A nationwide statistical study released in May …
“When somebody walks into a house, they may look at other things, but if they like the bathroom, and the kitchen, they’ll buy the house.â€
http://www.remodeling.hw.net/industry-news.asp?sectionID=149&articleID=152292
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Replies
Stats can be very accurate, but you have to look at return on your dollar...
The house we just sold I bought 4 years ago for $50,000. It was not a pretty thing.
The real estate people came through and advised us to sell it for between $60,000 and $70,000. In response I did the following work:
Total Cost - 2 trips to the dump and a can of Paint $200
Total Cost - Another trip to the Dump, drywall, mud, Paint, Trim. etc. $1500
All the work was done by my GF (she's a trooper) and I in three weekends. No labour cost.
We listed the place at $92,000 amid wails from our agent. The house just sold for $88,500.
So much of what a house sells for depends on Haggling skills of the seller and buyer, on the agent, and on the local market that making point blank statements about kitchens and baths increasing value can't always be depended on to be right.
In this case the sagging plaster and ugly exterior were the first things a buyer would see when entering the house. The kitchen really needed to be redone more than the front room, but it would be the last thing a prospective buyer would see. I figured if they feel comfortable when they come in, then they will feel better about sticking around. If I had done the kitchen and they walked into a front room that felt like it was falling in, there is no way they would have stuck around to see the rest of the house.
Just my thoughts.
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There're always exceptions.
When I was licensed I unlocked the front door of a decent looking house only to be confronted with a large pile of smelly dog crap. Prospects politely stepped over it but really didn't see anything of the house. Only one lasting memory, well, maybe two including the smell. In that case, even your efforts would have been futile.
In general I also found kitchens to be a major point. Partly due to the large expense of a remodel. Already done, meant distinct value added to the house.
Good friends here built their dream retirement house. Boooooooring. But the kitchen, which she and I designed, had an extravagant counter system that I fabricated. Buyers were very clear that was what sold the house, $300k. PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Sometime the issue is more marketability than home value. I'm looking to sell my home in the next 1-2 year and it's about 12 years old. The layout is basically the same as all the new builds in the area but all the counters and cabinets are not granite and cherry which is now "required". So there will be a whole host of buyers who will not even look at the house because of that, all other things being equal. I could leave it the way it is and hold out or I can change it and pick up a lot more potential buyers. Either way the listing price wont change that much.
What generally boosts home value is location. Second is square footage. All the other stuff boosts value, but maybe not much more than the expense.
Selling a used older home - cleanliness and fixing obvious defects is highly profitable. New windows etc, no dice usually. Good roof, big giant plus.
so you're telling me that my pink and aqua tiled bath might not have the sex appeal I was hoping for ?
but the damn thing is all on wire and mud !
carpenter in transition
As someone else already mentioned, location really is the first three criteria. All of the other criteria take fourth place or lower.
As an examle, here (Raleigh NC area) there was an article in the weekend paper about houses that are being sold at tremendously high prices (approx $half million) -- but only so they can be torn down to make room for even bigger McMansions.
I haven'tyet decided if I want to write a letter to the editor, asking if those new houses have a recycling bin.
Unless you're the lead dog, the view just never changes.
JMHO
they say "location sells" but then I would assume people only look at houses where they want to live anyway
you can overcome many things... but unless ur selling it as a "fixer upper" everything needs to be fixed clean and look nice... no pink or green rooms
even an outdated kitchen or bath with new fixtures & nice hardware will sell...
it's ok to have a dated (read charm) kitchen in an old house as long as it's clean decent paint/wallcoverings same goes for bathrooms... but if it looks nasty... forget it people don't like to clean their own dirt muchless yours...
p
Interesting.
I read the article and thought I saw the answer to the MacMansion question.
Others thought it had no value because it didn't mention dog poop on the stoop.
Some thought the article was flawed because it did not compare the prices of homes in different locations.
Nobody recognised that the purpose of the research behind the article was to eliminate the effects of "Location" from the equation.
SamT
I saw the same thing as you. If you compare apples to apples, it's the kitchen and bath that sell a house. And it doesn't mean it has to be brand new, but it has to be desirable.
For the most part, the rest of the rooms in houses are just big squares to people absent unique features (i.e., antique magnificent stair and entry hall). But in 99% of houses, the only real distinguishing features are k's and b's.
And people don't buy houses because they are clean. People DO NOT buy houses because they are dirty or deteriorated. In other words, some things are distinct negatives, but they don't become positives if fixed. People expect houses to be clean and in good repair, and will avoid houses that aren't.
SHGFor every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.
-H.L. Mencken
Uh, Sam, that was a rather simplistic, and wrong, summary. I certainly didn't make any reference to the article at all, only a previous post.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Kitchens & Baths may raise the selling price, but if you are remodelling the Kitchen or Bath simply to sell it, you won't recoup your expenses - especially since when you remodel something like that you are limiting your prospective buyer base to those with tastes similar to yours.
If there are broken/non-functioning items, by all means fix them. Get rid of anything that obviously detracts from the homes value, but basically, if you were able to live with it for X number of years, then it's not a big enough issue where you are going to recoup your $$. I'd rather put that money into the house I was buying/building so that I could enjoy the fruits.
Everyone is hitting around, but not directly saying what the primary factor is in homebuying...thus, what one should do to a house to make it more marketable (in a given location). To me the answer is readily apparent...women.
Ever notice that most of the realestate agents in your area are women? Ever wonder why that is?
Just my guess, but when a couple are houseshopping, the woman is never less than 51% of the decision making authority on what will be a candidate for purchase and what is right out.
Now, when my wife and I were looking at open houses, I'd shoot right to the basement, looking at HVAC, electrical panals, leaking basements, plumbing, etc....while my wife was upstairs being guided by the RE lady, who would be talking in terms of 'textures', 'complimenting colors', and 'deocrating possibilities'.
Now, before the women out there shower this post with hot flames, this is not a sexist response...just an observation. Certainly there are women who want to look at mechanicals and men who dream of cheery window treatments....however, I've never known any and I'd guess that they're in the minority.
But I suspect the most successful preparations for home sale will keep the above clearly in focus.
BruceM
wife: Oh, that's cute......................
me: yeah, that helps alot!It's Never Too Late
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Our recent experience was this:
Our selling agent was female - she thought the house looked bad and would sell Waaaaay under what we got for it before re-doing the front of the house. Buyer was a guy who was mostly impressed that we had insulated, replumbed and rewired. He plans on redecorating as his tastes don't match ours.
Our buying agent was a guy. He remodels on the side since he hasn't built up a large clientelle in Real estate (he worked as an engineer before going to RE). My GF wanted "cute but quirky" I wanted "good bones." The agent was very good at assessing the mechanicals and the GF understood that quirky was ok, but not if it meant future work would be a nightmare.
One of the houses she liked best was 4 additions onto an original structure with no floors lined up (2 stairs up in the middle of the master bedroom, 1 step up in the middle of the livingroom floor). Even though it had good mechanicals and a great lot overlooking the lake, the layout would be difficult to do any work on.
One of the houses I thought would be interesting had a century home on the lot that had been abused by renters. It would be a gut and rebuild, but the price was right. Sadly the renters had blacked out the windows (drug house??) and the GF couldn't get past the dirt, smell, and darkness. The place had a brick exterior, the tin ceilings, slate roof and hardwood floors. Coulda been beautiful. On the downside it was next to a Railroad. On the upside it had 2 garages and came with a second "summer house" for under $200,000 View Image