does putting in new stainless steel appliances and granite or solid surfarce help sell a home? (sale, house)

[Messing About]

Originally Posted by nphomeowner

The color or style of appliances would NEVER be a deal breaker for me. If I LOVED the home I would be willing to sell what was there and buy what I wanted. I always looked at the HOUSE. This house came with a fridge I HATED. I sold it and got what I wanted. That simple.

I totally agree with your take. Our PC canal house was built in 1982 and had the original appliances still in place. We what we loved on the canal bank; deck/dock/lift. After closing we dropped a couple thousand on stainless appliances and now, 4 years later we just had the counter tops resurfaced (see thread on tile). We wanted block construction, 2 car garage, hip roof, on a canal. Appliances were not on our must have list.

New appliances will help the house show better during marketing but the lack there of shouldn't be a deal breaker.

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by nphomeowner

The color or style of appliances would NEVER be a deal breaker for me. If I LOVED the home I would be willing to sell what was there and buy what I wanted. I always looked at the HOUSE. This house came with a fridge I HATED. I sold it and got what I wanted. That simple.

I agree with you too, but I do the work myself or can find someone at a good price, and I can see POTENTIAL. Unfortunately, most (and I mean MOST) home buyers either don't know how to do it, don't want to do it, or don't want to be bothered having someone do it for them...and they just can't look past what is there and see what it could be.

Sad fact is an ugly kitchen will be a hard sell. Same with bathrooms. It is well worth the money to upgrade these if done "at cost" and what you do makes a "big" difference.

BTW, anyone looking for granite counter tops must shop around, I got them for under $25/sq when HD/Lowes wanted $69/sq for the exact same stone. And they came with a nice free sink...They also came with a choice of edges that normally cost big $$, but I opted for the simple eased edge anyway.

[hidigger]

I paid 40 a foot with free sink. The ones I found for 28 were limited on what they would or could do. I called every counter top place in the book and the only place that was 28 or 29 a foot was HD. They would not do Islands, pass thoughts and even in a standard 10 foot counter top they had to have a seam. Every one else was 40 to 48 a SF. Maybe you bought just after the collapse and people needed to just turn over inventory, but its not that cheap now. If you know of a person who will do it for this cheap share the wealth and give up the info.

[SoFLGal]

Tim with Capital Granite, 941-815-3556 is probably the best and least expensive in the area. He usually does about one home a week for me/my investors.

[d4g4m]

Counters have traditonally been made with 3/4" material with a 1 1/2" front build up to make them look thicker and more appealing. Granite fabricators decided that they no longer would provide the build up to save a few bucks. To me, it makes the counters look cheap. And your counters are no longer 36" high. They are 35 1/4" high.

[Big House]

Originally Posted by d4g4m

Counters have traditonally been made with 3/4" material with a 1 1/2" front build up to make them look thicker and more appealing. Granite fabricators decided that they no longer would provide the build up to save a few bucks. To me, it makes the counters look cheap. And your counters are no longer 36" high. They are 35 1/4" high.

I buy the thicker granite - and mine haven't been built-up. I also like to get a double ogee edging on them - it really finishes the edges nicely, but the do charge more for the type of edging work you have done. I figure that if your spending that much money for the granite you want it to look really great and it will last forever. I guess the difference in counter height is a reflection of the top thickness. I'm really tall, so I like higher cabinets and things.

[Messing About]

Originally Posted by Big House

I'm really tall, so I like higher cabinets and things.

I looked up "things" in the Big House dictionary. It said:
See blood alcohol content.

[d4g4m]

There's no such thing as 'thicker' granite. ALL granite for a counter is 3/4" thick. You can accept that thickness or have an additional 2" x 3/4" strip added to the front as build up to make it look thick. Surfaces like 'Corian' are only 1/2" thick. Two 2" x 1/2" strips are added to get a 1 1/2" build up face to make it look thick. A typical 'Formica' counter is 3/4" thick with a 3/4" build up. The actual laminate is 1/16" thick. I've fabricated many types of counters while in the cabinet making business.

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by d4g4m

There's no such thing as 'thicker' granite. ALL granite for a counter is 3/4" thick. You can accept that thickness or have an additional 2" x 3/4" strip added to the front as build up to make it look thick. Surfaces like 'Corian' are only 1/2" thick. Two 2" x 1/2" strips are added to get a 1 1/2" build up face to make it look thick. A typical 'Formica' counter is 3/4" thick with a 3/4" build up. The actual laminate is 1/16" thick. I've fabricated many types of counters while in the cabinet making business.

My houses have 1.5" solid granite...I picked out the slabs myself before they were cut. I could have saved almost $10 a sq/ft going with the thinner granite.

[Big House]

Originally Posted by d4g4m

There's no such thing as 'thicker' granite. ALL granite for a counter is 3/4" thick. You can accept that thickness or have an additional 2" x 3/4" strip added to the front as build up to make it look thick. Surfaces like 'Corian' are only 1/2" thick. Two 2" x 1/2" strips are added to get a 1 1/2" build up face to make it look thick. A typical 'Formica' counter is 3/4" thick with a 3/4" build up. The actual laminate is 1/16" thick. I've fabricated many types of counters while in the cabinet making business.

Sorry d4g4m, but I've built over 8000 housing units and purchased granite from all over the world, and you're quite mistaken about how thick you can purchase granite. I don't buy it from HD or Lowes. I don't want to squabble with you about this, but if you do a simple search on granite thicknesses you'll find that the thinest granite counters are 3/4" thick, and you can buy counters that vary in thicknesses.