I think remove furniture, redo floors, get new but cheap light fixtures. However, check with realtor because lots of boomers want new construction in Fla and there are still new communities being built.

i'm a boomer; when i rent a condo in florida for a week's vacation the furniture is indeed the biggest turnoff of all. and the window treatments.

Are you selling or an agent?

We wanted to buy a vacation condo in Florida. We are not retired, but wanted to have a place to stay during our visits. We looked for several years and must have seen 50 units! Everything we saw was dated and ugly. Finally we came upon the perfect place. First, it was unfurnished. Big plus. Also, the prior owner had done some strategic remodelling that took the "geezer factor" out of the unit. She knocked out a wall to make it open concept, added can lights in the main living area, did a partial kitchen remodel (granite, new appliances, sink, cabinet hardware) and replaced all carpet with laminate. She also replaced all windows with hurricane windows, which is huge. We took one look and said this is the one. All we had to do was the two bathrooms, replace ceiling fans, add better kitchen lighting, window treatments, some painting, redo the sunroom and change hardware on doors. Oh, and buy furniture! It might sound like a lot, but believe me, we were thrilled to only have to do that much. The inventory that is out there is, for the most part, just awful. I know they say furnished homes sell better than empty ones, but I disagree. I'm one of those people who would rather visualize my things in a home, and that can be difficult when you have to look past someone else's dated decor.

I'm not an agent of any sort. I live in this community and want to see it prosper. I totally agree with cbailie since that's pretty much what happened to me. I looked at probably 50 units of various types within the area that I wanted to buy. Finally I found one that was basically OK and did updates. The others were awful. I was thinking about having an education day for residents and their families about the best things to do to prepare your home for sale. What type of professions do you think would be best?

I would start with a realtor. A good, experienced one will know the things that need to be done to improve market value. And maybe a designer, someone who could make suggestions as to what sellers could do to improve their units without breaking the budget.

The problem in Florida is that many units are being sold by family members of the owner after he/she has passed away or gone to a nursing home. And those family members don't want any part of the unit - they just want to dump it. So they are not willing to do much to improve it. That was the case with our place. It benefitted us, of course, but in the long run it takes effort to get a place ready to be sold. The surviving family member often can't or won't take the time to do that. I honestly felt sad for the lady who put all that time and money into improving her place - for HERSELF - and then passed away shortly after. And her daughter just wanted to get rid of it.

I agree, cbaile. My kids have already conclusively explained to me that they plan to call an estate sale expert and have them deal with the selling of my property and personal items.

figrandme, I'm not sure what is prompting you to take up this endeavor, but unless your community has expressed an interest or need for help in this area or unless you are some type of community rep that needs a program for an upcoming event, I'm not sure you'll be addressing the audience you need to reach with this particular topic. I'm sure it would be interesting and probably a fun event but not necessarily a productive one that will accomplish your goas.

i think flgrandma is trying to up the chance that her complex will be attracting bright and intelligent people who arent turned off by the units coming on the market. it's something i'd never considered.... my eyes are open now. the attractiveness of a complex is one thing, the neighbors are another!

Peace and quiet!!!

Oh, I totally understand wanting to attract good neighbors. Big reason I moved recently. But unfortunately, neighborhoods are rarely stable and I would expect (though no data to back this up) condos are even less. But if you can get to the children of these boomers as well as the boomers themselves, you may have a shot at helping to keep it at the level you want. But yes, kids typically want the $$$ once the parents are gone, especially if they have not grown up in the home where the parents resided. They have no emotional attachment and if they live in other states, that urgency to sell becomes even greater as it does as the number of kids increase. A single child might be persuaded to wait for the "right" price but multiple children in varying stages of their lives may be more of the "let's get this done and move on" mentality. No data for this either, but I do have some personal experience here with my family and with those of friends.

I've gone back and reread your question and realize that I didn't address that at all. I bought a house with granny's furniture in it but it was well maintained, had had the major updates done though I will be doing others, appliances were relatively new and top of the line with nice finishes. I was able to look past the furniture but not everyone can. So I would say, get the furniture out except for minimal pieces that define and give a good scale to the rooms. Paint if needed and repair any major problems. As a boomer, I don't care if the place is "on trend", I want to know that I don't have major expenses coming down the pike in the next 10-15 years. Or at least be reasonably sure of that. Retired boomers are on fixed incomes (regardless how high that may be) and don't have unlimited resources (usually) for major expenses because we are also looking at medical bills in the future. Ease of access is another biggie (at least for me). We can hire a painter if we don't like your white; we can change out flooring (but we probably would rather not); most hate wallpaper because we have traumatic memories of it; storage is highly desirable for all the things we didn't leave when we "decluttered" before our move and those mementos we just cannot do without: cabinets shouldn't require a stepstool to reach the first or second shelf; and shelves are ideally adjustable to suit our needs. Slab floors are hard on our backs but comfortably padding carpet can off set that but don't make us have to look at the vacuum stripes on it. I guess I've gone a bit far afield but take what you will and toss the rest... :D Good luck!

My elderly mother lives in a very high end retirement community in Arizona from the same era. I have health issues that make it impossible for me to commute down there when she passes away to take care of her home. We're hoping she'll move up where we are before she gets to infirm to do so as we don't want to be left with a home we don't want, and have to dispose of.

These situations strike me as a great opportunity for people my age [late 50s] to find a decent home to renovate at a great price. And if anyone has bothered to watch the house hunting shows on HGTV, you know that you can't buy a house you don't absolutely HATE so you can start renovating the entire place the day you close. Seems to me these homes should be moving like hot cakes!!

Whynottryit, you are so right. We just incurred a major expense with ours. The A/C totally died. It would have been under warranty, but the previous owner hired some friend of a friend who did side jobs to install it a few years back (I was told this by a neighbor). The guy neglected to register the unit, so no warranty. That's something a home inspector can't detect! So we are on the hook for a completely new air handler ( for those in the North, that's A/C and heat combined). And it wasn't cheap. The water softener also died within six months after we bought the unit. The tankless hot water heater will probably be the next thing to go. Sigh....
Our neighbors joked that they can always tell when we've arrived because there's a repair truck of some nature in the driveway. But the units in most of these 55 and older communities are not new anymore and things are bound to wear out. We actually thought about selling, but when we contacted our realtor he showed us the comps over the last two years, and we changed our minds in a hurry when we saw how much the values have gone up!

Our gulf condo is thirty years old and the people are buying and updating. The features are removing the moldy jetted tubs, replacing them with walk in showers, converting the old walk-in showers to closets/shelving, new light fixtures, new hot water tanks, new cabinets, countertops, appliances, paint, window treatments, furniture.
Every year at the home owners meeting we ask owners who have updated to give a tour of what they have done to inspire others. That works well. Plus we have a furniture store owner/designer to come talk about what is new. Every update does not have to be done at once, but each year a project will get results eventually.
As we all know here, change one thing and the rest looks yuk :)

Interesting post. I also own a home in a 50 plus community in Florida and it's seems it's the kids that keep the prices of some of the homes down. They don't want to be bothered with the hassle of keeping the place. They didn't put their hard earned $$ into the property, so a third or a quarter of any amount is new found money (depending on how many it will be divided by).

Often a home that is beautifully decorated will sell faster (if furnishings are included) and views also makes a difference. But some of the older generation do not or cannot afford to buy all new furnishings.

I will hopefully moving in a few years. I've already started looking on Zillow. It is so obvious which homes have been readied for sale and those that are too cluttered etc. For example model homes look so perfect. Pictures seem to really show things, and with the Internet pictures so important that might be something you want to show and compare. There are also some good blogs etc. on Pinterest about staging and selling your home. I'm looking for turn-key. That means to me no old carpet. I prefer some type of hard flooring that can be steamed clean. Spotless appliances. I don't care what color as long as the rest of the kitchen looks clean and fresh. Fresh bathrooms. Again, at this stage of my life I am not totally particular about the colors in the bathroom as long as they are neutral. I will expect to paint and furnish my own window treatments. I do want nice doors and trim. My husband will be checking the roof, plumbing, heating, cooling, etc. We are wanting to pare down and simplify, so a property that can provide those is what we're looking for.

hayleydaniels made a good point. Some of the houses here are selling low and being completely gutted, which is great. However, some are just sitting. Perhaps they aren't bad enough to gut, but not good enough to want to live in? Those are the target.

whynottryit provided a very reasonable list of who might provide the information needed to the potential sellers. Thanks so much.

Last evening I talked to a member of a committee here that provides educational programs and made the suggestion that we invite speakers to talk about improving the "not quite good enough" homes at reasonable prices. She liked the idea.

For those of you who wondered whether I have a dog in this race, let me assure you that I like every other home owner does indeed need to care about their neighborhood, not just their own home. Thanks everyone for all of your points of view.

'not bad enough to gut, not good enough to live in' = priced a little too high.

i really understand heirs wanting to unload for cheap. as said, anything they get is found money. not many want to spend too much time, money, or effort in rehabilitation of a not-rare commodity.

but again ty for this topic.

Having someone come in and speak is one thing. Many home owners don't want any help - they think their home is lovely - NOT - so don't need any advice. But maybe it will start the ball rolling for a few.

What really started this post was two women in my cul de sac asking me what I thought they should do before putting their homes on the market. One believed that she'd get lots of advise from the realtor. I've never had a realtor who provided much of this help probably because they don't want to offend. I'm certainly not an expert, but they're out there.

Also, just this past month I helped a friend whose relative is moving here. The elderly woman who sold her house had quite a large mess at the very end (closing day in fact). Much of what she had to clean up could and should have been handled before the house ever went on the market. By the way, it took two years to sell. It's a lovely home and probably potential buyers couldn't see past the stuff.

So many of us have "stuff" we can't let go of - myself included.

flgrandma, when we recently shopped for our new/old (1974 built) condo, it was in a desirable complex of 36 units. (three two-story buildings with a lovely courtyard in the center). However, our first floor unit did NOT show well...the elderly woman who resided here, died. Her estate put the unit on the market before clearing out 25 years worth of stuff. The only room updated was the master bath, because the owner was disabled the last two years of her life and needed a handicapped accessible bathroom. Because we knew the area and how seldom these units come on the market, we overlooked the accumulated granny stuff and bought the place. However, I think what most people want when buying is a very clean, spare- furnished house, with no wallpaper (as someone else mentioned) but neutral pale painted walls, clean carpets (or hardwood floors).

I just turned 55 so bought a winter home in 55 plus community and my biggest complaint was everything was so dated. Shell sinks, filthy carpet and old appliances. When I finally looked past that I realized it was all just cosmetic. Had it all fixed before I bought furnishings and I love it. But number ONE is that it's so peaceful. Love that :)

For me, a problem right off is bad lighting and dirty walls/ old paint.

So many strong preferences as to flooring, that that might be a good thing not to do/ or install what buyer chooses....

i believe after reading all the posts here, the important thing is who cares, wait, let me finish. The person living there is often on limited means, especially after making necessary but missed repairs. Those selling, once the owners are gone, are in a hurry and treat any money as good. So maybe the smartest thing is to start a group in your community. Because you are the ones who care, you are who will benefit from this. First get experts to speak, true most are going to talk high priced nonsense, but often, the simple things don't cost much. improved handles for hurting hands, easier switches, no wall paper, plain white or whatever is popular now, be gone carpets, now floating floors, etc. Be sure to include cleaning out if necessary. So maybe as a community you could get together a group of professionals and negotiate a price plan, this can then be offered to those selling, if it is reasonable. it might be a tough sell at first, but once you can show price increases, which the two current living residents you discussed might agree to be the first would give you quick results. Well then it would be easy to sell to inheritors, resulting in better neighbors for you who are emotionally vested in this and better cash for inheritors, no? You might even be able to get it in the purchase agreement, giving you all a better piece of mind along with the purchasers. you also brought up another great point, imagine if when you bought into the community you knew that you would automatically have some one you could turn to for repairs etc., that they knew your history and a reasonable price was prenegotiated as a community. As we all know if done right you can save a lot of money by being part of a purchasing block, instead of one individual. That I think would be a great selling point right there. Ok, i am done and i only see a couple squiggly lines, yeah! goodnight hope it helps.

The conflicts are that you have older folks who are comfortable with what they have and don't want to deal with remodeling, etc. and then you have younger folks wanting to buy. They are probably coming in from an other state and want the place to be move in ready. In the meantime, the sellers' family members don't want to deal with the situation. So, here are the choices:

1. Don't do anything and sell low.

2. Do some work and bring up the price

3. Sell to a flipper, let him/her do the work and make the profit

I know that is not what you want to hear but that is really the bottom line. Another option would be for your community to find a good contractor/remodeler that is familiar with the area and turn owners and/or heirs onto him/her for the updates. If you could find someone that has demonstrated good work and good judgment at a reasonable price it would be very helpful to all parties, the sellers, the owners and the contractor.

Personally, I am sympathetic to the situation as I had to empty out my parents home of 45 yrs. and get it on the market. Priced it right and sold it as is to the first person to look at it, but I doubt the neighbors were happy about the price.

Question though, if the unit in question is in a 55 and older community, don't the heirs have to sell if they don't meet the age requirement?

havingfun brings up some excellent points. I mentioned earlier that I had moved recently. There were several "bonuses" that I discovered after I had put a contract on the house. I already have a girl that has cleaned for me for years due to physical issues and just pure laziness at times. :) My move actually moved me closer to where she lives so no issues with her continuing. However, I had lived in an apartment for 12 years and have had no need for a yardman.

While showing my new home to my son prior to the sellers moving, I happened to come on a day when their yardman was there. I struck up a conversation and a deal with him to continue the work he had been doing on the yard. What a godsend! The yard is beautiful which proved his work was good; he knew all its quirks and knew how often he would need to check on it depending on how the weather had been. And the price was perfect!

Right now, I am looking for a handyman to call for those occasional times that I need something done but can't handle myself. (I'm sure that may become more frequent as time goes on.)

Having a "package" of sorts of people that can clean, do the yardwork, maintain the property at a reasonable cost would benefit everyone. To offer the services of someone that will conduct an estate sale, movers to pack up unwanted items and take them to a charitable organization, a cleaning crew to ready the home for sale, someone who can determine if major issues need to be addressed (realtor or home inspector), a contractor or handyman that can handle those issues quickly and as inexpensively as possible, painters, the list could go on, would be something most of the out of town families would jump at. I know my kids would.

Most families would probably be willing to pay a fair amount to just not have to deal with it. If it can be established, as havingfun, said, that the work would help with the sale price, I think you could really have a winner there. But one person would need to be the contact and the responsible person to oversee that all the work was done on time and in accordance with what ever agreement was struck. I don't think this would be a small job but if you're really wanting to maintain your community, I think that would be a great solution.

Bunny, in answer to your question. It depends on the restrictions in the master rules and regs each community is different.

In our community a certain "large" percentage has to be over 55 - so there can be a few that are under. Also, sometimes the rules are that "only one" person has to be 55 or older, the other homeowner can be under. If a parent(s) passes away, kids could rent it out as long as the terms of living in the community are met.

bunnllg, Yes. You have to be 55 or older in the community where I purchased my winter home. That's the main reason I purchased there.

Thanks. So age requirements could make heirs have to sell. I think that as long as the unit is not predominantly Florida pastels it would have Boomer appeal.

Dear bunny, I am sorry to say, that all that florida pastel is 90% retired snow bird. Since moving from home i have really begun to recognize these souls, they come up to visit family and friends and even in Dec. they still insist on wearing white pants with pastel tops. And here i thought they just did it back home.

Funny, down in Florida we can always tell the tourists because they are the ones wearing shorts and tees no matter how cool it is - it's warm to them - whilst the residents are in long pants and sweaters. lol

yep, that is the way i remember it too. and those wonderful hawaiian shirts. not to mention the dark socks and sandal brigade. let us not forget the be casual everywhere folks. Well at least we are not in France, where they have nude and seminude beaches, and the Americans stroll into town that way. But what i have discovered is that when these souls retire to FL they then think that they should apply those whacked out rules everywhere. Or maybe they just throw all those sensible clothes away when they move south. And yet the world thinks FL is crazy.

whynottryit...every item you mentioned is exactly what the residents in our "over 21" condo group needs. As someone said, trying to get older residents who have little money left for extras (still may need medical care) and are content with living in their 70's or 80's era homes, to spend on upgrades now, would be difficult. It is comforting to those nearing the end of their lives to have their familiar belongings and decor surrounding them. Perhaps aiming toward heirs is the best way to achieve the goal of selling quickly and at a reasonable price.

yes, they can always tack their cost onto the sale price, just seems so win/win, no? I bet the community could set up a committee that does that, maybe even rescue a couple things. imagine, the kids would probably really love not coming down at all. No plane flights could actually pay for the whole job or near to it.

Not so sure that would be a win/win situation. Personally, I'd rather pay less and fix it up to my tastes and needs rather than have someone put in a few quick fixes to sell the place asap. As we see here on Houzz, people's tastes vary greatly and at over 55 so do their needs.

A good point about medical/prescription costs being the #1 priority over new furniture.

Yes, I think just a good cleaning of every inch of a house/condo and an elimination of all extras in decor would go far in attracting buyers. No need to update bathrooms or kitchens (although that would be helpful).

sure ruth, i was just suggesting that they give you at least the options with trusted professionals. original poster did want new floors and stuff. and not all kids would be willing to spend. I am just thinking that even offering the cleaning like you said, and then the ability to get what you wanted done by a trusted source would be positive selling points. every one has their own thing.

Any sensible person will take a clean older home over a new dump any day.