BE$T bang for your buck home improvement for home sale

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Curb appeal and clean (new) flooring and clean new looking walls can be a best bang for a buck.

Paying closing costs and offering an allowance for remodeling costs may be a good option. One, the buyer decides how to spend the money, two, no closing costs for buyer gives the buyer more flexibility.

Also you could put together remodeling packages with prices for the buyer to chose from. Have the remodeling funds put in escrow and released at closing.

Some folks love options and others love turn key. Marketing and creative financing options go a long ways.


Good luck
 
With the housing market being a "sellers market" seller incentives to buyer will not be necessary.

Lots of houses are selling above asking price.
 
We were having trouble selling my grandmothers house, realtor told us to paint the inside....sold in about 2 weeks after that. People like crisp and new, clean lines and light colors. No stained wood trim or doors, light painted or white trim.
 
cosgig said:
We were having trouble selling my grandmothers house, realtor told us to paint the inside....sold in about 2 weeks after that. People like crisp and new, clean lines and light colors. No stained wood trim or doors, light painted or white trim.
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Could just be me, but I actually like stained wood trim & doors. Of course my home is over a hundred years old and that’s one of the things I love about it.

What sucks is heating it, if I remember correctly it’s 5,000sq-ft of house. Fortunately it’s wood heat, so at least it’s cheap.
 
74Dusted said:
Could just be me, but I actually like stained wood trim & doors. Of course my home is over a hundred years old and that’s one of the things I love about it.

What sucks is heating it, if I remember correctly it’s 5,000sq-ft of house. Fortunately it’s wood heat, so at least it’s cheap.
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I like wood stained trim and such as well, but the general buying public is a finicky bunch. I’m working on a 100 year old house right now, with redwood trim, ceilings and walls. The owner is doing his best to save what he can of the originality, but his wife wants white.....everywhere! It’s a compromise in action there every day!

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cosgig said:
I like wood stained trim and such as well, but the general buying public is a finicky bunch. I’m working on a 100 year old house right now, with redwood trim, ceilings and walls. The owner is doing his best to save what he can of the originality, but his wife wants white.....everywhere! It’s a compromise in action there every day!

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Damn! That’s beautiful! Is the whole place fieldstone with woodwork inside? Or just part of it?

Sadly on my place, a lot of the originality went out the proverbial window a long long time ago. Over the years the ceilings had been lowered, the hardwood floors replaced with tile and carpet, etc.

I’m slowly returning her back to how she should be by putting hardwood floors back in and returning to the original high ceilings. Fireplace at one end of the living room, with a portion of the floor laid in stone around it, a cookstove in the kitchen (actually my great grandmother’s cookstove)
 
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74Dusted said:
Damn! That’s beautiful! Is the whole place fieldstone with woodwork inside? Or just part of it?

Sadly on my place, a lot of the originality went out the proverbial window a long long time ago. Over the years the ceilings had been lowered, the hardwood floors replaced with tile and carpet, etc.

I’m slowly returning her back to how she should be by putting hardwood floors back in and returning to the original high ceilings. Fireplace at one end of the living room, with a portion of the floor laid in stone around it, a cookstove in the kitchen (actually my great grandmother’s cookstove)
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Here’s the outside today, and when it was built in 1918. Also a pic of the house we did next door, also for the same people.

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74Dusted said:
If I could like it a second time, I would! There’s just something special about stone houses.
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Check out the guys car in the lower right of the pic, obviously an early hot rodder. He was an author, and one of his books was also left behind, along with this pic of his wife in her Stutz Bearcat coat!

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Here’s also a pic of the switches I’m removing, same as the ones in all of the houses in Greenfield Village!

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My great aunt still had those switches in her house too. Gonna miss her, she died about a year and a half ago. Her place was over a hundred years old as well (there was actually still bottles of wine in the wine cellar from when the place was built), her son got the place so at least it stayed in the family.
 
Nothing...anything you do, prospective buyers won't like and will want to change color/texture/carpet, etc. We have been looking at houses for a few months and I hate walking in a "staged" home that is supposed to divert my attention from details that will matter once all the glitter is removed. I understand many people don't look beyond what they see and can't envision what it could be with their personal preferences, but, for the most part, spending money on a home thinking you will get more in return is an old pipe dream.
 
Well I just got done painting a door infested hallway (6 doors), & 4 out of 6 walls of a bedroom, and 12 square feet of four-year-old wall-crayoning. You come back from sea, and you are not supposed to yell at your spouse, but she sure lets the little one and friends tear up the real e$tate. It shouldn't be impress me how much better it looks after a few coats, but it sure does. I probably should replace the linoleum on the floor. Not sure if I should repaint the front door or replace it. They say a dark color should be the color of the door and what ever color it ends up my front window shutters will match it.
 
greymouser7 said:
Well I just got done painting a door infested hallway (6 doors), & 4 out of 6 walls of a bedroom, and 12 square feet of four-year-old wall-crayoning. You come back from sea, and you are not supposed to yell at your spouse, but she sure lets the little one and friends tear up the real e$tate. It shouldn't be impress me how much better it looks after a few coats, but it sure does. I probably should replace the linoleum on the floor. Not sure if I should repaint the front door or replace it. They say a dark color should be the color of the door and what ever color it ends up my front window shutters will match it.
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Dark rich red (burgundy), green (dark hunter green) or blue (deep slate blue) are usually the best choices...in that order. A dark chocolate brown can work too...depending on the house.
 
Just had an appraiser/inspector out to my place today, as we are looking at a refinance to get way better rates and some cash out to finish my shop with concrete heat and power. The guy said our area is a buzz of business real estate wise. I get random calls from realtors asking if I'm interested in selling or know anyone else with acreage selling. But I repainted my house inside and out this year, built a closet in a room downstairs with a bathroom and fireplace. The guy was real pleased to see that as he said it added a ton of value with an additional bedroom. A large master bedroom at that. He said I should have added a door to a room that is a catchall between the living room and deck. As its got a closet, and two exits. I would have then had a 5 bedroom 2 full bath 2600+ sqf home with finished daylight basement. If I ever sell I'll hang a door there then. I'm hoping as I bought it as a bank repo 15 years ago for $188k that I get a 500k appraisal. With a 36x48 shop, a few equipment sheds and fully fenced property, triple pane vinyl windows and sliding doors, flooring replaced, new roof, well and septic upgraded, fingers crossed it goes good. My wife has been a nervous mess, painting everyday for 3 weeks. She is very good at it, I was a painter for 15 years and taught her well.
 
Penstarpurist said:
Just had an appraiser/inspector out to my place today, as we are looking at a refinance to get way better rates and some cash out to finish my shop with concrete heat and power. The guy said our area is a buzz of business real estate wise. I get random calls from realtors asking if I'm interested in selling or know anyone else with acreage selling. But I repainted my house inside and out this year, built a closet in a room downstairs with a bathroom and fireplace. The guy was real pleased to see that as he said it added a ton of value with an additional bedroom. A large master bedroom at that. He said I should have added a door to a room that is a catchall between the living room and deck. As its got a closet, and two exits. I would have then had a 5 bedroom 2 full bath 2600+ sqf home with finished daylight basement. If I ever sell I'll hang a door there then. I'm hoping as I bought it as a bank repo 15 years ago for $188k that I get a 500k appraisal. With a 36x48 shop, a few equipment sheds and fully fenced property, triple pane vinyl windows and sliding doors, flooring replaced, new roof, well and septic upgraded, fingers crossed it goes good. My wife has been a nervous mess, painting everyday for 3 weeks. She is very good at it, I was a painter for 15 years and taught her well.
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That sounds like a great house, shop, property, and wife.
 
YY1 said:
How many home reno/flip shows have you seen where the open house guests say things like-

"I could never live in a house with that color carpet"
"I could never live with all this clutter"
"those appliances are not stainless steel"

stupid crap that is easily changed by the potential purchaser but they can't seem to get past it.
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Neutral colors.

My home was on the market for a year with no offers before I bought it.

The older couple who owned it would have been money ahead by paying the kid down the road to paint everything white.

The living and dining rooms were painted a textured green and the master bedroom was painted a texture purple. The exterior was all blue and purple. The blue siding definitely wasn't a deal breaker for most people, but the blue and purple painted decks were.

It went from initial listing of $95k, to final purchase price of $62k.

I was told the folks who looked it came in, saw it needed a complete repaint inside, and walked out the door. I spent a week before we moved in doing mud work and painting the dining and living rooms and kitchen.
 
Not sure how much painting you've done, but me and the wife just painted two houses complete exterior for $325 each (not counting a $125 sprayer we already had).

We've painted complete interiors several times for about $250.

So give or take less than 1K to paint entirely to your liking.

WTF don't people get that, and make it a "I can't live there" issue?

I guess it's good for those of us that do get it.

Buy cheap if it needs paint, paint cheap and sell high!
 
YY1 said:
Not sure how much painting you've done, but me and the wife just painted two houses complete exterior for $325 each (not counting a $125 sprayer we already had).

We've painted complete interiors several times for about $250.

So give or take less than 1K to paint entirely to your liking.

WTF don't people get that, and make it a "I can't live there" issue?

I guess it's good for those of us that do get it.

Buy cheap if it needs paint, paint cheap and sell high!
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I used to have really high end paint sprayers, two spray hose gas powered units and all. When they finally died I bought one from harbor freight for like $65 new. Works equally as well as the spendy ones, cheaper than renting. The hose isnt real long, so you got to move it a couple times to get around the whole house, but it weighs like 8 pounds literally. Buy one of those, then clean it up really well and you will have it for all your future projects. I painted my entire exterior for less than $300. And its large and split stories. Buy a couple drop clothes, a pair of good brushes and rollers one 9" and one 4" roller frame and skins. All in for less than $150 you can have good reusable tools buy decent paint for coverage and laugh all the way to the bank saving money on diy. Cheap paint takes multiple coats to cover, which means more material needed and the time of doing it over and over. Spend the $10 more a gallon and save time and money in the long run.
 
Kitchen number one in my book. That is where the women's work is ( but I'm a very good cook) and they have the majority vote on home buying. We have a big beautiful kitchen and when my wife saw it, it was over. I needed to find a big problem with the house if I wanted to dissuade her. Curb appeal also up there. It usually doesn't take much to trim it up properly. I also did a 500+ sq.ft. room in half of my basement. Did it myself over 3 winters whenever I had time. Studded it myself, also did overhead lights in ceiling and wall outlets out of a very good how to book. Drywall with a drywall lift. Beautiful good sized basement room for less than $4000.
 
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YY1 said:
Not sure how much painting you've done, but me and the wife just painted two houses complete exterior for $325 each (not counting a $125 sprayer we already had).

We've painted complete interiors several times for about $250.

So give or take less than 1K to paint entirely to your liking.

WTF don't people get that, and make it a "I can't live there" issue?

I guess it's good for those of us that do get it.

Buy cheap if it needs paint, paint cheap and sell high!
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You and I get it.

Most people see "contractor."

Others see the labor involved involved and chicken out.

The decks could have been easily scraped and painted a good exterior white for little to nothing.

I tore em down, instead.

One of the reasons I bought the place was because I wanted to build it as my own. Two walls were ripped out almost immediately. One divided the kitchen and dining room with just a little pass through hole in it. Instead, a breakfast bar is going in.

I could have cared less about color. I can change colors, easily enoug. And do the renovations myself.

The only thing I didn't do was install carpet in Cyrus's room.

With a torn meniscus at the time and a bad hip, it would have taken me all day. The guys who did it, had it in place in ten minutes, and I had the base board trim in fifteen minutes later.
 
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