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The best advise is the one someone gave you already - talk to a real estate agent. It doesn't cost you anything and as an agent he or she will have a good idea what is necessary and what not and what will give you a return on your investment and what will not. There is not only the financial ROI but also how your house compares to the others in your neighborhood. Your house needs to be comparable. Sometimes it is better to forego the yard and rather update the kitchen... as so many things in real estate - it depends. Ask an agent!
In a hot market, under priced homes sell faster than remodel homes. List it $15,000 below fair market value and the phone will ring off the hook because you just increased the buyer pool. Paint, flooring, and yards are personal taste; let the buyers decide.
my line of thinking. i would not mind buying a place needing paint and flooring provided the price reflects the cost, seems from all the comments, which i appreciate, this doesn't seem to be the common opinion
my line of thinking. i would not mind buying a place needing paint and flooring provided the price reflects the cost, seems from all the comments, which i appreciate, this doesn't seem to be the common opinion
But you are trying to appeal to the MOST people. Painting, new carpet, and grass will do that. You will also probably sell the house quicker and recoup most if not all of the money you spend on it.
I had planned on just using a lava rock, or 2" river rock, whichever is cheapest for a yard.
If you are in the SW I might get crushed granite with drought resistant plants and some large rocks, in other parts of the country I would use shredded bark with planted areas and perhaps a flower bed. Most people who look at a yard full of lava rock spend their time calculating the cost and labor involved in removing it rather than spending that time admiring your lovely home
my line of thinking. i would not mind buying a place needing paint and flooring provided the price reflects the cost, seems from all the comments, which i appreciate, this doesn't seem to be the common opinion
People aren't calculators, they react emotionally even when they try not to. So while they may want to fixer upper price, they are still turned off by the thrashed carpeting. They want it to look ok (not fabulous but ok) for the bargain basement price. Or they want the price to be rock bottom and they are prepared to do a major rehab. But then you have to sell it for that price to get those buyers.
It can be a tight rope between not putting too much money into something just to sell it, and getting what you feel is a reasonable price. But not all buyers are as stupid as some sellers (and even some agents) sometimes think and if you do fixes that are too cheap, then you end up throwing that money away, because a buyer will look at and realize they have to tear it up and do it over and price their offer accordingly.
An agent familiar with your very local area is going to be your best resource because they know what the neighborhood is like, and what kind of pricing is realistic based on what you do and don't choose to update.
And making a choice that is too idiosyncratic, just to try to sell, is definitely not a great idea. It's one thing to put in a rock yard instead of grass because that is what you want to live with and then 10 years later, that's what happens to be there. But to install it, when it goes against neighborhood norms, means you just put in a fair amount of money and effort to dramatically narrow your pool of potential buyers. I'd personally say the same thing about laminate flooring, but that depends on your area and price point. If that's not out of line for the neighborhood, then maybe it's not a bad way to go. But if it's out of step, then it could end up being a waste for buyer who will not only not want it, they will be calculating how much it would be to replace it.
Many years ago a real estate broker told me about the ...
... way Ray Kroc would do supposedly do "quality checks" on the franchised McDonalds locations. Apparently Ray would drive up and if he noticed any weeds in front of the place he'd already be upset. There better not be any cigarette butts rolling through the parking lot either or he'd throw a fit. He'd walk in the place and sniff the air -- if the operator tried to cheap-out and not use the exhaust hoods the firm recommended he'd knock the place down a couple of more notches because Ray hated the smells of cooking. He'd walk into the restrooms and if he smelled / saw ANYTHING that suggested the place was not clean enough to perform surgery he'd rip the owner big time. The theory was if folks were aware of any odors or lack of cleanliness they'd never come back even if the burgers were cheap. The old school broker would visit listings and if they did not pass essentially the same "Kroc Test" and he'd say "folks should not remember the smells or they'll never want to move in no matter how cheap it was"...
I tend to agree that there is a huge psychological component to seeing a home that is MESSY OR SMELLY OR IN ANY OTHER WAY "un-cared for" being impossible to sell. Carpet is notorious for holding on to smells and hiding dirt. Really bad idea to leave that go. In a way I think the "green lawn effect" is similar -- the vast majority of folks don't think about why an emerald green lawn might not be the as environmentally perfect as other options, to probably 95% of buyers lava rock / river rock / crushed granite is going to look more the inside of an ashtray than anything they want to pull up to every night so you kind of need to get that right!
{btw I think McDonalds still has some misguided policies and many of the newer burger places try to emphasize the sounds and smells of freshly made sandwiches, but you can't argue that anything that is "stale" is going to chase away people...}
Quote:
Originally Posted by emm74
People aren't calculators, they react emotionally even when they try not to. So while they may want to fixer upper price, they are still turned off by the thrashed carpeting. They want it to look ok (not fabulous but ok) for the bargain basement price. Or they want the price to be rock bottom and they are prepared to do a major rehab. But then you have to sell it for that price to get those buyers.
It can be a tight rope between not putting too much money into something just to sell it, and getting what you feel is a reasonable price. But not all buyers are as stupid as some sellers (and even some agents) sometimes think and if you do fixes that are too cheap, then you end up throwing that money away, because a buyer will look at and realize they have to tear it up and do it over and price their offer accordingly.
An agent familiar with your very local area is going to be your best resource because they know what the neighborhood is like, and what kind of pricing is realistic based on what you do and don't choose to update.
And making a choice that is too idiosyncratic, just to try to sell, is definitely not a great idea. It's one thing to put in a rock yard instead of grass because that is what you want to live with and then 10 years later, that's what happens to be there. But to install it, when it goes against neighborhood norms, means you just put in a fair amount of money and effort to dramatically narrow your pool of potential buyers. I'd personally say the same thing about laminate flooring, but that depends on your area and price point. If that's not out of line for the neighborhood, then maybe it's not a bad way to go. But if it's out of step, then it could end up being a waste for buyer who will not only not want it, they will be calculating how much it would be to replace it.
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