My parents live in St Louis (I'm in Seattle), and in the past 6 months have had separate big health crises. Their house is not a good option for aging in place: 125+ years old, lots of stairs, lots of small repairs needed, and hard to make mobility modifications. They want to sell but are stuck in thinking they need to update to sell so that they "can get top dollar." (This is more Mom. Dad has always let Mom take the lead on house stuff, and he is still recovering his stamina from stroke in March).
Their neighborhood in St Louis (Shaw) is very desirable, and their house is in good not great condition. But it is big, on a great block, and has very good curb appeal. A friend-of-a-neighbor who is a realtor came over in May and said it could get $50-70K more if they did typical renovations--update kitchen cabinets & appliances, convert a power room to a 3/4 bath, add closets to bedrooms. But they don't have the upfront capital and getting a HELOC isn't an option.
We think it is better to work with a RE agent who will tell them just get it as clean/tidy/pretty as you can but don't update kitchen/bath. We think they will never get $$$ out of any renovations they do because they have such a limited budget, not to mention that currently any home renovations are much more expensive due to supply chain issues & inflation. More importantly, both are big fall risks and have heart issues, and dad is at risk of another stroke, so any renovation plans could easily be derailed by more medical crises.
My mom keeps saying how she has successfully sold 3 previous homes at a substantial profit, so she knows what she is doing. And she is constantly watching shows like FlipThisHouse, so she knows what sells houses these days. This is wishful thinking--they have lived in their current house for 27 years; the real estate world is utterly different today. And while those shows present themselves as educational, they really are highly produced infotainment selling ad time. If they imparted real skills, it wouldn't be free.
Does anyone have any BTDT, or other wisdom regarding encouraging parents to sell but forgo remodeling? Or advice specific to realtors who specialize in working with seniors?
I hope someone has power of attorney, in case there is a sudden crisis.
Call the local Area Agency on Aging re:RE agents. Also, the local NextDoor app may be useful.
https://www.google.com/search?q=real+estate+agents+St+Louis+specializing+in+elders&oq=real+estate+agents+St+Louis+specializing+in+elders&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160.16743j1j4&client=ms-android-tmus-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
Also, this is a good question to ask at www.bogleheads.org. you'll get great advice.
Here in California, people often pay one million for the older house on a huge lot, and tear down the old house to build two mansions on it. Not sure if this option is unique to California.
I would make the house appear ready for quick possession, and not in appearance as if they will take months to move. Homes sell faster in Feb-May, imo.
I am watching my neighbor update their home. The workers are there at 7 in the morning and don't leave until 7 at night. Some days no workers. Some days one worker and a delivery truck. Then a semi shows up in the cul-de-sac but no workers are around so the items are placed on the driveway.
If your Mom wants to do something, maybe install a new roof if the old one is over 25 years old. Plus your parents will need to start downsizing their "stuff" if they plan to move, and that alone can take months of deciding. Have they picked out a new place? They can do a bridge loan between the two houses, easier to update the old house if it is empty, if your Mom insists on doing that.
Yes, those flip this house type of shows make everything look so easy.... NOT. Lumber prices are through the roof. Materials are hard to obtain. Costs have gone sky high as no one is donating appliances in exchange for name dropping, like they do on the show. Mom picks out a new kitchen faucet but it's back ordered 6 months.
I just put $85,000 into my folks' 90-year-old house and didn't touch the kitchen except to paint the cabinets and put down new flooring because my mother had literally torn a hole in the old vinyl from scraping her chair back and forth on it for 50 years. People who buy that house want to do what they want with the kitchen, so no, you won't get a big return on that kitchen unless you drop the big bucks and redo it for today's world. That's probably going to put them back $100,000 just for that one room.
We refinished the oak floors throughout the house ($12,000), painted inside and out, including cabinets in the kitchen and family room ($21,000), staging ($12,000) and did a bunch of other smaller projects just to make the place look good in the pictures. I decided to put the house on the market at $100,000 more than the agent suggested, and we got $90,000 more than asking. Had I not insisted on that $100K bump in the asking price, we would have made exactly $5,000 more than what we put into the house. This was in Southern California, too, where the market has been crazy for the past several years. The house just closed last Friday, so we're talking about today's market with the higher interest rates and far, far fewer buyers.
No, your folks need to clear out that place to make it look as uncluttered as possible, get an agent who has good recommendations from previous clients and specializes in the area and those old houses, then LISTEN to the agent. They'll likely tell your folks that the buyers will want to come in and do what they want to the house, so they should spend their money on putting lipstick on the pig, so to speak. They should get the house inspected and be prepared to hand the inspection report to the buyers so they go into the transaction with eyes wide open. I spent at least a few thousand on home, termite, roof, and sewer inspections alone, and we made some of the repairs mentioned in the home inspection report, then the inspector issued a final version we gave to the buyers.
Some brokers now have programs where they'll front you the money to make repairs and such and it's paid back after escrow closes, but there's a limit on the amount. My agent's company would front $75,000, but I didn't bother using it, since I'm a trustee and didn't want my credit involved in this thing.
This will price the house as it stands. It is a great selling tool as well.
Please, please, please be careful trying to find a Realtor that specializes in seniors. There are loads of predatory buyers out there and they have Realtors that are on the payroll.
My mom got screwed out of 150k on her house. Yes, it needed updates but, she was targeted by predatory buyers via Realtors for months. It was too late to help her, she knows it all too.
An appraisal will give all of you piece of mind that they are getting the fair market value.
Recently I contacted 2 "elderly focused" contractors regarding some electrical work, since my favorite tried and true electrical company no longer serves our area. This was in July, I think. Neither were available until September. More unsettling: neither expressed any interest in the electrical work needed to be done.
I've also learned that some younger buyers enjoy spending a lot more time outdoors, as we did when we were growing up. A very good younger neighbor even has an outdoor kitchen; besides the range, there's a table, chairs and more. They really enjoy outdoor living, and the big lot seems to have been very important to them.
In addition, there are housing elements that other younger folks may not understand or appreciate. E.g., my parents' house has several knotty pine walled rooms, with one actually having a beadboard knotty pine ceiling, which to me is absolutely stunning, cozy, and so cottage like, especially for a lake home. (I've had to resist even considering removing the ceiling to bring and install at my house!)
One of the contractors who fixed a nonfunctioning furnace had no idea how much appeal knotty pine might have for someone who cherished that kind of finishing. And to him, the size of the rooms was more important.
In your situation, I wouldn't even consider remodeling the bath or kitchen; again, a buyer probably has his or her own unique idea of what constitutes a bathroom.
That reminds me of someone I met when I was trying to find a home for my sister's dogs after she died. The woman was interested in one of the dogs; I drove out to meet her and was overwhelmed with the massive and contemporary house she had. But what I think really stunned me was that there were 2 bathrooms, one specifically for her cherished dog!
I also found in interviewing realtors that those who have clients interested in investing range from polite, experienced and professional, to those who lack those traits. One began backstabbing and complaining about his secretary "("women"!) in a phone conversation; I crossed him off the list immediately.
Something else you might want to consider: I decided that my priorities for selling would be of employment categories: Military, law enforcement, medical, and then educational. If I couldn't find someone in those categories, I'd then look to the general public.
Military veterans especially could remodel a house more easily than a businessman (and that's no criticism, just an observation). On my father's (lake community) street, there are 7 houses on one side and 7 on the other. Two were bought as cottages and remodeled for year round living, both by Veterans. My father bought one of the cottages and remodeled it.
I went with a flat fee broker. Would NEVER use a real estate agent to sell a home in a mostly seller's market currently. They take 3% and do very little for that money. The buyer agent takes 3% as well in a 'traditional' real estate agent transaction. The flat fee broker cost $1350, had an AMAZING photog shoot the photos, and an easy to use appointment booking system where I controlled the showings. I set the buyer agent fee at 2% and saved mom about $25K.
The house sold in a week, had three offers and sold for $10K over asking price.
The home was 21 years old with EVERYTHING original, paint, carpet, tile, appliances. The things that were replaced were the 'foundational' things, AC, hot water heater, furnace, gutters, etc.
What I did was removed most of the furniture and cleaned it from top to bottom. What buyers want to see is a semi-blank canvas. Staging is a waste of money and open houses are a waste of time. Most of the crap real estate agents want you to do / spend money on, has very little to do with what sells the home. First, people find the home on Zillow/Redfin, etc. which is what a flat fee broker sends the property info to. Second, you have to find the right buyer for your home. In mom's case it was someone who didn't care about the carpet and the appliances, but could see the potential to remodel. I could have bought new appliances, spent money on flooring, etc., but in the end, that would have been a waste of money and the buyer may not have wanted what I did.
If the home is old like you say, but has potential, I'd do something similar.
Using a flat fee broker was the smartest and easiest thing I ever did. They handled the paperwork and negotiation. I handled the showings - which was great because I knew the house better than any real estate agent - and could monitor who came/went. good luck
So, yes, it has tons of potential but an outdated kitchen, a warren of a basement, and many things that may need updating.
(designed by my realtor), I reviewed them and took the highest offer, cash, which was $50,000.00 above the asking price. I had to vacate right away.
I would have been foolish to consider selling to a buyer with less chances of qualifying for a loan, and for a smaller price. Why I even considered another buyer is beyond me. There are times we just remove the emotional from the sale of a home, and just take care of business. Move out, sell.
Or, sell, move out, adding a solid move out date in the contract.
Hire a successful realtor-no need to have a specialist catering to seniors.
Leave the emotions out of it.
I would not want to subject a senior parent to the processes of showing the home, ready at a moments notice to leave and keep the house show ready.
Very stressful, and may interfere with the sale.
My husband and I just bought a new house last week this way. We had contacted an agent recommended by my cousin, and it turned out she was about to list a home in September for an elderly lady who had just lost her husband and needed to move closer to her children. The agent lined up four potential buyers to look at the house before listing it, and we were the ones who absolutely fell in love with the place. There was no dickering on the price, no bidding wars with the other potential buyers, and the woman and her son are thrilled she wasn't subjected to a bunch of strangers walking through her place for who knows how long. The house wasn't shown without her agent there.
She's delighted to know that someone who loves the house as much as she does will be moving in and caring for it. We intend to remodel and update the kitchen, bathrooms, and floors, but nothing we'll do will be too terribly drastic, as the bones of the house are fantastic. Everyone's happy, and I'm sure she's paying a considerably lower commission to her agent for this approach. There were no photos to take, no staging done, and no repairs made since she did know that we intend to remodel. We will get an inspection on Friday so we know what we're dealing with, but all in all, we're buying it as-is.