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I think the fresh, neutral paint is a great idea. I would not spend the $$ on granite. There are too many colors and options to choose from, for you to be able to pick for an unknown buyer. For example will you use a 4" granite backsplach or tile? Most people these days are using tile, and there are literally 1000's of choices there. Which of the 5 possible edge profiles will you pick? You would also have to pick a new sink and faucet. These are all personal decisions and no matter which one you pick, someone else will not like it. Just my $0.02
I just wanted to share my fav neutral paint color-we used it throughout the foreclosure we bought recently (except for the kids' rooms, they chose-this isn't a flip, we are staying) to update this 1950's with 1985 addition place. We painted ALL the trim and doors white and used a color by Ralph Lauren 'Victoriana'. It's a warm neutral and looks great. Mind you, we sure didn't use Ralph Lauren paint! $$$. We had Home Depot mix it in Behr. I get compliments on it all the time, and it looks great with both the wood floors and the berber carpet in here. I found it after lookig at about a million paint chips LOL.
My favorite website to look through for inspiration in choosing paint colors is apartment therapy. Am I allowed to post the link? Not sure... Here goes http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/
They have thousands of photos of houses and condos renovated by the website contributors.
Many contributors have gone with an Ultra White -- the same color as the trim -- for some of their rooms (although I suspect most use flat paint for walls and semi-gloss for trim), and it looks awesome most of the time.
I would definitely paint a nice and light neutral color. As far as the counter tops I would leave them alone. It has driven my boyfriend and I crazy with the homes we looked at where people put brand new things in like new carpet and counter tops. We wanted wood floors in some of the rooms and it would kill me to have to rip up new carpet I paid for to put wood flooring down. As far as counter tops I want to pick them out. Paint and do what you can with little money and price it right so that whoever is buying the place can make their own changes. Good Luck!
We put in HW floors in the living room area, and new carpet in the two BRs for our condo. We didn't paint but made sure to touch-up. It sold within a month; we were also aggressive on price and were upfront about issues (old HVAC). I'm not sure i'd put in granite versus HW, the later is a better deal IMO.
Thanks for the paint suggestions everyone! Some of those are in my pile to tape to the walls this afternoon. I'm getting excited about painting it, even though it's going to cost money!
As for hardwood floors, the only room not done in hardwood is the master bedroom. From the front door to the living room, kitchen, dining, half bath, and master bath - all a nice hardwood (Bruce Gunstock Oak).
Mike - I agree about condos and convenience. I forgot to add to my potential flier statement "to be completed before move-in".
And when it came to a contract, I would specify $600 or so as the maximum I would pay toward it. I would be happy to arrange for the granite people to come and make templates and install before move-in, though. Would that help?
Now once I update the paint and add (maybe) the granite enticement, is there any way to make it "ding" to Realtors again? I can have the wording changed on the MLS, but would anyone who thought they had seen the place notice?
As it is a nice three year old one bedroom condo, I am trying to appeal to the 24 year old buying her first place because of the tax credit, the 55 year old divorcee, and the 72 year old widower.
I was 23 when I bought my first home, single female. So IMO I would go with the neutral paint as most have suggested. I think it makes it easier when viewing the home and it's one less thing for the buyer to deal with. My house when I moved in had absolutely awful colors I really have no idea what these people were thinking (mint green trim, dark navy in the kitchen that already had very dark brown wood, gross wallpaper in the bathrooms). first time I saw the house I really was put off, the house felt dreary. My agent was the one who said I really should give it a second look.
I would go ahead an install the granite counter tops too, since it's a small space I would think you could get a decent deal. And as a single female I hate dealing with most contractors so I rather you take care of making sure it's installed instead of me. Providing options would be nice but I don't think you have to go that far.
Have you walked through the other condos for sale? You could get some great ideas there, since you need yours to stand out. Also, if there are any units that have sold recently, go ahead and knock on the door and introduce yourself. Ask why they chose that unit and you could even ask if they'll tour yours and give feedback. Every little bit helps.
I think another thing you need to do is make sure that you have yours staged correctly. A good rule of thumb is usually to remove half of your stuff, including furniture. You want it to be furnished, but just enough to enable the buyers to imagine their stuff there. You want to make sure that there is lots of open space and absolutely no clutter. Even clean out your closets, cabinets, and clear every single thing off the countertops in the kitchen and bathroom. Pack up half your clothes so that there is tons of room in the closets and organize everything according to color. All this gives the impression of tons of storage space and living space. I know when we sold our house doing these few things made a huge difference. In a horrible economy (up north) with a ton of houses in our area on the market, our house sold in 6 days. And it wasn't anything special... it just showed really well.
Fresh neutral paint is a great idea. I'm agnostic about the granite. I like care-free and granite has to be sealed periodically, right? Corian is more care-free what what I've been told by I'm no expert. I'm actually quite happy with my laminate counters (but they are a great varietaged color).
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