Needed updates for selling home, also MPH?

KTdidit · September 2013

Hello everyone! I haven't been around here before but I was hoping you could weigh in on some concerns DH and I have. We are hoping to sell our home and be in a new home by Jan 2015. This gives us enough time to save for the new home and make updates to our current home. The two main areas of our home that are problems and need to be updated before we can put it on the market are:

Bathroom: It is a mess. Previous owners used drywall instead of greenboard, the surround is garbage. We are thinking we will need to re-do the entire bathrub/shower area as well as put down a new floor and subfloor.

Flooring: Throughout the entire house. There is harwood down now that is in bad shape finish-wise, but also about a million nails. The dining room floor has at least 100 nails in it, I wish I was kidding. It also has major water damage in a corner that I have ignored up until now. So refinishing isn't a practical option. We are thinking laminate or engineered floating wood flooring.

Our concern is that how can we know that the work we will be doing and the money we will spend will be beneficial. DH is convinced that the only person that will buy the house will do so intending to flip it. I'd hate to spend thousands of dollars that we could be saving for a new home, on floors that will be torn out anyway. Same thing with any work we do on the bathroom.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? Anything reassuring?

Also, one last questions, has anyone worked with Marketplace Homes before? They will sell or rent your home for you if you buy new construction through them. It sounds too good to be true.

Thanks!

Sisugal · September 2013

Although no one has a crystal ball for the Jan 2015 housing market, you might benefit from talking with a local realtor for advice on what changes/upgrades would appeal to buyers, which ones will bring a return on your $ and which ones won't.

No experience with Marketplace Homes.

Jokerkat12 · October 2013

I don't usually come across people tearing out real hardwood floors when they buy homes. If anything they refinish and replace boards, but not tear them out entirely.

Bathrooms and kitchens will usually get you the most return on investment.

At least here, people don't seem to mind the wood laminate flooring. It looks nice and does well under wear and tear.

Updated bathrooms, kitchens, and double pane windows will almost always be a plus. New paint too. I don't worry as much about floors unless they are moldy, smelly, or horrible stained. Usually floors can be fixed with refinishing or a steam cleaner.

Good luck!

jtmh2012 · November 2013

Sisugal said:

Although no one has a crystal ball for the Jan 2015 housing market, you might benefit from talking with a local realtor for advice on what changes/upgrades would appeal to buyers, which ones will bring a return on your $ and which ones won't.

I second this. Go find yourself a good local realtor with lots of experience. Tell them you're looking to sell and have them look over the house for things they'd fix before putting it on the market. Also find a good home inspector and have them look over the house.

KTdidit · November 2013

jtmh2012 said:

Sisugal said:

Although no one has a crystal ball for the Jan 2015 housing market, you might benefit from talking with a local realtor for advice on what changes/upgrades would appeal to buyers, which ones will bring a return on your $ and which ones won't.
I second this. Go find yourself a good local realtor with lots of experience. Tell them you're looking to sell and have them look over the house for things they'd fix before putting it on the market. Also find a good home inspector and have them look over the house.

We actually did talk to a realtor and she walked through the house and gave us her opinion on what we would need to do for the house to be marketable. Turns out the floors weren't as bad as we thought so we will leave them as-is and save the money. Thanks for suggesting an inspector, though, we never thought of that. We have ultimately decided to stay in our house for at least another year for financial reasons so we will slowly do upgrades and re-visit again when we are ready to sell.

jtmh2012 · November 2013

kaholland4 said:

We actually did talk to a realtor and she walked through the house and gave us her opinion on what we would need to do for the house to be marketable. Turns out the floors weren't as bad as we thought so we will leave them as-is and save the money. Thanks for suggesting an inspector, though, we never thought of that. We have ultimately decided to stay in our house for at least another year for financial reasons so we will slowly do upgrades and re-visit again when we are ready to sell.

At least now you know what needs to be done to the house. You can now do little things here and then versus having a big expensive list all at once....

Needed updates for selling home, also MPH?

Re: Needed updates for selling home, also MPH?

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