stepford
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I've lived for the past 30 years in a little "crapbox" - 1200 sqft starter home. Since DW and I never reproduced it's been big enough (barely) and we've never gotten around to moving. Now that I'm retired and DW's part time commitments at the local college are winding down we will soon be untethered to this area and will sell the old place and find a nicer "forever" house somewhere else.
Here's the thing. We're lazy and haven't really kept the house up to date. We've done a few "functional" remodels over the years (new flooring, lighting, windows, regular repainting) but the kitchen and bathrooms are very dated and the roof is 30+ years old. So we could easily spend $60-80K or more on remodeling / deferred maintenance.
The question is: should we?
Realtors always tell you to do all that stuff to maximize your selling price, but their advice is hardly impartial. If the cost of the work is anywhere close to the change in selling price I'd be strongly tempted to just sell as is.
We live in one of the cheapest neighborhoods in a "desirable" high COL area and Ive seen houses more beat up than ours sell quickly if priced a few 10s of $K less than comps. I have little doubt that our place will sell if priced similarly aggressively (though it may make our neighbors hate us).
So again, I'm tempted to just sell as is. Is that a bad idea?
Here's the thing. We're lazy and haven't really kept the house up to date. We've done a few "functional" remodels over the years (new flooring, lighting, windows, regular repainting) but the kitchen and bathrooms are very dated and the roof is 30+ years old. So we could easily spend $60-80K or more on remodeling / deferred maintenance.
The question is: should we?
Realtors always tell you to do all that stuff to maximize your selling price, but their advice is hardly impartial. If the cost of the work is anywhere close to the change in selling price I'd be strongly tempted to just sell as is.
We live in one of the cheapest neighborhoods in a "desirable" high COL area and Ive seen houses more beat up than ours sell quickly if priced a few 10s of $K less than comps. I have little doubt that our place will sell if priced similarly aggressively (though it may make our neighbors hate us).
So again, I'm tempted to just sell as is. Is that a bad idea?