Hello Hugh,

I recently got married and we're planning on selling our home within the next 18-24 months as we save for a new house. I'm trying to plan for the sale of this townhouse and would like your advice. There are some things I would like to update, but at the sametime I would not get my money's worth if I did all of them. Any advice you could offer would be great. Here's a list of things I would like to update to my model C townhome.

1) New ceramic tile in kitchen and bathrooms - I can install this myself.

2) New Carpet - existing one is decent, but not great.

3) New Kitchen Cabinets - origional ones are in good shape, but they're the origional ones and they don't look that appealing.

4) Paint Interior/Exterior: This doesn't need it now, but it's cheap and it goes a long way.

5) Resurface Driveway

6) New Roof - it's the origional roof although it doesn't look bad or give us problems.

These are the major updates that may need to be done. Which ones should I do to maximize the value of my home, and which ones should I leave for the buyer? OR.....since the Tech park is coming soon....is it better to rent? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi,
If you can do the labor yourself on the ceramic tile, yes I would do that. Kitchen if your home is on one of the older streets, Wake Robin, Pepperbush, I'd also say yes,Perhaps just new countertops which is very inexpensive, but gives the look of a new kitchen. Fresh paint is always a good investment, I would bring it up a shade lighter than average white in the townhouses. Resurface the driveway, but only if your neighbor does it as well, otherwise I don't see a return there as it won't be uniform. If the roof is less than 25 years and you're paying someone to do it.Again that may be something you would consider only if your neighbor agrees to do his at the same time. This way it's uniform. Otherwise I stay away from the roof if its not leaking. As far as the Tech park, I don't see any major effect like so many people think. Back in the early 90's when State Farm came everyone said the same thing. But a lot of people don't want to live close to work...it certainly won't hurt...But as with State Farm we found that the employees that came to the area from elsewhere purchased homes anywhere from Colonie to Glens Falls. A Number of them ended up in Milton as well.

If your roof is original then the buyer's inspector will say it needs to be replaced, leak or no leak. The roof is around 20 years old, so they would hit you up for three-four thousand off the sale price at your closing, maybe more. This happened to me, so I had my roof done and instead of losing money on the sale I actually made more because of the new roof. The trick is to find a company with a transferable warranty. A brand new roof is one of the best things you could say about a house for sale, it lets the potential buyers know they won't have any problems with it for twenty-thirty years. Let me know if you need more info.

The standard real estate contract states under the structural section that a single defect that would reasonably cost more than $1500.00 to fix the buyer may backout of the transaction.
A roof that shows no leaks is not a defect regardless of age. Depending on how many trees that shield the sunlight,and proper attic ventilation. Many roofs can last 30 or more years. Yes, a home inspecter will advise the average buyer that a 20 year roof is nearing the end of its useful life. But that is not a defect. It's merely pointing out an average life expectency. Home inspectors also will advise the average life of a hot water tank is 7 years, a furnace 30 years, home appliances 7-10 years. But all these items if they are working properly including a roof not leaking is not a legal basis to back out of contract. I agree that a new roof is a good selling point, but if someone pays $4000.00 for a new roof, I would not expect the house will sell for $4000.00 additional. Obviously the house should be priced correctly to reflect the roof's age. The sellers disclosure which the buyer has signed prior to making an offer has already advised the buyer of the roofs age, therefore it shouldn't be any surprise.If a roof is older, very often during negotiation a roof can be exempted from the structural as well. I've advised that numerous times for sellers that I've represented.

good job hugh, you proved my point you stated, "Obviously the house should be priced correctly to reflect the roof's age." a new roof for a model c townhouse costs around $2500-3500. with the new roof you could ask 5k-10k more by puting on the newer heavy duty architectural shingle. I did. they look better, last much longer and have a much higher resistance to wind. The most important part of a home is the roof, it prevents all of the weather outside from coming inside.

Thank you both for your imput. This will definately help me plan accordingly for the next couple of years.