Preparing a house for sale - need help!

In My Humble Opinion
1

Looking for suggestions as I get my difficult townhouse ready for sale. The only other house we owned & sold was a pretty new house sold in a good sellers market and went very quickly. This will be more of a challange.

It is about 12 years old and we are the fourth owners. Previous owners treated it like a rental and left it in pretty rough shape. We did some cosmetic work when we moved in six years ago but it is looking rather shabby. We are probably going to take a bit of a bath on it if we can sell it at all so I don’t want to drop a bunch of cash intoit, but we will plan to spend $2000-$2500 and want to make best use of it.

We know it needs be thoroughly cleaned, decluttered and painted, and the carpets well cleaned rather than changed. We will probably spend a bit on redoing the half-bath on the main floor.

Positives:
Good square footage - 1600 sf finished and 800 sf unfinished basement.
Three good-sized bedrooms and 2.5 baths
Nice family neighborhood - not a townhome community with HOA fees
Own the land, so there is a nice-sized fenced backyard with deck - good for kids, dogs.
Decent & quiet neighbors. Attached on one side, don’t think I have ever heard the neighbors
Some nice planting in the front offers a bit of curb appeal.

Negatives:
Townhouse, not free-standing
Basic square rooms, no interesting or remarkable features to play up
Old enough to start looking shabby, especially things like the master bath fixtures and kitchen
Deck starting to warp in a couple places
Kitchen & bathroom cabinetry is white mdf while floors are hardwood & tile (what builder thought that was a good idea??)
Carpet has suffered, mostly from a couple older, sick cats and one who would simply not stop using one of the stairs as a scratching post.
Some of the doorframes are really battered - no idea why. Angry teens? Not caring what your furniture hit as you moved it in & out? Painted but does not look new.

So, other than paint, clean, declutter, what is the best bang for my $2500 bucks?

2

I am planning on repaintung my cabinets versus replacing them. It’s a kit from the brand Rustoleum. It’s a primer and paint in one. You can see the colors they have on their web site and it has great reviews!!! It’s the fraction of the cost of replacing the cabinets.

3

This might be something to run by your realtor, but what if you set aside some of the money you budgeted as a “carpet allowance” that you offer the buyers?

Something that always struck me as odd, but apparently staging is huge - so something like replacing some furniture items or adding decorative touches, things that will go with you when you move, can also make a difference. I used to be hooked on HGTV porn, and the stagers always tried to make the houses look like model homes. It seemed silly to me - a buyer is there about the house, not your decor - but apparently the model impression carries a lot of weight. I’m an atypical buyer - I know that paint and carpet and curtains can be changed easily, but room size and structural integrity can’t…

But for certain, cleanliness, decluttering, (including closets - make them look roomier by not having them crammed full) and maybe something subtle, like the scent of baked bread or cookies when someone is due?? It’s funny, but to this day, I remember the smell of a house my folks were looking at when I was about 10 or 11 (I’m almost 58) - so maybe good smell = quick sale??

4

Has your deck been maintained? If it’s painted have you had it washed and painted recently, or if it’s stained have you had it washed and stained recently?

Decks are awesome. But they do take maintenance. It would be nice to know that when you bought a house with a deck you didn’t have to bother with the wash-and-paint for another 2 years or so because it was just done.

5

In this area:

For around $100 you can get a stager to come in and tell you what to do on your own, definitely worth the money. Have this first, the stager will help you with room colors.

New, neutral color, carpet sells better than a carpet allowance. Stay away from cheap laminate floors.

New trim for around doors is fairly inexpensive. You can buy precut kits at the building store. Damaged trim around doors is really noticable and turns people off, it shows hard use.

Deck wood is also inexpensive but the interior is more important and everyone thinks they can do the deck themselves. If the boards are really warped replace them and restain the deck, especially if they’re a tripping hazard. If it’s too cold to stain still replace the boards as it shows you keep up with routine mantenance.

Neglect and hard use is a bigger detriment than 12 year datedness so clean and new looking is key. Have a good friend come over and pick apart your house. Clean the exterior entryway area so when people are waiting to get in they can’t find anything wrong or dirty.

6

Great suggestions so far - thanks to you all.

I wondered about new carpet vs carpet allowance. I’ve heard argument both ways. I’ll see how it looks after getting it cleaned and stain treated, then seek an opinion when we choose a realtor.

When I have looked at a house, a definite yes or no has always happened within the first few seconds of walking in. Not sure I could exactly say why. Our first house had total slobs living in it, smelled odd, and was full of junk but I wanted it as soon as I walked in. Something about the way it looked from the front door. After that it was just looking for a reason to talk myself out of it. My husband chose the one we are in - I was in a different state at the time and it is not one I would have selected so I am at a bit more of a loss.

Re: painting mdf cabinets - should I give them a freshening coat of white or try to make them more interesting? The quarter round at the base needs to be replaced but the cabinets themselves are in good shape, just odd-looking next to the hardwood oak floor.

The deck certainly needs staining and probably a couple pieces of warped wood will be replaced. It will not be much work but will need to wait for spring. Luckily we have some time before putting it on the market so we can do a lot of the work ourselves.

Should we empty the basement entirely? It has an area for a workshop at the moment that can be cleaned up and organized, but not sure if it isn’t better to simply clear the whole space.

7

I recommend removing anything that makes a space look more than half full. Clothing and stuff in closets (try to keep the closet floors as empty as possible), cabinets and pantry (people WILL open them and look inside), bookshelves (built in or not), basements and garages (who wants to see crap stacked in there?). If you’re not going to use it, box it up and put it in a storage facility (NOT in your garage or basement). Make sure that your beds are made (invest in a nice looking cover if you don’t have one already) and that your place is clean and smells good.

A lot of folks may mention “baking cookies” and all that, but you may have better luck with making sure the cigarette smell is gone, trash emptied, litter box scooped, bathroom cleaned, laundry washed and the house aired out (even in winter–it can smell stale). We often don’t think of our homes having a “smell”, but they do. And smells (unpleasant ones) can turn off people in a heartbeat. No amount of baking cookies will overpower a dirty litter box.

Neutral paint will go a long way to freshen the look of a room and “moderize” it. Avoid white walls if at all possible (tends to make things like incredibly boring), but also avoid any “specialize” or very personal colors (like turquoise or hot pink). If you have wallpaper or wallpaper border, then get rid of it. Both are very personal and can be a major distractor for many people.

Clean, clean, clean. And then clean some more. Keep in mind that people will open everything and look everywhere. Add some green plants if you can. (Not fake ones though.)

How old is the carpeting? Unless it’s fairly new, I’d say either remove it or clean it. Chances are good the new owners will want to replace it. Unless it’s filthy beyond cleanable, or it’s coming apart at the seams, I’d vote against replacing it with new carpeting–hardwood floors are VERY popular now, and I see on Craigslist all the time ads for “like new carpeting” that is from a newly purchase house, that’s being ripped up to put down hardwood by the new owners.

Make sure the curtains and blinds are open (even if the day is overcast) during a showing, and make sure people can access the windows. (You cleaned them on the inside and outside, right?) It’s likely they’ll want to walk to a window and look out to see what the view is like (even if there isn’t a view). Having a TV or dresser or a pile of boxes in front of the window will discourage folks from getting too close to a window.

8

You need to start watching Entitlement Whores and Entitlement Whores International [House Hunters and House Hunters International]

Nothing you do will be right unless it looks absolutely perfect with granite counters and all brand new stainless steel appliances, with the hottest new flooring materials, and it needs to look like a penthouse in Manhattan … and it needs to be the cheapest price in the world. Honestly - most shoppers have no imagination, they can’t see past the wall color, old carpets and outdated anything. I have seen someone refuse to consider an otherwise perfect house because the carpets were old, the appliances were not stainless steel and they didn’t like the color the walls in the master bedroom were painted. They tend to have absolutely insane requirements.

Go ahead and reface your kitchen, the paint/primer idea sounds good to me. Replace the door frames, and anything else that is battered - baseboard is also cheap. A fresh coat of neutral paint everywhere is good. If you can put moldings at the tops of the walls, that would be great also these foamones we put into my moms house a year or so ago, and it went well. There are other choices at you local big lumbermart.

9

I would paint the cabinets not too white. I like how white cabinets look against wood floors and trim but sometimes prefinished white is too stark. An off white might look better. Don’t get too interesting, I would stay away from any color too far away from a stained wood tone. For example a mahagony color maybe but not straight red.

Do not take everything out of the basement or repaint the walls, it makes people think you had some sort of flooding accident. Leave it all tidy but unmoved looking. I live in an area of flooding and nothing scares me more than a perfectly clean and newly painted empty basement. Boxes piled on the floor mean you’re not worried about water.

10

I’m probably too practical of a buyer, so I can’t really help with the emotional hook. I’d much rather see an empty space where the ratty old fridge used to be and a $1000 credit off the price, than (like the sellers of my current house) a brand new fridge which was Consumer Reports lowest rated model for reliability and function. Count with that my vote for old, but clean, carpets and a willingness to come down on the price to take into account the carpet’s age.

One thing that’s been touched on, but not mentioned explicitly, is to repair anything which is broken, leaking, or shooting sparks. I don’t mean the scuffs on walls, or dents in the door frame, but the trap under the sink that’s leaking, that one outlet that hasn’t worked in years, the toilet that doesn’t flush right, etc. Those are all things a home inspector should notice and you might end up having to repair before the sale anyway. When I was looking at houses, obvious mechanical problems were a quick turn off to me. Like I said though, I’m practical on these things.

11

We sold our house this past spring and moved out of state. We were the original owners - built new about 8 years ago. We were pretty rough on the house being first time homeowners, with 2 kids and a cat. We asked our realtor what she thought was important to ‘clean up/fix’. She suggested boxing up as much as of our stuff as possible, keep a limited amount of stuff in closets and on counters. (Pretty much at the drop of a hat we’d have people coming over to see the house with about 1-2 hour notice)

First off we decided to the spend the money and get a ‘Seller’s Inspection’ our person inspected everything the buyer would have inspected (if buying the house). It really opened our eyes to things like, a loose toilet handle, exterior cracks, loose tub drains etc. Definitely worth the money.

What got me, was the things people would complain about going through the house. Since we were moving out of state on a specific date most of our possessions were in our 2 car garage. At first the boxes n stuff were haphazard, but buyer’s didn’t like seeing the boxes like that - ‘negative’ about the house… /groan. So our agent suggested I stack all the boxes up so it looks ‘neat’.

My husband was working out of state, and I was home with 2 kids but you never would have known because everytime we left the house it was in showing condition. I felt like Monk with cleaning, over, and over again.

So, get a seller’s inspection and ask your realtor’s advice on anything major and clean, clean, clean! Good luck

12

This is all very good advice. To get the sale on an older house, it truly does have to be spotlessly clean.

Carpets are totally out right now; I agree with not spending any money replacing it. Getting it as clean as you can and calling it a day will probably be good enough (maybe use a stain remover, too).

The banged-up doorframes can be filled and painted to look much better.

Electrical and plumbing fixtures can be changed out for modern ones for not much money, and they make a huge impact on buyers. If you aren’t already, it’s time to haunt the local hardware stores and see what they have (and make sure you don’t miss their clearance sections).

As others have said, look after every little detail - every tiny little thing that you’ve lived with for six years, it’s time to get that looked after before you put it on the market.

Regarding a “seller’s inspection” - when we were selling our house, we had some buyers that tried to scam us with a home inspection (done by what we suspect was not a registered inspector) - we ended up getting our own home inspection done to prevent this type of scam (the scam, of course, was that their inspector found all kinds of non-existent problems with our house, which the buyers tried to use to get a huge price reduction). The next time we sell a house, we’ll spend the couple of hundred dollars right away and have it properly inspected, which is actually a selling feature as well.

13

Replace anything that looks old and worn. Molding, doorknobs, carpets, lightswitch plates, faucets, etc. Repaint, with flat white paint. You want to make the place look like a blank canvas. Except of course you do need that model house basic furniture. But avoid clutter. Minimal stuff on the walls, on top of furniture and counters. Someone mentioned half-full closets, definitely do that. You want to give the impression of plenty of storage space. It’s worth replacing carpets, but don’t spend too much. They just need to be clean and new looking. Don’t go for new fancy countertops or cabinets, they won’t return their value in the sale price unless you can buy wholesale and install yourself. Get a new nice looking doormat for outside, and an entry rug inside, and do everything you can to make the front door entry way look brand new. That’s what they see first. Do the fresh baked cookies or bread thing, and put out fresh flowers.

14

Yanno, for the kitchen cabinets, I’d seriously consider painting the doors two-tone, if the style of the door lends itself easily towards doing this. You can keep the white color, and then paint the second area a darker shade to harmonize with the hardwood floor.

Also, the INTERIOR of the cabinets must be impeccable. Put brand new contac paper inside, it really brightens things up.
~VOW

15

Some of your negatives aren’t negatives; others are easily fixed.

Townhouse: this means lower heating/cooling costs than in a freestanding building. Neighbors do have their advantages, and the electric bill is a mighty one.
Square rooms: easy to arrange, more possible ways to arrange furniture than in a long room or one with a strange shape. Rooms in La Pedrera are extremely artistic, but the only furniture that fits in them is what Gaudí designed - square rooms are the exact opposite of that. They may be boring, but they’re practical and the best possible usage of space.

I don’t know what will it be called in the US, but for the doorframes, you should be able to find “wood repair” liquids. My flat has recently suffered several week’s worth of workmen’s boots and, except for a place where one of them dropped something heavy and made a half-inch indent in the parquet, all grooves, marks and discolorings have been healed by the masterful application of “Pronto fixer for light wood”.

You say the fixtures in the kitchen and bath are looking shabby. If they’re old-fashioned, there’s nothing you can do and you never know what the prospective buyers will like. If they’ve got markings, try an anti-build-up cleaner: apply it and leave it in place for about 15’ before wiping it off.

If everything in the house works, then it’s “ready to move in”: if the new owners want to remodel, they may do it now, but they don’t have to. That’s actually a big selling point for many people. When I bought my house, the kitchen was like that, the previous owners had intended to remodel it, but were moving out due to an unexpected opportunity so they hadn’t. I bought the house in 2005 and have remodeled the kitchen in 2011, when I had the money, time and energy for it.

16

Thanks for all the great suggestions. We are doing an assessment ourselves, top to bottom, and beginning the first stages of clearing & cleaning. My god, I have a ton of crap! Closet by closet, room by room, we are sorting, bagging for garbage, donation, recycling. Yikes. Don’t even want to think too hard about the basement this weekend. Looked over the carpet and decided that it is mostly in good shape and a good stain treatment in a couple areas and serious post-winter cleaning should take care of it. It is a decent neutral color - no pastels or crayon colors anywhere.

The extra two bedrooms and upstairs bath have hardly been used and were all recently painted and new flooring put in, so they just need to be emptied & cleaned.

We starting pricing stuff like faucets, shelves, shower door, etc that are shabby and need to be replaced - peeling finishes or edges knocked off. Selected nice but neutral paint colors and started calculting how much of each color we need. Made a schdule with deadlines for each project. I feel a little more in control of the project. Luckily we have some time before we need to actually get it on the market.

Breaking it all down into smaller projects certainly helps. The painting and fixture replacements will probably be done last and we should be able to put it on the market with most of the furniture out, everything looking fresh, and most importantly, the cats already moved - this probably be a cross-coutry move, so even that will be done in stages.