now.

I've noticed price increases on some bank owned homes here in my area of suburban portland, oregon. Interesting.

I didn't even notice that we live in the same state. Our market is really tough right now because the inventory is so low. I know this because I just barely bought a house and I know how difficult it was to find a property we liked. Hopefully if you're patient something will come on the market that fits your budget and needs.

I personally love Tudor style homes! It definitely has potential.. from the picture the roof looks as though it may need some attention to start with..the main problem I see is that it's all very brown and biege. I agree with other comments that the stuco part could be a little more ivory and less yellow. Also painting the half timbers a griege, taupe or even greenish gray would add some contrast. On a Tudor painting the brick molding around the windows and doors the same color as the half timbers always looks nice. Add a bright pop of color to the front door and the house will look classic, but updated. If you do have to replace the roof make sure to take shingle color into consideration when choosing colors for the body and trim/ timbers. Good luck!

When it comes to shutters, before you just start removing them, consider a couple of things first. What are they made of? If they're made of wood and they're in good condition, you might think twice about removing them, simply because you're renovating the exterior of your home. The second thing to consider is that chances are, your windows would look naked without shutters and to try to replace "true" wooden shutters would be expensive. You could get a pair of vinyl shutters, painted white for about $92.00. The same sized pair of wooden shutters, also painted white, would cost you $280 00. As long as you repaint the wooden shutters every 5-7 years they will last as long, if not longer than vinyl shutters. My wooden shutters, which have been well maintained throughout their life, are 52 years old and show no signs of breakdown or decay.

Also, if your shutters are in good condition, consider the fact that you just paid good money for them, along with everything else in your home. In a renovation, some things/systems will have to be replaced because they don't work anymore. I try to keep everything that I can (that I just bought) unless it absolutely needs replacing.

@Kenny Cook, this is an 8 year old thread.