Roof replace 15k

Tip to toe paint and repairs...a must...top priority ...ceiling, walls, trim, doors, garage, basement floor, etc 14k

Minor master update just tub to shower convert and paint rest 4k

Refinish hardwood floors ...whole house has wood

OK - those are the MUST-DOs, and in that order (In my opinion). You'll get gigged over a crappy roof on any inspection.

Let's talk about the rest.

Curb appeal 3k - What do you mean? Paint? New Windows? New landscaping?

Master bath reno incl tub to shower, vanity, sinks, fixtures, etc...ugly bath and needs repair 8k- They're just gonna rip it out and start over if they don't like what you've done. Save money and do the 4K option.

Move Laundry room from basement ...dungeon setting. Comps have 1st floor laundry. 7k- Is your house one or two stories? If it's two stories, are the bedrooms on the 2nd floor? If so, move the laundry to the second floor, if not, leave it in the basement.

Install stacked washer dryer upstairs and leave main laundry in basement 3k- Our friends bought a house where this had been done and tore out the stacked units in favor of more closet space on the bedroom floor.

Thank you for your time. It's a two story house....plenty of 2nd floor closet space in hallway and bedrooms. 4 closets in hall and bath plus bedroom closets. Could use a hall closet for the stacker. As for curb appeal, pulled out 50 year old dated overgrown bushes, mulch, light plantings, porch staging, front door paint....already has newer windows

I would replace the roof if it's really old. That's a huge expense and is a maintenance issue. And then maybe some minor curb appeal updates to get people into the house.

My priority list would be the Tip to Toe painting and repairs, the Master Bath reno, and then the hardwood floors. If the other homes that sold have 1 more full bath then your house, I would want my master bath to look fantastic. Painting is the easiest of repairs to do. Well worth the money. Shining hardwood floors are a thing of beauty. I love them. With the exception of the roof (which you will take a hit for) all the other things don't interest me as a buyer. Curb appeal, pffft, I'm a gardener. I can do that myself. Don't care if the washer is in the cellar. Grew up that way. Wouldn't want a 2nd floor washer/dryer. Our neighbors' water hose coupling broke and flooded the 2nd floor hallway carpet and soaked through to the ceiling below. As for other things, as always clean, clean, clean and remove clutter. Don't have a lot of items on the kitchen counter. Remove excess furniture and wall hangings. Make your rooms look bigger but not barren.

I agree with Anglophilia. Price the home right (for condition), and in a great neighborhood, watch it fly off the market pretty fast. Spending around $54K to "guess" at what the next buyer could be dangerous. No matter how careful you are, you're going to alienate a certain percentage of buyers with specific choices.

Also, do you still live in the home? If not, the massive invasion of the projects might not matter. If so- yeesh. That can be hell on Earth!

Like nancylouise, I might consider replacing the roof. If it's in poor condition, it might become a financing issue between eventual buyer and lender.

The rest?

Save your $, save the creativity for your next home. Saves your sanity, too!

I agree with Junaita and Anglo. If you were staying in the home for another five years, then have at it.

I agree about doing the roof. I might freshen up the inside by painting and refinish the floors.

I think paint and the floors will give the potential buyer the feeling that the house is move in ready and that they can do the major renovations at their leisure.

And of course, if you are realistic about the price, you will have no problem selling.

Paint and refinish the floors. Do work to improve curb appeal - you already ripped out the old shrubs: $300 (plus labor) worth of fresh blooming annuals and 5-gallon shrubs and a lot of compost in front yard. Powerwash the exterior if safe for whatever it's made of. Touch up the paint on the window and door trim. Buy a new door mat. Spend $100 on the view you can see from the kitchen window- add some flowers.

In my area, new roofs are usually installed in escrow because then the warranty can be arranged to transfer to the new owner. But if it is actively leaking, get it done right away.

Don't "upgrade" anything. The new owners will have their own plans. In my area, cheaper-than-expected "upgrades" get hauled out and thrown on the front lawn en route to the dumpster as soon as escrow closes.

Add professional cleaning to your list. $300 for 3000 square feet in my area, not including carpet or tile cleaning. Professional tile cleaning is absolutely worth the cost, IMHO, because they can work miracles on stained old grout and older, hard-water stained tile.

Replace the roof. It will become a financing issue if it is beyond it's useful life. By financing issue I really mean insurance issue and the lender will require insurance. You would only be able to sell to cash buyers at a much lower price if you don't replace the roof.

I would paint and freshen up. You will get more money for a freshly painted home and it will sell more quickly, Make the color neutral.

Clean and organized and freshly painted will go a long way.

Landscaping is another area where you get good return. Sometimes it is just a trim and cleanup of the existing landscape, sometimes a little more. You have to get the buyer in the door. I have had buyers that won't even go inside if the outside isn't welcoming enough. By that, I mean we are in the driveway and they decide to take the showing off the list because the outside isn't appealing enough. I can't stress how important clean, neat and well maintained (including landscaping) is to the selling of your property.

Don't do major remodeling. Check with your Realtor to see what is trending in your neighborhood now.

Anything in bad condition (roof, leaking bathroom fixtures, etc) should be repaired. Many people love buying homes that haven't been updated, but well maintained. They get a home at a price that allows them to update it to their taste (vs. buying a more expensive, updated home and ripping stuff out). However, most people don't want to buy a home that needs major repairs (i.e. roof), because their mind is going a mile a minute thinking of what other issues they may come across.

You are not going to get the return in the cosmetic updates! Advertise it as a loved and well maintained home that has the original charm that is ready for a new family to make it their own. Price it accordingly ($54k less than the comps) and it should sell fast if its a great neighborhood. Make sure to de-clutter and clean, clean, clean!!

Look beyond the cosmetic.... has the wiring been updated? What condition of the furnace and AC systems? Hot water heater?

You know the cost it will take to get you to a certain market value. Now find an experienced agent and see what price it will take to sell it in its current condition. These two numbers will tell you which direction is right for you to go.

"I would not do anything and price the house accordingly. Trying to figure out what will appeal to buyers requires a crystal ball and I think Amazon is sold out of those. Whatever you do, some will like, some will hate, but no one wants to pay top dollar and then have to tear out what one hates."

I've never quite understood this rationale. If it was true, the only homes that would sell are ones that were blank slates and fixer uppers, which is just not the case.

If I was a buyer...floors(if in obviously bad condition), repairs, roof, curb appeal (hard to believe it's 3K? but you know better..you're there)..I wouldn't be able though to think "oh these bushes are dated and overgrown"..I'm clueless, I like overgrown..also how plants can be dated? but as I've said I'm clueless. yet very impressionable lol. I need to to feel the place, to like the vibe..and the vibe is many things, including the street too..but surroundings and plants play major role in how we perceive places.

Ah, sorry, missed your post where you explained you took care of these bushes already

Frankly with your description of location and lot, I wouldn't bother too much with the rest..and I agree: it's hard to remodel for somebody whom you never met before..most of the time, I wish sellers wouldn't renovate just to sell.

Make it livable, move-in ready, and safe. Trying to do more for just resale is a waste of money.

Fix anything that is leaking (roof, pipes, whatever), sticking, wobbly or emitting sparks. Replace cracked or paint-blobbed outlet and switch covers with new ones (buy the "contractor packs - cheaper). Have HVAC evaluated and serviced.

CLEAN IT until it squeaks ... inside all cabinets, carpets, blinds.

Take care of the curb appeal:

http://lazygardens.blogspot.com/2017/02/4-weekends-improved-curb-appeal.html

Get an inspection by the various licensed trades, plumber, electrician, and roofer. The advice to replace the roof, paint the interior a neutral color, remove old carpeting, polish the hardwood floors, clean interior and exterior including removing old, overgrown landscaping is all excellent advice. Doing any other major repairs may be more expensive and trouble than it's worth. Clean, neat, safe, presentable, and neutral where possible. That's the goal.

Do the roof, paint and refresh and stage it to look beautiful.

One of the best updates you can do is to make sure everything is spotless. Meaning if the grout is dirty, clean it. Make sure all faucets are polished and no fingerprints on anything. Clean, clean and then clean some more. Then once you clean, declutter. Then when you're done decluttering, declutter some more.

Don't spend on anything else. You can't guess what others might want.

I don't think you can always say do A, B and C and not X, Y and Z or A, B and X, and so on. I was ready to make a full price offer on a house that I was sure needed a roof, but I figured we'd take that up with the inspection. Only problem was the house had gone active the night before and already had a contract by the time we were able to see it and have our agent call the listing agent.

Generally speaking, a home should be in good repair, clean and uncluttered. It should be ready for that inspector to come and do the structural/mechanical inspection and the pest inspection and not give the buyer ugly surprises.

Things like floors and paint are somewhat relative. If they are bad, then yes, you probably need to deal with them now or be prepared to take a hit for that plus some on the price -- but even that may or may not be the case in your market. Where your home stands relative to the market and what is happening in your market are really what you need to figure out. That lot, your location, the extra garage bay and an extra bathroom may make the house such a hot property that people will be running to come and make it theirs -- and your spending $50k or more to make it nicer but not personal might be counterproductive.

I think you need to scout the market so you get a feel for what is out there and then talk to some local agents about how they see your home fitting into that. No one has a crystal ball, but you can see the trends and talk about whether the things that make your house different are highly valued in that location. You can talk about whether the architecture, style and flow of your home will fit the needs of the current market or more likely need significant renovations (no need to redo the floors if a wall or two are going to come down, etc.). And then you can talk about how to best present your home for your market. What you have above is a lot of general ideas and opinions without any context. You need context before you spend any money.

One more thought -- be careful about your dollar ideas. If you can do a tub/shower conversion for $4k, you can do the rest for $6k and not have to spend $8k. I did a half bath -- everything but the flooring for no more than $1k. Double that plus your tub/shower should be good. I wouldn't spend $14k to paint, but if you can't handle a brush or a roller and you haven't had anything painted in 10 years or more or have crazy colors in every room, then you might need to.

ncrealestateguy gave great advice.

Selling your house is a business transaction. The decision should be based on which would give you more money if you do, or not do, each type of the work.

Last year a house on our street sold for around $540k by a buyer who is a flipper. He did extensive remodel. At the time I wondered if he could even break even. After 6 months on the market, it was sold for $800k by his real estate agent wife as the listing agent. I heard he spent less than $100k for the work. It is not a bad return even if his wife did not act as a dual agent.

I recommend talking to a few agents in YOUR market. Folks here also told me not to bother doing any aesthetic upgrades (there's a LONG thread on here somewhere), but my agent was confident that making the property "move-in" ready by replacing the tile counters with granite, ripping up carpet and vinyl to put in new flooring, and painting the entire house would make a HUGE difference in our market (SF Bay Area).

It did--we got 15 offers, with the final buyer paying $150K over list price. Plus, it sold a good $200K more than the other houses in the neighborhood who left the carpet, vinyl, and tile counters in the kitchen (we lived in a planned urban development where the builder put in entire neighborhoods of houses). I'd say our $30K investment was well worth it.

smiles, that's true, i do remember your thread..but the OP says his comps in the area are 500-600 K..yours, as far as I know your market, start with a million plus..non-upgraded houses built in 50 s go for million and a half in Sunnyvale for example..

your market is at least 2 times as expensive..at the very least

true, the investment might be worthy in your case because you invest much less percentage of what you expect to get, comparing to other areas

here, the OP has the huge list of possible updates including full bath remodels etc, asking what we'd prefer to see from that list if we were buyers..

I think our responses were more or less answering what the OP asked..preference for certain things from the very detailed long list of expensive upgrades

Let the OP not forget that the people posting here, saying to do nothing or not much at all because they like blank slates are very much in the minority. Most buyers do not want a fixer upper. They want move in ready. The posters here are not a true representative of the typical buying market.

well..not being born and bred here-I already understood I'm not a true representative of anything.

But many people aren't..that's a huge country..:) with very diverse population

also..what some people consider a fixer upper, others see as move-in ready..:)

we bought a something that could be essentially move in ready. yet we gut remodeled it..and not because we preferred a fixer-upper, or were considering a remodel..no, we weren't, but that's how things went.

I think some things are more or less same though for most buyers..what's most important is location. bones, layout..no major issues safety wise..well-maintained, hopefully clean..the rest will depend on a market, on a buyer, on how stars aligned, etc.

ah..wanting to see something that makes sense doesn't exactly equals wanting "blank slate"..smiles' upgrade was very well considered, very well executed..unfortunately somebody like her is a minority, in a big pool of sellers that hastily upgrade in materials and colors that they've heard are "fresh" or "expected", often with a little regard to the rest of the space, and the end result is worse than what they started with.

if everybody updating updated like smiles-then I'd be of different opinion.

Amy, advertising one's business goes against Houzz's rules.

I'm in SoCal (until August) and just sold my townhome - under contract as of yesterday evening when everyone had signed the papers. The carpet and LVP was done in 2016 after first doing a whole interior repaint, new fridge and microwave at the end of 2016. When it was decided to put the place on the market, my realtor brought out someone who stages homes - everything but our clothing, mattress, tvs and computers went into a portable storage/shipping container. Then a cleaning service came in and did everything including the windows, followed by the stager bringing in new furniture and decor - not a lot of items but what she brought fit the style of my home moreso than the heavy solid wood pieces I own and are now in storage another week before shipping to our new home. We didn't upgrade the counters or anything, the association has new roofs as of the end of 2016, and all appliances will remain including the washer dryer that I've had since 2003 but are in great shape and have been checked out to ensure they are in good working order.

What one home needs before it goes on the market is going to differ from what another home needs - it depends on the area, and the value on return of certain upgrades might not be worth it - ask someone who sells homes to come tell you what needs to be done for your home. Initially when I was told I had to move my furniture out and have the doors on two cabinets in my entry hall plus the stair railing repainted white (I'd just had them painted a dark brown in 2016!) to make the place look bigger, I was less than thrilled. But I let them paint and I got a storage/shipping container for my stuff. With the staging and everything I was able to sell my home very quickly for a lot more than we'd have gotten if we'd left things completely 'as is'. The unit across from mine sold at the beginning of June and is now in the process of being gutted so that "everything you see or touch" will be new. Given that they had to tear out the 1970's wood paneling on the walls and last installed carpet in the 80's, it sold for way less money in a hot market.

it depends on the area, and the value on return of certain upgrades might not be worth it - ask someone who sells homes to come tell you what needs to be done for your home.

Sometimes that's true and sometimes as the home owner we know better.

I sold my home in early 2010 during the recession. The back room had been ripped up because my ex had a habit of doing demo work, starting to fix it up and then losing interest in the project. We had lived in the house almost 20 years and it hadn't been painted in all that time. Floor tile in the upstairs bathroom was chipped and the kitchen was mismatched.

Agents came in and told us "not to bother" fixing anything up or even painting and they told us a price that our house could sell for, which was obviously quite low.

We didn't listen and instead had a handyman come in and fix the back room, fix the bathroom by laying a new tile floor and he did the same in the kitchen. He fixed up the kitchen so it looked cohesive, and overall made it look better. We replaced the stair and hall carpet that my son had spilled black ink on. We then painted every room, got rid of lots of things like books and magazines hanging around the house, rearranged the furniture to play up it working for each room better, and cleaned and cleaned. Added some inexpensive lighting etc.

All together it cost us $25,000 (during the recession). However we wound up selling the house for $100,000 more than what the agents suggested we could have gotten BEFORE we updated. More importantly, our home was the ONLY home to sell in our neighborhood during the first 10 months of 2010. If we had listened to our agents who knows how long it would have taken to sell and for what price.

Fixing things like you did, @cpartist, is different from gutting a kitchen to put in new cabinets and granite, or whole-house hardwood flooring in a neighborhood where the homes have vinyl or laminate and carpet. Sure those things look nice but buyers might not want to pay the additional cost. People may want a move-in ready home that they can eventually do some upgrades to that fit their personal tastes, or one they can immediately gut and fix up.

Doing a whole house deep and thorough clean is extremely important - I can't tell you how many people mentioned how clean my place looks and that it actually looks like the same place as seen in the listing photos. I had to take the dog on many walks during showings, and little things like a roll of paper towels or my electric toothbrush charger had to be put away which was weird for me but hey it evidently worked to get the place sold.

I agree that it depends on the area and the most likely buyer demographics. Had a long chat with a realtor who also does primarily cosmetic upgrades (he owns a GC company).

The roof (cedar shingles required per HOA was on its last legs), 30+ single pane windows, but everything nicely painted and staged. Nobody cares about new roof, new windows, HVAC, plumbing etc. as long as the kitchen appliances are impressive, the wall color is right, and the place does not look "dated."

The realtor/seller spent 30K on new kitchen appliances, marble counters, new tiles in the bathroom, vanity, new paint, and staging, and the house sold in no time for 80K more than previously offered.

I totally agree with NCRealEstateGuy. GW people are not like most. Many buyers are just not all that Into home design & dont have the vision or inclination to plan major updates. I would imagine many buyers are busy with careers and families. Many people would look at a home that needed painting, maintenance, floors that needed to be refinished, and just run. Why would you want to scare a potential group of buyers away? Otherwise you may be stuck with a house that just sits on the market and may be forced to have multiple price reductions while it gets stale.

Has your roof been inspected? If you aren't having issues I'd wait on that one & see if it comes up in the home inspection phase while you are under contract. I would definitely do the painting/maintenance, landscaping (but I'd try to DIY some of that to lower costs,) the floors for sure (huge wow factor,) and perhaps put stackables upstairs. I would have to see just how bad bathroom is before I would suggest doing that, and I don't think I would do the full laundry room. This is just what I think would get people to and in your door so you can sell for the highest price possible. Best of luck to you!

that's a big mystery of life here

many people are busy with careers and families-as if they're not everywhere, as if it's something very special to local market

they need a place to live in, want it to be their own, and have some money to pay for it(half a million or more to be exact)-good for them since not everyone does

why would they run?

If they have so much more money as to expect a house exactly to their liking-they'll look in a different price range for a longer time.

in this price range, and with expectations for 3 cars garage and all-they can paint themselves, or wait until they can get to it

everybody got so impatient in this Internet era, I'm telling you

where is everybody hurried so? we'll all get there lol. why to hurry

if people don't understand that a house always needs maintenance-they'll understand it very fast, new roof or not..even if a new build or not.

If GW people are not like most-what the point of asking anything at all on a separate "Buying and selling" forum on GW?

having said that-I really like your post nini..as I like many posts here..sometimes I like all of them whether I agree or not..:)

I plainly like the discussion and arguments in each post..since yes, things make sense mostly here, even when the posters disagree..that's why it's better to ask on GW already if to ask..you'll get different opinions yet most of them will have common sense. Won't be offending intelligence..that can't be said for every place on the Internet when people try to communicate their thoughts lol

(I'd paint of course(or refresh the existing paint where needed), I always do whether I rent or sell-simply because it makes things more clean, more respectful for a new tenant. It's not a price thing. Not a market thing. I don't see it like being one.

It's just something what people do when leaving their place to others. Clean, maintain, paint..make it pretty so they'll be happy to enter that house. It's just proper things to do, or so I feel. )

While putting new windows for example-that's already going beyond that. That will be very appreciated by a buyer too. If he understands anything at all. I know I'd be impressed with new windows. But since we all know how much it costs..if you didn't do it for yourself, and you do it for a buyer only, then yes, then it turns into a price thing. Not just common sense thing)

Fixing things like you did, @cpartist, is different from gutting a kitchen to put in new cabinets and granite, or whole-house hardwood flooring in a neighborhood where the homes have vinyl or laminate and carpet. Sure those things look nice but buyers might not want to pay the additional cost. People may want a move-in ready home that they can eventually do some upgrades to that fit their personal tastes, or one they can immediately gut and fix up.

I agree with you 100%. I only did enough to make the place look good. That's why I suggested to only do what needs to be done to make it look fresh and taken care of.

However in the OP's case, I would do the roof since that's a big one. No one wants to come into a new house and have to replace a roof. They want to replace the "pretties".

Doing a whole house deep and thorough clean is extremely important - I can't tell you how many people mentioned how clean my place looks and that it actually looks like the same place as seen in the listing photos. I had to take the dog on many walks during showings, and little things like a roll of paper towels or my electric toothbrush charger had to be put away which was weird for me but hey it evidently worked to get the place sold.

I did like you and cleaned. And then cleaned some more. Anytime someone came to see the place, things got thrown under the bed, towels were hung so they looked like they were in a photo shoot, linens in the closets were lined up, etc. All faucets and door knobs got wiped down.

And I did the same in my condo. In both places it looked a bit stark to me, but not so stark as to be sterile. There's a fine line.

Personally I think that what the stager brought in as far as furniture goes looks a little like what I imagine the 'love child' of Bed Bath and Beyond and Home Goods would look like...With towels neatly folded that we weren't allowed to use because they were 'for show' and thus we had to use ours but couldn't leave them in sight so the minute they were dry from last use they went into hiding. :P But at the same time the place sold fast and for over asking so I guess it was worth it? :P

we had a stager(accessories etc, no furniture involved, since we had ours..got a bit rearranged), but I didn't find it helpful. the house was not sold faster, or for over asking, or even at asking price. The realtor said it's the first time in 30 years of work that she didn't sell a staged house within first two weeks since the listing. She was very upset. Well i was too, only I thought that staging was really useless.

While the true reasons were:

a) we listed at the worst time possible, right before the elections. People said they'd like to wait with decisions. Also, rains started..quite heavy ones..suddenly it was a normal winter again, albeit Californian one..we had a drought for years before last winter.

b) while people loved the community(the house was a townhouse), and the location of the community, which was truly great-they weren't necessarily in love of the location of the house within the community. It was close to the entrance and next to the pool. I loved both being close to the entrance and next to the pool..it was convenient, cheerful as the landscaping was great, and-it will sound silly-but I liked seeing all the architectural details of the house it being on the corner..:)

So I never even thought it might be a detriment. The pool was mostly quiet and very nice. I loved seeing it, being next to it. Yet to many others it turned to be a thing that made them unsure. After all, how they were supposed to know it's quiet? They were told so of course, but it's not like they lived there.

c) HOA didn't help in that sense that right before we listed, they suddenly decided to improve landscaping(they were constantly repairing, maintaining, beautifying I must say), and they cut two big nice trees right next to us saying trees are not that healthy. Less trees-less privacy.

they also decided to replant the grass right in front of our entrance..yellow taped around it and all. That was maddening. They replanted it because they wanted a new grass that bunnies-presumably-wouldn't like

Let me tell you as somebody who looked out of these windows every day and night..the moment the grass finally appeared, bunnies found it very much to their liking lol

(they also repainted all the community in some dark beige without really asking us, under the pretext it's a trendy color..wut? I've nothing against dark beige..but it looked so much better being warm white as it was years beforehand. it looked just beautiful. Why to fix what ain't broken, and why not to ask the people who pay these HOA fees every month? I don't believe that influenced things in terms of sale..but it did influence me. we wrote angry letters but it was too late)

So the staging didn't play any role..except for I had to pay 2 K or something just to do all the touch ups since all our art was banned from the walls.

I'm not stupid, I'd take portraits etc away..packed breakables, collections..but I don't see anything offensive in landscapes, cityscapes, still lives etc. Especially as I do have art that's amateurish or can seem amateurish, but some artists whose works I have are not only listed, but highly regarded and all. Highest awards, international exhibitions, etc.

Why this Home Goods stuff that was brought instead was better, truly beats me.

The house was squeaky clean(except that I drove myself crazy with finding yet another spot! was cleaning constantly) and I kept it ready for showing every moment. Our realtor was truly impressed with me..:)

Anyway. Bottom line-it was the house being a condo, highly affected by previous comps(two latest ones were lower than usual due to sellers' circumstances), the location within the location, and the market as it was at that time-pretty dead in our price range. Only three homes were sold in our price range in our and neighboring cities during the time the house was for sale.

So we got 9 K less than I wanted(why I wanted nine? because it's my lucky number lol), and sold to very nice people, from that pool of buyers who liked the house right away and then said they're not sure that's the right time to buy, with elections going on etc.

Then they came back and still put an offer in, when they felt they're ready to make their decision. They impressed us as serious buyers who obviously gave a lot of thought to things (that was the second offer we received..the first one gave us a totally different impression so we didn't make any efforts to meet in the middle or something), and we went with them and didn't feel sorry for a moment because they were reasonable, non fussy, and nice.

Staging payed minimal role in all of that, if at all.

I never asked for it too..it was the MO of the realtor, we wanted the realtor, it was how she worked.

Next time, which I hope won't be too soon. I stage everything myself, thank you very much. I'm totally capable of presenting my own house.

Ah, and the pictures were awful. If you ask me. Wide lens, everything unnaturally bright..

No. We loved the realtor, she was an exceptional business woman..but stager and photographer, I could do without them both.

So. it's a house itself, where it stands, and when it's being sold. And a little bit of luck(c)..or vise versa.

Our staging involved moving all our furniture out (it's in one of those shipping/storage containers and will be going to the new house as soon as our list of fixes is completed and we officially close) to bring in other furniture - a lot less than what we had in here though - and if I'm honest with myself their selection was more in line with both the style and the kind of buyers we were looking to attract. At least the color palette I'd chosen in 2016 when we painted, re-floored and re-carpeted was deemed acceptable by the stager! Our realtor was the same woman who sold me the place back in 2002, but her reputation in our area is excellent and working with someone I trust and has decades of experience is important to me.

The buyer was the third offer in about as many days, the photos taken for the listing were incredible - yes all the blinds had to be open and every light in the place turned on, but were key to instantly replicating the look in the photos for people coming in to see the place in person.

It's a little sad to realize that it's true - many buyers lack imagination and expect to see places that look like a combination of bed bath & beyond/home goods/pottery barn ads - but in the end I needed to sell the house and having it look a certain way to appeal to these buyers was what I needed to do to get what I wanted...the sale.

ETA: initially I'd thought the buyer was the first offer, turns out it was simply the first offer that was worthwhile - the previous ones were based on what the few places that were sold nearby for, one all the way back in 2015 and the other a total interior gut because it hadn't been updated since 1978 when it was built.

So you are selling right now?

I can tell you we could wait until March for example, and I'd get my missing 9 K or maybe more:)

I just wanted to move already-was deadly tired of holding two houses plus gut remodel in the new one. What's dearer than money? I'll tell you what..me. I'm dearer than money lol.

( Our colors and furnishings weren't a problem..))I had a feeling they just needed to justify their 800 bucks they charged for their service. Which was a lot of taking my throw pillows and art away, and bringing theirs. And all sorts of awful artificial plants. I had my own live ones, so I never quite understood that logic. )

The realtor did reimburse us on these when the sale closed-it was included in her service)

(I realize I might come across as an arrogant b-ch..but I couldn't care less what our stager would think of my colors etc (she thought them good by the way). It's not like she's some magnificent designer I hold in the highest esteem or something.

And whatever she did obviously didn't have any influence on the fate of our sale. And why should it?

empty house is different, here I agree. Or some people need help in decluttering or whatever.

otherwise, people are people everywhere..reminds me of this citation from "The Master and Margarita"..".ordinary people...In general, reminiscent of the former ones...only the housing problem has corrupted them.."

:)

Technically my place is under contract with closing next month. We still live here, but the only stuff we own currently in the place is two tvs, my computer and the kitchen stuff. We accepted a solid offer over asking and appraisal is tomorrow. Not sure if the buyer is doing an inspection, their decision of course (I certainly wouldn't buy a home without one).

I like our realtor, the stager...she did the job she was paid to do? Yeah, having to start with moving everything of ours was a hassle, but we'd have to do that anyway.