If you can DIY, I'd suggest a deep cleaning, fresh paint, and some cheap sheet vinyl from a big box store. It's amazing how much better a room will look if something looks new, and that would be only a few hundred dollars.

Berkeley hills, no way, no need. Nobody will care about your quartz counters and new linoleum. The house will sell in no time.

Many buyers would love to have a chance to work on that home, your realtor wants to spend your money to make her job easier.

Don't spend money on anything other than Washing Soda.

You mention: We will paint walls, clean cabinets, remove the window coverings and clean the stove.

Yes, that sounds like a good selling strategy. Clean and organized sells. Freshly painted walls is one of the best ways to freshen a property for sale. Removing window coverings like the one's you show allows the light to stream inside - perfect. Don't do the kitchen fixups your Realtor mentioned - its a waste of money and time. Most people will want to put in their own new kitchen along with the other rehab the house may need. You won't get anywhere close to 100%+ back for that type of rehab, allow the buyer to do it. Price accordingly.

You also don't know that the buyer wouldn't want to restore the kitchen to something historically accurate. Which wouldn't be quartz counters. They would go in the landfill - seems wasteful to me.

Clean, clean, clean, and clean some more. I wouldn't put money into replacing anything.

I’d want it just as is for buying. It would let me plan a great new historic looking kitchen that fits the age of the home.

Ditto live_wire_oak. I would not buy someone else's hasty remuddle, but I'd love to have that space at a great price to do with as I see fit!

Yes - I would be cracking open my Jane Powell (may she RIP) books and going to town!

So, llenox, if you choose to not remodel, let us know in 6 months how it went. We chose to leave my mother's kitchen as is before we sold the house. The only offers we got were from house flippers. Most people don't enjoy having their house renovated, and, after buying a house, don't want to borrow the money to finance it.

A 1M house there isn’t a 1M house in rural Kansas. That’s bottom of the market, not top. It’s already priced for the flippers or buy and renovate crowd. If you want to wait until next spring to put it on the market, and spend about 1/4 of the asking price to renovate it, you may get a higher price. Will you get 1.5? Doubtful. And that’s what it would take to make the extra carrying costs and frustration of a remodel “worth” it.

There is truth to ALL of the above. Location will sell your home. Those who want move in ready...will pass it by. I, for one, wouldn’t even LOOK at a home like yours if you did a partial Reno on it to sell it. I would rather buy it as is...and do what I want to do with it. And not have to tear out (as soon as I got the keys!) your new quartz counters and linoleum. Others will say the opposite. I’d say...list it clean and freshly painted. If you don’t sell it...then, reconsider.

No. (I’m with ProSource: there’s not a million dollar house within a 100 miles of me!). To my way of thinking, somebody who would buy a million dollar house isn’t going to care for a slap-dash fix-up. Paint and clean and call it good.

No, clean the kitchen well and price the property accordingly. The linoleum and quartz would just be putting lipstick on a pig.

Don’t touch it. Other than to clean it. In that area, it will be hard to guess whether a buyer will want a modern, cutting-edge kitchen or if they will want to take it back to its original roots. I can see someone even putting an unfitted kitchen in that house. I wouldn’t, but you never know. Furthermore, remodeling will ruin half the fun for the prospective buyer who will have lost the opportunity to brag to all of his friends that he has purchased an original, untouched vintage home.

I say just clean it up and list it. Folks in your area are looking to own a ‘trophy’ house and they have very nice cash flow—You will easily find a buyer who wants to remodel it into their dream home. Maybe the first looker won’t buy it but someone will and you will be saved a major headache and an outlay of cash that you will never get back.

Location Location Location

Where in the Flint Hills is this property. There are some homes of this cost near Paola or in rural Johnson County, Kansas but the really interesting ones are out near Manhattan.

You have all voiced what my husband and I have been feeling. We know it will sell itself. It is a beautiful house with ample room for a family in a wonderful little neighborhood street (albeit expensive street). And if “flippers” buy it, then we are supporting another family or business in their endeavors. We just knew it didn’t feel right in so many ways and your comments have reinforced those feelings with a wide variety of reasons why it is not the right thing to do. We really like our realtor and have no problem discussing our plan to not update the kitchen. I loved all your comments and so appreciate all who commented or “liked” a comment. I will post again when we sell.

It could easily be a $1.4 million "lot with house" as the value is land.

You want to understand the value as is vs remodeled, then make the decision.

A great agent is well worth the money. while I perform much of my own work (licensed contractor & broker) I hire agents when special expertise is needed or I too busy.

I would get it in the market ASAP in the Bay Area. I think time is not your friend there right now.

Friends in SF waited to list a relative’s condo so they could have some cosmetic work done and that time cost them a fair amount money.

Finally as an owner/lover of vintage homes, most “resale” remodels are terrible. Let the buyer decide how to treat the kitchen and just price it right to sell.

Hi Everyone! I wanted to post pictures of what we did with the kitchen. I did put in a new floor and cleaned everything else really really well. Thank you all for the posts - it was extremely helpful! The house goes on the market next week so... thanks again!! Linda in Berkeley

Looks very clean and organized! Just perfect to put on the market. You made a great choice.

Very nice, and the light is lovely. Good luck with the sale!

Looks a million times better! hahaha no pun intended! It's actually very cute and charming!

Do you really have to sell? Rent it out, make it an investment property.

@summersrhythm_z6a It is the in-law's home, so not sure that was an option depending on what was needed to be done with the proceeds.

Thanks Silverlined. All parties could benefit from the rental profit if it's doable.......it sounds like a cash cow. :-)

The few little updates and the cleaning you did make it look a 1000% better. Good job and good luck.

Looks nice! The floor looks good. Can you share the details? Good luck with the sale.

I choose linoleum without a pattern from Home Depot at about $8.00 a sq.ft. - clean and simple. We put a thin piece of plywood down and then the new flooring so we didn’t pull up old asbestos tile...And choose a paint that has some peach color in it..”Intricate Ivory” SW6350 that blended with the cabinets. Decided to use the little shelves as decoration and not function. I also used a product to fill in most of the large crack in the Formica by the sink. Took down the curtains, cleaned the windows, and let the sun shine in! And I used “Bar Keepers Friend” cleanser powder to get rid of stains and make the sink and counters shine. We cleaned the cabinets inside and out almost 3 times. And I cleaned and spray painted the handles that were there. It’s good enough to live in while someone decides what they want... thx!!

Summersrhythm_z6a - Good idea however, some of the beneficiaries are in their late 70’s and would like their share now. Plus Berkeley has rent control so it is a challenge to be a landlord.

Nice job! The floor is a vast improvement; I hope it pays for itself with buyers. It now looks like a kitchen I could live with for a while, instead of one I would want to remodel before moving in.

Don't neglect to disclose the asbestos tile in the sale process.

Good decision. Should sell easily. Sometimes, clean and fresh smelling are the best tools.

I cannot believe what a difference the floor and windows made. There are some folks who would keep that kitchen as is — that retro vibe kinda shines now. Please post back how the sale goes. It would be very helpful to others.

I'd probably be among those who'd keep it as is, MzLizzie. Especially if the cabinets were in good condition (they look it) and the layout worked.

Fabulous job! You have saved yourself money and saved the future home owner the need to tear out work that they don’t like. Your choice of a neutral flooring was spot on! Your kitchen has lovely bones. Fingers crossed that your home sells fast and at a price point that you want! Good luck.

Just for fun - here’s the video now that the house is listed. You may need to copy into your browser. https://vimeo.com/447802073

It looks fantastic!! And IMO, you definitely made the right choice in not messing around with the kitchen.

Lovely!

Thanks for sharing the video. It's gorgeous! It'll get sold quickly, I'm sure. Btw, the link under the video description for Learn more at doesn't seem to work.

What a charmer!
I hope you find a buyer who appreciates this beauty!

It looks great! Wishing you a quick and easy sale!

What a charming home! Kitchen looks great?

I'm so glad that you didn't waste a lot on the kitchen. It shows beautifully, is priced to sell, and someone will make it their own. I know the neighborhood well, we have friends just below that and a bit beyond the Rose Garden. Fabulous!

I swear there is a conspiracy in that area where stagers and realtors work with contractors to bilk people out of money. When we sold our North Oakland craftsman in 2013, our team tried to get us to do a whole new kitchen. In the end, we did black granite countertops and nothing else. It went for well over asking and this was before the market recovered. In 2015, my in-laws sold their Piedmont home that literally hadn't been updated since the 1960s. Again, over asking. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and a positive sale!

Very charming! Definitely the right decision not to do more with the kitchen.

I have never seen anything like the dining room built-in hutch glass doors opening to the back of the kitchen cabinets and creating a pass-through. That seems like it must have been the result of a remodel, and not the original configuration.

The only thing that didn't show well was the back yard, which I totally get, being an Oakland resident. Responsible people in the Bay Area just don't do lush lawns in August. I did note the Naked Ladies, so I know the video must have just been filmed.

Good luck with the sale!

Beautiful home. The original details are gorgeous. Seems really peaceful. Love it!!!

Interesting discussion above. My impression of many folks on this site is that they are really into renovating themselves (like me) compared to the average homeowner / home buyer (most of my family and friends dont really care for it like I do). Hence why I come to this site for my “fix”, lol. In my area, the homes that are fully renovated do sell at a premium, but it does take $$$, time, and willingness. Always trade offs in life.

I am always surprised when I see I smaller recently renovated home sells extremely well above and quicker than a larger unrenovated home. Recently a 1500 sf home that was renovated came on the market for about $1.4 million and I thought no way in this pandemic but it sold within a few weeks above list price. Side note - I do not live in a ritzy part of LA. Many folks who are from LA would never consider living where I live, lol.

Becky Caudill - I felt I was “staging shamed” when we decided not to have professional stagers engaged in the house. I do know that staging a house and upgrading a few things in the kitchen and bathrooms does make a difference. But we did have a budget and with putting in a new furnace, painting inside and outside, cutting down the jungle called a back yard, and emptying the house of 40 years of papers and contents, we just didn’t feel we would pay $5k for a main floor staging. I hopefully put enough furniture and decor so people can get an idea of size of rooms and the fit if the furniture which is what I feel staging is for. But I think the realtors have leaned on stagers to ensure it is appropriate and aesthetic so they are hesitant to let the owner do it. The outcome will be interesting!!

rureadyinia - The discussions in this post have been interesting and I am truly grateful for the time people have spent! It has been an interesting side of the Berkeley real estate market that the smaller homes have been selling for more per square foot than the larger homes. I think it is because it is completely remodeled with the price point at what a larger house is “before” the renovations. (At least I think they don’t have foundation issues). The homes that are move-in ready do have a lot of appeal these days! Yet - $1000 per square foot for a smaller home about 1200 sq ft and $524 per square foot for a 2566 square foot home seems wildly disparate. And I agree about coming to this site because I do like cosmetic renovating and choosing my own counters and sinks, etc. And as much as I really like this house (and I say this out loud even) I would probably even paint the wood trim in the downstairs bedrooms white as it is darker in the downstairs. thanks for the impressions and the thoughts!