The spring housing market, despite the best efforts of weather gods, is budding.
A new crop of sellers is preparing for a crowd of eager buyers. Benignly neglected imperfections - a wayward cable cord, the wine stain that never fully came out of the carpet, holes in the wall where the kid gate used to be - shout out accusingly: You should have fixed me a long time ago! A perfectly serviceable kitchen, updated only yesterday, suddenly looks like a set from The Golden Girls. That basement bathroom may scare small children.Time to quit fantasizing about all the money to be made on a bidding war and start to think about how much to spend.
While there are no hard and fast formulas, a good realtor will be able to take a look and make sound recommendations. To compete with comparable inventory to get top dollar, it's a matter of assessing the property and the neighbourhood and looking dispassionately at what needs to be done.
It could be something small for the handyman to do, or it could be a larger reno.
If it's a house in the $300,000 to $500,000 range, maybe just painting the cabinetry, maybe changing the countertops to give it a fresh look is sufficient, If it's a house in a neighbourhood that could command more money if you actually undertook a more significant renovation, we might recommend putting a new kitchen in.
If you've got a house that's $4-million, you won't be able to get away with just painting the cabinets. Buyers have different expectations when the price point goes up. You have to dissect the market segment and see what they're looking for.
A realtor recently sold a $500,000 townhouse in just 24 hours after the owners had installed new vanities and faucets and painted the cabinets. At a higher point, a house in Mississauga sold that had languished on the market under different agents for a couple of years for $1.65-million after the owners installed granite counters, a back splash and new fixtures.
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Frank Jones at Re/Max Hallmark Realty recommends sellers get an inspection before their home goes to market. If things check out, it's then a matter of making the home look as current as possible.
His checklist includes light fixtures, flooring, kitchen cabinet doors, countertops, backsplash, bathroom tile and vanities, decks and fencing, roofing and windows. "It's hard to put a percentage on the return on investment, but sellers should expect to recoup at least the cost of the renovation in the sale price," he says. "All these renovations help sell the property faster."
Mr. Jones specializes in areas where he sees homes in desirable enclaves that haven't been updated for years, so-called "diamonds in the rough."
In these cases, a full reno could take a $700,000 fixer-upper over the $1-million mark. "You would have a turnkey home and you could double the money you put in," he says. On the other hand, the same reno on a $500,000 house in a neighbourhood where no home has sold for more than $500,000 would have a very different outcome.
Michael Loewith and Jennifer Greenberg of Harvey Kalles Real Estate often see older homes in the $600,000 to $900,000 range that need some TLC.
Ms. Greenberg says she usually advises against major renos in this market, where sellers are getting high prices anyway due to fevered demand. Instead, she goes for simple fixes like turning an overcrowded study into another bedroom, recaulking the bathroom, patching the plaster, or touching up the floorboards.
"I tell clients to be very careful where and when to spend their money," she says. "We're not styling these houses for [a magazine]. We're freshening them up for sale."
A few thousand dollars for new cushions, new linens and a coat of paint can do wonders for that first impression.
Ms. Greenberg uses stagers in cases where the seller has already moved out, in order to help potential buyers visualize what their furnishings would look like in the space, which is harder to do in an empty house.
And something that costs nothing: editing down personal possessions and family photos. Having that garage sale before the sign goes up might be a good idea, as clutter is a no-no.
"We want someone to walk into the house and see the house, not your fabulous knick-knacks," Ms. Greenberg says. "We want them to see themselves living there."
