How to revamp for the spring market, on the cheap
Can a thousand dollars be the difference between a house that sells and another that languishes?
Sounds like small money, but the irony is that making changes that have the biggest visual impact can often be the least expensive.
The Herald's Paul Restuccia offers a primer on how to make your $240,000 condo look like a million bucks - and still have money left to grab coffee on the way to work.
Probably the biggest bang for your buck - you guessed it - is a decent paint job.
One contractor cited in the article offers a $1,000 quote for an interior paint job - plus some minor repairs to baseboards and walls and replacements of worn out fixtures.
Having done a fair share of this kind of work on my Natick fixer-upper over the years, it sounds about right - that is if you are willing to do the grunt work yourself.
My wife Karen offers her own estimate of $75 for paint and primer for each room. Throw in some suppliers - rollers, caulk and other materials - and you are up to $90 per room.
Putting theory into action, the piece takes a look at a Fenway condo undergoing a $1,000 makeover before it hits the market this spring.
The fix ups include "repainting the entry and exposed pipes, remounting the shower door, re-caulking the tub and uncapping a light fixture."
The planned listing price - $240,000.
Whether we like it or not, we are all wired to value first impressions. So why not turn this little quirk of human nature to your advantage?
