Putting a house on the market....

[amy g.]

We have never sold a house before and I have a few questions about fixing ours up before putting it on the market.

 

We have already commited to getting a new roof, replacing all of the carpet and painting inside and out.

 

Where I am a little conflicted is about redoing the kitchen. My first thought was to clean everything out of it, paint the awful cabinets, replace the flooring and call it good.

 

Most people would still want to redo the kitchen because how the cabinets are laid out is not good at all, but it would be fresh and clean and I don't think it would scream fixer upper.

 

On the other hand, I already have a stainless steel double oven, a 5 burner gass stove top and a commercial vent hood in the barn. I can also get granite at cost through my brother-in-law.

 

If I replace the cabinets, I feel like it should replace them with white ones. Dh thinks wood would be better, but I want to play it safe and appeal to the most buyers possible.

 

What say the hive?

[HomeAgain]

I think as long as it looks cohesive, it'll be fine.

A lot of buyers, I think, would be willing to overlook minor things.  Our rooms were painted hideously when we moved in (who does olive green walls for a kitchen??), but had the flow of the room not been okay, we would have passed.

[AmandaVT]

I wouldn't replace the countertops. The prospective buyers will all whine about it anyway. Our house is on the market right now and the feedback we're getting can range from totally reasonable (not enough storage space in the house or they need bigger bedrooms) to ridiculous (if only the house didn't have cherry floors upstairs, buyers require oak). If you spend the time and money putting in new countertops, half the people will hate the ones you chose and not want your house because of it. How awful are your current cabinets? If they'll look decent, and they're real wood already, I'd paint them and call it good. If you spend money on white cabinets, everyone will want wood and vice versa. But if you just paint, they can still complain, but at least you won't have spent money on them. 

 

We're selling and buying right now. The things that are most important to us as buyers - good roof, well maintained heating system, decent windows, no structural needs. Everything else is personal preference to a point. You can replace your carpets, but if your buyers want wood, they'll be planning on replacing again anyway. If your current carpets are clean and not overly worn (or weird colors), I'd leave them too. 

[amy g.]

We bought this house for the property. It is on 6 acres on a dead end that feels very secluded but is still close enough in to commute to downtown Houston.

 

The house is plenty big, 3,400 sq feet. The layout is good everywhere except for the kitchen where the cabinets chop up the space and make it feel much smaller than it is.

 

My other question is about flooring. I hate how many different kinds of flooring this house has-carpet in den and bedrooms, marble in bathrooms, cheap red tile in the game room, fake wood in the dining room and hall, something truly aweful and white in the kitchen and entryway.

 

I really do not want to introduce another type of floor, so I'm thinking of trying to match the fake wood in dining room, and there would be a little more cohesion.

 

The fake wood is light, so I don't think that white cabinets would look bad with it.

 

It is such a balancing act to spend enough to make it sell, but not spend so much that we won't recoup it.

[KungFuPanda]

Maybe I'm naive, but I would never put in granite to sell a house. Granite is awfully expensive for something that's a personal choice. Can you imagine the feedback "If only the granite was lighter/darker/sparklier. Yikes. I'm guessing some people will be impressed by any granite at all, but I think most who really want the stuff have something specific in mind.

[amy g.]

Panda, I kind of agree with you.

 

I prefer to buy a cheaper house where I can choose the cabinets and counters that I want.

 

The only part that is pushing me in the other direction is that I already have the granite for the island. We salvaged it from our last house, and I can go to the warehouse and pick the slab I want for the counters. I would want something very subdued, maybe even a cream marble instead of granite.

 

I'm trying to imagine our target buyer. One realtor I spoke with said he would market it to horse people because we have a nice barn.

[gardenmom5]

if the cabinets are good, and the layout is good - just paint a *neutral* color.  (IF you can do a good paint job.  a bad paint job sticks out.)

 

if the cabinets are bad and/or the layout is bad *and* you can afford it, white is good.

 

there is a house up the street which was purchased by a flipper.  he put in hardwoods, tile floors, painted, redid bathrooms, *painted* the kitchen cabinets (and did an awful job of it.  very amateurish) leaving a horrendous layout that hurt both the bottom line and the time it was listed before it sold. (I'd walked through, but was too polite to ask why they <<< kept that horrible cabinet layout. - and the tile floors they put in the kitchen/breakfast/family was pretty bad too.) the people who did buy it promptly ripped out the kitchen (they also replaced all the windows, painted the exterior, etc. and who knows what all.  the dumpster was there for weeks.)

 

what is your market like?

do run the numbers to see if it is actually worth putting the money in.

[gardenmom5]

Panda, I kind of agree with you.

 

I prefer to buy a cheaper house where I can choose the cabinets and counters that I want.

 

The only part that is pushing me in the other direction is that I already have the granite for the island. We salvaged it from our last house, and I can go to the warehouse and pick the slab I want for the counters. I would want something very subdued, maybe even a cream marble instead of granite.

 

I'm trying to imagine our target buyer. One realtor I spoke with said he would market it to horse people because we have a nice barn.

 

 

do you have a lot of horse buyers in your area at your price point?  otherwise that is a *very limited* niche.  

 

I grew up in a very horsey area - and because of land costs, many of those pastures have now gone empty.  some have even been turned into houses - just because of land costs.  and how expensive horses are to keep here.

[amy g.]

I don't think there is a decline in the number of horse owners here. Land is relatively inexpensive.

[DawnM]

Maybe I'm naive, but I would never put in granite to sell a house. Granite is awfully expensive for something that's a personal choice. Can you imagine the feedback "If only the granite was lighter/darker/sparklier. Yikes. I'm guessing some people will be impressed by any granite at all, but I think most who really want the stuff have something specific in mind.

 

We were told by 4 different realtors we would have to put in granite to even get people to LOOK in our neighborhood.  It is a huge reason the house took 18 months to sell when we bought it.  

 

Feedback from the potential buyers during the last sale:

 

1. Master bedroom is painted a hideous color.

2. Carpet is dated and too many different colors

3. Countertops are laminate.

 

We are changing ALL of it so that we can sell the house.  

 

Unfortunately, people around here want turn key ready and aren't willing to overlook much of anything.   Carpet allowances or countertop allowances are overlooked by many.  They simply don't want to deal with any fixing up.

 

I thought since we live in a really great area, we would be fine, but our neighbors didn't upgrade anything and their house sat for 2 years even though the price was low.  They ended up lowering it by $100K to sell.   Meanwhile the other neighbor's house was fully upgraded, had fewer bedrooms and was smaller, and they sold within 2 months for close to asking price, over 100K more than the other neighbor.

[OneStepAtATime]

Amy, what you might consider doing, if you haven't already, is take tours of other houses in your general area and see what they have to offer since that will be your competition.  Have multiple real estate agents come by to give feedback and see if one in particular "gets" your property.  They might be able to make some solid suggestions.  How rapidly do you need the property to sell?

[amy g.]

I have started looking at other homes, but we are in an area where it is difficult to get true comps.

 

I have contacted 2 realtors, I'm going to speak to one more and have all 3 present me with their suggested sale price and plans for marketing the home, then I will decide which one I want to go with.

 

We have negotiated 6 months temp housing for DH in California. So once we have the employment contract signed, he will put in his notice here, and take 1 week of vacation, then start work there.

 

I would start showing this house, and once we have an offer here, we will try to find a house in California.

 

The 2 realtors I talked to said that our market is hot right now, and that putting $50,000 into this house is likely to get an extra $100,000 in sales price.

 

They agreed that buyers just want to move in rather that pick their own carpet and paint.

 

This would be easier if we were in a subdivision, but location and acreage are the main attractive features of this property. I'm just going to focus on making sure the house isn't a deal breaker.

[Orthodox6]

I am more familiar with the seller including a "carpet allowance", which lets the buyer install what he prefers. I would not upgrade the kitchen beyond what it currently has, and you have some attractive features!

 

Paint and roof, yes.

 

Most important is to gut the house of as much furniture and "stuff" as you can. Rent a small storage unit in order to do this. The realtors are right that "minimalist" appearance helps sell a house because potential buyers more easily can imagine their own belongings in the rooms.

[Orthodox6]

Panda, I kind of agree with you.

 

I prefer to buy a cheaper house where I can choose the cabinets and counters that I want.

 

The only part that is pushing me in the other direction is that I already have the granite for the island. We salvaged it from our last house, and I can go to the warehouse and pick the slab I want for the counters. I would want something very subdued, maybe even a cream marble instead of granite.

 

I'm trying to imagine our target buyer. One realtor I spoke with said he would market it to horse people because we have a nice barn.

Take the uninstalled granite with you to your next home.

[Orthodox6]

I have started looking at other homes, but we are in an area where it is difficult to get true comps.

 

I have contacted 2 realtors, I'm going to speak to one more and have all 3 present me with their suggested sale price and plans for marketing the home, then I will decide which one I want to go with.

 

We have negotiated 6 months temp housing for DH in California. So once we have the employment contract signed, he will put in his notice here, and take 1 week of vacation, then start work there.

 

I would start showing this house, and once we have an offer here, we will try to find a house in California.

 

The 2 realtors I talked to said that our market is hot right now, and that putting $50,000 into this house is likely to get an extra $100,000 in sales price.

 

They agreed that buyers just want to move in rather that pick their own carpet and paint.

 

This would be easier if we were in a subdivision, but location and acreage are the main attractive features of this property. I'm just going to focus on making sure the house isn't a deal breaker.

Are you prepared for the quadruple bypass surgery-inducing sticker shock of buying a house in California? I remember when a company was pressuring my husband to accept a job offer in California, we spent a day with a realtor out there. By the end of the day we were surveying rundown, junky little houses priced at $475,000 and saying, "What a bargain!" This was twenty-one years ago, so I cannot imagine what the prices would be now.

[OneStepAtATime]

I agree have you looked at prices for houses in CA? Shudder worthy.

 

Prices dropped for a while in CA when the bubble burst and banks were struggling as people defaulted on loans but the market, as I understand it, is swinging up again. And it never dipped down terribly low to begin with.

[Orthodox6]

We were told by 4 different realtors we would have to put in granite to even get people to LOOK in our neighborhood.  It is a huge reason the house took 18 months to sell when we bought it.  

 

Feedback from the potential buyers during the last sale:

 

1. Master bedroom is painted a hideous color.

2. Carpet is dated and too many different colors

3. Countertops are laminate.

 

We are changing ALL of it so that we can sell the house.  

 

Unfortunately, people around here want turn key ready and aren't willing to overlook much of anything.   Carpet allowances or countertop allowances are overlooked by many.  They simply don't want to deal with any fixing up.

 

I thought since we live in a really great area, we would be fine, but our neighbors didn't upgrade anything and their house sat for 2 years even though the price was low.  They ended up lowering it by $100K to sell.   Meanwhile the other neighbor's house was fully upgraded, had fewer bedrooms and was smaller, and they sold within 2 months for close to asking price, over 100K more than the other neighbor.

 

I really cannot help but thinking that many people are way overly-concerned with how "trendy" (or not) a house looks, and that they are too unmotivated to invest some of their own labor in altering a home to their personal tastes.  A house can be perfectly "turnkey", perfectly comfortable and liveable, without winning designer-of-the-year awards.  It takes time and saving up money to make home improvements.  

 

[amy g.]

The cost of living difference has been no small obstacle We have been on 2 house hunting trips. The company ended up agreeing to pay the difference in a combination of salary, signing bonus , mortgage assistance and long term incentives. We will be downsizing considerably, but we are at an age where that isn't really a bad thing.

 

I just want to get this house in a condition where it will sell right away and we can get on to the next stage of our lives.

 

We do have a storage unit. I'll start moving everything that we don't absolutely need on a daily basis to storage.

 

We looked at cabinets today, and I think we have a plan for how to get a wow-worthy kitchen with the least amount of cash. I'm afraid that if I just paint the existing cabinets, I won't even get showings.

 

I told Dh that once I have the whole house ready and sold, I am throwing myself one heck of a going away party!

[OneStepAtATime]

Decluttering and culling down on furniture, etc. will definitely help.  

 

Another thing you might consider doing is getting a house inspection.  Normally the buyer will do it, but since you want to get the house sold pretty quickly once repairs are done, and you are going to do repairs before you put the house on the market, it may help to have a house inspector do an inspection.  They can point out all the things that will probably come up in the inspection done by the potential buyer.  You can then decide which things you are willing to repair right now, before you are dealing with trying to negotiate with a buyer and which you aren't.  Knowing these things up front can really speed up the sale.  It can also help prevent a sale from falling through because a buyer finds out something needs repairing that is time consuming and costly and they don't want to do it but you are out of time and don't want to do it either.

 

We did that with two houses and even though the buyers went ahead and paid for another inspection, we had already taken care of 99% of the little stuff and with one house we also took care of two major things we didn't even realize were issues.  There was very little the buyers could use to try and drop the price, there was nothing that they were unhappy enough with to stop the sale and since we showed them the results of our own inspection and what we did to address the issues, they trusted us and appreciated our efforts to make the house sell-able. 

[lmrich]

Do you have professional stagers where you live? I would ask thier opinion. If you do not, and want a quick sale, I would do everything possible to make your house look great. I would paint the cabinets white and change the flooring throughout rather than get new cabinets, but ask someone in your area first. 

[DawnM]

I really cannot help but thinking that many people are way overly-concerned with how "trendy" (or not) a house looks, and that they are too unmotivated to invest some of their own labor in altering a home to their personal tastes.  A house can be perfectly "turnkey", perfectly comfortable and liveable, without winning designer-of-the-year awards.  It takes time and saving up money to make home improvements.  

 

 

It does and we have done it to our last 3 homes, but the market has changed.  We thought this house was a good investment, but we are finding out that our house doesn't have what a lot of buyers want.......vaulted ceilings, a more open floor plan, etc.....but those things we cannot change.  So, we change the things we can and hope for the best.

 

We do have land and privacy and no HOA, so if a person wants land, they have to buy an older home, there is no such thing as acreage in our area and a new home.  There are some new-er homes than ours, but they are a lot more $$ than ours.

 

Our house is also in one of the best schools in the city, and people want to live here for that reason, so that is a selling point.  We have one of the lower end homes in the school zone, so I am hoping that will come in to play as well.

 

Dawn

[Tsuga]

Provided the home is worth at least $150k, I'd pay a staging agency to come in and advise me. They don't get paid for nothing. I'm terrible at selling stuff. I have taste but it's very personal.

 

I think it would be worth it to hire somebody. "Here's our budget, what should we do with it to get the biggest bang for our buck?"

 

They might see things you aren't even mentioning to us, which are critical to the home price.

[LisaKinVA]

I hear what you are saying, but honestly It is killing me to look at homes on the market and see some horrible kitchen layouts with all of this nice cabinetry, granite, etc. in them.  It makes me less willing to buy, honestly.  (These are issues which include things like...moving a stove to the left 12", so that a person could work at the stove and another at the sink at the same time, the dishwasher opening into the stove, etc.   The kitchen plenty of floor space, but things are placed so awkwardly that it makes working in the kitchen problematic/frustrating.)

 

If someone couldn't fix obvious problems in a kitchen, I would much rather they invested as little as possible to making the kitchen clean and neat, than spend $10,000 to cosmetically update a kitchen that I'm going to have to rip out anyway.  One thing I definitely would NOT do, is slap granite on old cabinets (that's what my dad wants to do in their kitchen...because he thinks granite will somehow mitigate the fact that the drawers fall apart when you open them, among other things).  

Of course, not many people use their kitchens as heavily as I do -- so something that might be a major frustration for me, is only a blip on the radar for many people.

 

ETA:  I would have a couple of Realtors look through the house -- understanding what your goals/needs are.  I know I'm not someone who needs (or can afford) turn-key, so I'm looking at things a bit differently.

[Catwoman]

I wouldn't buy a house if I had to immediately redo the kitchen and replace the flooring. Been there, done that, never want to do it again. Ditto for remodeling the bathrooms.

 

So... I'm going to cast my vote for the granite and the new cabinets, and new flooring wherever it is needed. Have you looked at Ikea cabinets?

 

In the end, though, it comes down to two things -- how quickly you need to sell, and whether or not you will make enough money on the house after you pay for the improvements. If you need to sell quickly and it won't kill your profits, make the improvements. Many people simply have neither the time, the creativity, nor the motivation to buy a new house and remodel it right away, so even if your house is basically in good shape, they still won't buy it if they are picturing themselves tearing down wallpaper, ripping up carpeting, or replacing floors and cabinets. Also, plenty of people lack the vision to see what a house could look like with a little TLC, so they might reject your house because of the kitchen cabinet layout, without being able to imagine how nice the room could look with a few changes.

[HSmomof2]

I would really wait and get the opinion of a trusted realtor as to what you should upgrade/update. This is going to vary based on many factors, your location, availability of homes for sale in your area, the price range of your house, etc.

 

We sold our 20 year old house last summer. We hired one of the best and most experienced realtors in our area. The house was very clean, had been painted neutral colors, but had the original carpeting installed by the builder. (It wasn't particularly stained, but definitely worn.) We also thought it may need a new roof, just based on age---we'd never had any problems with it. Our kitchen was dated, 20 yr old blonde wood cabinets, tile counters. The market at that time was pretty good, houses generally selling within 3 months. Our realtor advised us to not spend money on any upgrades or even offer a carpet allowance. Just move out as much furniture as possible and get the house and yard spotlessly clean. That is what we did. We had two full price offers within 2 months. At inspection, buyers wanted a few of the peak shingles on the roof replaced. Total repairs for us were less than $500. I am so glad we didn't spend a lot of money updating the house, and we still got what we wanted out of it.

[DawnM]

I hear what you are saying, but honestly It is killing me to look at homes on the market and see some horrible kitchen layouts with all of this nice cabinetry, granite, etc. in them.  It makes me less willing to buy, honestly.  (These are issues which include things like...moving a stove to the left 12", so that a person could work at the stove and another at the sink at the same time, the dishwasher opening into the stove, etc.   The kitchen plenty of floor space, but things are placed so awkwardly that it makes working in the kitchen problematic/frustrating.)

 

If someone couldn't fix obvious problems in a kitchen, I would much rather they invested as little as possible to making the kitchen clean and neat, than spend $10,000 to cosmetically update a kitchen that I'm going to have to rip out anyway.  One thing I definitely would NOT do, is slap granite on old cabinets (that's what my dad wants to do in their kitchen...because he thinks granite will somehow mitigate the fact that the drawers fall apart when you open them, among other things).  

Of course, not many people use their kitchens as heavily as I do -- so something that might be a major frustration for me, is only a blip on the radar for many people.

 

ETA:  I would have a couple of Realtors look through the house -- understanding what your goals/needs are.  I know I'm not someone who needs (or can afford) turn-key, so I'm looking at things a bit differently.

  

Try a min. of $25K for our kitchen with new cabinets.  Flooring was about $3,000.  Granite $3,500.  Backsplash, $2,000.  And that did not include painting the walls, putting in new lighting, sparkling the walls, or new cabinets.  We had to do something.  Our countertops were 1989 laminate that was bubbling and falling apart.  We could have spent $2,000-$2,500 for new laminate or $3,500 for granite. 

 

I don't know if we should have spent the extra $17K or so for new cabinets or not, but we didn't have the funds to really do it, so we didn't.

 

Hopefully it will still sell.

[LisaKinVA]

Try a min. of $25K for our kitchen with new cabinets.  Flooring was about $3,000.  Granite $3,500.  Backsplash, $2,000.  And that did not include painting the walls, putting in new lighting, sparkling the walls, or new cabinets.  We had to do something.  Our countertops were 1989 laminate that was bubbling and falling apart.  We could have spent $2,000-$2,500 for new laminate or $3,500 for granite. 

 

I don't know if we should have spent the extra $17K or so for new cabinets or not, but we didn't have the funds to really do it, so we didn't.

 

Hopefully it will still sell.

 

Good Lord, that is the cost of my huge kitchen (not including appliances).  I had some custom cabinetry, too. But, I spent a year researching suppliers and didn't pay retail.  I also started shopping for some things early and stored them untll we were ready.

 

I'm sure it will still sell.  The only question is if you will get a return in the sales price and time on market to make it worth it.  

 

In some cases, it definitely is worth it.

[DawnM]

Good Lord, that is the cost of my huge kitchen (not including appliances).  I had some custom cabinetry, too. But, I spent a year researching suppliers and didn't pay retail.  I also started shopping for some things early and stored them untll we were ready.

 

I'm sure it will still sell.  The only question is if you will get a return in the sales price and time on market to make it worth it.  

 

In some cases, it definitely is worth it.

 

This wasn't retail either.  Lowe's and the big name stores would be much more.

[LisaKinVA]

This wasn't retail either.  Lowe's and the big name stores would be much more.

 

Wow...just wow!  I'm thinking your kitchen must have as many cabinets as mine did.  My parents have a standard-sized kitchen.  Their cabinet quote is $10,000 (but those aren't the cheap cabinets, and include solid wood and some customization.)  They have a little more than half the cabinets I do.

[Night Elf]

Am I the only one who doesn't like white cabinets? Are they considered trendy now?

[LisaKinVA]

Am I the only one who doesn't like white cabinets? Are they considered trendy now?

 

I do not like white cabinets, and I especially loathe shiny white cabinets.  Love the look, hate the maintenance...same reason I don't like floors that are too light or too dark.  They show everything.  

[G5052]

What does your realtor say?

 

We sold my MILs house some years ago.  It needed serious updating, but the realtor told us to paint it a neutral color and clean it up.  It sold that way within weeks.  We would NOT have gotten back what we were thinking about putting into it. Apparently in that area, people expect that and want to gut it themselves. They're do-it-yourself types.  Several years later one of DH's brothers knocked on the door and introduced himself, and they had him in.  With relatives and friends, they had completely redone it within a few years, even taking out walls and gutting the kitchen completely. Even the outside was completely redone. He said that the style was also entirely different that what we had planned when we were thinking of redoing parts of it.

 

I'm working on a similar situation in an entirely different state with another relative.  It's already neutral color and OK, but not top-of-the-line like some houses in that neighborhood. The realtor told me to clean it up and put it on the market. She said that people there want to move into a decent, neutral place and decide on what upgrades they want down the road.  They want that area and something that can get started with.

 

You can never go wrong with neutral-and-clean.

[amy g.]

The existing cabinets are not in great shape, but I would still consider just giving them a nice paint job except for the fact that the layout of the cabinets is really awful.

 

They take a nice big space, and chop it up until it always feels tight and uncomfortable to cook in there. I generally cook at least 2 meals a day from scratch so I know how really unpleasant it is.

 

I will wait to commit until I have all 3 realtors walk through and advise me on the wisdom of a total redo.

 

I won't be paying retail if I decide to go ahead with it, though. My BIL is CFO for a luxury builder here in town. We have used his workers before and can get granite and marble counters at cost. When I add to that, the fact that we already own the stainless steel ovens, gas stove, vent hood, trash compactor, and extra under counter ice maker, it cuts the cost of the job by about 1/2.

 

I prefer to buy a fixer upper. I like to have everything the way personally like it. My husband says that not everyone has the talent or the inclination to do that.

 

We already have a smaller pool of buyers than we would have if we were selling just a house in a neighborhood. I don't want to limit that even more by excluding buyers who are tooling for something move in ready.

 

Fortunately, our insurance is paying for the new roof and some of the new carpet. I've decided on laminate for the other rooms because it will tie into the floor in the dining room and is not much more expensive than carpet.

 

As far as white cabinets. I hate the shiny ones too. I just feel like people have so many preferences for different kinds and colors of wood, and what I like about the white cabinets is that they can make the kitchen look so huge.

 

I forgot. We are replacing some windows too. Most of the house has new ones, but the ones in the den and kitchen were never replaced, so I will get that done as well.

 

Hopefully, someone will see it and know it is their dream home.

 

Now I need to go and get rid of at least 1/2 of the junk I've collected in the last 20 years.

 

Thanks for all of the great ideas and insights!

[LisaKinVA]

The existing cabinets are not in great shape, but I would still consider just giving them a nice paint job except for the fact that the layout of the cabinets is really awful.

 

They take a nice big space, and chop it up until it always feels tight and uncomfortable to cook in there. I generally cook at least 2 meals a day from scratch so I know how really unpleasant it is.

 

 

If it can be fixed pretty much by replacing the cabinets and putting them in properly (not having to move walls or plumbing), and since you have everything else, it may be worth it.  Your Realtors should steer you in the right direction.  

[amy g.]

I'm not planning on moving walls or plumbing.

[OneStepAtATime]

Good luck Amy!   :)

 

Oh, so that decluttering and culling down isn't so overwhelming, I found I did better if I first went through, picked a room and made a list of things I KNEW I would need before moving, things that are also going to need to stay in the house, not in storage.  I kept that list tacked up in the room so something wouldn't accidentally get packed that shouldn't.  I tried to be very realistic but also cull down as much as possible to the bare essentials.  Then I started with three boxes and a big sturdy trash bag and just picked one room to focus on at a time (so I wasn't looking at the whole house and getting overwhelmed).  

 

Box 1:  Stuff I know I do not want and intend to donate/sell.

 

Box 2:  Stuff I know I want to keep but I don't need right away.  These are things I could keep boxed until the move.

 

Box 3: Stuff I am in a conundrum about and can't decide.  This is important.  Without this box I may get bogged down and not make much progress.  I set this box aside and don't think about the contents for a few days.  I return to this box later and sort again.  Many times the decision has become easier after having to sort through other rooms.

 

And LABEL YOUR BOXES. In fact, I highly recommend writing up a list of contents for the boxes of things you will be moving with you.  Have one of your children do this, maybe.  Then make a copy.  One stays with you and one is attached to the box.  Moving companies have great clear pouches for this and they are self-adhering.

 

Do you have a friend living in the city that might be willing to lend you their garage/driveway for a garage sale?  I borrowed my SILs once.  Her driveway/garage layout was way more conducive to a garage sale than mine and she was in an area that was also more attractive to garage sale hunters in general.  I split the money with her for helping me out and she decided to have her own garage sale at the same time. Worked out well for both of us.

[Orthodox6]

I wouldn't buy a house if I had to immediately redo the kitchen and replace the flooring. Been there, done that, never want to do it again. Ditto for remodeling the bathrooms.

 

 

 

My son is doing precisely this!  :D   He and his wife are moving into their first house this month.  They bought the 1957-built house from a man who was rehabbing it as "a flip" but ran out of money.  It is perfectly habitable (except for the living room lacking a floor -- The subflooring is installed).  My son is gifted at all such work, which I conclude is something inheritable, as my father was the same way.  DS is happy as a clam, and so is his wife.  I'm enjoying watching them be happy, as well as enjoying watching the ongoing transformations.  This is my son who, just for fun, designed and built a full-size platform bed for his toddler daughter.  (It is a beautiful piece of furniture.) 

[LisaKinVA]

I wouldn't buy a house if I had to immediately redo the kitchen and replace the flooring. Been there, done that, never want to do it again. Ditto for remodeling the bathrooms.

 

So... I'm going to cast my vote for the granite and the new cabinets, and new flooring wherever it is needed. Have you looked at Ikea cabinets?

 

 

And, I'm different.  I would rather re-do the kitchen myself than get the, "Sure the kitchen SUCKS, but it's NEW" stuff I'm seeing.  It's lipstick on a pig, but the lipstick is made out of diamond dust.  Not much can turn me off from a house (fixer-upper-wise), other than structural issues.  However, a house full of wall paper comes close (give me a bathroom or kitchen any day over a house full of wall paper!)

[Orthodox6]

And, I'm different. I would rather re-do the kitchen myself than get the, "Sure the kitchen SUCKS, but it's NEW" stuff I'm seeing. It's lipstick on a pig, but the lipstick is made out of diamond dust. Not much can turn me off from a house (fixer-upper-wise), other than structural issues. However, a house full of wall paper comes close (give me a bathroom or kitchen any day over a house full of wall paper!)

Comedy remark about structural problems. . . DS looked at one house and fled. The second story had been added on by a previous owner -- who did not bother to remove the roof of the original, one-story house.

[Happy]

I haven't read the other replies, but here is my 2 cents...

 

Kitchens sell homes. A fixed up kitchen will help sell a home faster than a new roof....you may have to do both, but don't skip the kitchen. Make it pretty, even if you don't change the footprint at all.

[Orthodox6]

I haven't read the other replies, but here is my 2 cents...

 

Kitchens sell homes. A fixed up kitchen will help sell a home faster than a new roof....you may have to do both, but don't skip the kitchen. Make it pretty, even if you don't change the footprint at all.

This can be so true! . . . as well as incomprehensible, considering how comparatively few people cook the majority of their meals! Is it nostalgia kicking in?

[Happy]

This can be so true! . . . as well as incomprehensible, considering how comparatively few people cook the majority of their meals! Is it nostalgia kicking in?

I have no idea...I do think lots of people love a great looking kitchen and never cook. One of my friends says her kitchen is strictly for resale... :)

[DawnM]

Comedy remark about structural problems. . . DS looked at one house and fled. The second story had been added on by a previous owner -- who did not bother to remove the roof of the original, one-story house.

 

I would have loved to have seen that!

[DawnM]

This can be so true! . . . as well as incomprehensible, considering how comparatively few people cook the majority of their meals! Is it nostalgia kicking in?

 

I KNOW!

 

One of my closest friends here has a brand new kitchen, it is huge and beautiful and makes me drool.  Two sinks in 2 different areas, both with garbage disposals AND under counter garbage compactors.  6 burner stove top, double ovens in the wall, and on and on.

 

And she doesn't cook.  She *might* heat up something every now and then, but overall, she picks something up on the way home from work to feed the family.

 

Of course, that is why she can AFFORD that nice kitchen and nicer house, they both work in high paying jobs.