Home refurbishing decisions pre-sale

Parent Cafe
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<p>Please ignore this post if you don’t have any Harry or Harriet Homeowner or real estate interests - </p>

<p>I’m getting my home ready to put on the market in the early spring. The house is about 3000 sq. ft. 4 BR, 2.5 Baths, in a relatively upscale suburban MD neighborhood where the prices are still rising slightly. There are a few decisions I’m having trouble making - please advise a dithering homeowner:</p>

<p>Hardwood floors - most of the first floor is hardwood that I haven’t refinished in 19 years. Foyer is bad, LR and DR ok. It is the winter, I have dogs, I’m worried about fumes and noise for refinishing, also have grasspaper wallpaper in LR and concerned about dust. Should I leave the house for a few days, tape plastic on the walls, and do it anyway, or should I just refinish or replace the foyer floor and give a credit for LR and DR refinishing?</p>

<p>Kitchen Counters - I have corian (bisque color) counters, new appliances to match and a new tile floor, oak cabinets. I had wallpaper removed that was left over from the model home decorator, and the walls are now painted with a primer, same bisque color. The monochrome color scheme (walls, appliances, corian) looks very nice, but the oak cabinets are emphasized visually. Since I’m not going to replace or reface them (see below), the wall color that is best to de-emphasize them is a medium cinnamon-ish shade. However, that is a bit too dark to make the grade for “neutral colors” pre-sale - what would you do?</p>

<p>The upper cabinets are solid oak with raised arch panels and look great, but some of the bottom ones (same grade, squares not arches) have some spots where the finish has streaked or come off. Should I replace those doors with new ones (available), partially refinish those areas myself, or take the affected doors to a refinisher?</p>

<p>Carpet - entire upstairs is carpeted in, again, bisque (you buy a model home, you get ‘continuity’ in decoration). Should I replace with the same color (is light carpeting a positive or negative for a buyer?) and what grade of carpet do you think can I get away with? I’m thinking about short plush with thick padding.</p>

<p>I like the house, but want to downsize and wish to preserve my equity before real estate starts to drop in price here. So the final question is - should I try to sell it myself, or use a real estate agent? I know several people who have sold rather expensive homes on their own successfully - on the other hand, I wouldn’t want it to sit on the market so long that the (I predict) summer downturn in prices catches up to me.</p>

<p>All thoughts appreciated.</p>

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<p>Not sure about the home upgrades re flooring etc. but if you have an Assist-To-Sell or Buyowner agent near you that might be a good compromise between doing it all yourself or paying an agent a 6% commission. They’re usually a flat fee. Alot of people near us have had alot of success using them.</p>

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<p>I don’t know about y’all, but I am forever watching those home improvement shows. I wonder if it wouldn’t be worth it to hire someone to “stage” your house to sell. They’ll come in, tell you what needs to be done and bring in a team to do it. On the shows I watch i.e. “Sell this House”, they always spend around a $1,000 to make improvements, but end up selling the house for thousands more than they originally had it listed for before bringing in the team of stagers. It might be worth checking with someone in your area.</p>

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<p>I think having the floors redone would be a great way to make a better impression on prospective buyers (I am having that done later this month on my late father’s house before it goes on the market and the Realtor felt it was a good idea).</p>

<p>I would not worry unduly about kitchen wall color–go with what looks nice. People seem to redo kitchens these days when they buy houses.</p>

<p>Same thoughts about the carpeting–peopel will replace it so do the minimum to look (and smell) clean and inoffensive.</p>

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<p>My neighbor thought she would put her house on the market for around $900K. She hired someone to ‘stage’ it, got multiple bids, and it sold for $1.1 million. In 30 days from listing to contract.</p>

<p>In your house, I would do the hardwood floors, but just clean up the kitchen (add a coat of light/neutral paint if necessary). So many people will redo the kitchen completely that it’s not worth it to redo it now. Same with the carpet.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>I would agree with all above ref the wood floors. Redo them. Newly refinished floors look incredible and I think you’ll get your return on your money. I wouldn’t worry about doing them in the winter. Last time we redid our floors, it was dead winter and it worked out fine. The right refinisher will drop plastic and seal off rooms to help keep down the dust. I would also advise to go ahead and remove the old wall paper and repaint. Doesn’t cost that much and makes a big difference. Ref your kitchen cabinets, I wouldn’t replace, even the doors. You can however, do a light refinish yourself or hire someone to do it that is relatively cheap and looks great. New door pulls is another cheap, but very nice upgrade. Agree with the others ref the carpet, clean em and leave um. Good luck!</p>

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<p>I’m in Real Estate on Long Island’s Gold Coast:
Neutral colors are great, it’s when colors are outlandish or unusual that you have problems.
Everything should look like you take very good care of your house. I would redo the wood floors, as they are very noticable. If something is obviously not well taken care of people assume that you also left other things that might not be seen at first glance. You want them to feel that you care about the house and took great care of it.
I agree that just giving the carpet upstairs a good cleaning might be enough, unless it’s threadbare. I’ve seen a mansion go unsold for a year, all because the carpets upstairs were ruined by the pets. No one could see spending all that money and then having to replace them. The rest of the house and the two acres were in pretty good shape. All in all, if something hits you in the face as in bad condiditon when you see it everyday, other people will probably notice it, too. Have a good friend or relative be honest, in what they might fix and they notice. It might not be the same things that bother you.
If you can spot refinish the cabinets and make it look natural that can be okay, or get new doors. When a kitchen is almost new and just some parts are older it may bother people. However, I’ve seen people buy a house with a brand new kitchen and totally redo it immediatley. You want as move in condition as possible. After spending all that money, most people don’t have the time to fix things, they all work too hard and would rather just have everything look good, with no work on their own. With the price of houses currently people also don’t want to move in thinking that after all that money they have to spend another ______ to get it looking top-notch. The other point with the market is that it’s not that the market is really slowing down, it’s just that the better condition houses at a fair price sell a lot faster than either a house that needs work or one that is overpriced.<br>
Put away all family photos and personal items. It should look somewhat bare, like a motel room. People should walk in and be able to picture THEIR things in the rooms. You might want to order either a pod or a separate storage space and empty out as much as possible.</p>

<p>You don’t need to hire a stager, there are great books on Amazon you can get that will tell you how to stage your home…for $10-14.
ummm and I obviously think you should use an agent :-)</p>

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<p>the agents around here stage houses- sometimes quite a bit and sometimes I have thought they make things look worse because they will not only paint and bring in different furniture but also change cabinets etc. ( it is worth is to them because houses are quite spendy)
I would either stage it yourself and hire and agent who will agree to that- or hire an agent to do it. I agree it is worth doing - floors are really noticable- especially the entry way
worth it also to do things that they will see before they get out of the car. Buy bedding plants etc and plants in pots to make it look cheerful even if no one elses bulbs are up yet. :)</p>

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<p>You might be able to find a lower-fee agent. We just sold a condo with an agent that charged 4%. 3% went to the buyer’s agent (standard) and the selling agent made do with 1%. She explained that they only do very targeted selling things that they know work. No newspaper advertising, no open houses. They put up a sign with fliers, and (most important) get it on the multiple listing sites, which a sell-by-owner cannot access. Although we ended up not selling until the 3rd buyer (credit issues), the property had offers within 24 hours each time it was listed.</p>

<p>One thing you might consider instead of some of the more expensive repairs is upping the price an equivalent amount and then rebating that amount to the buyer on signing as an allowance to have those things done themselves. Example, house price of $300, 000. Up it to $305, 000 and rebate $5,000 towards carpeting. A friend in the real estate business suggested it, although after we’d made a commitment with our favorite contractor to replace carpet, linoleum, and repaint, so we just went with the upgrading. I must say, the place looked great, and the agent agreed that it showed really well.</p>

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<p>On one of the home imporvement shows, I saw them refurbishing the wooden floors without all the dust, etc. They had a sander with a built-in vaccuum, and sucked up the dust immediately. As for the refinishing, polyurethane doesn’t really smell badly. I, too, am working on the house to sell this year. Repainted bathroom and cabinets. Made it look spa-like. Painting a couple rooms neutral colors, removing grass cloth wallpaper from bar area and painting it. Replaced old doorknobs, etc. Just sprucing up and making things look like they have been maintained will help. Take out very personal things - all pictures are being packed away. The trick they say is to make it neutral enough that the buyer can readily see his stuff there. BTW, I just heard that the buyer can tell within 30 seconds whether or not he or she likes the house, and many won’t bother going in farther, so the entry aand first room in have to rally grab them. If they feel comfortable right from the start, they will overlook a few other things. Get rid of all clutter and make sure there is enough furniture to make it look like the room is used for its purpose, but not so much that they room looks too small. Bring in light as much as you can. I am addicted to those home improvement shows, and am taking their advice.</p>

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<p>Floors - ok, folks, you’ve convinced me - certainly cheaper than replacing them and you do see them right away. There is one dust-free refinishing company, I’ll talk to them.</p>

<p>Carpet - not an option - it is 19 years old AND has endured dogs for 12 years - must be replaced. I will choose an inexpensive short pile and get an upgraded pad so it feels luxurious underfoot.</p>

<p>Kitchen cabinets - I will find out how much the doors are to replace, and if too expensive I will take them to an expert for ‘spot refinishing.’</p>

<p>Agents - I’ve had good experiences in the past, but I will try to negotiate for 5% vs. 6% among the 4-5 that I interview. Somehow I don’t trust the help-u-sells, and I think it might be take too long to sell myself (I believe I could do it, but time is the enemy). </p>

<p>De-cluttering - the BIGGEST job of all! I have too many clothes, have boxes packed with school books in this huge unfinished basement, with ancient tack and horse supplies, old camping equipment, and so on. I expect the time I intend to spend de-cluttering, packing, and donating tons of stuff to charity will make the minor repairs and refurbishments seem trivial by comparison. Luckily, I do not have excessive furniture - only one old and beloved leather “dog couch” that has to be removed from the family room. </p>

<p>Staging - great idea - but then I won’t want to sell! Several of the local realtors offer this service.</p>

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<p>My parents had to sell their condo this past fall in CA. I helped with moving their stuff and they had it repainted and staged. It sold within 2 days of being put on the market. I had a chance this fall to see it and it looked great. They put in minimal furniture and little bits and pieces of decor. This gave it a spacious look. The kitchen cabinets had been “fixed” and the realtor had new appliances put into the kitchen. That was another upgrade. It was also carpeted.</p>

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<p>We interviewed a couple agents before we chose one, and all of them gave us tips on how to make our house saleable. The best thing we did, I think, was rent a storage center, and put our clutter and excess there. Really opened the place up. Made closets look bigger, too.</p>

<p>I think new carpet and refinished wood will really pay off in first impressions and general “feel”. </p>

<p>When we go home next summer, I plan to completely redo our house, so I am interested in the advice here, especially about the floors. We have wood in the foyer and kitchen. Current tenants have a dog, and I’m thinking the wood will be distressed, and I have no experience at all in restoring wood floors. I wish we could add wood in the DR and LR, but I don’t know how to make it match.</p>

<p>We also have had “decorator model” decor – same neutral carpet and paint throughout most of the house. I’m trying to decide how much of that to continue. We aren’t planning to sell our home right away, but we don’t really know what our future holds, so we dont’ want to go too extreme. But I’m not really a “neutral” person, so, How much for me and how much for in case…? </p>

<p>And I don’t have the advantage of TV shows or “Better Homes and Gardens.” I’ve been trying to use the internet to get ideas of what’s in style in the US and such. Anybody got any good sites to recommend?</p>

<p>Wishing the OP much success in the sale and the prep!</p>

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<p>This is intended as a contrarian viewpoint. Is there any possibility that your house could be considered a tear-down in your neighborhood? That is, is your lot worth a lot more than the house or is it a double lot? If that’s the case, you shouldn’t do anything at all to the house, but look for the realtor who’s working the most closely with builders and get the best price you can.</p>

<p>Another alternative is to offer an allowance for the work that needs to be done instead of doing it yourself. If people are going to be thinking remodel, as they do in some areas, there’s no point in spending money getting it done and the allowance will go a long way towards making someone comfortable with buying the house instead of a new one.</p>

<p>Both of these are extremely neighborhood dependent. My advice would be to look for the local realtor with the best record of actually selling houses in your area and ask his/her advice. Then follow it.</p>

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<p>A house in my neighborhood recently sold in the 700s – with a new professional style kitchen, three new marble baths, new cherry panelling in the 20x20 family room, all new anderson windows and goodness knows what else. </p>

<p>The builder buyer tore it down. He did strip the good stuff out of it first.</p>

<p>The new house on the lot is listed at $2.849 million.</p>

<p>If teardowns are a happenin’ thing in your 'hood … that’s the best route of all if you can stand it!</p>

<p>But otherwise – I still say just do the flooring!</p>

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<p>here’s another vote for flooring, particularly HW. A nice shiny finish gives off the WOW factor when someone walks in. Since carpets are old and warn, replace as well, with a neutral color. </p>

<p>Can you give the kitchen cabinets a good, thorough cleaning with a top brand cabinet polish? Might look great, and be a lot less costly than replacement/refinishing.</p>

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<p>My house is not in a teardown situation, as it is only 20 years old, in a very nice suburbran neighborhood of similar homes backing to parkland, very near a growing “spiffy planned community” with outrageous prices that have helped neighboring house prices quite a bit. It will be lived in by the new owners and must be made presentable. </p>

<p>In Bethesda and Chevy Chase, every small older home on the market is looked over by builders as a teardown. Two years ago, you could buy one for $400K, now they are going for $600 and up. 1950s brick ramblers and colonials, from 1400-1500 Sq ft, well-built brick crackerboxes. The key is to have a house plan that allows you to fit a 3500 sq ft home and a two-car garage on a lot that is often no more than 60 ft wide - most builders go craftsman, many have detatched garage in the back. Of course, there is NO yard. These have been going for about 1.2-1.4 million.</p>

<p>I am fascinated by building (did a custom home project 4 years ago with a good builder and partners, turned out well) but first things first - take equity off the table and downsize, then look around at the real estate conditions and decide if it is the time to have some fun.</p>

<p>There are small spots (e.g.) top of raised panels on a few lower cabinets, where there are areas of white where the finish has worn off. One of my clients whose hobby is refinishing told me to carefully sand the white areas with fine steel wool, then put the appropriate stain just on those areas with a toothbrush and varnish. I’d enjoy that, but I am afraid to ruin the entire panel with a goof.</p>

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<p>binx,
re: your wood floors. Depending on how many coats of varnish were originally on the floor, the dog may not have much of an impact. A good floor-refinisher will be able to let you know if they can match the wood for new floors in LR/DR. Also, it is definitely worth it to do all floor work before you actually move back in. good luck</p>

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<p>I would second the de-cluttering advice. I have sold three houses (one for sale by owner), none of which were in particularly seller’s markets, and with each one not only did I receive essentially the full asking price (which was very competitive, because I checked the market in my city and neighborhood very thoroughly) but also each time it sold to the first person who looked at the house. Since we have 4 kids and homeschool, our house looks signifcantly different (more crowded) than most other people’s houses. We spent signifcant time (possibly too much time?) getting our house to look neutral, immaculate and roomy (by renting a storage facility to store excess furniture, boxes, etc. while our house was on the market), so that the potential buyer (who might have only one or no kids) would be able to visualize his own things in the house, not to be overwhelmed by our “decor.” (in quotes, because we do not have any particular style).</p>

<p>I would also agree with the others who suggest refinishing the floors. Since your house is worth on the order of a million dollars, it makes sense to have them done professionally. </p>

<p>For others in small starter homes or those trying to save some money before selling the home, another option might be available. In my first home, which was a small 1400 square foot ranch in Ann Arbor, MI, we had hardwood floors in the whole house underneath extremely ugly avacodo green carpeting. We lived with the carpeting for the years we lived in the house, but before we sold the house we lifted up the carpeting, cleaned the floors and waxed them. They looked amazing. </p>

<p>Later, when we were ready to sell our 3000 square foot house with hardwood floors in 90 percent of the house, including the kitchen, in Cherry Hill, NJ, we had not made that much profit on the home (sold in 1999, before the more recent boom) so instead of having the floors professionally refinished, we again thoroughly cleaned the floors and waxed them. Our realtor listed the house as having refinished floors. We pointed out to her that we had not refinished the floors, only cleaned and waxed them, and then she took that description off the list of extras. But again, they looked great (our realtor could not tell the difference). My wife discovered Don Aslett, who sells products and also writes some fun little books on cleaning, and his supplies allowed us to refinish the floors at a tiny fraction of the price of having them professionally sanded and urethaned.</p>

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<p>we put something called dalys floorfin on our original fir floors and they look wonderful :slight_smile:
half the work of swedish finish</p>