Originally Posted by
RollCNY
It makes sense if it enables the house to sell faster and for more. There are three houses for sale within eyesight of mine at this very moment. I need to differentiate if I seek a desirable outcome.
I think the trend for fixing up a house to sell it has been greatly influenced by the television shows that depict buying and selling houses. They tend to preach the need for fixing up a house prior to listing it as an absolute necessity even to the point of emptying out all the owner's belongings and redecorating the house with rented furniture.
Personally, I would rather see the money the owner would spend used to reduce the purchase price so that I could use it after the purchase to fix up the house the way I want it. That approach seems to have become very unfashionable. We have on more than one occasion bought wrecks of houses for very reasonable prices and used the savings to bring them up to our standards and preferences. Why would I want to pay for the seller to fix up a house for me according to his taste? Makes no sense. And, of course, spending the money twice, first for him to redo the house and then again for me to repeat the process is totally ridiculous.
But almost no one out to buy a house has the necessary vision to see what a house can become. They recoil from the true fixer-upper. Too bad.