Renovate to sell?

[hellokitty]

So, I'm wondering if any of you have words of wisdom about renovating to sell your current home. DH is currently in the middle of applying for a job OOS. We have done a lot to our house in the 9 yrs that we have lived here. I'm wondering what your opinions are about a house that has been pretty much 100% renovated, except for the upstairs hallway bath and master bathroom flooring? Would that stop you from buying the house? Or would you buy it and just figure you will try to renovate it yourself. Nothing else in the house needs to be renovated. However the hallway bath upstairs is just a fugly pink nightmare. Pink octagonal (!!!) sink, pink toilet AND pink fiberglass tub, along with pink paisley wallpaper and cream and pink vinyl floor. Our master bathroom needs new flooring, the vinyl flooring in there is technically ok, but starting to look yellowed from age and dates the bathroom. Would you go ahead and do those renovations in order to sell the house if we list it? I have a friend who told me just to leave it and ppl can renovate it themselves. IDK, I think it's a buyer's market right now and ppl don't want to buy unless the house is close to perfect. The housing market here still sucks, housing prices are STILL going down, even though the rest of the state has seen a boost in house sales. I am reluctant to spend $ like that and know that we might not get any return back. However, my DH thinks that it would be worth it, to get the house sold more quickly. I'd like some feedback on what you guys think, since so many of you have recently bought and sold homes lately. I do know that compared to other houses in our neghborhood (which have been up for sale for 2+ yrs now), our house has upgrades that they don't have (HW floors, stone counter tops, no wallpaper, except for that hall bathroom, partially finished basement, etc.), our house IMO is much more attractive, given how much work and maint we have put into it. I'm just loathe to spend more on the house if we move (although, if we stay, we would go ahead and renovate anyway, just b/c it bugs me that this has been on our to do list for 9 yrs and we never got around to it, b/c DH kept saying he'd do it himself, now he just wants to hire someone). We got burned bad on our last house, had lots of major renovations done, and then DH got offered his current job and we only got to enjoy the renovations for 2 months before moving (although I admit that if it wasn't for the renovations, the house would have been harder to sell).

[sntm]

I'd check with a realtor and see what they would recommend. A lot of times, it isn't the stuff we usually think of that makes a big financial difference in the selling price.. A realtor could probably help to identify what areas of improvement would help you move the house or would increase the price higher than the cost of the renovation.

There are a ton of HGTV shows about that also. I'm totally addicted to some - Love it or List it is amusing (and usually has a lot of snarky people on it) and there are at least one or two others where they are renovating houses to go on the market. Might be good for ideas.

The pink bathroom definitely might be an obstacle UNLESS your house has a lot of retro charm and you are in an area where people value that. If it's 1950-1960s pink style, that might be worth leaving. If it's 1980s pink, yeah, I'd consider ripping that out. One of the obstacles for me in a house we looked at (overpriced but AMAZING views) was the upper bathroom which was pink and burgandy tile with cabbage rose wallpaper. I could have easily replaced the wallpaper, but the tile was unliveable.

[wellyes]

Just sell it. Remodeling and renovating is stressful and time consuming and expensive, and you usually cannot expect to recoup your expenses.

If you put it on the market and the feedback suggests you renovate, then consider it.

[crl]

My guess is that you probably won't get your money back, but you might sell faster. But that's just a guess. I'd talk to a couple of realtors.

Catherine

[MoJo]

A pink (but otherwise fully functional and NOT the master) bathroom would not deter me from buying a house at all. In fact, I suspect my girls would love it for a long time!

Yellowing tile in the master might have me questioning water damage, though.

Best wishes on your relocation!

[tmahanes]

You could always do the vinyl tiles in the master for very little money. We used some that actually suprised me at how good they looked and the were less than a dollar a square foot. They also can be put right over vinyl!

Sent from my Droid using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2

[Twoboos]

You should ask a Realtor. We were in a similar situation. We really REALLY didn't want to put the money into doing anything else to the house, even though we knew it was bad and our Realtor told us to get it done. Finally we ended up doing the bathroom floors (formerly vinyl or linoleum or something) because once we moved out, it was ALL people could see and tainted their view of the house. One bath had royal blue, one was turquoise, and the master was neutral but starting to yellow.

We did the floors and the difference was amazing. We used paint to tone down the funky bathroom colors. Royal blue tub/surround, light pink tub/surround stayed. We had previously changed out the royal blue sink/toilet and magenta (yes) toilet and sink to white.

One piece of advice - if you tile the floors, make sure you get tiles from the same lot number. Our tile guy didn't - and he definitely should have known better!! You could tell, it's the same tile but different shades. Once you notice it, it's all you can see. I was soooooo annoyed weeks later when the buyers brought it up. But we sold so it's not my problem any more!!! ;)

As crl said, we didn't get the money back, but it helped the house to sell. ETA: People don't want to do work, they want it done unless they completely totally LOVE the house and can look past any work.

Good luck!!

[mommylamb]

What about putting in the listing that the seller will provide the buyer with $x towards the cost of remodeling the bathrooms at closing?

[twowhat?]

Definitely ask a realtor who is very experienced in your area. It totally depends on the market. When we sold ours we needed to make sure it looked close to perfect because it was a buyer's market. If you are really in a buyer's market, the renovations could make the difference between paying an extra month or more of mortgage by helping the house sell more quickly, and in that case it's definitely worth it.

[hellokitty]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, this is not retro 50's-60's pink, this is 80's pink, which I don't understand, b/c the house was built in 1991!!! Anyway, we got an estimate from a contractor today (and another contractor will probably give us an estimate later on this wk). He agrees that the pink tub should probably be replaced, it sucks, since our hallway is a shape that will make it very difficult to get it through the doorway (they will have to saw the old one in half to get it out). He said that we could glaze it, BUT b/c the color is so dark, he admits that he doesn't know how durable it would be to scratches (this is the bathroom the kids use). The wallpaper, toilet, sink/counter and vinyl floor shouldn't be a problem. We asked him if vinyl flooring is out of style. I know ppl love tile, but I personally HATE tile, I hate grout. He said that actually it's 50/50, he says half of his clients get vinyl flooring (which I think is much easier to clean and we got it installed in our mudroom and downstairs bathroom and like the way it looks), half get tile, but he said vinyl is a lot cheaper, which is an added plus and it can just go over our current vinyl flooring. We do have a bit of tile, just in our foyer, but I chose to leave it there, since we live in an area with wet and wintery weather and I remember being so annoyed when the movers at our last house got road salt all over the HW floors and left pitting.

Anyway, I think we will end up doing the bathrooms for sure. If DH doesn't get the job he's applying for, it's ok, b/c I would like to enjoy the renovations, but he'll probably apply for other jobs in the next few yrs (as they come up), so eventually selling the house will be an issue anyway.

[hillview]

We had 80s pink in our bathroom and kitchen when we purchased it. I think I'd leave it but check with a realtor. Renos are $$ and differ by taste.

[hellokitty]

We had 80s pink in our bathroom and kitchen when we purchased it. I think I'd leave it but check with a realtor. Renos are $$ and differ by taste.

Did you just decorate around it or did you get replace it? I just don't see this ugly tone of pink ever coming back into style. I can only imagine old ladies liking it.

[arivecchi]

Having just bought a house last week, I would recommend you do the renos. Like you said, it's a buyer's market, so the less work your house entails, the quicker it will move. Otherwise, be ready for it to sit a while. Before you do the work, you might want to pull comps and see pictures of some of the houses listed for sale (you can find this information online), so that you get a feel for the price you will get. You cannot really tack on the price of a reno to the listing price in this market though. A buyer will not really care about that at all, but they will be more likely to make an offer for it. Good luck!

[icunurse]

I would probably break down and do the renovations. We just updated a bunch of stuff (bathroom flooring, vanities, faucets) to get our home more marketable. We didn't spend a lot and figure that if the house doesn't sell, at least we will like it better. We have received several complients about it, so we're hoping it will help us sell faster and get a little better price.

I have to say, though, that if I saw your bathroom, I would mentally be figuring in the cost of updating as well as the inconvenience to me. And that would be figured into my offer. I have seen several homes with lots of upgrades and then the bathrooms are the lands that time forgot and I think about how I will need to get new cabinets, vanities, paint, etc. and while *I* don't mind that bit of work, a lot of people do.

[hillview]

Did you just decorate around it or did you get replace it? I just don't see this ugly tone of pink ever coming back into style. I can only imagine old ladies liking it.

Well for 4 years we decorated around it and recently but the bullet and are mid reno. It is fugly!!

[mom3boys]

What you do may depend on the timing. Our only full bath is in dire need of a renovation, however I suppose the one positive (compared to yours?) is that it is neutral, everything's white. Like you, it is one of the few things we haven't renovated.

We are preparing to list our home and our realtor recommended against a full scale renovation which would have been a gut job. The reason she didn't want to do full reno was timing, as she wants us to get our house on the market now rather than later in the summer (and it will save us money not to do the reno, obviously). Instead we are fixing the obvious problems--retiling part of the floor (there are cracked tiles), regrouting around the tub, replacing the medicine cabinet, which has rust on it, and probably reglazing the tub. And painting.

As a potential buyer the bathroom you describe would not deter me from buying the house. I am ok with renovating in a house as long as what exists currently is functional (i.e., I would not buy house with a kitchen with virtually no counter/cabinet space, or non-working appliances, but I would buy a house with an ugly kitchen that has what I need for a kitchen to function). For good or bad though, I would probably hope that cosmetic issues like this would deter other buyers, so that I could get a better deal! So that may sway your decision as a seller.

[Simon]

Our relator suggested we not undertake any major work. She said either someone is going to love the retro look or else they are going to want to do it their way.

We are replacing the flooring in one room but not refinishing hardwoods, not redoing kitchen cabinets/counters, and a few other things.

[Globetrotter]

What about putting in the listing that the seller will provide the buyer with $x towards the cost of remodeling the bathrooms

Our seller gave us $ to replace the flooring, so we got to choose it. A bathroom renovation is a headache so may be off-putting to some potential buyers, but I think this is a valid option.

[mackmama]

My guess is that you probably won't get your money back, but you might sell faster. But that's just a guess. I'd talk to a couple of realtors.

Catherine

:yeahthat: I'd ask a good realtor in your area for their opinion. I'd think it'd sell faster if your whole house was updated. Then again, we will be looking to buy and were just thinking it'd be nice if there were 1-2 small projects to reno rather than a completely 'done' home. Our reasons, however, were so we could get the house for cheaper and so it would then have a higher resale down the road. So I echo what some PP said that you'd probably sell faster and perhaps for more $$ having done the reno. Not sure if the headache of reno would be worth it for you though.

[mikala]

I agree with the others to check with a realtor. I'd also get estimates for the work you're considering.

At minimum it sounds like your master bath may be ready for some new vinyl. If that's the only thing wrong with that room and you can make an inexpensive update it seems to make sense to just get it done so buyers are only focusing on the pink bathroom as the fixer upper project.

While househunting we saw a few listings with the "$x towards paint/carpeting/new tile/whatever" and it was honestly a bit off-putting. As a buyer it's nice to have that choice but it also puts you in the position of trying to verify that it's actually enough money to fix the problem. If it were really that easy why wouldn't the sellers have just made the updates themselves?