Should I Renovate My House Before Selling It?

What do you mean by renovating? You aren't giving us enough information to give you good advice. There's updating, and then there's renovating.

In todays market many are looking for a less expensive house they can then update to fit their own personal style so if it was me and I was hoping for a quick sell, even at a little less then I could get otherwise, I would leave it alone.

As a longtime military wife who has done LOTS of house hunting over the years, here's my two cents, for what it's worth. I'm not a realtor - just an experienced buyer/renter. I think that making your house into a space that is warm, inviting, and easy for a buyer to imagine his/her family and stuff in is key. I don't think that requires a major renovation in most cases (although I've seen a few), but it does require a little attention and perhaps some investment of time/money.

There is a balance to be struck between making the house look squared away and habitable and making it trendy, which really isn't necessary IMO, because people who want trendy are going to want their own personal version of it. When I've moved, I've looked for houses I won't need to make repairs on or overhaul the appearance of unless I choose to. If you need to make a plumbing or electrical repair, if the carpet is threadbare or stained, if the walls have dings or stains or cracks or dingy paint, these are things you need to handle before showing the house. Make sure your appliances that will stay in the house are in good working order and clean. If you have harvest gold appliances and shag carpet, you might want to consider an update. :-) Beyond that, clean, bright (adjust light fixtures and put in good bulbs), and no glaring flaws would be helpful.

Also, note that many buyers are going to want a look at your storage spaces, such as cabinets and closets. You want those spaces to look like there's plenty of storage space. So if yours are overstuffed (as mine are, thanks to kids' legos and my knitting habit), it would be worth renting offsite storage and clearing out a lot of extra stuff or any clutter while you're showing the house. Keep enough stuff in there to look realistically well-used. And if you own anything you don't want other people to see, DO NOT keep it in your closet when you are showing the house.

Don't neglect the outside. An experienced buyer will walk away from a roof that's at the end of its life, or a crumbling foundation, unless there is an overwhelming reason to buy the house anyway.

Finally, wash (or pay someone to wash) all your windows. It'll make a huge difference in the appearance of your house.

the prevalent 'always renovate' wisdom MUST be tempered with common sense. renovations are ONLY called for if the price then commanded will be more than the renovations cost.
when my parents were getting ready to move to a retirement community their realtor kept insisting they had to gut and redo their (terribly outdated and tiny) kitchen.
of COURSE it would have sold for more money with a better kitchen. but the market was flat, and the 20K it would have taken at best to fix it up would never have been recouped in the sales price. fortunately we persuaded them to do cosmetic fluffs only and get it sold. and it did.
so long as you can make what you need, remember that your realtor works for you, she doesn't tell you what to do.
khairete
S.

I think realtors have been allowed to run wild and set up an unrealistic expectation for the housing market. Unless you are buying a brand new home that is being built to your specifications you should expect to buy a house that isn't perfect and new and "updated" with every little new thing you've been made to believe it should have. Clean and with everything in working order is a must unless you know you are buying it as anything less. You should not be expected to do a complete remodel, all new granite countertops and stainless steel appliances just to sell it. Not everyone even likes that. I hate hardwood floors for instance, I prefer carpeting except for places like bathrooms and kitchens. I really hate stainless steel appliances.The reality is that with a lot of things you won't make your money back on so, while you might get a little bit higher price you're really down because you sunk so much into it. Who's to say the place you buy won't need work too and now you've wasted it on the house you no longer have and you're now short to do any work in your new place.
Unless you're still rocking 70s shag carpet and pink walls, I don't see a reason to do anything beyond getting everything clean and make sure everything works as it should. Let the new owners put whatever personal touches and upgrades they want once it's theirs.

Have you crunched the numbers? I'm sure your realtor could give you a ballpark idea of how much you could sell the house for as is and how much you could probably sell it for if you do x, y and z. You would then have to get an idea of how much money you would have to spend in order to accomplish x, y and z and see if the profit is worth it to you. Also consider whether or not you would have to borrow money in order to do the work.

Keep in mind that realtors work on commission. The more you sell your house for, the more your realtor makes. That doesn't mean that your realtor is being selfish, just that it is a bit of an incentive for hiim/her to suggest you make improvements.

Updates are nice and matter to some buyers. I think what mattered more to us when we were looking were that things weren't too old (we were hoping the appliances would last at least a few more years). The roof was only a couple of years old, and I think the furnace and a/c were relatively new. The negatives that stood out to us Ifwere the house with the mirrors on all the bedroom walls, the animal heads on various walls, the American Flag paint job. If the paint, floors and/or decor in your house is very much to your personal taste, I would change it. The previous owners of our house did some very basic things before selling - they painted the bathroom (bright white), replaced one carpet (which looked very nice) and just did some sprucing. The only thing we really had to do was repaint their daughter's bedroom (which was pink), as we only have sons.

If updating isn't going to bring a big profit or simply isn't worth your time, just make sure things work and look nice (and neutral). That really does matter.

I love a house that needs a bit of updating/renovating (actually I love fixer uppers that I can gut and completely overhaul). I know that I'll be able to negotiate a great price for myself AND there won't be as many people interested in the house, so less competition for me. But I am not a typical buyer. Most buyers want "move-in ready", "recently renovated", "updated kitchen", etc.

It really depends on what you mean by "renovating". Fresh paint and carpet? New countertops? Replace that leaky faucet and gross old toilet? Or gutting the entire kitchen and remodeling ALL the bathrooms? Taking down a wall? There are levels of renovating. If everything is clean and in working order, that's good. But there is a large segment of the buying population that won't even look at your house if it isn't "updated" or "recently remodeled". And those that will consider your house will certainly ding you for every little thing wrong with it, EVEN if you've priced it fairly.

And, of course, what kind of market are you in? Is it a healthy market for sellers? Are houses selling quickly or sitting there for weeks or months? There are too many variables involved to simply say "always update" or "don't ever bother". If your realtor knows your market and you trust them (and hopefully you do since you hired them), I'd seriously take into consideration their recommendations. You don't want your house to sit there because nobody's interested in buying a house that needs some work. Or, even worse, having to drop the price just to get buyers in. And the longer it sits, the weaker your negotiating position.

Selling a house is fun, isn't it?

Staged homes sell faster and for a higher price than unstaged homes. Paint is cheap if you do the work yourself and can make a huge difference to the look and feel of the home. New flooring may be a good investment depending on the market. If your furniture is outdated and your art work consist of family photos then it may pay to rent furniture and decor. Ultimately though a house will sell when the seller is realistic about the price.

Also, a realtor once told me to sell a house fast...make it look like a sample home.

It really depends on the market in your area. We sold one of our properties in PA and the market there is still bad, we lost money, but we just wanted to sell it. We could have spent thousands updating everything but we would have still lost money.

Most people want to get top dollar so they can afford another house. I will say that buyers like a clean and fresh home. Maybe consider fresh paint, new carpet or flooring and make sure all your appliances are clean and working.

If you can pay off the mortgage (if you have one) and/or make a profit that you are comfortable with then just leave it. There are many buyers that love fixer uppers so they can make it their own.

If the carpet and paint and kitchen and bathrooms are relatively clean and modern, then fine. But otherwise if you really don't want to do the work, be willing to negotiate with the price to allow the new buyer to do the work. It's the advice our realtor gave us. We ended up painting and replacing carpet.

I think there are two schools of thought here. Updated and staged move faster and putting two much money into a home for sale is a waste because you don't know what the new owner wants.

I would repair anything that needs repairs and set a budget.

It REALLY depends on your local market. If your realtor is a good one then you should listen to his/her advice.

It depends.
Can you reasonably expect to make back (dollar value) what you put into it to fix it up?
A coat of paint, a new carpet - are probably good ideas if it hasn't been painted in a few years or the carpet is showing wear and tear.
Totally remodeling a bathroom or kitchen - you probably will spend more than the difference you'd get back in selling price.
I'd probably lean toward selling it as is and let the new owners handle updating it.
Renovating is just something that's very stressful for me to get through.

Yup.

Provided it will show better and just to fix anything that a new buyer wouldn't want to tackle the minute they move in.

We did with our old home. We made sure the basics were covered. Our paint had been done, but to freshen it up, I just repainted the white trim a fresher white paint - big impact. Just took me a couple of days to do it around the house.

Anything that needs repairing - fix. For us, it was a leaky patio door. We spent the bucks to get a new one.

We just swapped out old light fixtures with budget-new ones. Just new things make a house look new and fresh. Same with a dated vanity in our power room. We went and got the cheapest yet still nice vanity and sink, got the cheapest but nice light fixture, and I just painted the bathroom cabinet. New white towels. Good to go.

I wouldn't go into crazy renovations. My husband could do basic repairs and I can do cosmetics stuff. A friend of mine is a stager so she told me what to focus on. Plenty of sites online you can Google. We didn't spend a lot but made big difference. Took about a month. Good luck :)

ETA

I do NOT like stainless appliances, I happen to like black. My kitchen is white with dark floors and dark counter tops. I have brushed nickel faucets and light fixtures. I really really don't want to have anything stainless in my house.

I wouldn't like a kitchen with them in it. I wouldn't want a house that I can't make into my kitchen look that I have now. I wouldn't want ugly counter tops and I guarantee you that I don't like fru fru stones or backsplashes that make a statement where they don't blend into the background.

Go as neutral as possible.

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I can honestly say that the money you spend CAN ruin your house. How do YOU know what will sell your house and what won't.

A friend of mine had a gorgeous 2 story 5 bedroom/3.5 bathroom home. Full dining room plus eat-in kitchen that would hold a dining room table, a study, etc...She had one wall in her kitchen painted dark green. I liked it. She liked it. It "was" outdated though.

Her carpet wasn't bad but the builder hadn't put the carpet runner like thing on the stairs the right way and it didn't look great. The Realtor told her to replace all the carpet in her house, including covering the stairs completely. The $5000-$6000 cost would increase her home value by $20K.

Her Realtor told her to paint every wall in her house this godawful warm, yes WARM, beige color. Then she told her to paint her accent wall in her kitchen RUST colored.

They ended up matching every color in this house to a color that wasn't all that present in her rock fireplace facade. I can tell you they spent nearly $15K on "improvements" and they got a good sale price on their home BUT no one, and I mean no one, liked the RUST colored paint on the wall in the kitchen. Everyone that came in and signed the sheet put they hated that color on the comments section when they left, they said they would have to think about the house due to the cost of repainting it. They would have also liked to have wood floors instead of the carpet. The stairs were wood and the Realtor had her put carpet on them.

They bumped up the price of their house over what it was worth due to upgrades. They sold it after they came down in price a couple of times. Yes, the money they spent was returned on it. But not by much.

So, the moral of that story is that sometimes the Realtor is right and sometimes they're wrong. Use your own judgement as to what you upgrade and what you don't.

My sister, gotta love her, decided to have a Realtor look at her house before putting it on the market. My sister is in her 60s. The Realtor told her to upgrade stuff and to stage it better. That the border wall paper around the top of her kitchen and in her bathrooms was outdated. It was. The walls were painted in a neutral off white color. The Realtor told her to paint them a warm color so that it would look fresh.

She also told my sister to put new appliances in the kitchen, my sister left the ones that were already there and bought herself new ones when she got a new house.

My sister took down the old border then put up a new one...not what the Realtor meant. She didn't paint the walls but did clean up a few tiny spots in the kitchen. She put nearly everything she owned in storage and staged her house to look better.

My sister's response to the Realtor telling her she needed to take down that border and not put up another one was that "she" liked it and she had to live there until it sold. That if someone was that upset it was there then they didn't deserve her house...

Her house sold for what they asked. It was next to an elementary school and the Jr. High was across the street and down about a block. There was a city park at the end of the street, no pool, but it had equipment and a building for youth classes through parks and recreation.

She had a lot going for her house and I think even if she hadn't done anything but stage it well it would have sold for the same price.

The Realtor does know what is selling. I suggest you go house shopping and look at each one to see what they look like and the prices they're asking. Did they upgrade? What did they do? What price are they asking compared to other houses in the area that aren't upgraded? Do you like what they did?

Then decide what is good and affordable and brings in the most return. I would do wood floors over carpet in a minute. I hate carpet and I think most everyone does now.

You do not recoup the full expense of home renovations. So throwing a lot of money at a house isn't economical. With that said, some things do need to be done to help sell a home. If you have carpet, it needs to be in good shape. I read recently that carpet should be no older than 6 years.

We will hopefully be selling our home soon. We will get all the hardwood floors redone, and we may either tear up and refinish the wood in the two remaining bedrooms that still have carpet, or we will replace it with new carpet. We will also throw new paint at almost every room. Things like this help to sell a home faster and the cost isn't large. Renovating a bathroom or kitchen? Big bucks you will not see.

Other things you do recoup on include entry doors, garage doors, and new siding. But even then you won't recoup 100%, more like 90%. But the home will sell much faster.

never trust a word a realtor tells you. Very few of them are even any good. They spin the truth like crazy.

if you haven't already done it, get 5 more realtors to come in and give you their views on your house. If a bunch of them say you need to do X to sell, then you need to do X to sell. At a minimum. fresh paint and clean floors and basic repairs. At a max, does your kitchen have to have granite to sell in your market? Only a realtor can tell you that. Where we live, granite is a must. It isn't even considered trendy. Buyers seem to want everything to be new and shiny, or they walk (lots of flippers are in our market helping to set up unrealistic expectations about home ownership). What's your market like?

But if you've been living in your home and haven't done anything to it, you will lose most buyers --unless you're willing to sell on the super cheap.

Of course your realtor wants the maximum value--she works on commission. What if you put more into renovations than you get out of it? What if it's the same--who wants to put up with the reno. Even if you could make a few thousand more--who wants to put up with the reno?

I'd say leave it as is! Let the new people buy it cheaper and renovate it the way they'd like!