I agree with ED. My neighbors keep their houses pretty nice and anytime
anyone moves just before the new owner comes in you find all the carpet and
flooring out on the curb with perfectly good appliances and sometimes even
cabinets. It seems like with cheap mortgage rates people have no problem
adding another 10 - 50 thousand on to get exactly what they want.

All the ROI for remodels is hype in my opinion propagated by those that can
profit from such. I have a perfectly fine kitchen with oak cabinets but
everything is not the latest or greatest. If I spent 40 thousand on a
kitchen remodel it "might" add 10 thousand to the value of my house. Where
you can get great ROI is when you can do the labor mostly yourself for areas
of the house that really need it such as an outdated master bath. One of our
neighbors bought every conceivable upgrade/option to their house when the
neighborhood just started believing the salesperson that they would recover
all the costs at resale and to their living experience. They took a huge
beating when they sold a few years later getting just a little more than the
same model without all the upgrades.

Of course when you sell a house it should be neat, clean, and uncluttered
and most everything in good working order. I am not saying that you should
not put any money into getting a house ready for sale. Light fixtures are
one way to really spruce things up for not much. Fresh paint is well worth
while if you can do it yourself if any rooms need it as are some
plants/flowers. If you have too much stuff [like me] consider renting some
storage space to get the junk out before putting it on the market. Good
luck. --- Steve


"Ed" wrote in message
...
It has been my experience that you will rarely get your money back. A
house will sell for the going rate in your neighborhood. Imagine if you
spent time and money fixing it up and the new owners just scraped
everything you did.



"cas" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am about accept a transfer at work and we're going to have to sell
our home. No biggie, I was ready to move anyway.

We live in an area with a fairly hot market, 2 homes near me moved in 3
days. My house is in ok condition, it's not a showpiece. Old, solid,
etc. Anyway, here are my questions. No flames, this is more of an
informal survey.

1) The attic was painted purple by the previous owners. I've cleaned
most of it out (it's about 800sq ft). Should I paint it - or at least
prime it - a less obnoxious color? I could finish it in 4 or 5 hours.
When we first looked at the house I thought "jeez, that is ugly".

2) Kitchen. It's old, the cabinets are sorta cheap and while they look
ok they aren't great. The SO wants to replace them, I'm really not up
for a kitchen redo if I have to be out of here in 3 months. I was
thinking of just cleaning them as best as I can, repainting the
kitchen, etc. The kitchen is semi bright, it's well light.

3) Wallpaper. Gawd I hate this mess (esp when it's old as dirt). I'm
now redoing the bathrooms. One of the bathrooms has a wall of wallpaper
that isn't responding to any of the removers. Would it be tacky to just
paint over it? It's smooth and there are no seams that are peeling,
it's just - ugly.

That's it, thanks.