Those selling a home in Austin - My 2 cents as a purchaser (countertops, appliances)

[Exiled Texan]

I'm in the market for a home in Austin. The following home is something (once my darn NYC place sells) I'd be interested in. Sadly, the "improvements" this seller is doing are turning me off.

Moderator cut: MLS Link
If you have a fixer upper to sell, sell it as a fixer upper that a buyer can provide their own stylistic choices. The "improvements" that look newly done are just added expenses in my eyes.

#1 - Who puts granite countertops on 50 year old cabinets that have to be redone (or at least at these home price points you'd expect a owner to put in a new kitchen)? Plus, the granite is not my style. I'd toss it.

#2 - Super red/cherry floors is not to everyone's liking. Will clash with a lot of furniture styles. While I haven't seen this in person, they look like the pre stained variety, more difficult to re-finish.

#3 - The tile they are putting down, looks new and not to my style either. All I can think about when I look at it is how difficult it will be to rip up.

Maybe home buyers who are looking for "good bones" to buy are rare, but I'm one. Even if done to my style, I view a lot of last minute upgrades to list with skepticism as I assume it was done in a shoddy way.

I recognize not all buyers are going to have the cash to fix up a place. But, if you are going to put 50-100K into a place before listing, why not offer that to a buyer to use to their own tastes rather than gambling on "upgrades" that will only be a negative to some purchasers.

Finally, I'm on the other end of this as we are selling. I know our plastering and painting jobs to list have not been done with the same care as what was done when we first moved in the pace (don't move the sofa!). And, despite having a gut reno 7 years ago, the new purchaser is (at this point) most likely to be someone who is buying my and my neighbor's apt to combine them. I fully expect the place to be gut renoed again. This is true of anywhere that the location is the bulk of the value.

Everyone has their own style. Expensive "improvements" to sell a place seem like money not well spent.

That is my 2 cents. Take it for what it is worth.

[Exiled Texan]

Edited to add- I haven't seen this place, so if I am wrong about what I see in the pictures......I'll be glad to hear it. It will make more likely to buy the place knowing everything is 20+ years old and I can rip it all out without guilt.

[Exiled Texan]

Oops- I guess you can't post MLS links there. It was a sizable 1957 ranch in 78731. I think you can get most of the point from my post.

[centralaustinite]

I can imagine! I saw a definite fixer-upper in the same zip code where they put new granite on top of ancient cabinets and didn't swap out the ancient wall oven (circa 1965, teeny tiny, won't even fit a full sized cookie sheet!)

I know of another house in 78757 where the DIY reno was so bad!! Both my agent and I were like "stop, right now. You are lowering the value with every rainbow tile you put up!"

Ah, I have to say that it is so nice not to have our house on the market! Yes, we withdrew and didn't sell. But we built this house and it is all to our liking (even without the second living, backyard, and public high school we were looking for!)

[Exiled Texan]

Centralaustinite- I think we are talking about the same house. What are people thinking?!

[atlanta hope]

I saw some of that kind of stuff too and had the same thought! I hated the thought of paying for the new carpet only to rip it out later and put in hardwoods or tile. The old kitchen appliances seemed to be in a few of the intown kitchens.

[Exiled Texan]

To be clear, I'm not advocating for sellers to put in new appliances, especially if the kitchen needs a gut reno. What I saw was a crappy kitchen that needs gutting with brand new never used granite countertops.

If you want to entice sellers, offer an appliance allowance- don't pick something 50% of your purchasers will hate.

[csstxex]

If buyers really don't feel that upgrading or putting in new "extras" is a good selling point, they should let the buyer's agents know. We had an open house for buyer's agents. Thier advice - add upgrades, need granite counter tops in the kitchen in order to sell the house...etc. So, maybe you're seeing sellers do exactly what you're advocating that they shouldn't do because the buyer's agents are advising them to do so!

[CarnivalGal]

I'll chime in here too. Things I hate:

Laminate floors - just do real wood or don't do anything at all. It's like a half-arse, cheap way out.

Houses that have floors that are ALL tile - tiled kitchens and baths are great. Tiled living rooms, dining rooms, etc., are cold, hard, and feel sterile. Do wood or carpet. I may not like the carpet either, but at least I can rip it out easily.

I hate the granite over old cabinets too. I am also not a fan of painted cabinets. If they are professionally done, they can look good. But most are done by the homeowner and look like it.

[austin-steve]

I see a lot of homes and it's very easy to judge all the botched remodels, bad decor choices, cluttered interiors, dark colors, etc., but none of that really matters. A home is worth what a buyer is willing to pay. Many buyers I've worked with have to be coached into understanding how to evaluate a house. I mean, it gets rediculous sometimes when we pull up and a buyer notes first thing "well, the garage door is dented, I don't want to own a house with a dented garage door", to which I reply "that's a $550 fix and we can always work it into the deal".

Focusing on curable attributes and deeming a house unworthy of further consideration because of perceived negative attributes is a huge, huge mistake. The smartest buyers, who get the best deals - especially in this type of market - are those who allow a broad number of properties into their candidate pool of possible buys. The more restrictive a buyer is during the selection process, the less choice there is. Almost everything a buyer might object to is curable and can be boiled down to a dollar amount, whether it's a full paint, all new flooring, landscaping, kitchen upgrades, etc. Even walls can be moved and opened up into arches if you know how to properly evaluate the potential of a home.

Smart buyers focus on reasons they might be able to say "yes" to a home, thus leaving it on the table, rather than scratching it off the list for petty reasons, such as not liking the color of the paint or the type of flooring. I try to get buyers to focus on the floorplan first and foremost. If the floorplan works, and the home is in a great location on a great lot, everything else (assuming no chronic defects or misfit issues exist) can be cured or changed with money, and factored into the deal. By leaving more candidate homes on the table, you come into the offer process with more negotiating power because you haven't limited yourself to just the "one" home you "liked", and if the first seller is stubborn and inflexible, you can move on to the second choice. You can negotiate from a position of strength if you don't have a strong second choise and are not willing to walk away from the first home you go after.

Steve