You're not crazy and it WILL work! :)

New roof and new furnace? Talk those up when you sell it ~ those are major expenses if they need to be replaced, so it sounds real good that they're new. Find the receipts if you can and give your real estate agents copies when you list it. Ditto for the siding and bay window. Siding is another nice thing to be new when you're selling.

Floors are important. You know how everything looks great right after you vacuum, even if there are a few clothes on the couch and everything needs dusting? ;) Fix those floors if you can right before you put it on the market, even if you just do a quick sand/buff job on the wood and put in cheapo linoleum elsewhere ~ it's new and clean and will look good for the moment.

Fill the holes in the walls ~ white toothpaste works great on a white wall and is so easy. If you can touch up the walls inside, do. Even if you don't have any paint left from the last paint job, but can computer match it at the paint store. Attempts at touching up look better than no attempt at all.

Bathrooms and kitchens are "in" right now and everyone wants a custom job, so I wouldn't worry TOO much about them as whoever buys your house will probably want to do something different anyway. Fix anything that won't allow for immediate move-in or just looks really bad and leave it.

And remember curb appeal. Go out to the street in front of your house and take a loooong, hard look at it, remembering that this will be the FIRST view the buyers will get of your place and you know how people go for first impressions. THAT will tell you more of what you need to do than I can.

Good luck! :)!

Oh, yeah! Welcome to the forum! :)!

Welcome to the Homesteading forum. It's good to have you. You would be told by a real estate person to go for eye appeal, both inside and out. But personnally, I would have that joist causing the dip in the floor replaced. It's a tip off to someone looking to buy, there are unknown support frame problems. It may be less to fix than you think. You can do some cutesy painting or changes, like a trellis with roses, around the front entrance. That makes a cottage desireable. Otherwise sounds like you have a lot of standard fix-em-up tasks. Good luck. Please keep us posted. -- Marie

We learned the hard way - superficial sells. And, yes, fix the dip in the floor - it probably won't cost much but will scare a LOT of people away.

If I could do it over again, and if you are looking at a fairly short-term turnover, I would have an appraisor come in to tell you what the place is worth now, and what it could be worth if you finish x, y, and z. I don't know if they will do "predictions" like that ... but we recently sold an adorable cottage, and got almost no credit for our renovations. The appraisal killed us and we made only $4,000 on the place, despite the fact that we had spent $20,000 on renovations and the buyer was willing to pay our asking price (their bank would only loan them the appraised value).

A lot of renovations don't matter in their eyes. Roofs, furnaces, kitchens, baths, siding, refinished floors, etc. do matter. There are studies on which renovations give you the most bang for your buck when it comes time to sell ... and kitchens & baths are at the top of that list as far as rate of return.

Finish one thing at a time, because anything partly finished does not count if you decide to sell early. For instance, everything in our kitchen was finished except the door/window trim and repainting (new cabinets, etc.) ... but we got zero credit for what we did do.

Take before and after shots! And keep your receipts and good records of everything you spend ... it will help your tax burden when you sell if you can demonstrate what you put into it.

Yes, this was our first house, and we were naive about many things ... but I wish someone had told us these things.

In many states now, banks and mortgage companies will require a house to be inspected by a prof. inspector before they will consider giving the prospective buyer a loan. You might want to consider having this done yourself first so you know where you stand and what you REALLY need to fix in order to be "loan worthy" for a lender. B.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

This is my first house too, and I've fairly certain I got a good deal on it because it had been built and just lived in - with no upkeep done at all. It's sad really, it's a sweet little house. I almost wish I could just have it moved to a new site, but it wouldn't be practical (empty lot wouldn't sell for much). I'm not looking to sell soon, I've got my 5-year plan in place, so it'll be awhile. As for renovations, I lucked out in that my father (aka 'Dad-of-all-trades') is willing to put time and labor into any projects I may have, as long as I pay for materials and keep cold refreshments on hand. Usually I help out, but I'm bustin' out 7 months pregnant, and he thinks I should take it easy. geesh. : )

Thanks for the before/after tips. Dip in the floor is on the to-do list.

I just read a long article about what pays off in remodeling that disagreed with a lot of what's been said here. I remember the article surprised me, too. From what I recall for example, people expect a functional roof, furnace and siding, so you don't recover a lot of those costs. Adding an extra bath pays off, while redoing a bath or kitchen doesn't as much. I think the article also commented that a lot of the increase in home value lately has been a general home-buying frenzy fueled by the (formerly) booming economy, not necessarily related to remodeling. So my first suggestion would be to check out (several) published articles to be sure the advice you're getting is right, since we all seem to have selective memory.

I also wonder if given what you paid for the house, it's worth trying to fix it up to sell at a profit. That depends on the neighborhood and the amount of land you have. Five years may be a short time to depend on a big increase in equity. Maybe you should do the repairs necessary to make it livable for you, enjoy the benefits of low mortgage payments (I assume)and having the space to garden, etc, and set aside money upfront for your next purchase.

Oh I wasn't expecting to make any sort of HUGE profit off the place, LOL. I just wanted to come away with a clean slate and maybe alittle $$$ in my pocket. I've already been in the house 5 years, so with another 5 to go.....

You're right, I should enjoy the low payments while I can. It's just living in town that's driving me crazy. Thanks for the suggestions - guess I've got some homework to do : )