A 9 year old remodel may be a big deal considering what the property's competition is.
Would you rather the agent not mention any of the new items such as the wiring, windows and plumbing?

Recent is pretty subjective. If the house is 100 years old, 9 years is recent. If the house is 12 years old, 9 years isn't recent.

If I were looking for a historic or midcentury or even a 70's or 80's home for a client, & the listing told me that the bath had been re-done within 9 years, I'd be ecstatic.

New plumbing and wiring in 2001 is very recent, really if you look at the life cycle of wiring and pipes. I don't think "recent" is a dishonest descriptor for something done within the last ten years that most people do "never".

I wouldn't consider 9 year paint or carpet "recent".

I think on new plumbing and wiring if the house is significantly older than 12 years then the fact it was redone 12 years ago is very important. If I buy a 30 year old house, for example, then that would be very material to me.

Weedy, are you sure they meant the bathroom is 9 years old?

The way I read that, the 2004 only applied to the patio doors. Everything that preceded that statement I took to mean as "recent", but not specifically in 2004.

Meaning this:

The home has had many updates in recent years including; Bath remodel with new tub and flooring, furnace,
patio doors in 2004
and new plumbing and wiring in 2001."

Clear as mud?

I think it was poorly written either way though. :)

I read it the same way as patriceny.

In our neck of the woods, new plumbing and wiring in 2001 is quite new, and would make home buyers pretty happy.

I don't see that listing in and of itself as deceptive. But since the meaning is being interpreted several ways even here, it could stand to be rewritten.

'it could stand to be rewritten'

There ya go.

The ones that make me a little dizzy are the ones that blather on & on & don't say anything;
like "plenty of room for in-laws & outlaws"
& the ones that spell out "four bedrooms" (which the potential buyer has already seen in the "fill in the blank" part of the report)

We have a certain number of spaces for narrative, & that's our main opportunity to capture someone's attention (with words anyway).

I agree that plumbing and wiring updates on a house > 50 years old is a plus.

I disagree that a 9-year-old bathroom update is "recent." :-)

It just feels more to me like "we're really scraping to come up with appealing stuff to tell people about this house." Or like sellers thinking their house should be worth way more because they put vinyl siding on it 20 years ago. That kind of thing.

A couple more favorites:
"Can you believe since 1961 this home has only had one owner?"

"2nd bath has updated toilet."

I would hope that a bathroom last decades, so 9 years is not so old in my book!

Since the average length of ownership of a particular house in the US is as low as 6 years, I find a lengthy ownership, like the 50+ years you mention, an interesting and possibly important piece of information. There are going to be differences between a house lived in by eight owners versus a house lived in by one owner.

A nine year old bathroom remodel is not "recent", in my humble opinion. I'm of the mind that many updates and remodels are not worth mentioning in a home description. I believe the message it sends is, "We spent money on updates and expect to be compensated for them." Oftentimes, I don't particularly care for what the owner has chosen. People can tell when there have been cosmetic updates--it doesn't make sense (to me) to point those out.

I don't think 9 years old is "recent" either. Seems like the realtor is grasping at straws for something positive to say about the house. Now if it said 2 years or less, that is recent. 9 years, no. NancyLouise

Guys,
It all depends on the subject property, its locale, and the competition. If this property is located in an area that has homes that are not updated at all, then the description is very pertinent.
If the property is located amongst competition where updates are the norm, then, yes, the description is a little silly.
But w/o knowing these details, this thread is moot.

I disagree, the word recent in this post is dealing solely in a time reference. It doesn't' matter a whit where the house is located or the competition. Nearly a decade old is not "recent". NancyLouise

A 9-year-old bathroom on a 1961 vintage home means that the bath isn't 52 years old, so you're not likely to have to rip out the floor & re-do plumbing in the near future.

Vinyl siding, whatever the age, is worth mentioning;
it can be an asset, since it's very low-maintenance, or a liability, for, say, a 120-year-old Victorian in a historic neighborhood.

Exactly.

I'd be pscyhed to find a house with a 9-year old remodel -- and it would be recent around here where most houses were built in the 1950's - 1960's and haven't been touched since. I'd prominently display that on my ad if selling my own house, as well -- my now 2003 (10 year old) and 2005 (8 year old) bathrooms are huge selling points on this home, and potential home buyers around here would welcome the "recent improvements." Were I listing it today, I'd also give a shout out to the 200 amp electric, 6 year old windows, ... well, you get the idea. The older house owner (which is nearly my whole town and every surrounding town where open land for building has been gone since the 1960's) see things differently than those living in younger parts of the country may.

While I agree that what constitutes an update is relative to other homes in the area, as NancyLouise stated a nearly decade old update isn't recent. Most people would say that is an exaggeration. I feel listing the year the update was done is a much more factual, less slick way of saying the exact same thing. My belief when it comes to selling a home is that you can't make anyone buy your home with fancy talk; your home (assuming its properly priced) sells itself. Always under promise and over deliver. The whole idea of the ad is just to get them in the door. You don't want them to be disappointed when they make the effort to see it in person.

Exactly

Exactly again,

Under promise, over deliver.
Do enough to get them in the door, but not disappointed when they enter.
I don't think nine years is recent regardless of year built.

In my neighbourhood 9 years old is totally recent. All houses are 60-100+ yo and have remodels starting at 40+ years and on. I wouldn't raise my eyebrows to see that description at all. If I were selling I might have put "updated" instead of recent. A 2 year old bathroom reno here would be "newly" renovated.

I would say most posters here understand that updates are relative to a certain local group of homes. Most posters are probably following this forum because they have a better grasp (or would like to educate themselves) of the finer points of selling a home moreso than the average person. That being said, when I re-read the OP, I believe the actual issue is: Are the modifying descriptions in this ad true, slightly exaggerated, or misleading? I believe that descriptions are best kept as factual as possible which is a concept that works for ALL neighborhoods, regardless of age.

"like "plenty of room for in-laws & outlaws"

LOL!!! Wonder what's worse.