<p>Yikes! That would be a huge red flag in my book. You probably don’t need to do construction to sell your house (though fixing things from a home inspection would be wise). I’ve read tons of articles on renovations and you almost never, ever get 100% back of what you put into a renovation in the short-run. Maybe if you hold the house for five year but not if you’re just going to turn around and sell it. Renovations tend to be more $$$ per square foot than building a new home.</p>
<p>I was going to put in granite on the $300,000 house we just sold because a lot of folks in that price range want granite. My realtor advised us not to because a buyer will often not like the particular granite a seller has picked out, so it’s not a big selling point. Her suggestion was to offer an ‘allowance’ for new counter tops. </p>
<p>You would be better off doing a little ‘rouge and lipstick’ updating. Paint the walls neutral, de-clutter, have the house, windows and lawn cleaned up. Fix anything that is broken. Maybe update the bathroom fixtures (lights, towel bars and faucets). If the cabinets are in really bad shape - paint or stain them. You can always lower the price but doing construction to sell a home seems over-the-top to me. We’ve sold 4 houses in the last 10 years - one was 18 years old, one was 25 years old, one was 50 years old and one was 15 years old. No renovations necessary on any of them.</p>
<p>I totally agree, we always use the people our realtor recommends and always have good results. However, a stager who is also a construction person might have a conflict of interest. This person stands to make a lot of money if they can convince DStark to renovate his house in order to sell it. Not sure I would trust that person’s advice. I would get a second opinion.</p>
<p>That’s actually where I meant that that the conflict of interest was. I don’t have any problem with agents recommending their own vetted stagers & contractors, and in fact I’ve benefitted from referrals as mentioned above. But the focus should be on getting the most bang for the buck, and someone who is paid to renovate rather than do cosmetic changes should have their recommendations taken with a lot of research and a few grains of salt.</p>
<p>Well…lucky for me…my wife doesn’t believe the contractor bs…</p>
<p>I’m being told that remodeling parts of my house…let’s say for $50,000 will lead to a $100,000 price increase. I get a 2 for 1 payoff…</p>
<p>I do believe that fixing things, painting, and replacing carpets…you will get your money back +, or you will at least have an easier time selling your home…</p>
<p>The most we did was the “rouge & lipstick” updates. We replaced the carpet & pad, painted & changed one bad cabinet. We also put in nice new shower curtains, soap dishes and soap (which we took with us after the places sold). We were happy our places sold right away, so we were able to buy the place we wanted to with the proceeds.</p>
<p>Makes no sense to me to do anything major because tastes vary so much that the new owners would likely want to have their own taste reflected rather than prior owners’.</p>
<p>I told a friend of mine I was going to offer the contractor a deal…I get the price you say I am going to get…you get your money…and for every dollar that comes up short…you lose that dollar…so if I come up 50,000 short…the contractor gets nothing for the remodel…</p>
<p>My friend said that is too complicated…just say no…:)</p>
<p>Just came across two simple (and relatively inexpensive) products that I think would nicely update a few areas of our house: </p>
<p>A recessed can light that let’s you (minus the electrician) convert a can light to a pendant:
[Screw-In</a> Pendant Light | Instant Pendant Light | Recessed Lights | Worth Home Products<a href=“Looks%20like%20these%20are%20stocked%20at%20Lowe’s”>/url</a> </p>
<p>You could offer to sell the contractor the house so he could make the 50K profit. I mean, what a deal! Perhaps he’d like a six month balloon mortgage?</p>
<p>I’ve said it before: don’t do anything in the way of a serious remodel! Tastes are too individual. </p>
<p>When we bought our current house, I was thrilled that the kitchen had NOT been remodeled (the previous owner died before he got around to it–he’d remodeled part of the house but hadn’t finished)–I’d seen too many houses where I wanted to trash and remodel a brand new kitchen. I love the new kitchen we put in.</p>
<p>So we’ve “interviewed” two realtors so far. Both brought comps and, as several of you have said, the only comps that matter are the ones that have actually sold, not the ones that are listed. I studied those comps this morning and have a much better sense of what we should list the house for and what we should be happy to get. </p>
<p>The problem for me is that I have to stay at my job for 10 more weeks – eight weeks until I tell them I’m resigning, so I can get my bonus, plus two weeks’ notice – and only then can I devote full time to fixing up the house. I guess I can target getting it on the market by June 1 – that would give me six full weeks from not working to devote full time to it.</p>
<p>Exactly what my realtor said (unless, of course, the place is falling apart or total hideous). I have seen several instances where people buy houses that have been recently remodeled and turn around and re-do them again to the annoyance of the sellers. Also, everyone has different taste. People are often surprised when the buyers don’t want to keep those $500 window treatments, the custom faux painting, the expensive counter-tops, etc.</p>
<p>Well…we had our meeting with the stager/contractor…</p>
<p>I think the end result would have been incredible…The bathrooms would have been beautiful. </p>
<p>But with all the costs, the project manager fees etc…and the fact that so many people like to fix things up their own way…</p>
<p>I think we would have had to price the home too high to pay for the work.</p>
<p>So…he is out.</p>
<p>I had a pest inspector come in and look at problems of the house…like water damage, bug infestations, wood rot…</p>
<p>My house came out in very good shape…so far…A little wood rot…but
hopefully not too bad. The ceiling has to be opened up…Because I used to have a leak… No termites…</p>
<p>My handyman is flaking out. He doesn’t answer emails. I don’t want to get behind schedule because around here…the best time to sell is March
and April…so families have time to get into a house before the school
year starts in Sept. The home selling season dies in May as people get ready for the end of the school year in June. </p>
<p>When the house goes on the market is not an issue in your area, VeryHappy?</p>
<p>So far this year…January was very, very quiet.</p>
<p>Realtors tell me things will heat up in March.</p>
<p>“Heat up in March” is old advice based on patterns from before the Great Recession. Now what I see is that houses sell when someone is serious about buying–and they don’t want to sell so the pattern is not predictable. It would be nice for everyone if the patterns became predictable again, but I wouldn’t count on it. I’d get the house on the market as soon as possible!</p>
<p>I don’t think that the timing of putting the house on the market is that much of an issue. Around here, houses go on all the time. Besides, I can’t put it on until I’m ready to put it on. </p>
<p>I’ll put it on as soon as I can, which I’m hoping will be June 1. We’ll see.</p>
<p>I spent an hour and a half going up and down my attic stairs today, bringing down my kids’ school papers (from K - 12!!) that I had put in big manila envelopes and tucked away up there. Put each kid’s in one big box and taped them up. They will go into storage before we show the house.</p>
<p>Discovered the crib up in the attic. Did I mention my younger is 21 years old now? :eek:</p>
<p>We made a decision to give away the crib when we moved from apartment to house. D was just two and spent the first few nights wandering the house, looking for her crib. She finally settled on the futon on her new bedroom floor & was OK. The crib was becoming quite dangerous for her because she was always climbing out anyway.</p>
<p>DH came home from a day away. I had spent a lot of time decluttering. I cam across the brandy snifter that we had filled with match books from nights out. We filled it during the early eighties, put it on a top shelf when we moved into this house in 1987, and haven’t looked at it, thought about it, or touched it since.</p>
<p>DH does not want me to throw out the match books. Says he’ll move them himself.</p>
<p>How am I going to handle this?? Obviously, it’s about more than just the damn match books. He doesn’t want to get rid of anything.</p>
<p>Is he related to MY husband? It’s taken some time but my husband is finally willing to get rid of stuff. I think the reason is he’s seen the HOARDING issues his parents have. They are now planning another move but their house is FULL FULL FULL. DH realizes this is just not going to work. Today for the first time, he allowed me to throw away LAST year’s Consumer Reports (which are often outdated by the time you get them in the mail). </p>
<p>What I did when I moved was I put things into boxes and moved them to the basement or garage. If DH didn’t “notice” they were missing for three months, I took them to the dump or Goodwill myself. I did NOT ask him about things first…I honestly don’t know whether he noticed and never said anything or just didn’t say anything. We still have TOO MUCH STUFF…but not things no one every looks at.</p>
<p>If you are hiring movers eventually they will charge by the POUND. Money talks…my husband knows we will NOT be moving all of his books for that reason.</p>
<p>He just came and made a pronouncement: “Don’t throw out my things. I’ll go through them, but I want to do it leisurely, over the next several months.”</p>
<p>My plan is to put the damn house on the market in the next few months.</p>
<p>I guess I’ll fill boxes with his stuff and move it into storage while the house is on the market. I already plan to dump much of it if he doesn’t notice that it’s missing after several months. I’d rather not be sneaky, but I don’t think he’s going to get with the program.</p>
<p>Edit: Thumper, I mentioned the “movers charge by the pound” business. I was told that a plastic baggie full of match books doesn’t weigh very much.</p>