Expectations for $300k Cary house

[ZimaCheryl]

Originally Posted by VickiR

It depends on the neighborhood...does everyone else have hardwoods?

It depends on your price point...a $100,000 house? No. A $400,000 house? Maybe. A $750,000 house? Yes, add the hardwoods.

Vicki

See, I think the other way - I'd give the buyer a credit.
One, let them deal w/the contractor, mess & fuss. You are stressed out enough selling the house & moving out, why add one more thing to your list to do?

Second, what if you do the hardwood & they walk away/change their mind? I guess if you had a binding deposit from them for the amount of the work I'd feel better about spending the $$. But the risk of doing the work & having them back out would scare me. And then what if the next potential buyer didn't want hardwood?

Originally Posted by VickiR

So, when you are adding on, get what you want. Don't expect you will get back every dollar you spend when you sell.
Vicki

ITA Any work we've ever done in a home was for us w/absolutely no concern about the return on investment. Of course we are the type who plan on staying put for many years (15 years in our last home). I want my home to be something I like & am comfortable in. Why live in something that you dislike or that bugs you just because someday, someone who may buy the house would want XYZ?

[twingles]

Originally Posted by drobdrob

We recently sold a 15 year old 250k home on a quarter acre lot in Cary in a good established neighborhood with good schools. Here is what the buyer expected and we had to fulfill to complete the transaction:
-hardwood everywhere except kitchen.
-tile in kitchen
-absolutely no vinyl anywhere.
-granite countertops
-stainless steel appliances
-fresh coat of neutral paint everywhere
-new heating/cooling system
-new roof

With such a huge inventory of homes available in the triangle, the buyers have an upper hand. Some of the demands and expectations are quite unreasonable in my opinion but I guess its a true buyers market and if you want to sell your house, you will have to say yes to anything the buyers want.

Its sad but true.

Wow, you must've been desperate to sell (not said snarkily) - if I was going to do that much work I wouldn't move. That is insane. WHo represented you in this transaction?

[drobdrob]

We were more frustrated rather than desperate to sell. The house had been sitting on the market for 8+ months and made no sense to pay 2 mortgages. Good thing is that we still made about 30k after paying for all the upgrades and commissions, etc so we are glad that someone was interested in buying it and made sure the transaction completed

Its tough to compete with brand new homes with all the latest bells and whistles at the same price point. Like I said before, basic economics, its a buyers market so requests/demands that buyers make these days may seem completely unreasonable under normal circumstances if they supply/demand ratio was even.