Selling Apt - Should One Renovate First, Or Not?
When I put my apartment up for sale six months ago I was inclined to renovate it first. It is a beautiful space near the beach in Brooklyn but it was shabby looking with old floors and broken tiles in the bathroom and a very old kitchen that needed replacement. Everyone said not to renovate…
When I put my apartment up for sale six months ago I was inclined to renovate it first. It is a beautiful space near the beach in Brooklyn but it was shabby looking with old floors and broken tiles in the bathroom and a very old kitchen that needed replacement. Everyone said not to renovate because the new owners would want to do it themselves a different way. The brokers and my friends all agreed so I did not renovate. However I am finding that when a possible buyer shows an interest he invariably mentions the condition and wants a discount of as much as %25 off of the list price. I am now thinking to go ahead and renovate. At least to change the floors. I hope I am not throwing money away but it seems more economical then lowering my price so dramatically to sell the apartment.
I am preping a house for sale next spring and have been looking at ‘Sell This House’ on HGTV. Although they don’t count labor as a cost, they always state their budget — usually about $1,000.
DE-CLUTTER, DE-PERSONALIZE, and NEUTRALIZE.
Get rid of all your junk, get rid of all your family pictures, and tone down the colors. Clean everything. Arrange the furniture so that the buyer can walk easily from room to room. And, don’t forget to decorate the walls with art from Target or IKEA.
I recommend that you sand and stain the floors (if they look bad), paint the walls and ceilings (make them look fresh), patch any holes in the bathroom, and finish any project you started but didn’t finish.
Good luck.
I am preping a house for sale next spring and have been looking at ‘Sell This House’ on HGTV. Although they don’t count labor as a cost, they always state their budget — usually about $1,000.
DE-CLUTTER, DE-PERSONALIZE, and NEUTRALIZE.
Get rid of all your junk, get rid of all your family pictures, and tone down the colors. Clean everything. Arrange the furniture so that the buyer can walk easily from room to room. And, don’t forget to decorate the walls with art from Target or IKEA.
I recommend that you sand and stain the floors (if they look bad), paint the walls and ceilings (make them look fresh), patch any holes in the bathroom, and finish any project you started but didn’t finish.
Good luck.
Not many buyers think of real estate as an investment anymore. We compare it to renting. So we look at a place and consider whether we want to spend a year or more in construction plus the unknown cost — out of the probable 5-8 years we will live there. It makes a big difference if the renovation will mean loss of use of the kitchen or the only bathroom….
In my experience as an architect, people are not very good at visualizing design options. They also tend to be frightened about going through the renovation process for a variety of reasons – costs, approvals, time, and so forth – which is probably why prospective buyers are low-balling. If you can get away with staging a retro look, go for it, but if you decide to go the renovation route, with a small budget, there are plenty of things you can do to make the place more attractive. Painting is a no-brainer. Redoing bathroom tile and fixtures is easy too, particularly if you use tasteful inexpensive tile and do not move any plumbing. And refinishing the floors (or strategically locating carpets) will do wonders. Whatever you do, try to have fun with it. It will show.
Where is this place? Is it priced competitively in the first place?
Practically everything I’ve seen in Queens and North/East Brooklyn is hideous. Very little in move-in condition. Not so in the “prime” areas.
Personally, I would ask your realtor. You can also consult a professional stager to see what would need to be done to move the place quickly at close to the list price. Everything I’ve seen on HGTV suggests making sure the place is spotlessly clean, all clutter and evidence of pets removed, depersonalize the space (i.e. remove the family photos) and present it in the best possible light. An older bathroom and kitchen can be cleaned up and maybe even sold as retro.
Ask your realtor to be brutally frank with you and take his/her advice, s/he only get his/her commission when the place closes.
Bottom feeders? Just because someone bids 25% under doesn’t mean they are a bottom feeder. Don’t go wild, but I actually agree that if it does need work, you do have to price it aggressively, because there are places out there that DON’T need work that are priced similarly.
So make it shine: floors, paint job, maybe some minor upgrades, but definitely don’t spend a lot of money or time on a renovation because people will want to make it their own.
Have you weighed the cost and time of the renovation against dropping the price or accepting a lower offer? It may not be worth the hassle.
There are cheap ways to make the apartment look good. Obviously paint, no clutter, all that common sense stuff. I would not however do new cabinetry, not everyone will like your taste, and I wouldnt wast the time effort and money involved. There is a buyer for everyone.
This HGTV thing has gotten to far out of hand in what they make the sellers feel they must have in their home…
It is hard to believe that these buyers have got zero imagination, makes me think they never moved in their childhood with their parents…
not many people ever move and just place their furniture and call it a day….