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Buying and Selling Homes

Selling my Mom's home

17 years ago

My Mom recently died and I am going to need to sell her house in Flower Mound Texas. A very nice area with good schools.

There are a couple of problems. A main one is a see thru fireplace between the living room and master bedroom. The master is huge and the fireplace is in the sitting area but I can still see right into the bedroom from the couch. I was going to check out darker tinted doors for both sides but I am wondering if anyone has suggestions?

She put in a pretty sage green carpet in the great room and the dinning room. She used the dinning room as a office and I think many people would not use it as a dining room. Would sage green carpet be a huge turn off to you? It is very high quality and less then a year old. It is over tile.

Most of the house is still the orginal very light beige color from 1995. It actually is an okay color except we have no touch up paint and no idea what it is. There are a few places the edges are chipped away. How important is this?

The dinning room is painted a deep green that sorta clashes with the carpet. It isn't horrible, but not great. Should we repaint a slightly deeper beige then the rest of the house? Also one bedroom is light purple. Should we repaint it?

The house is worth about $200,000. so I hate to spend too much. It would probably sell for $800,000 in south California according to my brother from the area. Dallas area is cheap.

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Comments (6)

solie
17 years ago
I wouldn't do anything (except a new coat of off-white paint, since it's been 20 years), especially if there are other siblings around.

It's just not worth getting too involved. Hire a good realtor, get it spotless, and price competitively.

If you go nuts fixing it up, what's the best that will happen? You net another 5% that gets divided up. Not worth the stress and potential conflicts.
Carol_from_ny
17 years ago
It depends what your goal is and what your market is like. Honestly I think presenting a home that is clean, well maintained and uncluttered is MORE important than the color on the walls or floors.

Spend your money on cleaning and making the yard look good. If the color of the walls or the flooring are issues then offer X amount of dollars upon closing to have it changed by the buyer....but save that for your counter offer if you really think ya need to do anything at all.
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You need to make it a little better than its competition, whatever you decide. If it's an as-is, it should be the best as-is in the area. If it's a fixed-up ranch house, it should be the best fixed up ranch house in the area. I personally prefer to fix places up before I sell them. There's value in any work you do. You can figure out what a house like that would sell for in its current state, and then what it would sell for if you painted it, refinished the hardwood floors, fixed the bathrooms. I bet it would be worth fixing. If you could post pictures, we could give you ideas. I agree with what someone said about painting the paneling creamy white, not builder's white. I've painted paneling before and used a warm cream color. It looked fantastic. Do a careful job on the paneling otherwise it will look like cheap painted paneling. Use the right primer. What state are you in?
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"I was recently in a similar situation and learned one important thing: there is always a market for a fixer-upper if it is priced appropriately." I have been purchasing and rehabbing/renovating 'old laddie' (meant as strictly descriptive!) houses for many years. I have even lived in some while doing the work, one for many years after I renovated. Technically that was an 'old man' house since his wife died many years before. I have purchased from estates, from heirs, and from folks just needing money for health care or a smaller place in their senior years. Every one has needed significant work to update, and the vast majority of sellers understood this. Most have been surprised how much I was willing to pay (I can do all the work myself if required and time is available). When I started I got burned a few times on unanticipated repairs, but quickly learned to look hard and well before offering. The ones that went over anticipated cost I had to rent and hold onto longer to recover the money I put in. One seller even came back and looked at her former house and would have purchased it back in its new condition, but it remained to large for her to care for. She actually thanked me for getting it back into shape for another family to call home. She was so kind I even took her out for dinner.
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Sjerin, may I ask, Portland OR or Portland Maine? If Oregon, I could tell you the things my brother did to his house before selling it - he was turning people away at the door and refusing to let them in until all work was completed to his satisfaction and he ended up with a bidding war, sold within hours of listing. I sold a house two years ago in smaller community and it definitely needed a kitchen update. I left it as is, but left it immaculately clean, spotless appliances, everything scrubbed to gleaming. And then priced the house accordingly. The neighborhood was desirable and the house really was move in ready, but the kitchen lacked any of what people seemed to want today - granite, tile, clever additions to the cabinets to make a smaller space work well. It didn't matter in the end, priced correctly is the key I think and I had 3 offers in writing the first week, closed before 30 days had passed.
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dreamgarden
17 years ago
Don't sign a contract with the realtor for longer than 3 months. This will give them the incentive to work harder to move the property. You can always relist with them if they are doing a good job. Read some of the older threads and you will see what I mean.
cpowers21
17 years ago
I would leave the carpet alone. I would paint the dining room walls though. There is a way to have the paint matched if you wanted to get some touch up paint. Other than that, just clean it up, get rid of any big, bulky furniture, steam the carpets if needed, and make all the fixtures shine. I've seen those see-through fireplaces. They are cool looking, but I don't think I'd get one. I would look into what can be done about seeing into the MBR. I don't think you should do something permanent though. You never know what the buyer's might like. May be one of those folding doors. You can use it to block but you can still move it. I don't know if it would work though.
Adella Bedella
17 years ago
Try fireplace screen to cover the see through area. I'd get a screen to put in front of each side. It looks like they about $200-$300 and come in some styles that wouldn't readily allow a person to see from one room into the other.

Here is a link that might be useful: Google Search Fireplace screens
lyfia
17 years ago
How about a fireplace screen on the master side? One that doesn't have a lot of large holes. That would be an easy thing to just put in that spot.

I would paint the dining walls. What kind of tile is underneath the carpet? Ie would it look better than the carpet? If not keep the carpet.

Purple room may appeal if a family buys it and has a girl. Not something I'd be too worried about unless it is the master.

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