The one thing I would bet most people don't consider when they sign on to build a new house is a realistic estimate of what they will need to do to sell their current home. I know I sure as heck didn't.
I mean I expected there to be some cleaning and painting involved, but when our real estate agent came in and gave us an honest evaluation of the value and what we need to do to get top dollar, I was stunned.
Now, a little background. Its just me and Susie and the dogs, so no kids or kid stuff. We have been married going on 25 years and have lived in this house which we built 16 years ago. Since that time we have accumulated WAY to much stuff.
In the past two months, we have taken numerous trips to Goodwill to drop of clothes and household items we no longer use. We have rented a 10x10 storage locker for things we need out of the way to stage and sell the house. As Cindy says the less stuff in the house the better. I have replaced all the bright brass door levers and cabinet knobs with aged bronze (you know all that stuff HGTV says is trendy). We replaced all the overhead light fixtures (again to get rid of the bright brass) and donated the old fixtures to a construction recycling center. We are replacing the 16 year old carpet in the main rooms on the lower level with Pergo (only slightly more than carpet in terms of cost, but will hopefully give us more bang for the buck). We have painters coming in to paint the two story entry and the other rooms on the 1st floor. We had a wonky retaining wall rebuilt.
Was I expecting to have to do all this? No. But am I will to do it to get more than average for our house? Yes. Will it pay off? Jury is still out on that.
So, some advice, have a pre-sale inspection done like we did before you do anything to your house. Ours only showed the wonky retaining wall. And depending on the age and how well you have kept up with updates and painting, I would be prepared to put $5000 or more into your house to get it ready to sell.
Oh, one more tip. Check Craigslist for moving boxes. We found a couple very near us who bought a lot of moving boxes from Home Depot and were looking to get back some of their investment. I got 8 large garment boxes and close to 80 other boxes (small, medium and large) for about $70 bucks.
We're in a very similar situation, moving to Odenton, MD. We bought the Pisa but the list of disappointments (because of the lack of foresight on our part and all the things the sales people never mentioned) is turning it into a distressing experience. We're talking about canceling the contract. I wonder what your experience with Ryan has been, if they've been willing to discuss making changes or if they've simply ignored your concerns, as has been the case in our situation. FYI, we are in in 1980s townhouse and our realtor brought in stagers to help us unload and fix. We put quite a bit of money in when we bought this place, but the bathrooms are old so we're replacing vanity counter tops and faucets and spiffing up the deck. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteSorry, have been remiss in not posting lately. Had a lot of family drama going on.
DeleteWhat are you disappointed in? The size of the rooms? quality of the build? or the nickle and dime process you have to go thru?
Been in the house 2 months now and it is finally starting to feel like our home. We had a few changes made, no walls between kitchen and morning room and sitting room and bed room. They added wiring up in the try ceilings for me to add LED lighting later. And my wife got them to add a ramp in the garage taking out the steps and they put a railing on the front steps as there was not enough space to put in a railing.
We're in a very similar situation, moving to Odenton, MD. We bought the Pisa but the list of disappointments (because of the lack of foresight on our part and all the things the sales people never mentioned) is turning it into a distressing experience. We're talking about canceling the contract. I wonder what your experience with Ryan has been, if they've been willing to discuss making changes or if they've simply ignored your concerns, as has been the case in our situation. FYI, we are in in 1980s townhouse and our realtor brought in stagers to help us unload and fix. We put quite a bit of money in when we bought this place, but the bathrooms are old so we're replacing vanity counter tops and faucets and spiffing up the deck. Good luck.
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