2012 planning for the house renovation
January 5th, 2012 § 6 Comments
The plan is to put the house on the market in March of 2013. To make that deadlline, I’ve got to keep to a general schedule of getting the house pulled together design-wise and deal with the budget to make this all happen.
2012 Design Timeline
Jan: Master Bathroom – paint walls, paint ceiling, replace venting fan, put in vanity mirror trim and hang vanity chandelier. Finish the tile backsplash in Kids Bathroom.
Feb: Master Bathroom – replace toilet, replace sconces, replace shower head, curved ceiling treatment over tub, trim out crown and doors. Finish cabinet doors in Kids Bathroom. Plan out front landscaping and plant bushes.
March: Master Bathroom – buy faucets and cabinet hardware, plan for granite installation on counter. Re-do closet doors? Kitchen island – rebuild and paint.
April: Master bedroom ceiling treatment in alcove, install chandelier, replace sconces, Board and Batten behind bed headboard.
May: Master bedroom – ceiling beams installation in main roofline area and paint room. Replace carpet in MBedroom and Office. Garage door replaced?
June: Flooring in Entry, formal Living Room, and Formal Dining. Board and Batten and moulding installation in front hall. Touchup stair moulding with paint and stain.
July: Replace carpet in Daughters and Son’s room (at this point all upstairs has been completed). Kitchen – install faux beams on ceiling, replaster and paint ceiling.
August: Kitchen cabinets carpentry and paint job started. New dishwasher and stove vent hood (stainless steel). Replace pantry door with glass one. Moulding renovation in breakfast room’s bay window. Charging station built in wall in kitchen.
September: Living room – fireplace renovation, rewiring for wall television, wood floor installed and room painted.
October: Outdoor front landscaping – new sidewalks at entry and side gate area. Replace hot water heater. New Refrigerator.
November: Start packing daughters room for move to Missouri. She starts school Jan. 2013 there. Deep clean office, master bedroom, attic and garage in preparation for packing. New Stove.
December: Review what is left on the list. Start thinking of packing and staging the home. Look for rental in Missouri.
This is a wonderful list! I should make a list like this for what needs to get done around here.
I don’t know OS, after making it I fell into a funk with all the money and time needed to get it done. I know it will look great when finished but can’t some unknown, elderly relative peacefully die and leave me millions???
Or you magically win Powerball? I know! It’s going to take so much around here, but I can start small. Instead of a 1 year timeline, I can make mine a 3 year. Or something close to that as we’ll be refinancing about then. In the mean time, I have to do things to increase the value of the house so we can refinance, because that money will build my barn, when I finally decide what it will be. (I’ll do a temp barn/storage for right now. Something I can re-purpose later down the road if I want).
Hubby used to a licensed real estate appraiser because he worked for a company where he wrote appraisel software. I don’t know if you have any attic etc… but increasing square footage of living space is the no. 1 way to increase property value since appraisers go by price per square foot.
Things like I am doing – adding granite to the vanity don’t increase property value, they increase saleability. If I was going to enclose our attic and make it more closet area, then the square footage would go up and the value.
Appraisers do give generally a bit more value to people who have obviously updated their house ie. granite counters in the kitchen in our area over laminate etc… so it does help but the big increase comes in square footage. In dealing with a farm property I don’t know how they calculate outbuildings but I am sure that plays a part too.
I don’t think square footage is an issue for us. Our house is already 4000 sq ft. There really isn’t anything we can enclose or add on. For us, it’s all about land development, because pasture and barn is worth something. Stands of pine, oak and scrub, not so much. Some things here are high end, others were left as an after though. It’s the getting the whole house up to snuff that is going to help us, I think. Because a house that flows well and has congruent fixture likenesses not only sells better, it looks better even to an appraiser. So, the kids’ bath that looks standard for a cookie cutter house, with the $10 accessory package (basic towel bar, etc) isn’t going to mesh with the high end bits of the other bathrooms, will look unfinished or forgotten and will affect the value of the house.
I know we got the house for a great deal. I just need it to continue to BE a great deal, if the market continues to fall.
What I would do OS is see if you can find a real estate agent that will shoot you some comps on MLS farm houses that are comparable and if you can go view them.
I would also talk to the Farm Bureau farm loan department, the mortgage company, the bank, the Extension Agent, building barn sales staff etc… Anyone that is catering to business of buying/selling/mortgaging these types of properties. Traditional real estate companies and traditional loan companies dealing with suburban homes won’t get it.
If you already had an appraisel done for the first sale, I’d take a close look at the comps and treat the appraiser out to lunch to pick his/her brain. If you didn’t, you can have one done for yourself (they used to be under $1,000, like $600 but it’s been awhile since I had one done). If they aren’t going to survey it should be cheaper.