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At this point I am prepping my house for sale. I have some things planned to help with value/sale of home. I'm just not sure they are worth it. I have completed a full remodel of the bathroom. Trying to decide if it would be worth the time and effort to replace/paint all of the old wood stained trim with a more "in" white trim? Also we planned to do a minor remodel in the kitchen painting the cabinets and replacing the old laminate countertops with a more modern nicer look as well as the flooring in the kitchen and dining room. Are these things worth the time,effort, and money or should I just save my money and sell as is? Thanks for any advice!
Unless you have beautiful old woodwork, in most cases you are better off to paint it. My former house was built in the 1980's with stained trim. I had painted it white years before I put the house on the market. When I would see other houses in my neighborhood go up for sale, the photos of the ones that had kept the stained trim looked dated. Those with painted trim looked updated and fresh.
The only cosmetic thing I'd do in a situation like that would be to paint any rooms that are an unusual color. If the master bedroom is Pepto-Bismol pink, repaint it white. If the kid was going through a goth phase and painted their bedroom black, get some primer on it and then paint it white or beige.
What I'd see as more important would be to make sure that all the mechanicals are in good shape before putting it on the market. Someone mentioned windows; if you are in a region that routinely gets either extremely warm or extremely cold, and if the windows are not well sealed and insulated, I would definitely agree with that.
Unless you are a professional house-flipper, the only reason to put money into a major remodeling project is if you plan to enjoy the results yourself for years to come.
Unless you have beautiful old woodwork, in most cases you are better off to paint it. My former house was built in the 1980's with stained trim. I had painted it white years before I put the house on the market. When I would see other houses in my neighborhood go up for sale, the photos of the ones that had kept the stained trim looked dated. Those with painted trim looked updated and fresh.
My house has always had white interior trim since it was new, and I would love to replace it all with stained trim with stained six-panel doors. I don’t care about “dated”, I like what I like.
White trim looks cheap, because it is cheap. It’s faster to install because you can fill cracks and gaps with filler and slap paint on it.
From doing House tours and being a member in a preservation group, I can relay that simple touches to spruce up the place are the attention getters
Try new door pulls on cabinetry. And yes change out a worn out floor. Any good cook will tell you they like the floor and cabinets in great shape.
We did small mirrors to deflect or reflect. We definitely found sheer window treatments to be the other simple trick. You get the idea. Keep the eyes moving
First of all, your house needs to look attractive in photographs, and the first photograph that people see is your front exterior, which should look clean and fresh, and if you have lawn, it needs to be neatly trimmed and green. The rest of your landscaping, especially in the front yard, should be trimmed. Your driveway should also look as clean as possible, so you might want to invest in having the driveway pressure-washed. Be sure to put all trash containers behind the fence to your backyard. If you have hoses instead of in-ground sprinklers, remove the hose for the pictures. If you have a screen door, remove it, not only for the pictures, but for the duration of showings. The garage door to your house needs to look good, too. And most importantly, your porch, front door and the hardware on the door, should be new or fresh-as-new. Then cross the threshold into your house as if you were a potential buyer and look around with new eyes.
As far as what you should do inside the house, I would ask several agents what they think. They will disagree with each other. In my area, the main thing that agents agree on and that I see has been done in nearby houses besides fresh paint throughout is interior doors have often been upgraded to white paneled doors and round doorknobs have been replaced with lever handles. Baseboards that were only a couple of inches high and wood-stained, get replaced with thicker white baseboards. In most of the houses for sale, all traces of "popcorn" in the ceilings of at least major rooms has been removed and the ceilings redone, including painting. Many of the houses also sport new white coving between walls and ceilings.
Most of the houses, except for former rentals that will appeal to investors at a lower prices, have bathrooms that have been updated. A lot of the kitchens around here have been updated or completely renovated, but none of the spectacular remodels have had sales prices that cover the prices of the renovations. The houses that have been updated seem to sell faster, unless the sellers price the house higher to recoup what they spent on their fancy kitchen.
I tend to disagree with anyone who suggests putting in the cheapest carpet available. Many of the younger buyers don't appreciate carpeting, and if they do, they want a better grade of carpet. For myself, the sight of inexpensive, new carpet suggests that the seller skimped on other things in the house, too.
Great advise! I really like your suggestions on hiding trash cans, garden hoses, etc, for more flattering pictures of your house. There are a surprising number of homes for sale where the realtor let dirty dishes in the sink, prominent trash cans, or bathroom counter clutter slip by. I’d roll up my sleeves and tidy up before ever taking pictures like that. Pictures of your house are the first impressions buyers will have.
Agree on the popcorn ceilings and carpet too. If I saw a house with popcorn, the cost to fix it would mean a lower offer from the asking price. Not everyone loves carpet, especially pet owners. Warehouse wood or tile would be a better choice. The look could be softened with throw rugs.
Great advise! I really like your suggestions on hiding trash cans, garden hoses, etc, for more flattering pictures of your house. There are a surprising number of homes for sale where the realtor let dirty dishes in the sink, prominent trash cans, or bathroom counter clutter slip by. I’d roll up my sleeves and tidy up before ever taking pictures like that. Pictures of your house are the first impressions buyers will have.
Agree on the popcorn ceilings and carpet too. If I saw a house with popcorn, the cost to fix it would mean a lower offer from the asking price. Not everyone loves carpet, especially pet owners. Warehouse wood or tile would be a better choice. The look could be softened with throw rugs.
In my area if you tried to avoid popcorn ceilings you’d surely be limited in your housing search, even some newer houses still have it. My grandmother’s house was built in 2008 and it has it. If you deducted the cost to “fix it” from the seller’s asking price you’d probably be laughed right out of the realtors office.
It could be worse, it could have those old Celotex tiles from the 60s. I think what’s more important than the type is to make sure the ceilings are clean bright white, and not dingy and yellowed.
Great advise! I really like your suggestions on hiding trash cans, garden hoses, etc, for more flattering pictures of your house. There are a surprising number of homes for sale where the realtor let dirty dishes in the sink, prominent trash cans, or bathroom counter clutter slip by. I’d roll up my sleeves and tidy up before ever taking pictures like that. Pictures of your house are the first impressions buyers will have.
Agree on the popcorn ceilings and carpet too. If I saw a house with popcorn, the cost to fix it would mean a lower offer from the asking price. Not everyone loves carpet, especially pet owners. Warehouse wood or tile would be a better choice. The look could be softened with throw rugs.
My house has always had white interior trim since it was new, and I would love to replace it all with stained trim with stained six-panel doors. I don’t care about “dated”, I like what I like.
White trim looks cheap, because it is cheap. It’s faster to install because you can fill cracks and gaps with filler and slap paint on it.
This is not about what you might like. It is about what photographs and sells. My trim wasn't paint-grade in my old house, but I also did not have beautiful deep moulding with tall baseboards. Look at photos of a house with relatively narrow stained crown moulding and short baseboards and you can see how it makes rooms look chopped up. My new house has lovely tall baseboards and thick crown moulding. It is painted a soft white and certainly looks and was more expensive than the meager stained moulding I had in my old house.
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