Email Answer: Know When To Hold ‘Em
Q: Do you ever wonder if you’re pricing your house out of the neighborhood? There are so many things I’d like to do with our cute little house but then I think, “don’t do it, you’ll spend too much and never get your money back.” And it’s definitely too small to stay here forever. For instance, does a full kitchen reno make any sense for someone who might be moving into a bigger and better home in a year or two. Or, do you just bite the bullet and spend the money so you can fully enjoy what you have now? Sorry, I’m probably rambling but I have a love/hate relationship with our home. One day I love it and want to stay and make it better. The next day I’m looking on real estate sites for a new one. -Molly
A: Good question Molly! Our little home is a modest 1350 square feet and we’re planning to stay here forever… even when we have a gaggle of little ones someday. We’re just confident we can make it work. I think different people have different ideas about what big is and how much space you really need (I can’t imagine cleaning a bigger house so I’m very happy about the quaint casa we settled on). And coming from Manhattan where I had a closet sized room for a jaw-dropping $1200 a month (here’s a funny old video tour) our little ranch is a palace by comparison! I mean even the fancy people in the Upper East Side don’t usually have over 1000 square feet- and plenty of families live in NY, so that really helps me to keep things in perspective. Here’s my cute & tiny NYC apartment (circa 2005) that couldn’t even accommodate a couch. Guests had to sit on the full-sized bed to watch VHS movies with me on my 13″ TV. Cringe. Sidenote: look, there’s my little egg-crate-turned-jewelry-organizer on the makeshift side table! In a small space you only have room for the things you love, right?
As for the pricing-your-house-out-of-your-neighborhood concern, the usual recommendation is to get the worst house in a great neighborhood if you plan to do a lot of work on it (since getting the best house in a terrible neighborhood doesn’t help you when it comes to renovating – you’ll end up with an even nicer house surrounded by unappealing properties that look even worse by comparison). We were sure to get a total beater of a house (in case our before pictures didn’t make that obvious enough- hehe) so we would be able to do some major upgrades without feeling like we went overboard.
For example, every other house on our street was set back from the road with a spacious and lush front lawn while ours was set back just as far but had a curb-to-house mulch bed and a veritable forest out front. This was the first of many signs that there was some room for improvement when it came to our property. In short: Our house was a giant zit on our sweet neighborhood’s otherwise beautiful face, so anyone else with this affliction has permission to get to work. Of course you want to consider the purchase price of your home (ours was around 35K cheaper than all the other houses we looked at of the same size and in the same general area, which helped us determine how much we could “put into” it without feeling guilty).
On the other hand, if you already think your house is nicer than all the neighbors’ homes I would definitely pull the plug on any additional renovations (especially major ones like a kitchen redo). And of course you can always befriend your neighbors and take them a pie to check out their digs- or even call on a realtor to come over and tell you about the comps in the area and suggest what you should and shouldn’t do to maximize your profit when you sell in a year or two (they might veto a pricey kitchen remodel off the bat, which would be nice to know before whipping out your wallet).
That being said, our point of view is a little different than most when it comes to our own house (since we want to live here til we’re old and gray, we wouldn’t care if a realitor recommended against certain switcheroos, like trading our formal dining room for a third bedroom). We affectionately call Casa Petersik our “forever house” so we hardly think about resale value and all that when we pick up a hammer or a roller. But if you’re planning to sell in a year or two it’s a totally different ballgame (especially in this sluggish economy) so anything major would definitely be a lot more of a risk than the smaller projects that you can take on for less loot and effort.
The verdict: we would suggest making as many inexpensive upgrades as you can (switching out light fixtures, installing a programmable thermostat, getting a new bathroom vanity or painting the dated one you have, changing out kitchen and bathroom hardware and upgrading all of your home’s doorknobs from brass to chrome or nickel). And of course we can’t forget the number one way to freshen up your home in an afternoon on the cheap… why it’s paint of course! Here’s our dark and dated den before paint:
And here’s the same space after a few gallons of creamy goodness:
It’s almost unbelievable, eh? The paint really made the room. We didn’t drywall the paneling, we just left it and rolled right over it- and even though two walls are painted brick and two walls are painted paneling the whole room feels light and cohesive. Oh and the entire transformation only took about seven hours total and we did it with under $100 worth of paint. The lesson? A few cheap tweaks may be all that it takes to have Molly falling in love with her house all over again- without having to worry about paying the price.
What do you guys think? Can you think of anything else that might help Molly with her property predicament? Any other inexpensive upgrades that you’ve done on your just-for-now house that made it feel more like a forever-home? Any tales of hating your house and wanting to sell only to fall deeply and inexplicably in love with it (and ten years later you’re still there)? Do tell.
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Comments
Ahhh, you used my question! I feel semi-famous now :) Thank you for covering that. My husband and I are definitely taking your advice. Unfortunately (and fortunately) we bought the second best house on the block. As I met our neighbors and have heard them talk about their houses seems like ours is in pretty good shape already.
As a bit of background, this two-bedroom house was “flipped” in early 2003. It was in dire shape before the flip. A young couple just starting out swooped it up. Apparently there were multiple bids and they were the ones that got it by writing a personal note to the seller about how they knew this was the house for them. Fast forward 4 years later, they had a baby and put their house on the market. Five days later, after a lengthy house search of our own, I found the listing on a for sale by owner site. I immediately called and made an appt. to go see it. We knew right when we walked in that it was the house for us. We offered full asking price (that was our first mistake). But we were smitten with its charm and we bought it right before the market tanked later that summer.
Our first upgrade was to rip out the disgusting carpet and refinish the hardwood floors. They look beautiful now. My point being, there are still upgrades to make that won’t break the bank. We didn’t buy this house as our “forever” home but we did want to fill it with our own taste. A master bathroom reno is the next thing in store. We have actually thought about keeping it long term and renting it out. Because of that, we know that expensive upgrades are not the right thing for us to be doing. I hope to buy a “beater” the next go-round due to your advice.
Maybe I’ll send you some pictures. If you go to my blog and click on the label “home” you can find some pictures.
Thanks for “featuring” my question!
Molly
Molly,
I am a house flipper, which makes me a professional house seller I guess. I often find beaters and turn them to gold. That doesn’t mean that I always do major renovations. Sometimes it’s not in the budget to rip out all of the cabinets. In fact, I’ve only purchased new cabinets once out of 6 flips. Every other time I’ve painted the cabinets white. I’ve even painted those hideous laminate cabinets with the wood trim on the bottom. That particular choice wasn’t something I would normally do, however it was a condo I was living in and I was already priced the highest in the area. So, redoing the kitchen wasn’t an option.
Anyway, if I were to give advice to anyone, I’d say to always prepare for a future move. You never know what will happen in your life to be able to predict whether you’ll be in one place forever.
Oh my! I can SO relate to that back and forth love-hate relationship (though it’s finally turning into a mostly love relationship!).
My hubby was so worn out from removing wallpaper borders, scrubbing, and priming, that our house sat for MONTHS without the final coat of paint. I was pregnant, so I was no help (total bummer for a hands-on gal like myself).
Eventually we bit the bullet and had a professional come in and finish the painting for us… we had lead paint in our living room that we didn’t want to touch and smoke tar was coming through some of the areas we painted. About that time we also went on a quick trip out of town. We found that having someone come in and do the work in a quarter of the time, and a weekend out of the house cured our “decorators block” and we’ve been able to move forward DIYing ever since.
And that’s coming from someone who still has her washing machine in the KITCHEN and a dryer in the attached garage! Can you guess what our next “big” project will be?! All this feedback was great to hear… I think I’ll hit up some open houses this weekend!
Renee,
I thought I was the only one with a washing machine in the kitchen (the dryer’s in the utility room with an outdoor entrance only)!
As for the original post, I can totally relate. Our 1100-square-foot ’60s yellow brick is far from my dream home. It feels small, but in reality, we don’t even regularly use the dining room or one of the three bedrooms (except for storage and the very infrequent guest).
I guess it’s just the size of the “important” rooms that makes me want to move in the next 5-10 years. The kitchen is tiny and awkward (not to mention the washer…), and the lone bathroom is cramped as well. Plus the bedroom we use as the master barely fits our double bed and dressers with enough room to walk.
To expand those rooms or build an addition is cost-prohibitive and would absolutely price us out of our neighborhood (which is nice but modest, and all older construction). We’re already in one of the better-kept houses on the block.
We did get a good deal on the home (below appraisal), and the value has already increased in the year we’ve had it with no renovations. For those reasons, we’re not looking to make any pricey upgrades.
In the past year, I’ve gotten used to the inconveniences of an older house, like the lack of a dishwasher (and did I mention the indoor/outdoor laundry trek?) and sharing a single-sinked bathroom with my husband. However, that doesn’t mean I still don’t have that dream home in the back of my mind: spacious, modern kitchen; master suite with double sinks; smooth-textured walls (ours are all popcorn-textured – seriously?!); and a roomier overall feel.
And that’s why this is our starter home.
Hey Kristin,
We used a masonry bit to predrill some small holes (into the grout- never the brick!) and then just banged nails into them for a strong hold. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi… Just wondering what paint brand/color you used on the walls in the den? I love it!
Such a great transformation!
Hey Laura,
We used Glidden’s “Wishes” on all the walls except for the fireplace wall which is a tone deeper (Water Chestnut also by Glidden). Wishes is no longer available at many Home Depots but they still have the formula in the computer to whip it up for you if you ask. Happy painting…
xo,
s
We just bought our first house in a modest neighborhood whose value isn’t likely to skyrocket or fall too far from where it is now. We don’t know if this is our “forever house” or if we’ll be here just a few years. So while we have grand plans for our dear house, our budget (and baby #2 due in January) keeps us firmly grounded in reality by slowing the pace of our projects to mere crawl.
Having said that, we have 5 major projects that we plan to accomplish over the next 5-10 years in the following order: adding a deck and landscaping front/back yard, new roof, kitchen update, master bath reno, replacing the exterior shingles. Undone, these projects are most likely to put off prospective buyers (and bug us, too!).
These are/can be expensive and time consuming projects. We may or may not get our money back on them should we decide to sell. What we will get is complete satisfaction in living with the results. To minimize our cash output, we’ll DIY like crazy and be modest in our design/materials choices.
I like your answer about the cabinets. We’ve been debating replacing ours. The 50-year old cabinets are in fine shape. We painted them and changed the hardware when we moved in. We need to replace the counters (the laminate is scratched, stained, and gouged). So we’ve been thinking – should we do the cabinets? We’ve bought at a somewhat high price for the neighborhood and know that we won’t get a large financial return on improvements. We also want to reuse where possible. We’ve thought about widening the doorway between the kitchen and living room – but that wouldn’t affect the cabinets! Score a point for not replacing!
Also, I wanted to share a trick for drawers without slides. This is what my mom used to do and what I’m now doing: Wax the bottom of your drawers. I bought a block of wax from a craft store that sells candle-making supplies. I emptied the drawers, flipped them upside down and rubbed the wax block over the part that rubs. Now they run quite smoothly. The wax needs to be redone every year or two. So, when you’re cleaning out your drawers anyway, flip em over for a fresh coat.
Wendy wrote:
“Anyway, if I were to give advice to anyone, I’d say to always prepare for a future move. You never know what will happen in your life to be able to predict whether you’ll be in one place forever.”
AMEN to that!
I have had to move several times in the last 20 years, both from places I owned and places I rented due to circumstances beyond my control. Disability for one: going from an income that afforded the mortgage in the first place down to, say, $1,000 a month really changes your plans. Then when that happens in a down market (this was 15 years ago) and having to take a $55K LOSS in the bargain. Well, you get the picture.
Some years later, I was able to live above poverty level, when my father’s estate was settled. However, while there was enough money to buy a modest townhouse, the Trust would not permit me to, so I rented one. That was going to be OK, but then the Trustee was scammed of our inheritance and murdered. Talk about Drama! So it is back to living at poverty level.
I was renting several rooms over a store in a commercial center, pending the results of the trial of my brother, an OK place that permitted some privacy, although waaaayy too small, with Hope and a Service Dog. Problem was, my landlord didn’t keep up his mortgage payments, so the entire property was foreclosed upon and sold to the Township to be razed for ‘public housing’ which I will not be able to afford once it is built.
So, MY advice to whether one should make improvements to one’s domicile is to go ahead and do what requires minimal financial investment (painting, papering, cosmetics, anything with very low-cost materials) plus your own sweat equity. The DOING is an enjoyable hobby wherein one learns new skills and gets to live with the positive results while living there. That is a WIN-WIN-WIN if I ever saw one. How many people spend a couple thousand dollars, say, on a ski trips (not to denigrate vacations) or gambling (that I WILL denigrate) with little to show for the expense other than a suntan, broken leg and/or loss of capital.
Painting kitchen cabinets is a no-brainer (I do it every place I have ben permitted to) but replacing them, I’d think on that a while. Especially in this economy.
I am now renting a room in a new geographical location where it is far, far less costly to live, all my stuff is in storage 800 miles away, while I try to save enough money to begin anew. I lived 37 years in the old area, loving it, never thinking I’d leave. But Life is what happens to you while you’ve busy making other plans (John Lennon).
In 6 weeks I will turn 65. Never too late for a New Beginning.
That’s what we did, we bought the UGLIEST house in a great neighborhood. We are still in the process of fixing our 1,300 sq foot house. Phew..It just seems every time I get excited about decorating.. I become preggars! It’s a cute Cape Cod style house. we are putting up Cedar vinyl siding, but we have no clue of what colour to use for the shutters..Phew..I will post pictures when the siding is finished!
Hey Ellen,
Ohh, red. Red is always a bit of a bugger to get coverage with (typically taking more than twice the amount of coats of other colors to get that deep ruby saturation). Your grout also might have been more recessed than ours (our roller got into most of the cracks since our grout is relatively flush with the brick and then we just touched up the places that we missed with a two inch angled brush. So sorry to hear about your troubles but happy to hear that you lived to tell the tale!
xo,
s