I actually am the one who is working more closely with the agent. But he lives in the house and I don't, so he was there when the inspector did the inspection, and took a dislike to him for a couple of reasons. And he was there when the realtor dropped off the inspection report and started to go through it with him. He was obviously getting so angry that the agent stopped and they agreed she would talk to me. I think the process is actually going pretty smoothly but he took the inspection as a criticism of the condition of the house and of his maintenance of the house. And since he's very attached to it emotionally, he's having a difficult time with it all. He had planned on dying there -- he said as much when he moved in, not just recently--and this goes against the plan.

New Houzz member here, I had to chime in on this split level renovation. We're in a split level (and I love my split level) and when we first moved in it was in original late 70's Brady Bunch condition. We did a refresh of the kitchen by removing the u-shaped work area and running cabinets/counter along the entire back wall of the kitchen. We also removed any spindles and changed the wall between kitchen and dining room to a pony wall. Fast forward about 7 years and we decided to do a major renovation and addition. We pushed out the house 7 feet along the entire back wall (behind kitchen/dining room). We also flipped the dining room and kitchen - it was the best thing we did because the kitchen had too many doorways which got in the way of most kitchen activities. Even without the addition at the back, I would flip these rooms again because it made our house so much more functional! We did build a partial wall between the living room and the newly-located kitchen to allow for another wall of cabinets and a small pantry. Here are pics of the original condition, our initial refresh, and our final "big" addition/renovation. Original condition of kitchen, dining rm, living rm: Small refresh/opening up of kitchen/dining when we first moved in (that's a not-very-well-constructed sunroom in back off the dining room that we removed in our "big reno" phase): And this is how it looks now (only have the mid-project photo of kitchen & dining room area. The fridge/pantry wall is the partial wall we built to divide it from the living room): Sorry for the long post, but I'm definitely in favour of you taking the steps tomake your split level work better for you :)

We are currently under contract for full asking price (all cash) after 4 days of showings and two offers, so I (smugly) feel qualified to answer this question. This is our third time selling and the second time with a quick sell in a buyer's market. Here's what we did: Interviewed three real estate agents. They all came up with the same selling price, so we chose a flat fee agency and are saving $12,000 in commissions. This agent was very good, took professional pictures, wrote the listing, posted to MLS, dealt with contract negotiations, the whole shebang minus open houses which we didn't want anyway. Super happy with this company. I did research the agent on Realtor.com before choosing him. Took our agent's advice on pricing. We were not in a hurry to sell, looked at the comps, and agreed that our agent had us solidly in the middle of what we could reasonably expect to sell our house for. Through the 9 years we have owned the house, we have updated everything, including having our very small Florida yard professionally landscaped. Fixed everything that was broken Cleaned everything Repainted where we couldn't clean the walls or trim adequately Decluttered, put a bunch of stuff in storage Staged the house nicely Put everything personal away for showings The only things on counters were decorative Bowl of green apples on kitchen counter for a pop of color against the granite Hung fresh white towels that we don't use in the bathrooms Used tasteful artificial flower arrangements in most rooms Fresh mulch in garden beds Refreshed flowers in front borders Trimmed hedges and trees Turned on all of the lights before showings House was spotless for showings (we don't normally live this way, but it's worth it to get top dollar for our house and not prolong the painful selling process) Turned on our Sonos to soft jazz music Got ourselves, our cats, and the litter box out of the house for showings Here's what we didn't do: Neutralize all of the colors in the house. We have earthy tones of blue, green, rust, and aqua in our house, but everything is not beige, white, or gray.. Get rid of curtains (I posted several months ago about this, ultimately decided to keep them) Hire a professional stager Set the table with plates Scent the house with anything We met our buyers on Saturday for the home inspection and asked them what made them want the house. They said: Loved the landscaping Looked professionally staged Clean and inviting Didn't need to do anything to the house Looked well taken care of We are super happy with our experience selling this time, love our buyers, and are looking forward to the May 8 closing!

You'll be getting it ready to sell if you are only using it occasionally in the next year. Interview a couple very active real estate agents to get their advice about fixing up the house for sale. Markets are local. If they recommend doing the minimum, here's what I suggest. Have the sheet vinyl flooring stripped or cleaned professionally, then sealed with a couple coats of floor finish (Pledge makes one). Paint the walls in a warm off white that will go with the honey colored wood cabinets. Replace the light switches and GFCI outlets with white ones. Do any repairs that have been pending. Wash the diffuser on the fluorescent fixture and change the old graying tubes to new ones. If you want to have a dishwasher for your visits, you can buy a portable dishwasher (some can be converted to permanent installations later) you can put next to the stove.