We have finally accepted our personal failures at upgrading my wife's condo on our own. We just don't have the time or energy to get everything done that we want done and it's well beyond time to get it off our hands.

So, we've decided to hire someone to do all the upgrades - most of which are needed just to make the place presentable.

It's only a 1 br/1 ba condo of about 650 sq ft. As it is now, if it sold at all, it would take several months and maybe fetch about $230K +/-. If we just clean it up, it may sell a little faster, but won't get much more money. If we fix it up pretty nice (not top of the line - the neighborhood doesn't justify it) it would likely sell in about 2 months and get about $240K +/-.

Actually, just typing all this out helped my out a lot, but any thoughts you might have are appreciated.

I plan on posting before and after pics once we negotiate with the contractor.

 

Well it's really quite simple...are you going to spend more than $10,000 to fix it up?
If yes, don't waste your money.

Can you list the things you are planning to do?

 

Could you drop your price to $220k, sell it quick, and take the $10k you would have spent on an upgrade and put it towards your primary residence.

 

I would just clean it up, paint any room that really looks like it needs paint, and put it on the market. Just make sure that when you list it that it looks as well as the average condo.

 

Need to know what type of upgrades you are planning on doing. 10K doesn't seem like a lot to make it look "nice"

 

The upgrades are fairly significant and will make it move-in ready - for real, not just like when people say it is. Some of these items are necessary to even be livable, as the place has been sitting empty for a couple years.

List of upgrades:
New flooring throughout - Tile in kitchen, entrance, dining, hall, in front of fireplace and bath. Carpet in living and bed room
Granite Counter tops - mainly doing this because the counters need to be replaced and got a good deal
Paint and wall repairs throughout - some tape is coming off and one wall needs to be retextured
New kitchen sink and faucet
New toilet + seat
New bathroom fixtures - light, fan/light combo, shower faucet, sink faucet
Base boards throughout
Crown molding in entrance/dining area

There are a couple other misc items as well.

Another thing to consider is this is a 3rd floor unit with vaulted ceilings, so that adds to labor costs a bit.

We ended up giving the go ahead with the work - which will start on Monday. Should be done in less than 2 weeks.

 

$10k sounds like a good deal for that amount of work, I would have though that list would cost $10k at DIY install. Granite and floor would be around $8k alone up here.

 

He never said how much it was going to cost. Can you tell us what the bill is going to be? Like I said before....

 

The bill will be right at $10K Originally, I was planning on spending have that much, but it wasn't realistic considering the number of things that need to be done.

Getting it done right and within two weeks with the likelyhood that it will sell quicker were the deciding factors to do the work.

 

Well, the work is done - though the process was no where near as smooth as we were hoping. The contractor realized we were upgrading to sell, so he cut corners, misrepresented a few things and generally pissed me the F off. We ended up getting him to fix a few things and we fixed a few things - some things were because they weren't included in the original agreement.

Anyway, the place is pretty much ready to show. We have just a few small touches to finish and it goes on the market tomorrow.

We took the pics before we finished changing out all the switches and outlets. Here are a few:



Disregard the flip-flops

 

looks nice and clean

 

Thanks. It's easy to look that way when there's nothing really in there. All the closets and cupboards are empty - just the sofa, computer hutch, bed and A/V cabinet w/TV.

 

Looks nice... I'll buy it for $9,999

 

Cool. I'll cover the other 1...







There, covered.

 

cracker jack box.

 

Yeah. It's only a 1 BR/1 BA. But considering it should sell for nearly 5x the price my wife originally bought it for less than 10 years ago, I'd say it's a better return than a temporary tattoo or secret decoder ring you normally find in the box.

 

Those SoCal prices are amazing. Good for you wife to keep it that long, that's a huge return, should be nice for a good downpayment on the new place.

 

:fixed:

Yeah, she did really well with it. My place has done decent (though not as well as hers), as well, but I haven't had it nearly as long. We actually need the appreciation from both places to make a decent down payment on a house - and start our 6-month emergency fund.

Now the process begins all over again on my condo.

 

Just an update -

We entered escrow on the property, but we're not too confident that it will close. There's something slightly shady about the buyer's representative (not an agent). Anyway, it was the first and only offer we received, so we'll ride it out and see if anything else comes in during the process.

The sale price is actually $2k over asking, but we are paying nearly $7k in their closing costs. Still, we're still reasonably pleased with the net price - if it closes. They're doing 100% financing, too.

As for whether or not the upgrades helped, it's not certain. Neither of the other two properties have were listed before ours has sold, so it definitely didn't hurt.

I'll post an update when either: a) we have a check in our hand or b)it falls out of escrow.