Lou Decruss wrote:
> Sheldon wrote:
> >Lou Decruss wrote:
>
> >> That depends on the neighborhood, what the house looks like to begin
> >> with, and the current market. ?The kitchen in the house we sold 6
> >> months ago had a rather outdated kitchen. ?We asked several different
> >> realtors what we should do with the kitchen. ?They all said "nothing,
> >> you'll lose every penny you put in it." ?
>
> >Exactly.
> >The things that bring the best price for a house cost nothing; no
> >clutter, no schmutz, no stench, no pets, no people. �
> >SHELDON
>
> Yup. �We moved 50% of our stuff before we listed and I painted the
> bedroom ceilings and walls white. �I pulled the carpeting because we
> discovered there was hardwood under it. �After the 4 month contract
> was up we pulled it off the market for 90 days so the MLS listing
> would reset to zero. �During that time I painted the rest of the
> house. Everything was bright white. �There wasn't one nail hole in the
> entire house. There was minimal furniture and we had our bed and a
> futon. �We moved our bed into one of the smaller rooms and left the
> master bedroom empty. �The dog was only allowed in the house through
> the basement door and had to stay in the mud room. �I cooked outside
> on the grill. �The house was spotless. �A few weeks before it was time
> to put it back up I trimmed all the bushes and trees. �We planted
> flowers and manicured the lawn. �The neighbors asked me if I was
> putting in a putting green. � � � �
>
> When we re-listed we had more showings in the first week than we had
> the previous 4 months. � During the two months not one single feedback
> said anything about the kitchen. �The clean bright interior was
> mentioned all the time as well as the beautiful yard. �If we had done
> anything in the kitchen other than spend money and time on paint it
> would have been very foolish.
>
> If we had planned on staying there I'd tear that kitchen apart in a
> heartbeat, but that was never the plan with that house. �
>
> Lou � �

When I first saw this house five years ago it was spotless,
scrupulously clean, but I could see the kitchen hadn't been upgraded
in many years, the electric stove was about 30 yers old, the fridge
the same and wasn't very large and was a bottom rung model with wire
shelves, the dishwasher was ancient (found out later it didn't work),
the double stainless steel sink was ancient, probably original (45
yrs). But the original cabinetry is first class, all hand made by one
of their uncles (Norwegian carpenter), all solid hardwood with a
veneer all from one sycamore tree off this property, same as all the
paneling and doors, in fact every stick of lumber in this house came
from trees on this property, all full dimension lumber (a 2" X 4"
actually measures 2" X 4") all properly kiln dried, not a lick of
plywood or particle board, all sheathing is lapstrake tongue and
groove, all the floors except for the kitchen were oak. A lot was old
and needed modernizing but the basic house is built like the
proverbial brick shit house... Norwegians sure know how to build
houses. The fellow who did all the hardwood flooring was retired but
his son took over, I had him put in the new kitchen floor, a perfect
job. Don't even think about installing a hardwood floor yourself...
this guy knows his stuff, and you can't rent a floor sander that can
begin to compete with his $100,000 laser guided monster.

I changed all the appliances and installed a new sink but my
countertops are daffodil yellow laminate, and I love them.

SHELDON