Great advice. I'm happy you and your DH are on the same page and it's exciting to hear you'll be able to start planning your renovations! Best of luck!

Would you be willing to share anything specific he suggested? Where should you focus, what did he say to not bother doing?

Yes, I agree with Arcy on those questions if you don't mind sharing.

I'm glad he gave you specific numbers, and has the renovation experience to know if those numbers are reasonable. I've heard so many realtors, who have no idea what renovations cost, say "Oh yeah, absolutely renovate the kitchen!" Because, yes, a renovated kitchen will sell the house faster. However, if your house is currently worth $500k, and the renovated kitchen will make it a $530k house, but it costs $50k to get that renovated kitchen, then it's not a good idea to renovate just for the purpose of selling the house.

Sounds like a great realtor with a lot of helpful advice. I hope he will be at the top of the list when it's time to sell. You were smart to ask for His advice.

Arcy - Sure, I will be glad to share.

Tuscan is still very popular here in west Austin. I kind of knew that based on what I see in houses for sale and new builds. However, I want to get rid of the few Tuscan details in this house as I am over it so I won't be going in that direction. Plus, it doesn't fit the style of our exterior. He wasn't saying to, just saying that it is still very popular.

Master Bathroom:

No surprises there, really. I was thinking a complete gut except for the vanity, and he said the same thing but he also said we might want to consider having two separate vanities or a level one (ours is the high/low his/hers which is super annoying because I am 5'9"). So, I will rethink keeping the vanity since that has always irritated me.

Kitchen:

Keep cabinets (they are stained cherry) and either darken the stain or paint white. His contractor uses a spray method, and his do look incredible. That is a no-brainer for me as I have always wanted a white kitchen, and don't really care for espresso cabinets.

I asked about granite fading in popularity and about quartz since I am not a huge granite fan, and I like materials like quartz better. He said if we lived in south Austin, he would tell me yes to go quartz/glass tile/metallic, etc. However, in our area granite is still desired by buyers. He did caution to go with a higher-end granite not a low level one, and he recommended a stone yard that has some amazing slabs.

New backsplash/floor tile/add cabinet hardware

At our selling price point, no more vented microwave over cooktop. Add a nice hood instead. This was a surprise, and something I wouldn't have thought of probably.

Stainless steel appliances are still what buyers want.

Downstairs Half Bath - New mirror, light fixture, tile.

Upstairs Baths (formerly our kids' baths) - Keep floor tile as people are still putting that type tile in-looks like stone, keep existing white tile surrounds in tub/shower combos, just recaulk, have tubs refinished, keep big mirrors, just frame them, new countertops. This was nice to hear as that will save us quite a bit of money that we can put into the kitchen and master.

We updated all of the bathroom fixtures to ORB a few years ago. He said to keep all those fixtures.

He said to replace the brass doorknobs throughout the house with ORB, and don't worry about hinges. DH can do that.

Paint entire interior a sandstone type color. In fact, part of it is BM Squire Hill Buff, and he thought that was a nice color. I think I want to go a little lighter, though.

Keep the traditional stair spindles that we have instead of going to something like iron. The traditional fits the style of the house, and changing them would not pay off. We weren't going to do this anyway!

Keep oak floors, but perhaps see about having them refinished to a matte finish. Keep frieze carpet upstairs. We installed that a few years ago after the kids left home.

Bottom line - spend $40-50k, expect $75-100k increase in selling price when selling and multiple offers. He said he is finding his buyers want move-in ready and updated, especially at our price point. Our house is large, the schools are great and the floor plan is perfect for families, so the people buying it will most likely be busy parents. Of course, there are no guarantees and in five years anything can happen. However, we live in Austin, TX and the number of people moving here daily does not seem to be diminishing.

Austin has a permanent Hill Country vibe (wood, stone, limestone) that is not Tuscan, but probably lends toward keeping the Tuscan alive, especially since most Tuscan isn't Tuscan.

I would agree with him master vanity issue and the kitchen vent - though when time to sell, don't have a micro on the counter. Find another place for it or remove it while listing.

Glad you talked with a realtor. These things are so local, I think it is very important to do that. Good luck with your remodel!

Wow, sounds like you got some great advice! That's wonderful. Isn't it a good feeling?

I've advised several times before to have a RE agent look at one's home to advise on renovations re resale, so it might have been one of my posts you saw. We did this way back in 2002 and it worked out great. We were in the middle of a long-term updating but couldn't quite decide how far to go.

The agent came by mid-week and spent over an hour with us, gratis. Like your experience, she helped us define what would make a difference to buyers and what were just "do if you want, but it won't make a big $$ impact on a sale."

With her advice we added some projects we hadn't planned on, but dropped a couple of others. That local knowledge makes a difference. We had gone to lots of open houses, but getting professional advice - for free! - would have been worth paying for, in hindsight. In our area, every house is unique; some large, some small, some old, some new.

We've loved our home, but I figure in 5-7 yrs we'll be selling. The upkeep on such a big hillside garden is starting to be too much. Was just thinking about calling that agent up and having her come out again, in fact. I still have her contact info, altho she works for a high-end RE firm now but is still in the area.

I hear the OP on the referrals, too. When my MIL sold her home to move in with us, she used a full-service broker. He was AMAZING. We live in another city and were working, so could only see her once a week. He kept us in the loop, hand-held her almost every day (it was hard for her to give up a beloved 37-yr home).

Not only did he give us useful referrals to services, but he did several small projects around her home to get it into perfect shape. For example, he came over and watered her backyard by hand every day so there would be a nice green lawn for buyers to see. He changed out two ceiling light fixtures, subbing good-looking but inexpensive Home Depot lights (yup, gave us the receipts for reimbursement; very good buys) for a more updated look. He even changed out some ugly clunky-looking switchplates for simple inobtrusive ones -- really took care of even the small details.

We were impressed. It was an eye-opener in showing us what value a good agent can provide. But he works in another city across a bridge, so the agent we asked to come see our home is one who knows our area well, as she used to live in this neighborhood.

That's why I agree with the others - local knowledge is everything in RE and remodeling. Generalizations and "what's hot" articles can only take you so far.

Hm, I'm a bit surprised he can predict what will be a selling point in five years, down to the wall paint.

Lascatx-Yes! I should have said faux Tuscan!

nosoccermom has a good point. He's focused on what's "in" now, which means that in 5 years from now, it's no longer going to be "updated", it's going to be 5 years old. I would ask if these are things that "everyone" wants now? Or are these things that people are just starting to consider? Granite is "still" desired, but is it showing signs of waning? The people who are buying in South Austin, are these first time home owners that might be moving up to a family home in a few years?

Also, I'm extremely skeptical of advice that a neighbourhood dictates style choices like granite or stair spindles. The style of the house might dictate that. But buyers' taste can't be predicted like that.
I'm sure I've told this story before, but not everyone wants the same thing. When we were shopping for a house 15 years ago, one of our criteria was hardwood floors, or crappy old carpet we could justify ripping out. We encountered entire neighbourhoods, like 20 houses on the market, ALL with brand new carpet. Half of those were pink. I swear, the realtors told everyone "that house up the street just put in new carpet, your house won't sell with this old carpet." So everyone rushed out and put in brand new carpet. Even if 80% of people wanted carpet, if 100% of people do it, then you're losing the 20% of people who don't want it, and you have no competition for those buyers.

So many variables!! I want to hear how the suggestions impact my sale. De-personalizing and neutralizing things like paint/wall paper/carpet colors makes perfect sense to me. I doubt they give you any ROI but they will encourage a buyer to buy your home over another of the same value. "Up dating" is in the eye of the beholder. In this Century the choices and opinions are sooo huge I would be very leary anytime I spent money for re-sale that didn't go to very conservative CLASSIC choices. The bathroom vanity--totally agree on it being one height--this is the most CLASSIC design choice--but I would absolutely put in a kitchen counter height option in the mater bath at a minimum. The spindle thing is getting into the area of personal preference. No way would I spend good money to "update" with iron. Iron belongs OUTSIDE and even then not my favorite IMHO--your region is a tish different I know but still not something I would waste the time and money on. You have to have spindles on a stair case--you do. Good enough. The Iron swap is such a personal thing you are spending money on a GUESS. I totally agree buyers want move in ready. My hesitation is what does that mean REALLY. Clean, well repaired, pristine working order or the latest and greatest in design? I think there is a balance. I think most sellers make guess at swaps that often just get re-swapped. Make conservative choices you want to live with.

Thanks for everyone's perspective. I had already decided that everything I choose is going to be neutral because that's what I like now. it was nice to hear the realtor's experience and opinion, but again it is just his opinion and in the end I'm going to do what I personally like because I'm the one living here!

i wouldn't expect a realtor provide me with an approximate cost for renovations. is he a general contractor too?

i still remember us walking around our future/now home with our realtor..i must say in no way did she influence my decision..she didn't even want to take us there .but when we told her we went there and liked the house and asked her to come to give her opinion-she liked it too..well it is a lovable house..and said when we shared with her the idea to put an addition: "what a brilliant idea! amazing! it's just fifty thousand bucks!"

LOL LOL LOL

even if he renovated himself-people are inclined to forget 20 percent of what they've spent on remodel when they share the info. just for the sake of mental health you know. it doesn't come in a conscious way. it's probably a defense mechanism or something

in short I'd get bids from somebody's doing the job. than from somebody who's not. i'm not saying he doesn't know a thing, a good realtor is a good realtor. but he's still a realtor, not a builder.

I know you're going to do just that, so that's great.

where I do agree with him though-if you want to renovate anyway don't wait..just do it and enjoy it

we put in new flooring in the baths in January 2013. I was very very sure we'd sell later in the year

well we did put the house on the market-almost 4 years later

so I got to enjoy much nicer (and much safer) flooring for almost 4 years

and who knows what life brings us..these 4 years, i might not have had them-or they could turn to be 8 years for example.

so go with what you like and what makes the most sense within the context of the house. then you get to enjoy it, and never will it seem out of place. even if trends change 180 degrees from now(and they can)-it won't become a mistake, and always it will be easier to live with even if not to somebody's complete liking. i agree with comments about the style of the house. that should dictate your choices the most. i'd rather buy a place where things are not updated at all but they make sense than when they're new-but have no relationship to the context. theoretically speaking. since i didn't exactly do that. but it was much harder -psychologically -to change the newer things. it does feel wasteful, ungrateful, and ton of other unpleasant feelings. easier in our case because of the walls going down anyway-yet still.

well and after that long unnecessary speech of mine lol - it is exciting!