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Owner's Remod for Market Works Out

If you're selling an older or original home, you might face a big decision about how to prepare and present it for market.

One recent East Manhattan seller actually faced the decision twice.

First time: Nah, let's just sell it as it is, take what we can get.

And when that didn't work?

Second time: OK, let's put some real money into the remodel, and try to get it back – and more.

That was hugely the right call.

We're looking at 1511 3rd (4br/4ba, 2636 sqft.), which recently sold in its second try on the market.

The property first came out in July 2023. While clean, it was dated. (These first few photos are of its condition then.) We said at the time:

"[It] feels every bit like a longtime family home... with some thoughtful additions and customizations over the years.. There's not a single 'fancy' thing in the house, and there's a lot of carpet, but even without staging, the home presents well and will lead you to start thinking about what could be done on a small budget to improve it as it lies."

The start price was $2.799M, with cuts over 100+ DOM to as low at $2.725M. They finally quit the market in December 2023.

Surely you can imagine what had gone down.

Buyers coming into any dated home tend to come in either with no vision at all, or with their own gross overestimates of how much it's going to cost to modernize a home. An older home also gets visits from flippers, who always want to pay too little.

Ultimately, there just weren't any real buyers for 1511 3rd near a price that the seller wanted.

After the December cancellation, the seller decided to invest.

Money went into new flooring across the house, a new kitchen, all new baths. It was a substantial investment, a couple hundred k at least.

The end result was the same house, but all much newer.

With a designer's touch, the home was transformed. (A link to the listing with all photos on our separate Edge website is here.)

The choices made – importantly – were down-the-middle, easy on the eyes, mainstream, however you might say it. Nothing too bold or unusual, and nothing overtly cheap.

They had done a lot to answer a potential buyer's argument that it was going to cost an arm and a leg to make the house nice enough to live in. (Even if there were still some things left for the next owner to take care of.)

Once the home was ready, looking at the going rate for more up-to-date homes, the seller priced it far higher than before. They re-launched in July this year at $3.250M, or $525K above the last asking price – almost a year to the day after the first (failed) listing.

Then, they waited.

It still took 2 months. But by late September, the home was in escrow.

It has just closed for $3.155M.

So now, we can try some cocktail-napkin math.

If they were priced in the low $2.7s and not selling late in 2023, then the interest was probably much lower, say, $2.500M max.

In an extreme case, maybe they paid $300K for the remodel.

The sale price now is about $650K above where buyers were probably at in '23.

That's more than twice the value of the likely investment in remodeling.

If you can double your money by investing in remodeling before market, you should do it – every day, and maybe twice on Sunday.

Of course, a remodeling investment is a bit risky. It won't always be a 2-for-1 return. (Though that is what we would aim for.) And what if buyers don't like the work you did?

More confounding, almost never will any one seller really know, after selling a remodeled home, whether they did get 2-to-1 for their efforts and investment.

It should be obvious: Even a partial remodel is always going to sell for more than a dated home with equivalent size and features. Some degree of market-prep remodeling is going to help get the best possible price.

And yet, here, the seller for 1511 3rd had the unusual experience of knowing roughly where the market value was before investing in the remodel. It wasn't just an estimate. There had been a road test.

Unlike most sellers, they had time to wait and money to invest to support a shift in strategy. And now they know for sure that it paid off in spades.


Please see our blog disclaimer.

Listings presented above are supplied via the MLS and are brokered by a variety of agents and firms, not Dave Fratello or Edge Real Estate Agency, unless so stated with the listing. Images and links to properties above lead to a full MLS display of information, including home details, lot size, all photos, and listing broker and agent information and contact information.

Based on information from California Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. as of February 6th, 2025 at 4:35am PST. This information is for your personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties you may be interested in purchasing. Display of MLS data is usually deemed reliable but is NOT guaranteed accurate by the MLS. Buyers are responsible for verifying the accuracy of all information and should investigate the data themselves or retain appropriate professionals. Information from sources other than the Listing Agent may have been included in the MLS data. Unless otherwise specified in writing, Broker/Agent has not and will not verify any information obtained from other sources. The Broker/Agent providing the information contained herein may or may not have been the Listing and/or Selling Agent.