So, how much renovation do you think that you should do to a house that you are trying to sell?
Our open house had seven different people come by, two of them neighbors. When we got our first call from someone interested in buying the house they asked two questions:
- “Is the flooring under the carpet in the dining room hardwood?”
- “Can I retrofit the furnace to do Air Conditioning?”
That had us scrambling to find the answers, but also brought up a few questions. It’s really popular today to find people doing a lot to their homes in order to try to get the most from the sale. A friend of mine’s family replaced their whole kitchen, did a repaint, and did work in the bathroom. Meg and Doug almost completely redid the look of their house with Doug doing most of the work.
My house could really use a new kitchen. It could also use a Delta Faucet or two as the bathroom faucet looks terrible (corrosion, etc) and the kitchen faucet is on the way out. Virtuous Blonde told me last night that she believes that one of these times she’s going to turn it off and the knob will break off and water will come spraying out!
So, how much renovation do you do? Do you sell as is, or do you do little things with the hopes of making the house worth more?
Well, the housing market is really down now, isn’t it? So if you spend money fixing up, it would have to add substantially to the price you’re asking to make it worth your while. I’d think most people would see that faucet’s needed replaced and not think it was any big deal…but if the whole house was in a dire need of a paint job, then the appearance alone could turn people off or make them think a place was probably really affordable?
I don’t envy you! But when it’s sold and you’re moving into a better place, that’ll make it worth it!
Posted by Mary | September 8, 2007, 7:18 pmGreat questions. I know the market isn’t great for selling right now, but my philosophy would be to fix up the things you’d like to see in a house you’re buying (within reason of course). Sometimes, even a fresh coat of paint can make all the difference and not as costly. Depending on how much time you have to sell you could give it try on the market and see how things go!
Posted by Colleen | September 10, 2007, 7:12 am