Smitty

Where R the updated pictures homie.

zeroday

I used to think 15k was about the going rate for a nice kitchen...then I saw the other thread where the guy spent 85k. very discouraging considering by the end of this year I'll have spent 20k on house renovations without even touching the kitchen and i'm almost tapped out.

Adam, i have orbs too. i see them all the time in my infrared security cams. aside from the occasional anal probing they haven't been much of a bother.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Looking good Adam!! Can't wait to see the pictures of the finished product.....

Sarlacc

My folks definately arent living in the last house they are ever going to own. But they did sink about 40g into completely redoing their kitchen. The house isnt very old, but its a complete and total upgrade from what was originally there. I'm pretty sure they will make a return on their investment.

House is looking good Adam. I've just started looking at condos with my girl....course this being LA the prices are making my head spin. But I'm sick of renting.

zeroday

say your house is worth 300k...how much should you spend on your kitchen? at what point will you not be getting money back when you sell? I'm thinking if I dumped 85k into my kitchen I would get about 50k of it back when I sell in 4 years (with inflation). I've seen some houses in my development sell with some really nice kitchens but they didn't command much of a premium over the other houses that hadn't renovated the kitchen. On average they get about 15-20k back it seems, although i don't know what they spent on the renovation.

is there a certain percentage of the home's value that you're supposed stay within when redoing a ktichen? i want to fix up the house but since i wont be there in 4 years i don't want to over do it ya know?

fdl

zero, i think it depends on the area you are in and house. having an 85k kitchen in a $300k house might not make alot of sense. But typically the kitchen is the best place to spend your renovation dollars.

zeroday

yeah i agree but i guess i was hoping there was some percentage/formula guideline you're supposed to use based on the value of the home.

Sarlacc

I think it really depends on what you want. You shouldnt redo your kitchen with the sole purpose of upgrading to make more when you sell. My parents house is about 350-400K in Ohio around 4000sq ft i think. maybe a little less. They re-did their kitchen a little over a year ago i think. My dad did it because he had always wanted his own dream kitchen. So, The knocked out a wall, re-did all the counters in granite. new sink, new center island, all Viking appliances (in which he had to add a gas line to the kitchen since it was originally electric,) hard wood floors (too include the redoing the foyer floors, new light fixtures (doesnt count because my dad gets those at a heavy discount.) they redid the cabinets. And then paid my sister to fly out and do a faux finish paint job. all in all the kitchen was about 40k, and its a pretty damn top of the line kitchen.

You can go nuts and get really crazy with costs, but you gotta be careful. With what my parents paid for their house almost 6 years ago and what they could hoepfully get for it today, the kitchen has paid for itself. BUT my dad did because he wanted it. the fact that it will make its money back is just a bonus.

soopa

i think sarlaccs post is dead on.

you gotta decide if doing to make money back or doing for yourself first.


my house was bout 200k, i'm building a 20-25k kitchen. i will probably make my money back because there are house in the neighborhood of comparable size that sell for as much as 500k... but i'm not doing it to make my money back... i'm doing it because i want it.

you also gotta know how to get costs down while keeping quality high... if i was paying retail for everything i'd have to cut corners somewhere or damn near guarantee that i would not be making my money back on it.

doopstr

I saw 2 nearly identical houses in my area.
One had a new kitchen, marble, subzero, etc.

It only fetched about 15k more than the one that didn't have that.

Also the house with upgraded kitchen also had a fireplace and nicer landscaping.

Now, I do think that having those upgrades may help sell a home faster.

Oh, I should also state that the people that owned the upgraded house were originally asking 50k more than the other one.

The biggest thing that is going to govern what you can get for your house is what the other houses in the neighborhood are selling for.

soopa

Like I said, depends largely on the neighborhood youre in. Can't sell a $500k home in the hood.

fdl

like I and others have said, it really depends on the area and the overall value of the houses. A $25K kitchen in a house in the ghetto will fetch you $0 more. A 25K kitchen in an area of 500k homes will usually get you your 25k (or more) back.

soopa

Also, in "development" type areas, you are even more so limited to what your neighbors can sell their houses for.

This is why I like older neighborhoods where all the houses are unique. Judging what each is worth is completely up to personal preference.

zeroday

yep. this is my situation exactly. houses in non development areas around me command alot more money so i really didn't have any options. my house for the most part looks the same as 60 others in the development. i defintely wouldv'e preferred a more unique home but it just wasn't in the cards.