Ready Set Sold with Bryan Vogt #14-04: Tips sellers can do instead of adding that costly bedroom or bathroom

Brian Vogt: Hey, welcome back to Ready, Set, Sold with your host, Brian Vogt. Just briefly, I wrote a book this year. It became number one best seller, called Ready, Set, Sold: 12 Proven Steps to Sell Your House Fast and for top dollar in the St. Louis metro East. And that stemmed from the book … Writing the book, the radio station, 1260 Answer contacted me and said hey, how about doing a weekly program, and this is where we’re at. So it’s a cool thing.
So I’m happy to do it. It’s fun, and it’s just another way of being able to get the information out to people who … Again, this is the biggest investment that most people are ever going to have to sell. And you want to make sure you get it right, and you get top dollar and fast sale. And that’s what we’re dedicated to here to do. So, I talked about before is, what if you don’t have quote, unquote that extra bedroom or that extra bathroom.
Well first off, you have to decide how important is it. Okay, and the reason why I say that is, is location, location, location. Are you the only house that only has, we will just use three bedrooms? That all the other houses have four, or they have five bedrooms. Well, here is the good news. After you hit the three mark, more is not necessarily better, it kind of goes four, five, six, seven eight, nine, or whatever.
Okay, three bedrooms statistically, I think it’s 1.7 children that most people have, if they have children at all. And I don’t know what that .7 kid looks like, but hey I’m sure that … you know, I’m sure it works out okay. But I think you get my point is that, that’s a pretty standard thing. So if you have three bedrooms, my first advice should be … Professional opinion would be is don’t be worrying about trying to get that fourth or fifth one in there.
Again, your rate of return, the cost, the time, aggravation at times, whatever, is not going to usually pay for itself to getting that extra bedroom in there. So that’s the first thing you have to understand. The other thing is, is where you going to put it? I mean, the house was built and a certain level of having three bedrooms or, having two baths. So it may sound like a good idea, but it could be very difficult.
Again, many times people say, well I’ll put it in the basement. Well again, maybe. But again, if you just have one bedroom … Standalone bedroom, it might be more punishment for the child that has to go down there and sleep down there. Or, the person that’s asleep down there, than a benefit. You know, I understand that yes, you’re going to have teenagers that want their independence, I get that. But again, we’re always going for the many versus the few.
And so, what does most people want to have, and they want to have their bedrooms above level whenever possible. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing if you have a bedroom in your basement and you have the windows, and you have everything … The closet and everything for access and that. But it isn’t such a must. And that’s one of the problems that we see. And sometimes, we see that from agents unfortunately, that they put the fear into buyers … Excuse me, the sellers minds that, if only have X amount that you’ll never sell it.
In most cases, it’s going to … Again, the location, location, location. Presume that every home has to have four bedrooms. And even if it does, even if there’s a little bit of a price difference, you probably … When you bought the house that was probably a factor they played into it also. And maybe because it had three bedrooms you didn’t pay quite as much for a four bedroom. But it very much.
Again, we’re not talking in gigantic numbers. because when it’s all said and done is, what is a bathroom worth? I know that … Or an extra bedroom worth? And that’s where the problem comes in. Simply put is, there’s these numbers that somebody in New York City or, California, or whatever. They calculate these numbers and whatever, and they say … They spit out a number saying, this is what an extra bathroom is worth or, an extra bedroom is worth.
Look, what you just … In our market, we just don’t see that. We don’t see that. So it’s better just to use what you have, and go with that. Again, you’ve done the updates, that’s going to be a big plus to you. Not to throw it over what you don’t have. Again, where you going to put it? The same thing goes with bathrooms too. Again, if you have two bathrooms, yeah it would be great if maybe one of them was … And they both had showers in them, or they both had ways to do that … Bathtubs or whatever.
But if they’re one and a half, it’s not the end of the world. Again, the cost factor of getting these done … I mean, the average bathroom remodel, or putting a new bathroom in, I think is something close to $10,000. Again, you’re not going to get that return investment all back anyway, the $10,000. You may get a third of it, if you’re lucky. It’s not counting the time and the money.
So what do you do if you really do feel though, that maybe you’re in a tight spot? Maybe you don’t … Maybe you literally are the only one that has two bedrooms and baths. Again, first thing first, you look at where the location is, how much is that going toaffect you in the pricing, what did you actually pay for the home when you bought it for two bedroom and one bath.
Those are factors to keep in mind. The other thing that you can do and, sellers have had some great success with and that is, just making that one bathroom, if you have one bathroom, making that sucker pop, okay? So maybe you spend that extra … Instead of trying to put $10,000 in a new bathroom, spend a thousand or two and get some ceramic tile down there.
Make sure that the mirror is updated, and the lighting is updated, and sink we should be doing anyway but just really maybe go get an extra dot … Spend a couple of hundred dollars more and really make this thing pop maybe on the vanity and also on the shower. That can have great success. Maybe you only have one bathroom, but we’ve seen buyers say, it may be one bathroom but boy, it beats the heck out of that last house we saw where they had two semi-decent bathrooms that were okay, but this one really pops.
Again, you’ll also have a situation when you have that, the family you’re doing. Again, it’s not … You’re not going to attract four people or, six people in the family to a two bedroom, one bathroom to start with. You’re already going to be attracting either first time home buyers usually, it may be a couple that maybe have one child, maybe they have no children yet.
So understanding where you’re going after and that you’ve [inaudible 00:06:41] work out. You can do the same thing with the kitchens too. You can do the same thing with the bathroom kitchen. So, I mean again, we’ve seen sellers put a … Definitely putting a black splash on the back behind the cabinets, which is a great idea anyway even if you have everything going in your favor, the bedrooms and bathrooms.
And again, taking that same ceramic tile and maybe putting it into the kitchen. Usually the houses are a little bit smaller, the two bedrooms and one bathrooms. Just the cost really isn’t as bad as what people think. But again, your end game is to get top dollar and a fast sale. And those things … Doing these things do work. As with my book, again it’s 12 Proven Steps.
It’s not theory, it’s conjecture, it’s not hope and a prayer. These are 12 proven steps. If you follow these plans, you’re going to have … Get top dollar and a fast sale. You’re listening to Ready, Set, Sold with Brian Vogt and, I will be back with the tip of the week.