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Our plan to fix up and sell the house, part 4

7 Responses to “Our plan to fix up and sell the house, part 4”

1. snafu Says:
   May 5th, 2014 at 03:53 am 1399262016
   1399262016
   Yikes, that's an alarming list! Are you open to suggestions? Since the update is for selling, I suggest consulting an interior designer often available at the larger Benjamin Moore outlets. Take photos from various angles of each room for the designer to evaluate. [BM paint is more expensive that others because they spend so much on advertising and services not because its better quality]. Any paint can be coloured to BM charts/samples/chips.
   
   Would you be willing to check the Re-Store in your community for light fixtures, door handles and cupboard pulls? If it's your plan to replace all the appliances, CraigsList often lists nearly new, basic units as buyers replace builder grade units with high level models.
   
   Flowers for dining table are expensive and short term, would you consider a large bowl of lemons? Less expensive, long lasting and offer a pleasant scent.

2. ceejay74 Says:
   May 5th, 2014 at 04:01 am 1399262512
   1399262512
   Oh yeah, we're planning to buy gently used and/or dead cheap whenever possible. A quick scan of prices does make it seem like we could do this for our original budget if we're smart about it.

3. Another Reader Says:
   May 5th, 2014 at 04:06 am 1399262795
   1399262795
   The first thing I would do in your shoes is to have a couple of good local agents tour the condo and get their lists of what needs to be done. They should give you the anticipated selling price and the impact of various updates. What you think makes the unit more saleable may not be what they recommend. Spend the money on what they recommend rather than guessing.
   
   Your time table is somewhat useful, but real estate sales never follow a schedule. Perhaps you will find the perfect house and your unit needs to go up for sale in a week. Or your unit sells immediately and you have 30 days to find and close on the house. The best plan is to do as much as you can in preparation but be flexible.

4. ceejay74 Says:
   May 5th, 2014 at 04:25 am 1399263920
   1399263920
   We're meeting our realtor later this month; she not only sold us this unit and sells many in our condo association; she lives in one herself. AND she's started doing general contracting for renovating some of the units she sells. I'm sure she'll have good suggestions that will help us fine-tune our list. We're also meeting a contractor this week to see what he thinks we can get done on the cheap for our kitchen and bathroom.
   
   Our realtor took us through several units for sale recently, and my visceral reactions to the ones that were properly staged vs. those that weren't was confirmed by the home stager's advice (and she has a record of taking stale listings and selling them within weeks or even days, so she knows what she's talking about.
   
   So it's not just "guessing"; we're basing this on quite a few different factors.
   
   And of course the timeline isn't set in stone; it's just a guideline of what we can do now vs. what we can't really do until we start moving out our personal stuff, and a guide of what we think we can get done each month. We're not so naive that we think we can control our moving down to the day. Heck, if this windfall thing doesn't work out, we know we won't start looking for almost a year.

5. CB in the City Says:
   May 5th, 2014 at 12:55 pm 1399294517
   1399294517
   Good luck! You know, when you get it all fixed up, you're gonna say, "Why didn't we do this for ourselves?" That's what I did!

6. snafu Says:
   May 5th, 2014 at 06:42 pm 1399315350
   1399315350
   In this area if a unit sells in less than 10 days the consensus is that it was priced too low. What is the median number of days for a condo to sell in your specific community?
   
   If you decide to rent furniture, I suggest moving your stuff to a friend's garage or rent a storage unit short term. If you decide to stage with 'China' I suggest GW or any nearby Thrift outlet; support what you already have with co ordinating, cheerful coloured tableware. Rather than buy new bedding for cabinet buy new pillowcases and fold existing bed linen into 'package', Martha Stewart style and slide into new, crisp pillow cases. Less expensive to buy 'Grip' type drawer/shelf liner
   http://www.target.com/p/premium-grip-shelf-liner-tan-18x5/-/A-11172307#prodSlot=large_1_6
   from Dollar store. If you think it needs help to stay in place, toothpaste works and it will easily move to your new home
   
   

7. Sandra Mercier Says:
   May 12th, 2014 at 03:28 pm 1399908487
   1399908487
   Thank you for this article! It's interesting!

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