Renovate or sell as-is: pricing a dated inherited house against the cost of the work

41 and 52 for that list is a big enough gap that one of them misunderstood the scope. Get both to break it out by line and compare the kitchen line specifically, because refresh means five different things. Paint the cabinets and swap counters is one number. New boxes and a tile backsplash is triple.

Also the wood paneling. If it's glued to plaster, removing it is a drywall job and your paint line becomes a hang and finish line. Ask before you assume it comes off.

No mortgage matters more than people give it credit for. Carry is taxes, insurance and utilities, and vacant dwelling insurance is usually a different and pricier product than a normal homeowner policy, so confirm the rate in writing before assuming the carry number. That's often a few hundred a month on its own.

There's a third option nobody has said. Do the cheap third of it. Carpet out, paint everything, remove the paneling if it comes off easily, leave the avocado bath and the 1985 kitchen alone. That's maybe 14,000 and it moves an as-is number up meaningfully because the house stops smelling and looking abandoned. It won't reach 262, but it also avoids a four month project.

@tylerbrooks9 that is the better call. Partial cosmetic work tends to capture a bigger share of the lift than its share of the cost, since the first thing fixed is usually the thing that makes buyers walk out. @nicole_adeyemi the risk in the full version is managing a first renovation with no established contractor relationship. The 41 quote could become 55 with no easy way to tell whether that is fair.

How confident is the 262 to 270 estimate? One agent's opinion on both ends of a spread is one person's guess twice. Closed comps for renovated 1960s ranches in that subdivision are worth pulling before spending 41,000 on the strength of an estimate alone. Some states don't publish sale prices at all, so an agent may need to pull them directly from MLS.

Worth pricing keeping it as a rental first. Owning it free and clear is the position most people in this forum are trying to reach, and selling it trades that position for cash and no house. The rent number should come before choosing between two ways of selling.