Having Orange hardwoods sanded and sealed before we put our house on the market. Question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right on, I would not buy a house that had old floors. What a job to do right off the bat. It will update the house. Do it.

Ok. Good for you. Next buyer please (counting the multiple offers I have in hand).

It's easy to get the floors refinished before you move in. Not spending money on an unnecessary refinishing when it won't add value to an already hot property.

I would also much rather have bought a house with finished floors than have to arrange to have them done before moving in. A friend did it and it took weeks of work plus their house smelled for a good week.

As a seller I really don't care about your complaints when I can get multiple offers above asking within a day. Cope or lose the house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right on, I would not buy a house that had old floors. What a job to do right off the bat. It will update the house. Do it.

Ok. Good for you. Next buyer please (counting the multiple offers I have in hand).

It's easy to get the floors refinished before you move in. Not spending money on an unnecessary refinishing when it won't add value to an already hot property.

I would also much rather have bought a house with finished floors than have to arrange to have them done before moving in. A friend did it and it took weeks of work plus their house smelled for a good week.

You must not be a serious buyer in today’s DMV market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right on, I would not buy a house that had old floors. What a job to do right off the bat. It will update the house. Do it.

Ok. Good for you. Next buyer please (counting the multiple offers I have in hand).

It's easy to get the floors refinished before you move in. Not spending money on an unnecessary refinishing when it won't add value to an already hot property.

I would also much rather have bought a house with finished floors than have to arrange to have them done before moving in. A friend did it and it took weeks of work plus their house smelled for a good week.

As a seller I really don't care about your complaints when I can get multiple offers above asking within a day. Cope or lose the house

The market has cooled quite a bit since interest rates went up. Ask me how I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right on, I would not buy a house that had old floors. What a job to do right off the bat. It will update the house. Do it.

Ok. Good for you. Next buyer please (counting the multiple offers I have in hand).

It's easy to get the floors refinished before you move in. Not spending money on an unnecessary refinishing when it won't add value to an already hot property.

I would also much rather have bought a house with finished floors than have to arrange to have them done before moving in. A friend did it and it took weeks of work plus their house smelled for a good week.

As a seller I really don't care about your complaints when I can get multiple offers above asking within a day. Cope or lose the house

The market has cooled quite a bit since interest rates went up. Ask me how I know.

Not at all unless you’re buying $2M+ homes. Sellers have the upper hand.

[Anonymous]

The market is hot but homes that are move-in ready and up to date sell a lot faster for a lot more than ones that aren't. I saw 2 homes some months ago... that were basically identical and in the same neighborhood.

House 1 was slightly larger with a brand new deck but was very dated. House 2 was slightly smaller and had a less impressive backyard but they had recently refinished and stained wooden floors and it was freshly painted.

House 2 was pending the day after their open house. House 1 took 10-11 days to go to pending. While that's not too bad...House 2 ended up selling for $220,000 more dollars. Even though the houses were pretty much identical and in the same neighborhood.

So while in this market a house will sell I think people should crunch the numbers to see what upgrades will get them a bigger return on their sale. The house that shows better will drive a lot more competition.

[Anonymous]

We bought a house with red oak floors, and they had taken on that orange color from an oil-based finish. The first thing we did was to have them sanded and refinished. I, too, wanted a white oak appearance and achieved it by having them bleach the floor first and then seal it with a water-based poly. They turned out beautifully! Personally, I would do it before selling because it completely changed the look of the house, and it did not cost very much. ($5,000 for the entire house) The return on that would be worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The market is hot but homes that are move-in ready and up to date sell a lot faster for a lot more than ones that aren't. I saw 2 homes some months ago... that were basically identical and in the same neighborhood.

House 1 was slightly larger with a brand new deck but was very dated. House 2 was slightly smaller and had a less impressive backyard but they had recently refinished and stained wooden floors and it was freshly painted.

House 2 was pending the day after their open house. House 1 took 10-11 days to go to pending. While that's not too bad...House 2 ended up selling for $220,000 more dollars. Even though the houses were pretty much identical and in the same neighborhood.

So while in this market a house will sell I think people should crunch the numbers to see what upgrades will get them a bigger return on their sale. The house that shows better will drive a lot more competition.

This is our experience as well. We went to a few open houses last for stale listings. They were empty. Some houses are sitting and having price cuts, but they're mostly the houses that need work/major systems replaced and weren't priced to factor that in.

As for the floors, I wouldn't do anything to them. As someone else said, the buyers might rip them out or want dark stain, not light. Leave them and can always give a credit if the buyers balk, but I doubt they would in this market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The market is hot but homes that are move-in ready and up to date sell a lot faster for a lot more than ones that aren't. I saw 2 homes some months ago... that were basically identical and in the same neighborhood.

House 1 was slightly larger with a brand new deck but was very dated. House 2 was slightly smaller and had a less impressive backyard but they had recently refinished and stained wooden floors and it was freshly painted.

House 2 was pending the day after their open house. House 1 took 10-11 days to go to pending. While that's not too bad...House 2 ended up selling for $220,000 more dollars. Even though the houses were pretty much identical and in the same neighborhood.

So while in this market a house will sell I think people should crunch the numbers to see what upgrades will get them a bigger return on their sale. The house that shows better will drive a lot more competition.

This is the key. It will be different for each home. We've sold 4 homes. The first one we just cleaned and staged a little; second one we fixed broken stuff, painted some rooms, and staged; third one we did nothing because it sold off-market so we just cleaned after moving out; and the third one we did renovations and staged because it was a unique situation that would yield us a better bottom line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought a house with red oak floors, and they had taken on that orange color from an oil-based finish. The first thing we did was to have them sanded and refinished. I, too, wanted a white oak appearance and achieved it by having them bleach the floor first and then seal it with a water-based poly. They turned out beautifully! Personally, I would do it before selling because it completely changed the look of the house, and it did not cost very much. ($5,000 for the entire house) The return on that would be worth it.

I had no idea what you're describing would be that affordable, it sounds wonderful. Although I'm already living in my home so it would probably be very difficult at this point.

[Anonymous]

How does the water based stain last? I’m worried it would quickly fade in sunny spots or get scuffed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a house with red oak floors, and they had taken on that orange color from an oil-based finish. The first thing we did was to have them sanded and refinished. I, too, wanted a white oak appearance and achieved it by having them bleach the floor first and then seal it with a water-based poly. They turned out beautifully! Personally, I would do it before selling because it completely changed the look of the house, and it did not cost very much. ($5,000 for the entire house) The return on that would be worth it.

I had no idea what you're describing would be that affordable, it sounds wonderful. Although I'm already living in my home so it would probably be very difficult at this point.

Same here. What is the SF of the house? $5k seems like a great way to update a house.

[Anonymous]

But you have to take all your stuff out if you want to refinish all the floors. Where’s it going to go? Unless you plan to list it empty (a mistake I think) it’s logistically easier for the buyer to do before move-in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But you have to take all your stuff out if you want to refinish all the floors. Where’s it going to go? Unless you plan to list it empty (a mistake I think) it’s logistically easier for the buyer to do before move-in.

We had this done as part of other work to update our house for selling. The workers went room by room. We did pay extra for the trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought a house with red oak floors, and they had taken on that orange color from an oil-based finish. The first thing we did was to have them sanded and refinished. I, too, wanted a white oak appearance and achieved it by having them bleach the floor first and then seal it with a water-based poly. They turned out beautifully! Personally, I would do it before selling because it completely changed the look of the house, and it did not cost very much. ($5,000 for the entire house) The return on that would be worth it.

I had no idea what you're describing would be that affordable, it sounds wonderful. Although I'm already living in my home so it would probably be very difficult at this point.

I got a ridiculous quote from DC Floors, but then I got a referral from a neighbor for a different company and they quoted a MUCH better price! I should have stated that this did not include the basement and one of the bedrooms. and we had no furniture in the house, which helped the price as well, but I it still would not have been that much more. I have found that we are getting better prices with smaller companies and better service too! Now, we only use smaller companies and have been able to get more done for less money, and the quality has been superb. Plus we are supporting small business owners, which we like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does the water based stain last? I’m worried it would quickly fade in sunny spots or get scuffed up.

So far, they still look beautiful! It has not quite been two years. I had oil-based poly in another house, and it held up well, but the color changed over the years, and they got scuffed, too. The pluses of water-based are the drying time and the absence of odor. The new water-based products are much better now than in years past. I think the durability is very comparable with the newer products.