Ask not what your house can do for you, ask instead…

From the Jack’s Winning Words Blog comes today’s inspiration - “Always look at what you have left. Never look at what you have lost.” (Robert Schuller). Jack went on to express some reservations about the words always and never, but generally to agree with the thought of looking ahead and not behind.

This would certainly be good advice right now in real estate for those who have owned their homes for quite some time. People who have been in their homes for decades tend to fixate on the high-point of their home’s value – back in the 2004-2006 days (Wow, how can a time that close be called the “good ole days?”) These same people forget that many of them paid maybe $70-80, 000 for their homes back in the 60s or 70s and that now they are worth maybe $200 - 250,000. What they fixate on is the “fact” that it was worth $300-350,000 just a few years ago. Give it up folks! Those days are long gone. Your stock portfolio was worth a lot more back then, too.

So, one has to focus upon what one has left, which may still be a nice home and which could still bring a good price. I use the terms may and could, because so many of those same 60s and 70s homes that I see seem to be stuck in the 60s or 70s. Those were the days of the avocado or “Golden Harvest” bathrooms and appliances in the kitchen. Many are still there today. They were also the days of wood-paneled family rooms, many of which have just been painted over. And then there were those quaint, but fake, wooden beams on the family room ceiling. Of course, the hardwood floors that were usually put in during that era are still covered over by wall-to-wall carpeting.

If the last few sentences above describe your house, then what you have left is worth a lot less than it could be worth. If you have time before you retire and need to, or want to, sell the place, get busy now with updates. Almost every home of the 60s, 70s, and even the 80s, needs major kitchen and bath updates. That may be too expensive for many. At least see if you have hardwood flooring under the wall-to-wall carpeting and expose it, if you do. If the kitchen was done in linoleum, as many were back then; see about putting in a tile floor. At a minimum either paint or reface (or both) the old kitchen cabinets and look into replacing the countertops. Granite would be nice, but there are modern alternatives that might be less expensive. Definitely replace the “Golden Harvest” appliances with stainless steel.

In the family room, bite the bullet and have the paneling taken out, even if it means re-dry walling. You might be able to save the drywall by using one of the thick, paintable wallpapers over it, once the paneling is gone. You could even cut the job in half by wainscoting the lower half of the walls with a modern bead board look paneling. And lose those fake beams from the ceiling. Painting them white to match the ceiling color is not the answer.

Other things that are likely to need attention are the HVAC system, and water heater, the windows, the roof, the driveway and often the exterior landscaping. People who have been in homes for quite a long time tend to get comfortable with things as they are and don’t see them the same way that a potential buyer looks at them. Overgrown shrubs that crowd visitors off the sidewalk in front are common, but ignored by homeowners who always come into the house through the garage. Huge, old trees that haven’t been properly trimmed in years and which drop limbs every time the wind blows are another overlooked item. And that furnace or water heater that has served so well for the last 15-20 years is likely way overdue to be replaced and will just scare off potential buyers.

Now, if all of this sounds like a lot to spend just to get your house ready to eventually sell, well it is; but it’s also money that you really should have been spending all along. Hopefully, you’ll get a few years of service out of it, too, before you sell. You really have the choice of spending the $20-30-40,000 that you’ve been delaying spending on updates and maintenance or taking that amount off your asking price. Potential buyers will make mental lists of all the things that they see that need to be done and assign price tags to them. If the list gets too long or the potential price tag is too high, they’ll just pass on your house and go on to something else.

So, if you are 3-5 years away from retirement start investing in your home and get it ready now for its eventual sale. It is likely that the kids are all gone, so you can more easily put up with some inconveniences, such as being down to one bath for a while or having no kitchen for a week or two. I guess I might change Schuller’s words for this post to say “Always look at what your house could be like, not what it has always been for you.” Get out of that comfort zone that you have created for yourself about the house and look at it as a marketable commodity – then fix the shortcomings of that product. If you need help figuring out what needs to be done, call me and I’ll come out and make recommendations. I may even suggest that we go look at a few houses that have been updated, so that you can more clearly see the differences.