Long term planning of selling your home?

[Needville]

^ We focused on future land first. Borrowed for the land knowing the sale of the house would pay it and new house off.

As annoying as selling can be, finding the right place, or building, will take more time.

I think this is the best advice. Focus on the where to move not the when.

Decide where you want to retire to and start looking with the idea that when you find the perfect place you will buy it--whether that takes 1 year or 10 years. Knowing you are going to the perfect place will make selling easy.

 

[plowhog]

If you spend $70,000 fixing up your home, you should expect to increase the sales price by $35,000

I have great respect for your knowledge and wisdom, but disagree a little. I agree what you write is generally true but with exceptions.

Upgrading with fresh paint and carpeting is typically an expense that yields more return than cost. A common technique used by "flippers." And "staging" your home using a professional company is often very wise (typically for higher end properties.)

When I sold my residence, I received 5 broker price opinions (BPO) about value and what I should list if for. Not an appraisal, but all 5 brokers were long term, skilled, and knew the local market. I averaged all 5 and came up with a value. All of them commented that the kitchen and master bath were "tired" compared to what is expected in a luxury residential property.

I put about $45k into rehabbing those two rooms. I did some of the bath rehab as my father was a plumber so that saved $$$.

Not long after, I put the property on the market-- asking $150k over what the average value of the BPO's had been. Within a day or two, I had an offer for $20k below asking. Or, $130k above the BPO value which was prior to doing the remodeling.

My one experience doesn't mean this is a good technique. But as an experienced investor, and licensed RE broker in multiple states, why would I even do such a thing if my experience didn't show a return?

There are intangible factors. Spending money, targeted wisely, will increase the speed of how quickly your home sells. So ... what is the value of a home sale quickly, or one that sits on the market month after month without a buyer?

Again, I mostly agree with your view ... just saying there can be some targeted exceptions. Input and opinion from local brokers can often steer a seller toward those targeted results.

 

[Sigarms]

I think this is the best advice. Focus on the where to move not the when.

Decide where you want to retire to and start looking with the idea that when you find the perfect place you will buy it--whether that takes 1 year or 10 years. Knowing you are going to the perfect place will make selling easy.

That's the issue with what happens to the MIL as well as where our son ends up in the Air Force or when he retires. Thats the PITA you don't think of when you have kids later on in your life instead of sooner.

 

[Sigarms]

You will be lucky to get .50cents more out of the house for every dollar spent.

If you spend $70,000 fixing up your home, you should expect to increase the sales price by $35,000

Eddie

I've always had great respect for your opinion, but man, don't you watch HGTV?! (I'm laughing because I'm being sarcastic and I didn't know that show existed before I met my wife, but that's still a good thing!).

I do think as plowhog mentioned, there are some intangible factors on what you spend to do what as to what you will get back.

When I talk about 70K, I'm not talking about what we think we or others may want per "accessories", but something that should be done with the house to make it more presentable to a wider audience.

Depending on the property, 5K in paint may help increase the offers you get on the house depending on what is there (like you had mentioned, neutral colors).

Removing the popcorn ceilings in the house and repainting the ceilings in our own home may help increase the "well, lots of work needs to be done, but we like the house overall" line of thinking (honestly, have no clue).

What I can tell you is when I watch HGTV and I see what kind of pricing they give for a HVAC upgrade (which I know a little about) I laugh because the pricing is at the bottom of the barrel who I most likely wouldn't touch with a 10' pole.

 

[Sigarms]

Every circumstance is different, but paying cash is almost universal to be the cleanest, least costly way to do things.

That is exactly why my father taught me at a young age, although he didn't become really smart until I hit my mid to late 20's.

Your statement is what I assumed.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've found biggest return is deep clean/declutter inside and out including overgrown landscape, followed by paint and floor coverings if not able to clean and or remove odors.

Deep clean would include minor things like damaged window screens, drippy faucets,

The only other item is a bad roof eliminates any buyer getting a loan...

When I prepped my brothers home for sale the top brokers wanted wanted him to paint over all the high end stain grade cabinets, doors and baseboards.

I said no way and he sold in 5 days for the then highest price in his area to a buyer that was tired of seeing painted cabinets and grey walls...

 

[Sigarms]

I've found biggest return is deep clean/declutter inside and out including overgrown landscape, followed by paint and floor coverings if not able to clean and or remove odors.

Deep clean would include minor things like damaged window screens, drippy faucets,

The only other item is a bad roof eliminates any buyer getting a loan...

When I prepped my brothers home for sale the top brokers wanted wanted him to paint over all the high end stain grade cabinets, doors and baseboards.

Honestly, that is our line of thinking.

The reality is per exactly what Eddie said, what we paid for the two bathrooms along with new deck, it will help sell the house, but it's what we need NOW ourselves and were willing to spend to have the upgrades done.

 

[plowhog]

I made a tragic mistake so many make. I could have rehabbed the kitchen and bath 5 years or more before sale, and enjoyed them.

Instead, I did it right prior to sale and got little use and enjoyment except for a desirable sale.

 

[Sigarms]

I made a tragic mistake so many make. I could have rehabbed the kitchen and bath 5 years or more before sale, and enjoyed them.

Instead, I did it right prior to sale and got little use and enjoyment except for a desirable sale.

I hate to admit what we ended up paying for a master and guest bath, but we really are enjoying that remodel in our own bathroom (it's nice when you miss your bathroom when you're staying at a hotel and not wish your master bath looked like the hotel's bathroom LOL).

I guess part of the reason why we could pay off the mortgage so quick was we really didn't spend a lot for the "major remodel" stuff when we lived here (bath was done about 2 years ago after everything was paid off).

If you look at my "deck thread" here, if you told me back in 2005 what I'd be spending to replace it in 2023 I may of had second thoughts on buying the house LOL

Point being after talking with that real estate appraiser the other day, for his "quick formula" on the tax appraisal for looking at possible value, we're probably going to let the kitchen go. Popcorn ceilings and some fresh interior paint will be a given though.

The kitchen would be a major project. Most likely a total gut job and redo, with both floors and ceilings. Kitchen below. For some of the prices we've gotten to redo the kitchen, better off to include a remodel in the selling price I would think.

 

[Sigarms]

I've found biggest return is deep clean/declutter inside and out including overgrown landscape, followed by paint and floor coverings if not able to clean and or remove odors.

Deep clean would include minor things like damaged window screens, drippy faucets,

The only other item is a bad roof eliminates any buyer getting a loan...

When I prepped my brothers home for sale the top brokers wanted wanted him to paint over all the high end stain grade cabinets, doors and baseboards.

I said no way and he sold in 5 days for the then highest price in his area to a buyer that was tired of seeing painted cabinets and grey walls...

I keep forgetting what our house was like when we bought it.

It was a unique situation where the owner who owned it didn't live in the house for 8 years before he finally decided to sell it.

I just mention that because sometimes I forget all the "elbow grease" we had to put into the place when we first bought it. Wallpaper I posted was only one of a list of items we took care of when we first move in. That said, that is one reason why I do think they worked with us on the sell price (added back then, didn't seem like the market it is today, but who knows).

Even the kitchen we replaced the sink and countertop around the stove.

Reality is the house really wasn't clean when we bought it, but... we looked at the size of the home and the property, and thought it would be well worth the elbow grease. When I think about how much time we spent in the yard dealing with trees around the house and all the brush we had to remover, gets to the point where I don't think I want to move now

 

[not2old]

I've experienced paying 24.5% on my mortgage in the 1970's. A number of my friends lost their homes. My payments went from about $225.00 a month to a bit over $400.00. If I had started with $400.00 payments like my friends, I too, would have lost my house with payments of $800.00. This is probably the main reason I paid it off as quickly as possible. A secondary consideration is that in Canada, your personal residence is exempt from capital gains tax and interest charges are not tax deductible.

 

[EddieWalker]

In my previous post, I wasn't as clear as I think I should of been when I said that the money you spend fixing the house up to sell will not add to full amount when you actually sell the house. I also said that what you put into the house will also cause the house to sell faster. Sitting on the market for a year or more isn't a good thing.

Spending money on the house is how you sell it faster. Painting is probably the best way to spend money and get a faster sale. Trying to add the cost of painting to the sales prices isn't realistic. You paint it so people will want to live there enough to buy it from you.

Fixing broken things will not add to the price of the house, but it will make it sell faster.

I'm very hesitant about offering any sort of discount or allowance to the sales price of a house. I don't believe those words should ever be used when selling a house. Let the buyer decide if they want to offer a lower price then what you are asking, and then you can decide to accept that offer, or not, based on how many other offers you get.

One thing that I just thought of, and it's more towards when you are ready to put it on the market, is to install brighter light bulbs. Max out how bright it is in the house. Remove everything that you possibly can, including the closets. You want to present a clean, open, bright and positive home for the buyer.

Another thing to consider, is why somebody is actually looking at your house? More then likely, it's the land that will sell it. If that's so, they probably don't care about the house too much, and will just do a quick walk through to make sure it's livable. In my opinion, homes out in the country are harder and harder to find, and if somebody is looking for a home with acreage, that's ALL they are looking for.

Make sure the front yard is mowed, the flower beds are clean, the walkways are in good condition and the woods are in good shape. If you have trails, keep them mowed. If you have a pond, keep the shoreline mowed. If you have fences, make sure they are in good shape. I know you have a new deck. Is there anything in the view from the deck that cold be improved? Dead tree? Junk Pile? Ugly neighbors house? Removing stuff, or planting trees to hide something might be a good investment that will speed up the sale of the house for minimum money.

A really good realtor will walk through your place with new eyes. They will not see what you see. They will see what the buyers will see, and what they tell you to do should be considered gospel. Never question or argue their advice on what a house needs to sell. If they sell a lot of homes, they know what buyers want. Odds are very good that with your land, they will just have a few things to do to the house and everything will focus on the land.

 

[Thall303]

Excellent advice as always!

 

[ultrarunner]

Lighting has a huge impact…

Toured a home that had industrial fluorescents everywhere and it looked like a warehouse… just naked tubes.

 

[paulsharvey]

I have Scanned the comment, but not read every one; I think your money is best spent on Repairs, cleaning, and painting; rather than Updating. Repair damaged base boards, hard core carpet cleaning, scrub grout, pressure wash exterior/sidewalks/driveways; and paint. I wouldn't do any updating. Also, it might be worth it to have bushes removed/trimmed; yard as maintained/fertilized/sprayed as possible; but generally, your money is gonna be best when your home is general in the bottom 1/3rd to lower half of the neighborhood value wise. IE; in a neighborhood of $400k homes, they will bring up a $300k home, as long as it is clean/maintained/fresh paint. If yours is the 400k home in a generally 300k neighborhood, you might have a faster sale, but probably not gonna recoup the costs foe any upgrades.

Edit: maybe if you have 1970s lime green shag carpet; it might be worth it to have the cheapest institutional style Lowes/Homedepot $99/room carpet installed. Old old style vinyl tile; if it's really That ugly or damaged, some 1.20/sq ft ceramic tile, ect. Cabinets, I dont think you'll get your money back; counter tops, if the old are bad, replacing with a cheap laminate top might be worth it; all depends on if we are talking about a $800k home or a $300k home. New construction, even $350-450k homes typically base model come with vinyl in bathrooms, preformed fiberglass tubs, laminate counter tops, ect.

 

[Sigarms]

I'm very hesitant about offering any sort of discount or allowance to the sales price of a house. I don't believe those words should ever be used when selling a house. Let the buyer decide if they want to offer a lower price then what you are asking, and then you can decide to accept that offer, or not, based on how many other offers you get.

Another thing to consider, is why somebody is actually looking at your house? More then likely, it's the land that will sell it. If that's so, they probably don't care about the house too much, and will just do a quick walk through to make sure it's livable. In my opinion, homes out in the country are harder and harder to find, and if somebody is looking for a home with acreage, that's ALL they are looking for.

The whole post was good Eddie, but in blue is something I never thought about and GREAT advice IMO, and left in black is exactly why we bought the place to begin with.

In your professional opinion, will money on having the popcorn ceilings removed be worth it? Both my wife and I are leaning towards yes. I do know in both bathrooms and a guest bedroom, we removed the popcorn ceiling and repainted ourselves, and a world of difference IMO.

There is a buttload of ceiling space on the first floor though and no way would my wife and I have the time to deal with it, including on some of the height on the ceilings (goes up to the second floor with open space). Would need to hire someone to do it.

 

[Sigarms]

I have Scanned the comment, but not read every one; I think your money is best spent on Repairs, cleaning, and painting; rather than Updating. Repair damaged base boards, hard core carpet cleaning, scrub grout, pressure wash exterior/sidewalks/driveways; and paint. I wouldn't do any updating. Also, it might be worth it to have bushes removed/trimmed; yard as maintained/fertilized/sprayed as possible; but generally, your money is gonna be best when your home is general in the bottom 1/3rd to lower half of the neighborhood value wise. IE; in a neighborhood of $400k homes, they will bring up a $300k home, as long as it is clean/maintained/fresh paint. If yours is the 400k home in a generally 300k neighborhood, you might have a faster sale, but probably not gonna recoup the costs foe any upgrades.

The deck needed to be replaced, so it was done. The 2 bathrooms we wanted to update, and did it for ourselves and not for the resale of the house and more than happy with the work and both bathrooms.

Nothing else major is going to be renovated other than having the house repainted this summer (last time was about 14 years ago and really could use a "update" in some areas, same color as we have the paint color saved) and a couple of years ago we replaced some bad wood on the exterior of the home.

 

[paulsharvey]

Also, if you have old plated brass light fixtures that the brass is nasty looking or something; if your doing the work yourself, some $19 cheap fixtures can be worth it; but a buyer can't tell a $19 fixtures from a $120 one. Same with bathroom faucets, ect.

 

[plowhog]

will money on having the popcorn ceilings removed be worth it? ... There is a buttload of ceiling space on the first floor though and no way would my wife and I have the time to deal with it,

Be very careful. You can redo your popcorn ceilings on your own without oversight. Because I presume you don't know, yes or no, if any asbestos is present.

I hired a contractor to redo popcorn ceilings once. He promptly took samples and sent them to a lab to see if asbestos was present. Surprise! Asbestos was present. That added $8,000 on top of the quoted cost plus slowed down and delayed the job.

 

[paulsharvey]

One of the oddities of home sales; is the outside; people seem to recommend removing bushes, privacy screening, outbuildings; and then the new buyer, first thing, orders a prefab shed, privacy screen landscaping, ect.