I have a question about selling my FIL’s house. He is 92 and his health is slowly fading. My wife has been his most everything since her mother went into memory care then passed away. When the time does come, she would like to sell the house as soon as possible. My wife’s parents bought the house new in 1962. It is a small 980 SF rambler on a shy quarter acre lot. 3 small bedrooms, 1 bath, single car garage converted to a family room. They paid $16,000 for the house, current valuation is $750,000. It is in an area of known for higher end homes.
My wife wants do some things that house could use before selling. A new roof (current was put on in 2001), new paint, some updated landscaping and remove the carpeting to show off the original oak flooring. She is thinking that adding $30,000 into the house will help it sell faster.
My plan would be to sell the house as-is. 2 of the 5 houses in the cul-de-sac have been extensively remodeled over the past 10 years. I am thinking whoever buys this house will either extensively remodel the house or tear it down and build a new house. Very few houses in this area have sold in recent years, the few that went onto the market sold very quickly and well over asking. People like this area and no one is moving.
My thinking is that a developer will likely buy the house and will not want to pay extra for things like a roof and paint. My wife has a lot of emotional attachment to the house, it has been Mom and Dad’s house since she was 4 years old. What do you guys think is the best option for this house.
Talk to a few realtors in that area and get their opinion. While it’s true that putting money into the house will generally help it sell faster and increase the price, it might not increase the price over what you put into it. You might be able to sell it as-is and come out overall ahead compared to doing improvements. The people who flip houses have their own renovation teams or connections with teams and know which improvements to do in order to maximize their profit. It’s going to be harder for regular people to decide where to put their money, not to mention dealing with the headaches of finding and supervising contractors.
One thing that might make your wife feel better is to do some simple renovations on your own. You can do stuff like paint the interior, redo caulking, landscaping, etc. to make it look better. And the time she spends fixing stuff up will help satisfy her need to feel connected to the house without having to take out a loan to pay for a bunch of renovations.
Unless you’re planning to do a FSBO, these are all things a decent real estate agent will know based on the house and the location. This is what my daughter does for a living and she talks about this situation a lot. She says that often the homeowner doesn’t agree with her advice, but she knows much more about what buyers will pay.
As others have said, getting expert opinions is always a good idea. Get a couple of appraisals, asking what improvements they would recommend. Ask them to rank the improvements in terms of bang for the buck.
My amateur opinion would be to avoid big ticket items like the roof (unless it is in really bad shape), and just do smaller things to improve curb appeal and instant reaction upon entering rooms. Removing the carpet might be good - especially if it is worn. But not necessarily if the floors will need to be redone.
If their area is anything like mine, new buyers are likely going to want the full HGTV cookie-cutter treatment. So let them - or a flipper - put in the $ and effort. If you are anything like me, what YOU think is important and will appeal to buyers, they won’t even notice.
Agree with consulting professionals. If the goal is to move the house quickly, once an inital assessment is done, compare how much time it would take to fix it up versus just selling as-is.
Also, be careful how much time you/wife are willing to invest yourselves. My wife sold her parent’s house last year and often said “we can do this” and “we can do that” - but I asked why? It’s not our house, and we stand to gain nothing - all the proceeds were going to her parent’s long-term care. We did some minor touch-ups, and the house sold in less than a week. More extensive reno efforts may have improved the selling price, but not by much, and the turn-around-time could not be improved.
That was my thought too. A small (less than 1000 square feet) old house on a big corner lot is probably either going to get torn down or have an extensive new addition put on no matter what.
Sprucing up the house and mowing the grass will probably make you feel better, and get some people in the door, but it’s probably a waste of time, effort and money to try to ‘pre-flip’ it.
When my brother and I put our childhood house in the market in 2010, we just hired a good Realtor and followed her suggestions. We found it really helpful to remind ourselves and each other that it wasn’t our home (or our mom’s) anymore.
Houses that were high-end fancy-pants state-of-the-art 1960s big ranch houses on large lots are simply bulldozed, regardless of current condition or any renovations whether recent or 15 years ago. Then a high-end fancy-pants state-of-the-art 2024 two story plus patio roof house that completely fills the lot are put in their place.
In those circumstances even a single dollar invested in fixing up the house is 100% wasted. It’s all going straight into the landfill. They’re buying the lot, not the house. The existing house is just an obstacle to their planned use of the lot. Heck, don’t even pay to haul off the last of the parents’ unwanted stuff; the bulldozer doesn’t care whether it’s churning up a couch or a wall.
That may not be the reality where this house is. Or it might be. The OP needs to know the environment (read “market”) surrounding the parents’ home. And the people who know that are local selling agents. Contact a couple for an honest appraisal (heh) of the current situation.
Different thought:
It can be hard to dispose of the home, and the last goods. When bereavement is fresh, there is no emotionally satisfying outcome; everything except leaving it as a shrine seems insufficiently respectful. But it’s just stuff and an ordinary house. And you already own plenty of each of those things.
I’ll suggest the “best” option will be a complicated mix of money and emotion. Those two things don’t trade off very well. Your wife’s legit emotional needs may end up being assuaged by what seems to you to be a silly amount of money. OTOH, the whole thing is a windfall, so a slightly smaller, but much more emotionally palatable windfall may be the “best” option overall, albeit not the financially maximal one.
Different but related idea …
I’d also check with a tax person and an attorney ASAP. If Dad is still mentally capable, there are definitely ways to arrange things so there’s no capital gains on the house when sold and no tax would be owed. If the right papers are in place before he dies. And depending on a bunch of local and individual details I’m not qualified to speculate about.
Do this due diligence or expect it to cost you dearly.
Same thing here. My deceased mothers house built in the 50’s but in good shape. But, every house sold in the neighborhood is being scraped when sold. Then a two story house goes up.
So for us, there is no point in making improvements. It would be fine for a couple with no kids, but 90% sure that it’s going to get torn down.
My wife and I go there collecting what we want of my mothers. We are going to donate furniture and stuff that we don’t want. I don’t have the time to do an estate sale, and people that do that stuff aren’t interested anyway. Sad, really, it’s all in great shape.
980sf for 750k? IMHO, it’s the property/land/location that is valuable. A new roof on a scraper is pointless, and won’t improve the value.
What sort of renovations have there been since 1962? My house was built much earlier than that and no substantial renovations have been done. There is one full bath and there are only a couple of electric outlets per room. When I sell it’s going to be either a knockdown or gutted so there’s no point in spending thousands to get a higher selling price as I will never get it all back.
Another issue is the value of your time. Even if your renovation have a positive ROI, renovating sucks. Dealing with contractors sucks.
Also, do you (pr does ypur FiL) have the cash to cover the renovations? Interest rates will be high even on a HELOC to improve the house. If you do have cash, that cash could be earning interest somewhere. Either way, locking 30k (and it will likely go higher) into the house has a cost.
I think the general concensus is that improvement work on a house does not usually increase the potential sale value by as much as is spent.
If it’s your own house, of course it may make sense to make improvements that you want since it’s where you live.
In your situation, you have to deal with the emotional involvement your wife has in the house. I don’t know how to deal with that other than to ask her: well, are WE going to live in it?
Location is everything but a sweet vintage 60’s era house in original condition could be an attention getter. Don’t bother with major upgrades. Don’t worry about pre inspections it’s not your house you haven’t lived there so no disclosures. Buyer does due diligence
There are bound to be buyers already scouting the neighborhood. An off market deal could be in the cards.
Yes show off the floors, do some light maintenance on landscape a good cleaning.
Don’t sell before your FIL dies. His estate will owe a siginificant amount of capital gains tax on the sale of the house. If your wife is the heir, then her tax basis in the value of the house will be stepped up to market value upon his death.
One plan may be to have your FIL pay for the improvements/maintenance out of his pocket before his death.