I recently had a conversation with another agent regarding a soon-to-be-seller. She indicated that she had just recently met with a local family that are preparing to put their home up for sale soon. They have owned their home for over 20 years. They know that there are things that must be done to the house to get it ready to go on the market. So, they started working on things that they felt were important to do, BEFORE consulting with an agent.
In the last couple of months they decided that their landscaping was looking very unappealing. So they hired a professional landscaper to tear out all of the old plants and trees and start fresh. They have added some bushes, shrubs and flowers. They trimmed up the yard and it looks very appealing now. This home that had no curb appeal, now looks handsomely manicured and welcoming to a new buyer. The homeowners are proud of their new project.
HOWEVER, the inside of this 30 year old home still has original and worn out carpeting and flooring. The inside and outside paint is 15 years old and the wallpaper is 20+ years old and very old fashioned. The bathroom vanities are original and so is the kitchen. The inside of the home needs a serious going over to spruce it up and bring some of it to today's standards. Now, I am NOT advocating that a new kitchen be put in. We are still in a declining market here.
Come to find out, the owner spent over $7,000 in the landscaping alone.
So, they have decided that they have no money left to do anything else inside or outside the home. They are considering declulttering the home of their 20 years of accumulated items, but that's it! And then they will be putting it on the market.
Now my question is whether that $7000 was money well spent, or whether that was money down the toilet?
Now mind you, I am certainly not discounting the importance of attractive curb appeal on the exterior of a home...In my opinion, if I this were my customer and I knew ahead of time they were planning on spending $7000 to put the house on the market, my feeling would have been to use the $7000 to clean up the outside flower beds, pull the weeds and plant some pretty flowers themselves. I would advise them to declutter, paint the inside and outside, remove all old wallpaper, replace at the very least the carpeting, and money permitting, replace the bathroom vanities.
It pays to talk to a professional before getting ready to place your house on the market.
This article is authored by Sandy Shores, Melbourne FL REALTOR.
South Brevard County, Florida Space Coast.
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