<p>“Well, at least we built a new closet so the framed pieces are now out of the unused downstairs bath-tub”</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>That bathtub came in handy. That’s why you bought the house. Right? :)</p>
<p>After having moved 6 times in ten years, I have this advice.</p>
<p>Don’t move anything you don’t absolutely love. Everything looks different when you unpack it. That ratty mattress (and the stained sheets) make you want to york as you unpack. The dent in the frame that wasn’t a big deal in the old house picks up the light exactly wrong in the new one. If you’ve always felt a little iffy about the couch, this is your chance to buy something you like. </p>
<p>How will you afford it? Well, moving something–unless you do it yourself and it’s a short-distance move–can cost as much as buying it again. This is especially true with Ikea furniture, which falls apart if you move it and never goes together correctly again.</p>
<p>^^Excellent advice. </p>
<p>“If I’m not sure about something, I just throw it away.” Ditto.</p>
<p>“We moved 6 hours from our first house so made a few back-n-forths with a U-Haul to bring stuff that we didn’t want to trust to the movers.”</p>
<p>Would love to have been able to gradually take things piecemeal from storage, would potentially have made a huge difference. In our case this was not possible since we moved halfway across the country. I’m not sure the moving company would have allowed it either. But for others, this could be another thing to try to set up.</p>
<p>Well…the contractor/stager showed up and of course he wants to redo 2 of my bathrooms.</p>
<p>I meet with him again on Friday and he is going have the numbers. </p>
<p>My bathrooms are dated…but I don’t know if I will recoup the money if I remodel these bathrooms.</p>
<p>Do NOT remodel the bathrooms. Paint, clean the heck out of them, make sure the toilet flushes properly, replace the hopelessly stained sink, hang nice towels, but don’t remodel them. You can get a sketch of what they’d look like remodeled done and put it in your house folder–but don’t remodel them. You won’t make back the money. People come in three types: they want a new house (they won’t care if you remodel, it’s still not new), they want a new bathroom with (name something unusual, like a bidet or a Japanese toilet), they want to remodel, or they want a period piece, untouched, so they can restore it. None of them are going to be happy if you remodel the bathrooms.</p>
<p>Dstark - is it possible to update them without remodeling? We recently updated son’s bathroom. We had tile installed on the floor (it was vinyl). Painted the vanity, replaced the mirror, lighting and faucet and painted the walls, took down the sliding doors on the tub and put up a shower curtain. Left the tub and toilet and vanity in place. All for about $1,500. Amazing difference. The bathroom looks completely updated.</p>
<p>Totally agree. Change the tile and replace the counter tops if you can/should, re-caulk, paint… But leave the walls, plumbing and fixtures in place. Make sure the place looks and smells clean and well maintained.</p>
<p>Dstark – I would guess that the stager meant what MomLive has done. I doubt he’s talking about ripping out walls. A new vanity and sink, improved lighting (esp. if you have that ‘80’s ‘row-o’-glass-balls in a plank’ fixture) and new faucets (not chrome!). New towel bars if needed. We also changed out the toilet handles because they were very cheap and had begun to peel. Removing wallpaper or painting over it. New towels that you threaten the children and spouse with death if they touch them…kiddingly, maybe. Everything that makes it look as though actual humans live, wash, and etc., in the space should be gone. </p>
<p>I bought a very inexpensive display dish at Michaels, made a pyramid of brand new rolled up washcloths in it, and put it between the sinks. That was the only thing on the whole counter-top! The idea is to make it ‘spa-like’…maybe a fat white candle? A single orchid in a vase? </p>
<p>We also framed the huge single piece mirror with white molding. Once we changed the mirror clips from those bumpy plastic shell things to a flat square, it went easily. We chipped out a bit of the back of the molding to fit over the clip, painted both sides of the molding so you wouldn’t see a dark line in the mirror, then overlapped the molding a touch on the mirror, and stuck it up with Liquid Nails. So that we didn’t have to use a miter, we cut straight and used square blocks on the corners. Everyone who saw the house raved about it and it cost $25, if that.</p>
<p>I am leaning to do what you did momlive.</p>
<p>Between the 2 bathrooms, I would save 50,000. </p>
<p>Dmd77, that is 4 choices. 
I like what you wrote though.</p>
<p>We aren’t going to move walls, fixtures etc. We are tearing up part of a wall…but that is a few hundred. And we are going to add a window.</p>
<p>Novelisto, everything in the bathrooms would be changed. Plumbling would not be moved
and walls would not be moved. My corian counters would be ripped out.</p>
<p>I would strongly echo what a previous poster suggested. Get a house inspection. Fix all the minor stuff, (maybe major if it will hold up the deal). Include the inspection and the receipts … offer a one year home warranty. This will significantly reduce or eliminate the haggle after you accept an offer. You know - you accept the offer - they do an inspection and come back asking for X off the price, etc etc. Just accept the offer and say - nothing will be fixed or changed, that’s the price, unless there is a significant issue that is more than $25,000 to repair for that single thing. As in, needs a new roof etc. The problem is - you accept the offer, take your house off the market - and then the haggling begins. Inspection, fix, warranty … helps you get a better price.</p>
<p>MaterMia, we going to do inspections. I think that is a good idea.</p>
<p>Sometimes the realtor will change the proposed asking price after seeing how you’ve fixed the place up. At the first meeting, our guy said based on the comps we should list the house at $209k, expect $190k, and be happy with anything close to $200k. He gave us a list of things to do (fresh paint top to bottom, all new carpet, declutter, get rid of a lot of furniture, plant some flowers and spread fresh mulch, etc.), and said to call him when we were ready.</p>
<p>When the realtor came back four months later, he was blown away by how good the house looked. The closets were empty except for a few colorful bins containing things we couldn’t do without, but didn’t want on display. We had all of the windows professionally cleaned–you’d be amazed what a difference that makes! Apparently, when he gives clients a list of things to do to fix up the house, a lot of them don’t bother doing half of it. He said the house showed so well that he was going to list it at $239k!</p>
<p>One thing he did that I thought was really clever was to put the house on the market on a Wednesday, and include in the listing that all offers would be reviewed on Monday. This was to imply we were expecting multiple offers, and try to create a sense of urgency. One couple saw the house on Friday and put in an offer for $245k, but said the offer would expire at 8 PM that night. They didn’t want to wait until Monday and possibly be outbid. So our house was sold in less than 72 hours! We might have been able to get a bit more if we’d waited until Monday, but we took the bird in the hand.</p>
<p>Nice story, stevensmama…</p>
<p>Oh heavens, all three of our bathrooms have the “row-o’-glass-balls in a plank” fixtures!</p>
<p>Speaking of bathroom updating, anyone know how to get wallpaper off of sheetrock without tearing the sheetrock paper covering?</p>
<p>One bathroom has the row of balls, but I painted the oak mirror surround burgundy to match the 1950s sink (which I rather like). The other bathroom which I really need to fix is bubble gum pink. The lighting in their is two 1950s sconces on either side of the mirror. They do a great job and I’ll probably replace them with something similar.</p>
<p>Fun topic. Good luck to dstark and veryhappy!!!</p>
<p>My tale: in 2008 (eek!) we put our house on the market because we were relocating. We imagined the sale would buy us a comparable property and leave a lot of money in the bank. (hahaha) More than a year later it finally sold.</p>
<p>What is a house worth? Only as much a buyer is willing to pay. Or, in our case, only as much as a buyer is able to pay. Since the buyers in my market could only afford X, and my house was X x 2 or maybe X x 3, there were no buyers in my price range. I finally figured this out when I went to town hall and looked at all the sales for six months before we listed and all the sales since. It didn’t matter what the town assessment (done at the height of the local real estate market) said my house was worth. It didn’t matter what the insurance company said it would take to rebuild it. It didn’t matter what three or four or five real estate agents appraised it at. It didn’t even matter that the bank appraisal was significantly more than the final sale price… a sale price of around 40% less than the original asking price. We were just very very lucky we were in a financial position to accept that offer. </p>
<p>Typically the potential buyers for my house would have been new hires from other high cost housing areas or locals who had admired the house for years and jumped at the opportunity. There was a hiring freeze. One of the last hires wanted to purchase as soon as their house in CA sold. They couldn’t afford to until then. I wasn’t optimistic enough for a contingency. A local realtor fell in love with my house when she came to the brokers open house, but it took her the whole time we were on the market to get her house sold. We never agreed to a contingency with her either. In the end she paid as much as she was capable of paying… against the advice of her friends and in-laws. Other local buyers were very interested and offered even less – which was all they could afford. One even explained that I should leave some furniture because she would never be able to afford anything appropriate. The only reason I got these crazy offers was because I finally agreed to an open house six months into the process. Very Bad Idea.</p>
<p>After we finally sold and I started looking in the new locale, I got to see the whole process in reverse. Although very stressful and exhausting, it has certainly been a fascinating experience.</p>
<p>LP’s: been there, done that. Just donate them. :)</p>
<p>Our PODS experience was quite satisfactory. But we could have bought some sort of storage unit from Home Depot for less than we spent in the end on storage.</p>
<p>I’m an international student and my house is originally built for 3 families to live in. (4 people 9 bathrooms, excessive much?) When I leave to study in America it’ll be just my parents and my grandma left in the house. My parents had said they’d consider selling and moving to a smaller place, maybe an apartment. My grandma will be living with my aunt, i guess. I love this house I grew up in so much though, I wonder how I’d feel when other people are sleeping in my bedroom, when it’s no longer my bedroom; whether I can cope with the thought that someone other than me comes through the front door and greets a woman who is not my mother cooking something I am not familiar with at what used to be our stove… someone explains to a house guest that the living room door knob needs to be turned anticlockwise. They share a laugh. I don’t know if I can cope with that. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Dstark – No window? Yep, gotta add one of those. And corian is okay, but what color? What does the realtor want you to put in? Stone? Your tub/toilet are white, I guess, thank heaven for that. </p>
<p>Counting down – You could rent a steamer which should just loosen the wall paper without damaging the sheetrock. But there are a lot of variables in wallpaper removal. So much depends on how it was done – did a professional do it or the homeowner, for instance? If it is really tight to the wall (as in you can’t peel a corner up with your fingernail), you can paint over it. Ask at the store for the right primer. We had to paint over the wallpaper in my daughter’s old bedroom which was there when we moved in. Spent-nuclear-fuel wouldn’t get that stuff off! Could be worse though…when we took off wallpaper in the master bath (floor to ceiling big bright flowers), we discovered they hadn’t used Hardiboard around the top of the shower-tile, only greenboard. What a mess! The wallpaper was the only thing holding it together!</p>
<p>My condolences on the light fixtures, guys. Those are about as desirable as the '80’s pickled pine cabinets (which I actually kinda like) or those laminate cabinet doors with the strip of wood along the bottom edge. Luckily, there are fixtures that are the same length but that look up-to-date for not a whole lot of cash. You can take off the ‘plank’ and put up a new one without needing an electrician. Turn the power off! </p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>[Shop</a> Portfolio 4-Light Brushed Nickel Traditional Vanity Fixture at Lowes.com](<a href=“http://www.lowes.com/pd_109997-1811-VBJ45-4SN+177_4294798276__?productId=3122037&Ntt=light+fixture&Ns=p_product_price|0&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl_Bath%2BLighting_4294798276__s%3FNs%3Dp_product_price|0%26Ntt%3Dlight%2Bfixture%26page%3D8]Shop”>http://www.lowes.com/pd_109997-1811-VBJ45-4SN+177_4294798276__?productId=3122037&Ntt=light+fixture&Ns=p_product_price|0&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl_Bath%2BLighting_4294798276__s%3FNs%3Dp_product_price|0%26Ntt%3Dlight%2Bfixture%26page%3D8)</p>
<p>Of course, if you are going to paint anyway, then you can get whatever you like…sconces, separate lighting over each sink, whatever. But if you don’t want to or have to paint, then find something as close to the same length as possible so you don’t have to do any extra work!</p>