I'm getting quotes for paint and carpet in my mom's house. It's a 70's house and there's lots of dark brown and ugly wallpaper in the bathrooms. Can the trim, kitchen cabinets, and paneling be painted to look good? I started out thinking light gray and white and then realized those colors aren't going to work with all the dark brown. Thank you for your input.

Primer first. Use good paint designed for cabinets and trim.

Give a goes to carpet, everybody is allergic to something in carpet.

Steve,

Today’s buyers accept nothing less than perfection.

Paint is the fastest and easiest upgrade.

If you are going to paint, cover the dark wood. It instantly dates the house.

50% of buyers HATE carpet and will not even consider the house.

We spray Sherwin cabinet paint for a great look. White is easy and popular.

I like the Graco HVLP sprayer at Lowes for $179. Easy to ise and easynto clean.

Good luck!

It's your mom. Put her up in a nice suite for a month. Rip out the kitchen and baths and redo fresh. Take her to NEW house showings and let her tell you what she likes. Use tile or hardwood.

You CAN paint cabinets but if you don't have professional gear it usually ends up looking like s.... BUT you could paint, replace the fixtures and knobs.

Me, I'd spend a few thousand more and refloor, retile, new counters, sinks, etc.

How long does she expect to live there? Good time to add ADA type stuff, rails, walk-in shower with a tiled seat and multiple shower heads, toilet rails, etc.

Oh sorry, didn't read your post right. Missed the sale part. Oops.

OK, fix it to price point for the area. Go look at the comps, that will determine what you need to do.

It sounds to me like this 50 year old house is functional & sound but not up to date. Before you do anything other than cleaning & neatening up both the interior & exterior, you need to decide what you actually what to accomplish;

1. sell wholesale to flipper / rehabber for quick sale with little effort & expense on your part

2. sell to an end user looking for a place to put sweat equity into

3. sell to end user looking for a place that is in pristine up to date move in condition

The type of people you are trying to appeal to will help you determine the amount of time, effort & money you should consider spending. I imagine that there might be others (parents, siblings, relators, etc) who will be involved with this sale. I'm sure they will all have their own ideas on what to change, how much to spend & what the sales price should be.

You also need to consider;

1. who's putting up the funds to do the updates

2. how much will it cost to keep the place empty during the process

3. how long will it take before it's market ready

4. who will be in charge of making the decisions

5. will the net sales proceeds actually be greater once the update costs are factored in

I've been involved with the sale of several family member's properties. Some were estate sales, some were for downsizing and some were to provide funding for assisted living. Some involved major updates & some only cleaning. All of them involved dealing with multiple family members. The one thing each of these sales had in common was how it ended up changing the way the various family members felt towards each other.

I wish you the best of luck with this.

IF you have done your homework and interviewed agents then you do exactly as the listing agent wants you to have it finished for her to show it

Just sold one. Talk to Realtors and contractors - the more the better - to ensure the updates fit the local market. Steve MA is got some very good points. Decide what you want to do.

I might add that the Realtor listing prices after updates for me were 98k - 90k - 89k - 85k. I went with the 98k local Realtor. She had 30 years in the market. Sold for 95k in 4 weeks.