Worthwhile Home Improvements For Sellers

[JonHomeHunter]

Most new buyers are looking for hardwood or laminate floors and upgarded kitchens and bathrooms. Granite countertops are in right now, but I wouldnt be surprised if Quartz became more desireable in the future. Also, stainless steel appliances (preferably energy efficient) are a plus. Most kitchens and bathroom upgrades get most of that money back in resale.

[nightcrawler]

I would say a house doesn't have to be up to the minute updated, but to have as minimal work to be done, like wallpaper......panneling.........worn carpeting........that to me would be a somewhat of a detrerent....
Obviously we all paint when we move in, but really who feels like taking down wallpaper, and panneling and that type of stuff......ugh !

I wouldn't care so much about an updated kitchen because everyone has different taste. Some like light cabinets others dark...so new isn't always better...as with bathrooms.

[DennyCrane]

Originally Posted by nightcrawler

I would say a house doesn't have to be up to the minute updated, but to have as minimal work to be done, like wallpaper......panneling.........worn carpeting........that to me would be a somewhat of a detrerent....
Obviously we all paint when we move in, but really who feels like taking down wallpaper, and panneling and that type of stuff......ugh !

I wouldn't care so much about an updated kitchen because everyone has different taste. Some like light cabinets others dark...so new isn't always better...as with bathrooms.

This was my thinking as well. If I were buying a house, I'd want to be able to just move in and not have to repaint, tear down ugly wallpaper, replace awful fixtures, etc. Things like finishing a basement, updating the kitchen, replacing flooring are things I might want to do, but wouldn't need to do immediately.

[Ohiogirl81]

I cleaned and de-cluttered, and packed away a lot of breakables and valuables and locked them in a basement storage bin. The repairs I made were going to have to be made anyway: The kitchen floor was torn, so I replaced it; the roof was leaking (!), so I replaced that as well. A few things came in on the inspection -- like GFCI outlets, which the guy who inspected the house when I bought it 13 years earlier had recommended. I spent about $3,000 total making the repairs; the house sold for $95,000.

I'd rather buy a house that needs a little work, at a lower price, than have the house ready to move in. When I buy a house, I assume I'm going to have to paint and/or remove wallpaper (4 1/2 years later, and I've only got 2 rooms to go!), so I wouldn't bother with that, nor would I expect a seller to. As long as the appliances are working, fine; if they need to be replaced, I'd rather do it myself and get what I want. Etc.

[chet everett]

There is a lot of truth in what Ohiogirl81 is saying, but some misconceptions too.

In general the idea of spending money on repairs to "fix what is broken" will allow the greatest number of folks to consider your home -- those that use FHA financing or simply have no money to spend on repairs would otherwise be excluded from the pool of buyers.

The thinking that goes into removing wallpaper and updating the paint is little different. This is more in line with the psychology of helping potential visualize their STUFF (and their life...) in the home. You do not have to peel every room of wallpaper and render each painted wall a neutral color, but if there is an excessive amount of wallpaper and a selection of highly non-mainstream paint colors the odds of a buyer seeing themselves move in (even if they can afford the paint which is cheap...) fall off dramatically. Ditto even on exterior 'features' that are highly personalized. Your house does stick in the buyers mind as " a real possibility" so much as oddity to be ridiculed / avoided...

When it comes to UPDATING things like kitchen & baths there is a bit of both at work -- new cabinets. countertops & appliances can take YEARS off the "feel" of some kitchens, giving some buyers much more for their money than is similar homes BUT the pricing that buyers are willing to pay is hardly ever the "full retail value" of the upgrades. Countering this is the FACT that a kitchen (or bathroom) that is NON-FUNCTIONAL for current lifestyles and/or has broken / worn out / yucky stuff that is a serious negative will DEPRESS the selling price of homes. Thus when I would have some dangerous kitchen that had been retrofitted several times ripped out and replaced with easy to clean cabinets and appropriate appliances / fixtures I could be fairly certain I would get MORE than what I spent on the effort at selling time.
Riskier to predict that a fancy tile job or high end tub / shower would have the same effect in the kind of house that I would rent out, but a basic "freshening" of cleaner more modern fixtures / surfaces remains a fairly safe bet in MOST situations...

Things get real real tricky as move away from the "median" -- there are PLENTY of "flippers" that misjudged what is "too much" to spend AS WELL AS a whole lot of folks that have gone way to cheap and not met the expectations of potential buyers. In either case the end result is places that sit on the market for extended periods of time and fail to have the kinds of return that make sellers happy.

I know that Amy Matthews does a lot of leg work to find projects to show case that hit the mark for the neighborhoods she works on for her HGTV shows and I think that HGTV tries to help people be a little more realistic with its shows where the renovator and real estate agent compare the likely "Bang for your Buck" of completed / competing projects. Some folks get some bad news...