How much would you put in......

[Csara]

to improve your place for a sale? Would you spend a large amount of money to update your home before selling it, knowing you will eventually get it back (it might take a while) or would you rather just take your chances and let whoever buys the place, fix it up, even it means you may have to hold on to it longer (still paying a mortgage on it)?

And if you were the buyer, would you rather spend the money to update your new place how you wish or would you rather buy a place that you don't have to spend any extra money to upgrade?

[FarmGirl]

I might put a $1000 or so into it, but I don't know. When we bought this house a couple of years ago, we immediatly started fixing it up for sale (we don't plan on being here long).

We've rebuilt the kitchen, and added a good $10,000 to the worth of the house. We've painted pretty much everything. We've had all of our pipes done. We're getting ready to have all of our eletric rerun with new wires. We're planning on putting in some cad5 line throughout the house. We're in the process of relandscaping the yard, along with building a patio in the backyard, and building a porch for the front door. We're also taking down an old tree. We're siding the house, painting the garage, and quite a bit of other stuff.

So, when it actually comes time to sell, we probably won't have much to do, besides a deep and thorough cleaning. Hopefully :D

[IUgrad02]

We got this house for a great price IMO, and mostly b/c it was in need of a few things... new carpet and painting mainly... the young couple who lived here was forced out b/c they coudln't pay their bills... and we were able to pick up on it quickly. We've now added SO much to the house, and I'll think we'll make a good profit from our work someday when we sell. I adore my little house. Have I ever told you guys that I live on, get ready,SESAME STREET!? It's true- my real address is Sesame Street. Isn't that hilarious!? We have a park right behind our back yard, the location is fabulous. I think this is a wonderful starter home.
So, in conclusion, I might not always want to re-do everything in a house, but for our first house, we were very energetic and willing to make some changes to "make it ours". I am so glad we did b/c I loved picking out wallpaper and carpet, etc.
My friend, on the other hand, just bought a beautiful, huge, new home, and it needed NOTHING. She moved right in and it was beautiful the way it was. so, I can see the benefits there,too.

[Csara]

lmao...Sesame Street!! That is so cool.

[meliz]

Hahahah. Sesame street... very funny...

Another house question: is it better to buy when interest rates are high or low? I mean when bank rates are good, it's a seller's market and prices are up... when rates are less favorable, fewer people are buying and prices fall... but is there a rule of thumb about which is better for pruchasers? If this makes any sense?

[Turtleheadfred]

I don't know what the rule is for the interest rates - but we bought when the rates were low - refinanced when they dropped further. The first time we had a 30 year but were paying double to pay it off faster. This time we have it on a 15 year to pay faster and again, save interest!

[Csara]

Well, I know I would rather pay less per month on my mortgage. The few thousand dollars a house might go up in price due to lower interest rates doesn't make much of a difference in your mortgage payment anyway. That is why most people buy when the interest rates are low.

[CC21]

Originally posted by Csara
And if you were the buyer, would you rather spend the money to update your new place how you wish or would you rather buy a place that you don't have to spend any extra money to upgrade?

Well, my first thought is I would rather buy a place that I don't have to spend extra money to upgrade. But I guess it depends on what you mean by spending money to update. I mean if it's spending money on painting or papering or cosmetic stuff like that then I wouldn't mind. But if you're talking extensive stuff like FG mentioned (redoing pipes, rerunning electric wires, relandscaping the yard, etc.) then I definitely wouldn't want to have to do that. So, I guess it just depends on the extensiveness (is that even a word??) of the work.

[FarmGirl]

I like the hard stuff :)

We've really turned this house around, and its given us a great feeling of satisfaction.

For our next house, I want an old farmhouse (with lots of land too) that needs quite a bit of work (nothing structural though *ugh*). It keeps me busy, and I love doing the work.

So, I would prefer to spend less on a house and put money into it, than to spend more on a house and not have to do anything.

[CC21]

I wish I had your motivation/energy/talent, whatever you want to call it, FG. I just don't enjoy doing that kind of thing. I know the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction of seeing your efforts in a finished product must be awesome! Maybe it just comes down to me being lazy!! :D

[HeavenLeigh]

I'm not for sure on this one.
If I were the buyer I would rather have some things left undone while other things were taken care of.
Now if I were buying an investment property, MHO leave it alone---you could do or get the repairs done a lot cheaper yourself than if it were fixed up to the potential appraisal value. The less $$ ya spend the more you can make back.
If I were buying a home for myself I would want things repaired like holes in the walls, leaks, stains, garbage cleaned out, etc.... As far as floor coverings (unless it's buffing/waxing/moping/or shampooing) and wall paint leave it alone so I can add my own touch.
If I were the seller I would make general repairs. I'm not for sure if I would go to the extent of painting the walls or laying new carpet since the buyer may hate the colors I choose and deduct from the offer amount to cover for new paint and carpet.

Has anyone watched 'Designed to sell' on HGTV? They do total transformations with a budget of only $2,000.....I believe that's the amount anyhow. On that show the front door is a big issue. It always gets replaced/redone.

[MeatBall]

Having spent alot of time over the last couple of years looking at all types of properties....new construction won me over, and low rates made me finally commit. We stopped looking at the price tag and concentrated on monthly payments.
To put it in perspective, each 1/8 in mortgage rate represented $440 year in monthly payments. So, when we finally committed we bought a $400k place for the same mortgage payment that it would have cost us to buy a $285k house two years ago. Housing prices have not gone up that amount in two years.
We thought about buying rental property, but then folks who could afford these rents, are doing the same thing we did. When we moved from New York to New Jersey, several of our neighbors were doing the same thing - that is buying as much home as they could afford~ and locking in the rate! I ended up with a 30 year fixed at 5%. Why a fixed versus variable is for another topic.....