Are “Fixer Upper” Homes Too Expensive to Sell?

Do you watch “Fixer Upper”, the show where Chip and Joanna Gaines fix up a derelict home in Waco, Texas? Some of those houses have started coming up for sale, and the owners are finding out they’re not easy to sell because they are priced out of the market. Earlier this month, the listing agent representing the “Asian Ranch House” featured on Season 2 of Fixer Upper made headlines when she admitted that the home’s $679,000 price tag was likely hindering its sale. The average price for homes sold in the area was around $215,000. Realtors acknowledge that the typical markup on the asking price of a “Fixer Upper” house – often between 25 percent and 75 percent – is well beyond the means of many typical families on a budget for a standard home in the area. Said one realtor, “People are looking at it just because it has a ‘Fixer Upper’ name on it, not because they can actually afford it.”