Hubby and I bought the family home from the In-Law's estate after they passed away.
The neighborhood where our house in the burbs sits is an upper middle class neighborhood in Orange County California. The 'hood' consists of two large tracts that were built in the early 60's, and there are several hundred homes. There are currently two houses for sale in this neighborhood. They are across the street from each other and are the same floor plan. One has been fully upgraded over the years and has a new kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. It has a new roof, paint inside and out.
The other has been well maintained but always as economically as possible. The appliances are older, white. Older laminate countertops. The roof is old cedar shake. While it probably doesn't leak, it looks very old and tired and curled with age. In fact, the whole house looks tired from the outside. Most homes in the neighborhood replaced their old original cedar shakes. We replaced our roof, in 2003 at the demand of our insurance company. It still looks new.
The price difference between the two properties is approximately $75,000. I know, because I checked. Whoever buys the lower priced home will either be looking for a bargain, and be willing to live with it as is, or will be spending $$$$$$ to bring it up to the standards of the rest of the neighborhood.
And that is the point. The standards of the neighborhood. I have spoken with several realtors who have told me that in this area, buyers expect a certain standard of care and materials. And they all say "Kitchens sell houses".
We already own our ranch, free and clear. Once we sell the house in the burbs we will be debt free, and everything we get from the sale of the house in the burbs above the mortgage will be cash in hand, so we can finally make the ratty little ranch house livable, make necessary improvements to the ranch, and set some aside for retirement.
My kitchen cabinets are old and most of the finish has worn off. A realtor told me the honey colored oak cabinets "Looks 80's, doncha think?". It does, and they were installed in 1988. But they were very well made, and the style is timeless, so I will be stripping and painting them. Other than the finish, they are in excellent condition.
I just about fainted when I got an estimate for $5,800.00 for granite countertops! After searching the web I found a place that offered them for $29 per square foot INSTALLED! The total for granite for my kitchen was $2,800!
Also, I get emails from Sears whenever they have a good sale on appliances. I needed to replace a double wall unit oven, and a cooktop stove. I got that email from Sears that they were having their sale, and visited their site. I found a stainless steel oven that was usually $1.500, but was half off! between that, and the stainless steel cooktop that was also on sale, I got them both, paid for taxes and installation for less than I would have paid for the oven alone at full price! I had already replaced the fridge and dishwasher several years ago as the old ones broke, with stainless steel and they still look new, so I didn't have that expense now. And another $350 for undermount stainless steel sink and new faucet.
What is left? I spent about $200.00 for tumbled travertine and a pretty medallion for a backsplash. The medallion will be centered over the stove, and from what I have learned on the home improvement shows, I will be doing the installation myself. Also, as I saw done on one of those shows, I took all of my colors from the granite. I carried a sample with me to the home improvement stores.
There is a long bar into the family room that was sagging. I had some wrought iron support brackets made for $65.00 apiece. They are decorative and extremely strong! Please ignore the paint and carpet colors here. They (at least the paint) will be changing.
Anyway, my kitchen will be beautifully done for less than $5,000.00. The work I did and will be doing on my own, I learned how to do by watching the DIY and HGTV shows.
The backsplash will be my second tile job.
I tiled the shower and floor of the master bath. I made a few mistakes, but a professional (the guy with the high estimate fore the granite) said he was impressed! That was also about $200.00 worth of supplies. I had to hire a pro to install shower doors, but that cost about the same as doing it myself with a kit from HD. I am a skilled shopper! My tile job was uneven enough that I was uncomfortable enough with trying to conceal my uneven tile job when installing new glass shower doors, that I thought a pro could do a much better job, and he did a beautiful job.
Finally, My son lost patience with a sticking front door latch and leaned into the glass panel, breaking it. I checked into the cost of replacing the doors, and with installation for some low end double doors, it was going to cost around $2000.00 to replace. I started looking at just replacing the glass. I was told here on HT that I needed to use tempered glass, and in my search I found that to be true.
I asked the shower door installers to sell me some tempered glass (glue chip pattern) for my front doors and matching bathroom window. They did, for $300.00. They measured accurately, and cut it for me and smoothed the sides! I installed the glass myself using the skills I learned watching these shows. The doors aren't sanded and painted yet, and that will be one of the last things to happen before I put the house on the market. My dog goes insane and shreds the paint on the inside of the doors whenever someone walks up to the door, walks by on the sidewalk, drives by on a USPS, UPS, Fedex vehicle, ice cream truck, etc. I'll take that opportunity to replace the handles and hardware. Doggy will be living at the ranch by then.
Anyway, I am using what I learned watching those shows, and I expect I will sell faster and for a better price than the other two for sale in our neighborhood. Why? Our house has more flair than the others. Even the expensive one is plain vanilla with very little personality. Ours will have slightly better upgrades, and I'm sure I paid far less for mine than they did.
And while our original house was the same approximate square footage as the others for sale, same bedrooms and baths, etc. Our has an 800 square foot addition. A mother in law apartment! Income property! And there happens to be a new HGTV show "Income Property" which I am hoping will get people thinking how nice it will be to buy a house that already has a turn key rental to provide income that will help pay their mortgage!
In essence, I am using what I have learned on those shows to improve this house, for a better sale price and faster sale. I will also use what I have learned (and learned from the mistakes I have already made) to fix up the house at the ranch, and that one will be for our own enjoyment. And if we ever sell the ranch during our lifetimes, we will see an increase in value from those improvements as well.
