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!
It’s 4:02 again. I’m not looking to buy until next spring or summer. If you’d like to contact me to see if this is even possible when it comes to budget, etc. you can do so at fuzzyblu at hotmail dot com. (It’s a real address, I swear).
Thanks to everybody for all the advice.Sounds like it’s not really worth doing anything major just for the sake of selling. That’s always been our philosophy anyway: to only do things that we ourselves would want and enjoy. Getting rid of clutter and all the personal stuff is perhaps more of a challenge than building a deck. And just generally making the apartment neutral.
4:02 PM, we bought it without a broker and would love to sell it without a broker too. Brokers generally put me in a bad mood so I try to avoid them as much as possible. But we’re not planning on selling until early spring, maybe February….
you don’t really need an appraisal, unless you’re planning to go FSBO. but, even then, you can call any broker and they’ll come running to evaluate your place and give you the price they’d list it at.
imho, the most important part of selling is getting rid of clutter and making sure that everything is spotless. i wouldn’t spend any money on renovations unless you really want to do them.
If you want to sell it directly to me we can cut out all of those broker’s fees and earn more money that way!
I agree with 3:28 that kitchen and bathroom renos traditionally do the most to increase asking price, but it sounds like your kitchen is already pretty new. If the older bathroom stuff looks older, you could easily upgrade those.
If there is nothing specific that obviously needs upgrading, you would be surprised by how much some simple staging can do to make your home show better. If the walls are painted loud or bold colors, it might turn some sellers off, so repaint more neutral colors. Get rid of clutter, and “depersonalize” the space. The more neutral the space looks to the potential buyers, the more they can envision themselves living in the space.
watch designed to sell.
hgtv. every night at 8 and midnight.
We were thinking about putting up a deck but, as you say, it’s a lot of work and because our building is landmarked we’d have to get approval too, which is a pain. We don’t really want to start putting in lots of money now, but were rather hoping that there are ways to make it more attractive that are not huge money pits.
I don’t think putting a roof deck up is a huge project – getting the permits to do it might be though.
If it were me selling, I would fix anything that was obviously deficient or unpresentable (peeling paint, wall cracks, leaks etc.), and leave everything else. Sure, a roof deck would add value to your place, but that’s a HUGE amount of work (plus it sounds like you are in a landmark district) and who knows? Maybe someone who would have bought it won’t now because they don’t want a roof deck. If the apt. is in excellent shape as you say, just go ahead and sell it.