How to increase the value of our coop apartment before we sell?
My wife and I bought a top-floor floor-through 2br (not sure if the second bedroom counts as a bedroom: it’s 15′ long and 6’4″ wide with a good size closet – could be a childrens’ room) years ago because we hated the idea of continuing to pay rent. We didn’t even think about it as…
My wife and I bought a top-floor floor-through 2br (not sure if the second bedroom counts as a bedroom: it’s 15′ long and 6’4″ wide with a good size closet – could be a childrens’ room) years ago because we hated the idea of continuing to pay rent. We didn’t even think about it as an investment and though that we were at the top of the market at the time. Boy were we wrong…apparently.
Now we’re getting ready to sell, probably early spring, and want to increase our chances of getting as much as we can for our apt. It’s a top-floor walk-up on a park block/name street. The building is in amazing shape with all the original late 19th century details, fixtures and wallpaper. The apt itself is in excellent condition with a custom-designed kitchen, moulding everywhere, high ceilings, semi-modern bathroom (meaning, old bathtub, sink,toilet, but high quality light fixtures, cabinets, new floor tiles etc). All very nice. The building is 20’X50′ , but of course internally it’s smaller because of the hallway etc – I think around 850-900 sf if I remember correctly. We also have roof rights, but haven’t built anything up there.
Our question are: what are the kinds of things that will increase the value of our apartment before we sell? What is worth putting money into? Is there anything in particular that is considered a good investment in an apt like this, in terms of value on the market?
Finally, who would you recommend to get an appraisal from?
Thanks!
I agree staging is the most important, and is so often ignored.
I sold my place recently – I moved not only the clutter out, but all the small misc. furniture you don’t really need. Leave the big stuff to show it fits well (couch, dining table, beds) and little else – just a few small pieces – a nightstand, a small desk, a chair.
Put into storage your coffee tables and most other misc. tables, any large chairs, 2/3 of the stuff in your closets, and your rugs if your floors are halfway decent (they don’t need to be perfect to show them.) Store books and bookshelves – it makes the rooms look bigger.
And if your couch, bed or dining table is too big to show the space well, move it out and put in something sized appropriately for the space – for example, I put a smaller, round table top from Ikea on top of my table base, covered with a tablecloth, and it made my dining room look much more spacious than before.
I also purchased a cheap full-sized bed and a nightstand from Ikea (if I did it again, I’d get something even cheaper off of Craigslist) to put in my small, narrow bedroom (approx. 7′ x 11.5′) because it made the room look bigger than either the queen sized sofa bed or the loft bed I’d previously had in there – it made it look like a real, good-sized, guest bedroom, instead of a small, narrow room. If it is a kid’s room, leave it as is, but I think you get more money if you make it look like a guest room that can fit a full-sized bed – more of a real 2-bedroom apt. – than any other alternative use – like a study or office.
Also, when I washed the windows, I put the screens in the closet – it really improved the sunny, shiny window look. I painted the peeling/chipped paint spots – you don’t need to do a whole paint job if the colors aren’t off-putting – it isn’t worth the cost, as buyers won’t necessarily like your new wall colors, any more than a renovated kitchen or bath would be necessarily to the taste of
potential buyers. You just want to make it look like it doesn’t immediately need a paint job (even it it really does.) Agree with removing window treatments in living areas (leave them in the bedrooms.)
Moving the stuff to storage was so worth it – finding buyers immediately was easy, even at the price I listed it at, which was higher than my broker advised. (I used a broker because I think they bring in at least as much extra as their fee.)
Storage (when you aren’t storing a whole aparment’s worth of furniture) is faily cheap in Brooklyn. I also decided which old furniture I no longer really wanted, and sold that on Craigslist rather than store it.
thanks again for all the helpful responses. I’ve definitely got a better idea now.
I’ll email you ” 4:43 PM” once we’ve made more clear plans about the apartment” when we’re selling and how much we’re going to ask for it.
I think the baking cookies thing only works in suburban environments in big houses where you smell that smell in the kitchen but not all over the house. Here, food smell tends to go everywhere. Plus in general it’s a different kind of buyer here. There are so many smells, good and bad, all over NYC that the best way to make a place appealing here is to clean clean and show it very clean smelling, not smelling like food. Even if it’s tasty food.
I’ve even heard of people baking cookies right before an open house so that it smells really good and homey. And I guess giving away home-baked cookies would make people pretty happy, too.
Here are some tips from experience and the conventional wisdom:
Make all necesssary repairs to things like peeling paint, tub caulking, broken handles, etc. Even if the item is furniture you will be taking, repairs stand out.
Repaint as needed in neutral colors. That red accent wall may look great to you, but if someone dislikes it, they may not make an offer. Many people can’t see as far as the other side of a paint can.
Clean, clean, clean. Remove all clutter, childrens toys, etc. Remove virtually all personal photos and similar items. As the above poster said, put things in storage if necessary. During the open house for my sale last year someone asked the realtor “Does anyone actually live here?” All our furniture was still there but we had done that good a job of depersonalizing. And the cleaning lady had cleaned the day before. People need to be able to imagine themselves living in the space.
Make that narrow room look as large as possible. Arrange the furniture to minimize the length and maximize the length. Consult an interior designer on the arrangement if needed.
Make sure the house looks and smells clean on open house day. Especially the kitchen and bathroom. People walking into the house should feel like they have just arrived at a B&B to begin their stay.
Maximize light. Change or remove window treatments to maximize natural light. If a room is dark, make sure the realtor knows to keep the lights on.
If the house has any wall-to-wall carpet, make sure it is clean and stain-free. If not, replace or remove it.
The cost of the above suggestions is a few hundred dollars at most. But it can help translate into offers and better offers.
I agree about the roof deck being a good investment. Outdoor space has huge appeal.
Definitely declutter and depersonalize. In our old co-op when we were selling, we rented a storage unit, boxed, labeled and put everything in there. You have to pack and move it anyway. So just start early; look at it that way. Plus you’d be surprised at how little “stuff” you need. We ourselves also took some furniture out, to make the place look more spacious. You’ll want buyers to to actually see the baseboards, the wood floors, the “bones” of the place. Clutter only hides all that.
Lastly, step OUTside your apartment too, and look in your building hallways and foyer and exterior. If the front door to the building, or the door to your apartment needs a paint job, take care of that. Pay your cleaning woman to vacuum the hallways before an open house. Replace the door mats in the foyer and in front of your door. Clean the scuffs off the hallway walls. You could even put a couple big planters in front with nice plantings. Good luck!
FWIW, I agree that building a deck on the roof would pay big dividends…the gf and I are dying for some outdoor space, and something like a roof deck would probably cause us (another other buyers) to go above our price just to have it, or bid up…
or you could send in the info to brownstoner when the time comes, and probably sell it within days!!!
You only need to get rid of the clutter to show it, so you could just rent a storage space for a while when you’re ready to show, box up a bunch of the clutter and stash it until you move. You’re going to move anyway, so it’s hopefully not too much additional trouble. I think you should just do your best to make the space look as streamlined and neat as your typical Pottery Barn catalogue. That sounds sad, but it seems like it really works.