# Conflicted



## Joe2134 (Feb 1, 2017)

I have a small house, only 1058 sqft, It has a lot of issues, not sure if I should try and fix it up or sale it for a loss. Market in my area only supports a price range of $42k - $48k. Any advise would be helpful.


----------



## bud16415 (Feb 1, 2017)

It&#8217;s all economics and what you value your labor at. If you put 20k into it and can only get 10k more at the sale you are selling a nicer house but losing money.  If you plan on living there it still is true depending on how long you live there. I always try and stay within the average price for a comp in the area.


----------



## joecaption (Feb 1, 2017)

What's the average rent going for in your area?
I own a home smaller than that, only one bedroom that still needs work done on it that still rents for $625.00 a month.


----------



## nealtw (Feb 1, 2017)

There are lots of ways to value a house.
Like Joe said , what rent could you get for it.
Or if you are living in it. You can use that same number to figure money saved by living in it.

Then you have figure just what updates are needed to make it livable and or your home.

Location, would you be happy living there for a number of years.

With prices like 40K, no one will be doing a lot of major updates. 
So what would it cost to bring it up to market standards and can you cut that cost by doing some yourself.


----------



## Joe2134 (Feb 1, 2017)

So far we have been living here for 5 years. The big issue is that almost all the work that was done prior to us was very substandard. The kitchen is all particleboard cabinets, no insulation in the exterior walls, old single pane windows, grout falling out between the tile in the bathroom, and not sure what else. I am still afraid to open anything up for what I might find. Trying to move to another state to be near family, but not how untill I can figure out what to do with this house.


----------



## slownsteady (Feb 2, 2017)

How do you know it'll be a loss until you bring in a realtor to tell you the market value? 
There is so much we don't know about this, how can we possibly give you good advice????


----------



## nealtw (Feb 2, 2017)

Joe2134 said:


> So far we have been living here for 5 years. The big issue is that almost all the work that was done prior to us was very substandard. The kitchen is all particleboard cabinets, no insulation in the exterior walls, old single pane windows, grout falling out between the tile in the bathroom, and not sure what else. I am still afraid to open anything up for what I might find. Trying to move to another state to be near family, but not how untill I can figure out what to do with this house.



I would get a value on it like SnS suggested and then look at what can be done.

Sometimes it is better just left for a DIYer to buy at a bargain and fix it up.
If you do face lifts, you have to charge for it and then the next guy may have to rip it out to do those repairs you are afraid of, nobody wins.


----------



## Joe2134 (Feb 2, 2017)

slownsteady said:


> How do you know it'll be a loss until you bring in a realtor to tell you the market value?
> There is so much we don't know about this, how can we possibly give you good advice????



I never said the house was a loss. I can't change other peoples choices, nor can I move the house to a different area. I really do not need a realtor to tell me what the area comps are, I have already researched that, please see previous post. I do however know what is clearly wrong and needs to be fix, a fact that will unfortunately not change no matter who looks at it. I can't answer to whether or not there is any additional problems.

With all that known, if you owned this house and were planning on moving out of state would you or wouldn't invest time and money to fix up, or would you sale as is?


----------



## bud16415 (Feb 2, 2017)

You told us the most you can get for it if it was fixed up would be 42-48k if a realtor tells you it would sell as is for 32k as is. And I estimated time and materials and your time if DIY is at least worth min wage don&#8217;t forget and I came up with needing to put more than 18k into it I would sell it as is. If it is worth 32k now and for 2-10k I could fix what was wrong then I would fix it. From the work you mentioned it needed your costs are going to be much more than that though. 

That is all based around you no longer want to live there and are ready to move on. 

Keep in mind the place you are moving to you won&#8217;t be able most likely to get a similar house for what you are selling this one for. You will on the other hand be living near family and that might make it worthwhile. Only you can be the judge of that. 

The bottom line is you can stay there live cheap and not be with family or sell it for what you can get and move to where you want to be. I think the time to fix it up for yourself was 5 years ago. 

That&#8217;s my opinion based on the little bit I know.


----------



## slownsteady (Feb 2, 2017)

Joe2134 said:


> .......not sure if I should try and fix it up or sale it for a loss. Market in my area only supports a price range of $42k - $48k.





Joe2134 said:


> ]I never said the house was a loss.


Whatever. 
Sorry if you misunderstood me. The area may have an average for market value, but your house may be above or below that average. If you know exactly what price your house is saleable at, then - as Bud said - you can make a calculation. And there are so many variables that this forum has no idea about in the case of your house, that all we could do is provide idle chatter. Crowd sourcing an opinion based on that, I think is worthless.


----------



## Sparky617 (Feb 2, 2017)

In that price range, I wouldn't expect anything but particle board cabinet boxes.  Heck, you'll find that in $300K homes here.  To get plywood boxes you really are in the $500K+ range here for a builder to do that upgrade.  

At $40K if you're looking to move, I'd only do the minimum to make the house market better.  Declutter, fresh paint, new neutral carpet if the current carpet is old.  If the counter tops are in poor condition and the runs are straight and/or L shaped install new stock post form counters from home center.  Do some cleaning on outside to clear away overgrown landscaping, repair and clean, repair and clean.  

HGTV used to have a show where they'd come in with a minimal budget to upgrade a house to sell it.  It was called Designed to Sell, you'd be amazed what you can DIY for a little money.  Not including labor I think their budget was always in the $3-5K range.


----------

