Category: Home Selling
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Is It Worth Renovating Your House Before Listing For Sale?
My phone rang the other day and the strangest thing happened, I answered it. I’m not sure why I did because the majority of the time it’s calls from duct cleaning services based out of country, “digital” marketers who will show me how to rank number one on Google, or, the worst, agents looking for feedback on their overpriced turkey.
I’ve had this phone number since startac phones were cool, well before the indestructible Nokia 3310 came out. Man, I wanted that phone so bad. My Brother had it and I loved it because it didn’t have an antenna and was sleek and nicely compact.
I can still hear the ring tone and it was the precursor for my spiraling obsession with phones over the next 20 years.
But I’m veering off the rails of this story.
Back on track.
Expecting to be made a fool, I answered the phone with a dry and flat hello.
“Is this Mike Lind?” and I knew it! A sales call.
Which was it going to be, a pitch for a digital sales monitor in a busy downtown condo elevator where hundreds of people a day would see my ad, or how to invest in overseas money markets?
“It is.” That was my short response.
“OK, great. I got your number from a friend of mine because she says you’re an agent in her neighbourhood and that I should call you for help selling my uncle’s home.”
Crap! It was a legit call and now I had to back peddle, remove the grumpy, monotone voice, and see if I could help this guy.
I apologized for my rudeness and explained why I was speaking that way. He laughed it off and said he understood.
What I found out is his wife’s uncle has a house close by that he and his wife were thinking about renovating to sell and would like an accurate value of the home.
He went on to tell me that they’d already gutted the kitchen and are now having second thoughts about doing the renovation.
I felt like saying it was a little late for that…
This brings me to the point of this blog because it happens time and time again – is it worth renovating your house to sell?
To answer like a lawyer, it depends.
It depends on what condition the house is in.
It depends on the current values of houses in the area.
It depends on the location.
It depends on your budget and willingness to live through a renovation or to manage one.
Renovating is not easy. I’ve renovated 5 homes. It can be a long, drawn-out affair. It’s dirty and expensive and depending on what renovations you’re doing, may not be worth the hassle and aggravation.
You’ve probably heard that kitchens and bathrooms are your best return on investment.
I say bullshit to that.
The point of renovating is to enjoy the finished project, not to pass it on to someone else to enjoy.
The exception to that is if you’re a developer and that’s your livelihood.
For the most part, though, I see people who get all caught up in blog posts about how much money they’ll get back from doing renovations.
I’ll tell you a story about someone who is going through this scenario right now.
This couple, with their 3 kids, have outgrown their home. They’ve lived in the house for about ten years and aside from painting and installing vinyl flooring in the kitchen, have done no improvements.
We’ve had talks about knocking out walls to expand and build a new kitchen, finishing the basement, and including a 3 piece washroom down there and busting up the old tiles to have a more modern look.
Everything they’re talking about doing is great if they’re going to stay in the house.
They have lots of equity in the house and based on the price they paid for the home and what renovated houses sell for in the area, it would seem to make sense for them to renovate IF they were going to stay in the house.
But all of the work they were describing wouldn’t solve their issue; lack of space. The bedrooms and living areas are too small for them.
I explained to them that it may be better to do a simple refresh and necessary repairs and move to a bigger house.
Of course you’d say that, Mike. You’re a real estate agent.
I am not interested in selling their house. Well, I am, but it’s too far away from where I’d be able to properly service it and I think it’s a huge disservice for out-of-town agents to take on listings, but that’s another story for another post one day…
Why would they go through the aggravation and stress of doing all that work just for someone else to enjoy?
Anyway, I was trying to explain to them that with small kids and the amount of work they’re considering, it would be impossible to live through.
HGTV makes everything look so easy but is completely unrealistic.
That was a few months ago. Fast forward to the present and they decided to list the house and move.
Great! They took my advice.
But they didn’t. Instead, they have begun renovating the kitchen, and bathrooms and replacing all the floors because they want to capitalize and get the most amount of money possible from the sale.
I bit my tongue. There was no point in telling them what I think of their plan. I nearly bit my tongue when they told me they decided to do all of this work on the advice of their agent (not the agent I referred them to).
No doubt, doing all of these renovations will make the house easier to sell. However, it won’t give them the best return on their investment.
And that is why a lot of agents won’t tell their clients not to renovate because a renovated house is much easier to sell, but when you factor in the 2 to 4 months of all of this work and the money, to me, it just doesn’t make sense.
They would have been better off just doing a simple remodel of the house. New granite countertop in the kitchen, along with a modern faucet and repainting the cabinets.
Install new, inexpensive vanities and taps in the washrooms.
A fresh coat of paint throughout the house.
Inexpensive but modern light fixtures throughout. And, finally, basic white window coverings on all the windows.
Way less expensive, way less labour intensive, and much less stressful to complete.
And you know what?
The house will be way easier to sell too.
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Would you go to Facebook to help decide on an agent to sell your home?
While perusing my local neighbourhood Facebook group, someone posted that she had narrowed her list of real estate agents to two and wanted some advice on which to choose.
Some of the suggestions were on point and valid, others were simply made by clueless individuals.
Unsurprisingly there were agents that seemed to think now would be a good idea to pitch themselves.
First, let’s break down the valid comments because they were for the most part, good but I can still poke holes in them.
There are times going with your gut is the right thing, but then there are times when it’s not, like walking down a dark alley in Gotham City or helping a man with his arm in a cast load a couch into his van at night.
Going with your gut instinct to choose between two agents might be the way to go if everything they presented and promised to do to sell your house is equal, but looking through the comments I found that one agent included staging, while the other charged for staging.
If everything is equal with services, and since they charge the same, going with the agent that includes staging would be the way to go.
Excellent points were made here. Staging is important and all, but to me, the more important service, especially in today’s market is what state of repair the house is in.
Buyers a stretched to their maximum affordability these days and expect a house to be in move-in-ready condition.
Every single glaring item that needs repair or updating costs too much money to fix in the eyes of most home buyers.
Believe me when I say that home buyers are squirmish and will move on to a house in a better state of repair, and will even pay more money for it rather than try and negotiate on a house that needs “TLC” as some douchey agents would say.
“Do they have a list of clients who may be already interested?”.
Please don’t fall for this bullshit.
If agents had someone interested in your house and neighbourhood, and they were a good agent, actively trying to find a house in your neighbourhood for their buyer, you would have known.
They would have been posting in the local Facebook groups and even advertising around the neighbourhood already.
Also keep this in mind, if they have a buyer for your house already, who is their client and whose best interests are they representing in this scenario?
You can’t serve two people unbiasedly. Only one can be a client.
Who is it, the buyer or you?
Finding out how they negotiate is great too. Negotiating really begins at the time of setting the price. When a house is properly priced, it’s been said it’s 90% sold already. I think this is true.
As far as negotiations are concerned, if you think an agent can “negotiate” a buyer into paying exorbitant amounts of money for your home, you need a reality check.
With the amount of information available to home buyers today, they are savvier than ever and may even know more than some agents.
Good negotiations come from knowing what the numbers are in the neighbourhood and being able to convey that information so there is no room for questioning from the other side.
So yes, look at an agent’s stats and their knowledge of the area, not necessarily how many homes they’ve sold.
Communication is another great point they raised. Speaking from personal experience, I’ve had buyers decide against buying a place because the listing agent does not return messages.
I can only imagine how a homeowner would feel knowing that they had an offer on their house but because the agent was unavailable, they lost that opportunity.
Ask the agent you’re interviewing if it’s them you’ll be speaking with when you have questions or problems come up, or will you only talk to their assistant (who, by the way, will know nothing about real estate or your property).
After you sign the listing agreement, are you passed on to a team member? Some team members are great, I’ve been one before, but a lot of them suck.
Ask to speak with former clients.
Beautiful.
If an agent has the type of relationship with clients where they are trusted enough to be able to provide contacts of past clients to vouch for them, that is a huge ringing endorsement and should hold a lot of weight in your decision.
I’m surprised that no one in the group suggested looking at the agent’s Google reviews. Those hold a lot of weight too because Google vets all feedback submissions and if any or fake, they get removed, but more importantly, the agent’s business page gets banned.
This is excellent advice and is the way I find all most all of my tradespeople. With personal recommendations, you know the people who are recommending them can be trusted and experienced first-hand the level of service and satisfaction they received.
I’m deducting points from this person though because they included the name of an agent.
The poster did not ask for recommendations.
But that didn’t stop people from doing so:
LIST SOME HERE
Then, of course, there were the agents that thought now would be a good opportunity to pitch themselves. Never a good look to be publicly begging, and I’ll save them further embarrassment by not posting their pitches here.
Rounding out this post are the clueless ones:
Detailing the fuck-ups I’ve experienced from people selling a house themselves or listing with a company that simply lists your home on the MLS for a flat fee is poor advice, especially coming from a random Facebook group commenter.
The troubles you can get into are too many for this post and I won’t get into them.
I know that commissions can be high when selling but trusting the sale of your most valuable asset to chance is a shitty plan of action.
This commenter does make a good point about spending time finding a good agent to help you find a house. Home buying is very challenging in this market and a lot of what posters have suggested in terms of choosing an agent to sell your home goes double when choosing an agent to help you buy a home.
Summing up, don’t strictly rely on your gut to choose a real estate agent to sell your home, ask for recommendations, ask if you can speak to past clients, read their online reviews and visit their website and see if they are actively posting about real estate and their experiences.
Dive deeper into the services they offer; staging can be defined in so many ways and the stager they work with (or do they do their own “staging”).
Updates and repairs are very important in today’s market and communication is key.
Also, if you are being passed on to a team member to work with after the paperwork is signed, you should interview the team member as well.
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Ready, Set, Sell: Checklist for Home Sellers
You want to sell your home in the shortest possible time for the highest possible price, right? Of course that is every seller’s goal and it’s your Realtor’s goal as well. So here’s a handy 7 Additional Quick Fixes To Make A Great First Impression When Selling A Home you need to do to make that happen.
- Follow the 50% rule. Look at every flat surface in your house and take at least 50% of the items away. This goes for kitchen and bathroom counters, desktops, bookshelves and dressers. Maybe you do use that blender/toaster/coffeemaker/radio every day, but for now, keep it out of sight and get it out only when you need it.
- 50% your closets too. If stuff tumbles to the floor every time you open a closet or a cupboard, you won’t impress your buyers. An overstuffed closet tells a buyer that you don’t have enough storage space. So get out the packing boxes, pretend you’re moving next week, and streamline every space. The buyer needs to know there’s plenty of room for his (or her) stuff.
- Don’t get personal. When a buyer walks through your front door, you want her to imagine herself living in your home. This won’t happen if the walls are covered with family pictures and the refrigerator door is decorated with childlike Picassos. Add these items to your packing list. Let the buyer see a clean slate, ready for her to add her own personal touches.
- Brighten up. Walk through your home after dark and on a cloudy day. Does it look bright, cheerful, and welcoming? Start by getting some brighter light bulbs to shed some light on those dark corners. Make sure there are no burned out bulbs anywhere. Check the porch lights and outdoor lighting as well.
- Show me the money. Realtors and builders alike will tell you that you’ll get the most bang for your buck by investing money in your kitchen and bathrooms. So whatever you have to spend on a pre-sale facelift, that’s where your money should go. If your bathroom vanities look shabby and dated, a couple coats of semi-gloss enamel in one of today’s “in” colors is a great place to start. Add some drawer pulls to kitchen and bathroom cupboards. Replace faucets with brushed nickel or bronze. New stainless steel appliances in the kitchen will give it a real “wow” factor.
- Do a painting. As part of your facelift plan, painting the interior walls is a great investment. Ceilings should be white because it makes the rooms seem larger. But keep white paint off your walls and go with a warm neutral (pale yellow, rosy beige or taupe) instead. Stark white walls are cold. Even if your home is very contemporary, you still want to reflect a degree of warmth and coziness.
- Check for hidden problems. Often it’s the things you can’t see that will trip you up. So keep an eye out for problems that aren’t immediately obvious. For example, if the storage space under your stairs smells musty, air it out and add some room freshener. Make sure there are no signs of mold or mildew anywhere. Look around the baseboards and the outside of your home as well for signs of termites or other pests. Make sure there are no dripping faucets or leaks under the sink. And check to see that your smoke detectors are working.
- Add the unexpected touch. When you’re ready for that first open house, make sure you appeal to ALL the buyer’s senses. Put out some fresh flowers or plants. (Hint: orchids are not expensive and they last a long time.) Avoid candles, which could create a fire hazard. Instead, use essential oils with scents that create a mood. Lavender is relaxing, rosemary is stimulating, and jasmine elevates the mood. Citrus scents are always fresh and clean. Of course if you want to pull out all the stops, bake some chocolate chip cookies and leave them on the counter. But please, no onions or fish smells left over from last night’s dinner.
Homes do not sell themselves. It takes planning and effort on your part, 7 Reasons Why You Need A Realtor to Sell Your Home, to turn your property into a showplace. The payoff is the look on that prospective buyer’s face that says, “I want this one!”
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Make It Sparkle: Eight Tips for Adding Instant Curb Appeal
When home buyers drive your neighborhood, or when Realtors are previewing for their clients, what do they see? You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so make sure your home has the The Wow Factor: Seven Quick Curb Appeal Tips that makes people go “wow.” Take a walk around your property right now—front to back. Pretend you’re a prospective buyer. Do you like what you see?
Here are eight quick tips for creating a visual impression that makes them want to see more.
- Start at the door. Get out your paintbrush and spruce up the front door. A bright color will attract attention from the street, if that fits with your overall exterior. Replace doorknobs and hinges with something new and shiny. A seasonal wreath on the door adds a welcoming touch. If your screen door squeaks or sags, get a new one or just remove it to make an attractive door more visible.
- Under pressure. Rent or buy a pressure washer and go over the entire exterior, top to bottom. Pay special attention to any white or light-colored areas, which tend to collect dust and dirt. Use it on porches, stairs and decks. And by the way, power washing is equally effective on concrete, and can really lighten up sidewalks and driveways.
- Spit and polish. Anything that’s metal on the outside of your home should sparkle and shine. Start with the house numbers. A good metal polish might work, but if not, replacing them is relatively inexpensive. Exterior light fixtures should all be working order and should shine brightly, both in daylight and dark. Check for burned-out bulbs while you’re at it. How’s your mailbox? New owners might appreciate one of the new models with a security lock.
- Hide the kids and dogs. You want your home to have the broadest possible appeal. Not all prospective buyers have children so if you do, it’s best to keep the evidence out of sight. Put away the bikes and balls. If you have play equipment such as swings or a basketball goal, remove what you can or move items to where they are less visible. Be sure someone in the family is assigned to pick up after Fido and Fluffy too.
- Plant a garden. You don’t have to have a green thumb to add seasonal color to the outside of your home. Think containers. Placing a few colorful pots on the front steps or by the door is a great place to start. Visit your local nursery and buy whatever is in season. Replace as needed—nothing dead or dying, please! Keep the grass mowed and edged too.
- Light up your life. Good exterior lighting improves both appearance and security. In-ground spots can accent landscape elements or the house itself. Make sure the front walkway and drive are well lit. If wiring is not an option, solar fixtures are relatively inexpensive and easy to install, although they may not be as bright as wired fixtures.
- Look out the window. Or in, which is what your prospective buyers will be doing. While you’re power washing, make sure the windows get their share. Use an inexpensive vinegar and water spray, and wipe down with old newspapers. Give them the same treatment on the inside and the whole house will sparkle.
- Shutters are a plus. Shutters add a cozy feel, so if you don’t already have them, you might consider installing some. If you have shutters, reattach anything that looks saggy. Make sure they are freshly painted. Depending on your home’s exterior, choose a contrasting color that stands out. Dark green looks great with yellow or cream. Black is great on stone or brick, and white is almost always a good choice.
As you plan your exterior makeover, keep in mind your neighborhood, competing homes that are on the market, and your budget. Most of these How To Maximize Your Selling Price With Low-Cost Cosmetics and DIY. And even if you have to spend a few dollars for professional help, the investment will pay off by attracting more buyers more quickly.