Go to some open houses and see what looks good, what doesn’t. Pick up the flyers and see what the RE agents are highlighting. Wood floors? new carpet? tile? etc. You will soon get a feel for what sells. And start decluttering now.
@mamom that’s another whole story. My H is a hoarder. I’m trying, but…
(That’s one reason for it being at least a 1-2 year plan)
I’d talk to the REA about what renos are most essential and get you the biggest bang for the buck. I have a similar situation – costs outstrip the return.
If you decide to renovate, I would suggest going as neutral as possible. Maybe only doing the bedroom areas and then giving an allowance upon selling so that the buyer can do the living areas themselves.
Also, I really like the look of light beige walls and white wood work/trim. We did that in all of the apartment buildings I managed and the residents all liked it as well.
Consulting with a real estate agent is a good idea.
I’ve talked to real estate people, and interior designers, and Sherwin Williams Repose Grey is a very popular neutral color right now.
I am doing just a minimal master bath update (3 cabinets, and a new large mirror, plus tear out of what’s there now) and it’s over 5K, and that doesn’t include paint. To get a tub taken out, and put a tile shower in the existing space would have been @$8K.
We live in a fairly HCOL area, and I had trouble just getting people to come and give me estimates for such a “small” job.
Yes, I’ve had that problem with contractors, too – it’s not a big enough project, but the quotes I can actually get are awfully big to me!
Last summer we sold a house that had previously had tenants in it. We got in the low 200’s for it.
Something to consider for a house in your price point- go to a good flooring store and take a look at the modern linoleum type products. We used that in the kitchen and in the family bathroom. The one in the bathroom fooled multiple people into thinking it was tile, including our agent. The materials and labor of laying tile will be more expensive than you will want to go.
edited to add: The other thing we did was make sure that the rooms visible in the initial introduction to the space looked the best. We wanted them to be preset with a good impression before looking at the size of the bedrooms and family bathroom. We also figured a buyer would want where they spend the bulk of their socializing time to look spiffy.
Is the hoarding issue serious? Really, that is your first thing to consider.
Definitely talk to a Realtor or two to get an idea of what is in demand with homes currently on the market. They should be able to help you prioritize home improvement projects. Also browse Realtor.com or similar sites, go to a couple open houses. We sold last year - repainted all of our bedrooms in a neutral light gray and replaced the carpet in living room and dining room with hardwood to match what was already in kitchen and family room. Hardwood is definitely preferred here in my metro area. I thought replacing old carpet upstairs would have been more important, but three Realtors told us hardwood in the main living areas would have more impact for selling.
I would consider replacing the broken tub with another fiberglass tub/surround. They look good, and are much easier to take care of. My DD’s SIL has a more high end home than DD. DD has the fiberglass tub in her guest bathroom and the SIL was envious. She said that the grout is a pain to clean, and she would rather have the fiberglass tub. It certainly would be cheaper.
We have done a lot of home improvement in the past 2 years (plan to sell in 2-4).
The smartest thing we did was invest a few hundred dollars in hiring a professional stager for a few hours. She recommended paint colors, carpet choices, cabinet options (repaint rather than replace) etc.
So far we have done most of it and it looks terrific.
We did a pull and replace hall bath in 2015, with all supplies from Lowe’s. Floor and tub wall Tile, KraftMaid cabinet, and medicine cabinet. Grohe fixtures. Splurge: heated floor. I don’t remember the exact price, over $10k but under $15k. One tub, one sink, one toilet, but fairly large floor space for a hall bath. In this area, other contractors considered this price very low. (The tile was under $4/sq ft).
We did a master bath and kitchen in 2018 and paid very much more. (Tile Selections were mostly $8-$12 sq ft).
Around here, in Virginia, all main floors are hardwood. Second levels are carpet or hardwood (preferred).
At $150,000 in your market can you keep your total in the $20-$30k range? Do you need to replace any kitchen appliances?
When we were house hunting, we passed on all the homes that were remodeled to sell - why pay for something not our style? I’d have the entire inside painted a neutral color. Replace floors with what a realtor tells you is selling in your area. No carpet in the bath! And fix the tub.
We live in an area where homes that need work sell.
Good luck!
Before you make any tile or cabinet color choices, I recommend looking at the Marie Killiam website/blog. I stumbled on it last year and it is so interesting. It really explains all of the color mistakes that I have made in the past or that I see looking at houses. It talks about the problems people face with bad decorating outcomes due to mixing white/beige/grey and the undertones, etc. Then, if you decide to redo the bathroom, at least you are armed with information on how to make it look pulled together and “fit” with the rest of your home. It talks about paint choices too.
Also, I used Lowe’s stock cabinets in my old home. It was a vanity, sink combo and I got the faucet at Lowes or was part of the vanity. Anyway, the vanity was fine- would have held up for maybe 8-10 years, the sink was ok but the faucet leaked and wasn’t really fixable. It looked fantastic though!!
I am agreeing with Snowball City. We put linoleum type flooring in our second upstairs bathroom and it looks like stone. It was only about $400 installed and I 'm sure you could do it yourself. It looks great and is’nt slippery like tile can be. We probably live in a similar market. I would make sure the house is clean and freshly painted in neutral colors. Go to some open houses and see what is out there in your price point.
This is all market dependent. No one can tell you you “must” or you “shouldn’t” without knowing your market. In some places, doing some simple updates will make the difference between a quick sale and languishing on the market; in some places it will make the difference between getting the fixer upper price and getting your investment back and more. What does your realtor say?
@fallgirl, did you paint cabinets instead of replacing? If so, how do you like them? My kitchen cabinets are re in good shape, but they are painted, and especially around the handles they don’t looks so good. Plus, they are ivory, and I would like them to be white (I think). I’m very interested in hearing from other people who have painted cabinets and whether they were happy or not.
I had a realtor who sells a lot of homes in our area come and tell me what I should focus on if we want to sell in the next couple of years. I thought her advice was very good.
Really, we are all getting off track, house is in ?poor condition with a lower $ value, DH is a hoarder and doesn't like having work done/paying professionals. No paint colors or flooring choices are relevant unless you are really able to get DH on board with this whole move. Where is DH in this? Is he actually going to agree to sell? The stress of doing work may not be worthwhile over taking a lower sales price.
Step 1 is de clutter the house so it looks larger, brighter and less personal. The key selling point is light, bright, full of light. And outstanding listing photos!!
Paint colors depend on how much natural light floods the room. I would recommend a pale griege (off white with pale grey tone) Go very light. Paint all trim bright clean white semi gloss so it pops from slight color variation on walls. Paint ceilings flat white
In older bathrooms, do not paint walls or ceilings in semi gloss. It highlights every imperfection. Satin or a higher grade Matte.
My feeling is buyers are looking for bright and white in bathrooms and kitchens. You can do a fabulous kitchen in IKEA cabinets but it takes a lot of additional cost in labor for assembly of the pieces and parts. IKEA has kitchen planner software on their website that I use all the time to design kitchens or baths, whether I purchase IKEA cabinets or not. Lowe’s has a very decent off the shelf white shaker cabinet in limited shapes and sizes. Those would be my choices for lowest cost. There are also tons of ready to assemble cabinets on the Internet but it makes returns and quick purchase of missing pieces really difficult (you are short one piece of toe kick or you end up with 6 extra pieces of toe kick because you change your island design at the last minute).
You can get a nice neutral laminate wood flooring for throughout the house. Stay away from that horrid grey striped stuff mentioned earlier. I like Garrison Vichy high grade laminate. I’m not sure your price point can support real hardwood floors. Laminate in living areas and carpet in bedrooms should be fine.
To modernize your house, reduce labor install costs, make room look larger and neutralize the space I would recommend large 12x24 tiles in the bathrooms.
And, finally, before you spend too much money you need to do diligent research on all of the recent sales in the area. Is there a huge price difference between recently updated homes and outdated homes? Are updated homes selling fast… are they a hot item because all the other homes are old and dingy? What is the target market in your area? Young first time buyers (who cannot see the potential and they need it snazzy to move in)? Retirees who want to make it their own no matter what you do. Move up busy families that don’t want to lift a finger? How long are you willing to sit on the market because your home doesn’t stand out? To make it stand out, is it worth the money spent?
Another issue is you can spend time and money to update the house but your furniture may not fit well for listing photos and showings.
Thanks everyone. Lots of helpful suggestions. I felt overwhelmed the other day just thinking of what needs to be done so all the helpful tips helped focus me a bit. Much if this needs to be done whether we sell or not. The bathrooms getting repaired are the first thing that has to be done. I am hopeless with picking stuff like colors so thanks for all the suggestions.
Yes, the hoarding and clutter is my main and most pressing problem. I have made a start on clearing the house but it’s going to be a long process. It doesn’t help that I work long hours all year and ridiculous ones during tax season (actually had my first day off in weeks Wednesday cause I couldn’t get to work cause of the ice - thank you kind stranger with a 4WD that towed me out of a ditch half a mile from the house). H is at least less resistant than he has been in the past. He can’t do any of this himself so knows any repairs we get done we need to pay someone.
I’m looking at probably a 2 year time frame at least. The house is just too big for 2 people and too much to maintain. We have an acre of lawn and H can’t take care of it anymore and I don’t want to. Smaller house and much smaller yard is my goal (I’d be perfectly happy in a nice apartment with no yard maintenance).
I think the immediate plan is to focus on decluttering (it really is a huge project) and getting the bathrooms fixed. Once I feel like I’m making progress with the decluttering I’ll have a realtor come have a look and tell me what they recommend.
Well off to work. Worked 12 hours yesterday band still didn’t finish the project that must be done by tomorrow.bthat ice day was nice but now I’m even further behind