Originally Posted By: Bladecutter
For the type of home owner your brother is, he should simply start with putting the house on sale as is, but as empty as possible, so that visitors are able to see the house empty.
If anything, fresh paint, white, in every room.
That's not too expensive, and anyone can paint a room.
If he doesn't get any offers in the first two weeks, then he should think about what changes should be made in order to make it slightly more appealing, that won't cost a lot of money, and would be very easy to install.
Number one and number two on the list should be the Oven and the Dishwasher.
If those are still the original 1970's era pieces, just replacing those, even with the cheapest units you can find at Best Buy, will be a huge improvement. Combined with fresh paint on the walls, will have people thinking that they only need to freshen up the counters and the cabinets, which is usually easier for people to swallow, and then put off indefinitely.
If he can swing a new sink and faucet for the kitchen, that will go a long way too.
In fact, if he can swap out the faucets in all the bathrooms, that's well worth the investment.
Now, if he has one or two rooms with really old, well worn carpet, that's worth replacing also. People can't stand old carpet, that looks dingy. If he can't replace it, pay someone to clean it really, really well.
As for the furnace and a/c, he should have someone come inspect it now, and service it.
This way he can show prospective buyers, and their inspectors, that it's been inspected, serviced, and is in acceptable condition. No one wants to buy a house in Texas, and have the a/c system break.
So, in order:
Fresh Paint
New Range
New Dishwasher
New Kitchen Sink/faucet
New bathroom faucets
New/Clean carpets
Recently serviced A/C and Furnace
BC.
can't disagree with any of it, only Monkey wrench being its a Wall oven and cooktop, not a standalone range.
and keep in mind folks, this ain't going on the market tomorrow, this is "sometime in the next year or two", and when it does, it'll be because he's Moved 1100 mi away.
still has to get a couple certifications, find a Job/house up here,sell/transport all his stuff,etc