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Any advice on the most effective way to sell a home in Chappaqua, NY?
Any particular real estate agency? Any other routes? Pricing?
If the interior of the house has a galley kitchen, and 3 bathrooms that are in need of total renovation, how should I determine if to invest in doing that work?
Thank you for any advice
My parents used Houlihan Lawrence to sell their place in Chappaqua.
As a current buyer, this is my take on renovations done before sale in the hopes of increasing the value of the place - I'm usually unimpressed with the results. Because the seller isn't doing it with the intent of living there, they tend to cut corners. And after touring just a few houses, you can see the signs very quickly. Personally I would rather buy a place that is in good shape but needs updating - because then I can do it the way I want. Clearly people like me are a subset of buyers, but it is something to consider.
I would ask a realtor's advice about Chappaqua, but my guess is in today's market you still may not be able to recoup the costs of a renovation (plus factor in the time and effort you put into handling it, even if you hire a contractor). Or you'll only get a very small increase in price and at the end of the day, was it worth it?
I've been looking in southern Westchester, so different market - but I've seen many homes that were bought in 2002-2006 that in 2011 sold at the same price or less than what they bought them for just a few years previous. These are all in places with very good school districts that tend to hold their value - Scarsdale, Hastings, Irvington, Larchmont, Edgewood. And I have to believe that many of these owners did kitchen and bath renovations when they moved in, especially since at that time home equity loans were being handed out like candy at the closing.
Again, Chappaqua may be different and my observations are based on last year's sales. The market could rebound this year - but I tend not to believe that will happen. Take a look at Zillow to see sale comps in Chappaqua.
The important factor is pricing. I agree with the poster above renovation is not important as there is no guarantee that, first, your renovation will cover the expenses and, second, buyers will like it. A good ball park number is the zillow price. Other than that look at similar houses in your nbhood sold recently and or selling right now. I think that prices in Chappaqua are back in 2002 or abouts.
....A good ball park number is the zillow price...
If you compare recently sold prices to "zestimates" you'll find that the zillow estimate is usually dramatically under the actual sold price. I did a random comparison for a blog and all of the just sold prices were over 100K more than the Zestimate--one house had just sold for a million over the zillow price!
When using Zillow make sure you pay attention to what data they have on the house. For lots of homes in Westchester, Zillow is lacking everything except for the lot size. For my property, Zillow doesn't list the square footage, the age, or the number of beds or baths. The Zestimate is only based on the acreage and the zip code median price. When we had the place appraised for a a refi last year I checked and the Zillow estimate was 275K under the bank appraisal.
Why would zillow undervalue weschester houses? It uses an objective formula which includes zip median, sq footage, etc. If houses are selling for more then the zip median goes up and so does the zestimate. Of course it is just a ballpark number: In some cases where the house was recently renovated the zestimate is lower while in others is higher. There are many features or shortcomings that will not reflect on the square footage so the zestiamte might be off.
Completely agree that Zillow is way off for the most part. It had our houses estimated at about 160K under what it went for. And we still lost money on the house. I think Trulia would give you a better sense for what's selling around your neighborhood and similar size homes. Also agree that renovations are usually not worth it. But if you must, bathrooms are probably a good neutral renovation.
If you compare recently sold prices to "zestimates" you'll find that the zillow estimate is usually dramatically under the actual sold price. I did a random comparison for a blog and all of the just sold prices were over 100K more than the Zestimate--one house had just sold for a million over the zillow price!
When using Zillow make sure you pay attention to what data they have on the house. For lots of homes in Westchester, Zillow is lacking everything except for the lot size. For my property, Zillow doesn't list the square footage, the age, or the number of beds or baths. The Zestimate is only based on the acreage and the zip code median price. When we had the place appraised for a a refi last year I checked and the Zillow estimate was 275K under the bank appraisal.
jus' sayin'
I should clarify - I didn't mean take the zillow estimate, but rather use Zillow as a quick and easy way to see the sale price for recently sold comps in the OPs neighborhood. It also often has a bit more history on the place, like how long it was on the market for, what price reductions occurred, and how much the place sold for previous to the most recent sale (if it was in the last 10 or so years).
I should clarify - I didn't mean take the zillow estimate, but rather use Zillow as a quick and easy way to see the sale price for recently sold comps in the OPs neighborhood. It also often has a bit more history on the place, like how long it was on the market for, what price reductions occurred, and how much the place sold for previous to the most recent sale (if it was in the last 10 or so years).
Yes, that is all helpful info. You can get that on Redfin and Zip too. Just don't pay any attention to the zip estimates.
I don't disagree that renovations are subjective, and lord knows that I would change a ton of things about the kitchen and baths that we inherited from our previous owners, but you have to know that very, very few buyers today are looking for a major renovation job, so the house is going to be a tough sell.
Homes in our area that were 100% turnkey usually had bidding wars that resulted in prices over asking. Homes that needed a ton of work sat forever, had multiple reductions, and usually went well under asking price. If you have time to sit it out waiting for the perfect buyer, or will price it aggressively it might be worth it but otherwise you might be in for a painful process.
I don't disagree that renovations are subjective, and lord knows that I would change a ton of things about the kitchen and baths that we inherited from our previous owners, but you have to know that very, very few buyers today are looking for a major renovation job, so the house is going to be a tough sell.
Homes in our area that were 100% turnkey usually had bidding wars that resulted in prices over asking. Homes that needed a ton of work sat forever, had multiple reductions, and usually went well under asking price. If you have time to sit it out waiting for the perfect buyer, or will price it aggressively it might be worth it but otherwise you might be in for a painful process.
You're probably right that the number of people who want turnkey far outweigh the number who expect to renovate. Especially because it isn't so easy to get a HELOC anymore...
But I'm surprised that you're seeing bidding wars in larchmont. Maybe it's just that I'm looking at a different price point than what you're describing, but for 3 BRs under 800k, I think hardly any sold for over asking last year. Most of those were fully renovated/turnkey. And many of those sold at or below the price paid for them a few years previous... Now clearly I'm not seeing the places that sat unsold and have been pulled off the market (because I'm only looking at Zillow for my data). But I am seeing all of the sales and I'm just seeing a very different picture. Again - it could be because of my price point/# of bedrooms required.
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