Extreme Makeover in Shaker Heights!

Shaker Heights

Shaker Heights - Closed in May 2008

THE HISTORY--PAST and PRESENT: This stately home on one of Shaker's finest streets was on the market previously for six months with another top Realtor affiliated with a large real estate brokerage. The owner approached us and asked for a second opinion on why this home hadn't sold, nor had any offers in the previous six months.

After touring the home, it quickly became apparent that there were many issues to address:

• Typical issues such as outdated carpeting over hardwood floors,
• Dated paint and wallpaper, and
• unappealing decor, all of which were easily changed.

The main problem was an inherently bad kitchen design that suffered from a huge kitchen peninsula that impeded flow, and an extreme lack of natural light that made the kitchen seem dark and claustrophobic. We removed the peninsula, created a pass-through to the breakfast room which allowed for lots of light, and repainted the pumpkin-colored walls a light color to open up the room.

In addition, the master bedroom had a shared entrance with another bedroom that was very awkward, and did not allow for a true master bath, which is expected in a home of this price range. We removed the second entrance to this bath and removed two closets which adjoined the two bedrooms, the second of which was too small to be a true bedroom. This created both a true master bath AND a guest-suite with it's own private bath.

Many other updates made this home a showpiece, and, in addition to competitively pricing it in a very strong buyer's market, resulted in a sale in no time. Access to quality and extremely cost-efficient contractors made this project doable. This cost would easily have been doubled had a retail consumer attempted this scope of work, let alone take this project from the first meeting the the seller to project completion, on-time, on-budget in 9 weeks.

With the inventory levels approximately 300% higher than several years ago, many homes on the market which would have easily sold in the past were not selling in today's market.  When buyers have a large number of homes to choose from, simply lowering the price which is the typical response listing agents and home sellers respond, is not necessarily enough in this market, simply because the inventory lvels are so high.  There is a little known but very important principle we let sellers know:

Olsen Ziegler Realty believes: "If you have the choice and ability between lowering the price by $x dollars or spending the same $x dollars in improving the condition", you are much better off improving the condition."

The advice a seller obtains on what to improve (based on buyer's expectations and desires), how to improve it in a cost-effective manner, coupled with the resources to make this happen in both a cost-effective and timely manner, is mostly non-existent in the real estate community.  Moreover, the advice when it is given, is most often a very incomplete, not cost effective, and unable to be implemented in a timely fashion, in our opinion. 

Go ahead, find a real estate agent who can:

1. Appropriately analyze issues your home may face which can have either a signficant financial impact on your bottom line, or in some cases, with this home, literally prevent the home from selling
2. Provide options to help the seller minimize the negative financial impact by not addressing these issues, far above and beyond one or more price reductions
3. Have a true project plan to take the home from start to finish
4. Have the project management, technical and communication skills to oversee and manage the project, contractors, vendors and others from start to finish
5. Recommend and obtain bids from our own sphere of influence where the most cost-effective and quality contractors can be utilized to perform the work
6. Have a vast array of vendors and resources to utilize both quality materials at very competitive prices
7. The ability, for example: to have kitchen cabinets measured, templated, ordered and installed in four weeks; granite countertops templated and installed in one week
8. The ability to completely transform a home, overseeing up to a dozen contractors, from start to finish, in 6-10 weeks, at prices that could NOT be replicated by contractors that a consumer could find on their own.

Many real estate agents and companies talk about the conveniences of having mortgage, title and insurance services under one roof for the benefit of the consumer.  We feel this is no-brainer, and in fact, we can recommend service providers who provide better customer service, no inconvenience to you, coupled with better fees and rates, than you can obtain under one roof. We feel real estate agents need to broaden their horizons to provide home sellers with real options (from no cost to extensive renovations, and everything in between) and assist the seller in making wise and sound decisions which take into account local market conditions, buyer expectations and more.

We presented the owner with two options:

1. No investment. Initial Asking Price: $450,000. Projected Sales Price: $415,000-445,000. The pros are the home can be put on the market immediately with no investment.  This approach had already been tried for the previous six months to no avail. The cons are an uncertain amount of time on the market; a hard to forecast sales price and a greatly decreased financial bottom line.
   
2. $22,356 investment. Initial Asking Price: $500,000. Projected Sales Price: $480,000 - 490,000. The pros are that the "inherent kitchen design" would be greatly minimized, the dating of the home would also be eliminated, resulting in a strong product compared to it's competition and most likely, a shorter time on the market.  The cons are 8-10 weeks to prepare for market and a major investment.

We obtained fixed-priced bids from reputable, local contractors complete with a project plan with fixed timelines and a coordinated project schedule.  The homeowner instantly saw the value, could easily envision the changes, and bought into our ideas completely and enthusiastically. 

Here is a list of work we managed, both on-time, on-budget, in 9 weeks:

Kitchen    

• New red oak hardwood floors installed- sand in place, stained with satin sealer
• Removed tall wall cabinet next to refrigerator
• Created a custom fit around & above the refrigerator
• Created pass-thru opening between kitchen and breakfast room to allow more light, openness and flow
• Removed a peninsula which inhibited functionality and flow
• Completely re-designed and installed cabinetry with new toe-kick floor register
• Installed new chair rail on back inside wall

Dining Room

• Removed door adjoining front hallway area, repaired hinge and strike areas on jambs to allow better flow

Library/Study

• Removed glass shelving above wet bar, repair walls, paint

Master Bath

• Removed door opening from non-master bedroom to create a true master bath
• Removed medicine cabinets
• Installed one large, picture-framed mirror
• Installed new lighting
• Edged tub tile in wood molding

 Second Floor Back Hall

• Removed sconce and repaired wall
• Installed two surface mount light fixtures on ceiling

 Second Floor Middle Rear Bedroom - New Bedroom Suite

• Created a new two-room bedroom-suite with full bath.  Can be used as teen-suite, guest suite, caregiver suite, in-law-suite, office/den,etc.
• Removed two back-to-back closets that separated two separate bedrooms.
• Removed door-framed opening into the master bathroom
• Fingered in new hardwood flooring where the two old closets were in the area that became the pass-through between the two rooms so the flooring looked like an original part of the design of the home 
• Created new closet

Hardwood Floor Refinishing

• All carpeting on the main staircase and second floor was removed to reveal hardwood floors
• Entire Second Floor-- sanded, stained, and sealed with a satin finish
• Staircase from the main level to upper level-sanded, stained, and sealed with a satin finish; installed new stained cove molding

Freshly Painted

• Entry foyer
• Iron railing on stairway
• Hallways on first and second floors and main staircase
• Kitchen
• Breakfast room
• Dining room, including crown molding
• Library wet bar
• Living room
• Master bedroom, including baseboards
• Master bath
• Second floor bath - also stripped wallpaper
• Bedroom #2 - also stripped wallpaper
• Enclosed porch off kitchen
• Basement - half bath, recreation room & trim
• Staircase and landing to basement & trim

Freshly Carpeted

• Basement recreation/play room, landing at bottom of stairs in basement, and staircase from main level to the basement

Other

• Installed two new chandeliers in the front stairwell area
• Professionally refinished the bathtub and wall tiles in the Jack-n-Jill bath
• Limbed-up two huge trees in front of house to allow more sunlight

Here are a few before and after photos:

   

If you were a buyer, which tub would you rather be in?

  

Wala - No more door (to left of vanity) from the other bedroom into the master bath, some paint, custom framed mirror, lighting, paint, accessories, and you have an inviting bath that has some of the conveniences of today with the nostalgia of yesteryear.

  

No more peninsula which greatly impeded functionality and created a claustrophic feeling, coupled with the darker wall colors.  We created a pass through over the cooktop, and moved a cabinet from another corner wall that was not needed and further served to close in the kitchen, and anchored it near the pass through.  Light then streamed in through the pass-through from the adjoining and lovely breakfast room, which overlooked the expansive front yard. New red oak sand-in-place hardwood floors replaced the old vinyl flooring.  Other changes were made as well (detailed below).

    

   

   

   

   

Here are the seller's comments/testimonial:

Chris walked into a challenging situation with my house. It had been on the market for 6 months, empty, and my husband and I had recently divorced. This was a nice large home on a lovely street, with a pool, and several other attractive homes for sale nearby. Utilizing his experience with demographics, market conditions, desires of new buyers, and experience in remodeling, Chris pulled it all together. He got the house remodeled to a more desirable configuration, repainted and updated some of the older features and fixtures. Most of the work happened during the winter months, not the easiest time of year for contractors to get in and out. I was pleased and surprised when an offer came in early April, and delighted when the sale went thru in mid-May. Aside from his business experience and capabilities, Chris is a very pleasant person to work with. He is calm, low-key, prompt, and does what he says he will do in a timely manner. I always walked away from an encounter with him feeling well cared for, and that he knew what needed to be done. In today's difficult economic climate and real estate market, these are all important qualities that one needs to have in a realtor. I would always highly recommend Chris and I'm sure his customers would agree with me. I am grateful and pleased to have had the opportunity to work with him, and to benefit from his professional expertise. - Sue G.

"Chris not only helped me with suggestions and contractors to make my house more market ready and coordinated a lot of the work to stage my house.  My house closed within 5 months of the work being completed during a very stagnant housing market!" -- Tom G.

If you want to see other renovations, re-designs and successful home stagings we have done, please visit our Olsen Ziegler Realty website!

Many real estate agents "talk" about adding value for their sellers and some do.  We believe in providing a wealth of concrete options to truly help sellers maximize their financial bottom line and letting our work speak for itself as well as our clients being wildly happy references.

Content and photos are copyrighted by Chris Olsen and protected by CopyScape.

Related Links:

• Shaker Heights Home Staging and Renovation

Date: Monday, March, 23rd 2009 @ 08:16:22 PM
Views: 330

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