Seeking opinions

[Schweino]

I am not active in any other forum anywhere, so here I am with this

We just bought our house May '20 (first time home buyers). We love the neighborhood and area of town, but we have a 'goal' to get to a different area of town (currently in Omaha, looking to get to Papillion, a suburb to the south) for a few different reasons. However, the realistic goal of that move would be 2023 (wife applied for a promotion, so could change). Since we are 1.5 years away from a move, I had a few thoughts and would love to seek opinions:

1. The house we are in currently does need updated windows. I have been told that $2000/per is a good ballpark figure to at least start a budget around. We have 6 windows (with one being a bigger one, so probably 4k on that). So $14k give or take for that.

2. The kitchen cabinets do need to be redone. I think they can be resurfaced or just painted over, but I'm a tech guy, not a tradesmen, so really have noooo idea what kind of budget that would take. Ill just say $10k for funsies.

3. Do no updates, and sell the house as is in 2023 and risk the market coming back to reality (at least in our area). But, save the 24k for down payment on our next home.

Logic: Spending 24k increases the home's value, but considering we could probably sell the house as is for $240 (we paid 215), I am not sure those two updates would net us 264+, or if it would, it would be almost negligible.

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please share!

 

[jaklgreen]

Move to Elkhorn, the school district is better and they actually care about how your kids do. That is if you are planning on having kids.
As far as the windows go, I guess it would depend on what condition your windows are. Are they that bad that you will have trouble selling the house?
As for the kitchen cabinets, if you are willing to do it yourself, there are a bunch of video how to paint them online.
I would get an appraisal and ask them what they think if these improvements will make a big enough difference to the value of your home. Right now, houses are selling like crazy, as you know. But we don't know what it will be like when you are ready to sell. This is a tough situation with the numbers that you have given. I really think that the condition of the house is secondary to location right now.

 

[Schweino]

Move to Elkhorn, the school district is better and they actually care about how your kids do. That is if you are planning on having kids.
As far as the windows go, I guess it would depend on what condition your windows are. Are they that bad that you will have trouble selling the house?
As for the kitchen cabinets, if you are willing to do it yourself, there are a bunch of video how to paint them online.
I would get an appraisal and ask them what they think if these improvements will make a big enough difference to the value of your home. Right now, houses are selling like crazy, as you know. But we don't know what it will be like when you are ready to sell. This is a tough situation with the numbers that you have given. I really think that the condition of the house is secondary to location right now.

Elkhorn was a thought of ours, but my family is in the Bellevue area and we prefer to be closer to them to spend more time with my niece and nephews.

 

[KellBelle]

I am in Omaha also. Not advice really, but we redid our kitchen a couple years ago and decided to keep the cabinets but have new custom doors made for them. It was not cheap, but far cheaper than replacing entirely. We are really happy with how they came out. Something to consider? I am no help on the windows, sorry. Maybe Gretna and you can just use 370 to get down to Bellevue?

 

[Darstarr]

I would consider replacing the windows. It will help you with heating and cooling costs now and will make a nice selling feature later.
As for the kitchen, I would let it be. Make sure it is clean and airy and bright and let the new owner transform it into their dream kitchen.

 

[Schweino]

I am in Omaha also. Not advice really, but we redid our kitchen a couple years ago and decided to keep the cabinets but have new custom doors made for them. It was not cheap, but far cheaper than replacing entirely. We are really happy with how they came out. Something to consider? I am no help on the windows, sorry. Maybe Gretna and you can just use 370 to get down to Bellevue?

Gretna is still a tad too far for us. My family lives by base hospital so Papio is really where we want to be.

I would consider replacing the windows. It will help you with heating and cooling costs now and will make a nice selling feature later.
As for the kitchen, I would let it be. Make sure it is clean and airy and bright and let the new owner transform it into their dream kitchen.

Thanks @Darstarr for your opinion!!

 

[Schweino]

I would consider replacing the windows. It will help you with heating and cooling costs now and will make a nice selling feature later.
As for the kitchen, I would let it be. Make sure it is clean and airy and bright and let the new owner transform it into their dream kitchen.

So...we did place an order for new windows. We initially just wanted to get a quote, but at 900/per (and we only have 8 windows), it was way lower than we expected and it was 50% less than some other company that did the same product presentation on how their windows blocks/retains heat. Thanks again Dar!!

 

[Darstarr]

So...we did place an order for new windows. We initially just wanted to get a quote, but at 900/per (and we only have 8 windows), it was way lower than we expected and it was 50% less than some other company that did the same product presentation on how their windows blocks/retains heat. Thanks again Dar!!

Your welcome.
Good luck!

 

[flynnibus]

2k per window is way high. You should expect more like $700-1200 per window. 2k would be like doing top tier andersen or pella speciality windows. Your standard double hung vinyl window should be MUCH cheaper.

Upgrades like these are all about making your home more marketable - not getting the money back out directly. If you are in a hot market, your home is going to sell anyways and you'll keep the cash in your pocket where you can use it on your next home. If you need to compete hard with other sellers, then you do the upgrades to ensure your home is the one chosen. Again, you're not likely to get dollar per dollar out... it's all about the comparables you are being shopped against.

Make the home presentable - let the new buyers invest in it.