Ten years ago, Art Ozark purchased this beige, wood-frame home with reddish, brown accents as an investment. He has been renting the home in Orland Park to various tenants since, but now is interested in selling it.
Ozark, who resides in Oak Lawn and is retired, said he no longer wants to deal with the upkeep and maintenance of a rental property. However, since he recently made the decision to sell the one-story house, he has found himself devoting more time and energy than ever to the property.
His goal is to rehab portions of the home to make it more appealing to today’s buyers. Some improvements he has already made include installing new oak cabinets in the kitchen and new vanities in the bathrooms, painting all the walls, reglazing a bathtub and adding a wall in one bedroom to break it into two.
The result of the last of these improvements was to create a three-bedroom home. The third bedroom will be attractive to the sort of buyer he sees as his target market, Ozark said. “I think a family with kids would buy this house. It’s in a nice, quiet neighborhood.”
The division of the room and other upgrades were praised by Dick Post, president of Era R.M. Post Realtors, which has offices in Tinley Park, Chicago and Oak Lawn. Post suggested other improvements, but, he added, “You want to put in as minimal an amount of money as possible, but still make it nice enough to sell.”
For example, Ozark asked whether he should go to the expense of installing a beige or other neutral carpet in the large living room, which currently has brown linoleum-type flooring. “We’re talking $2,000 for carpeting and then someone will come in and say, `I don’t like it. Let’s tear it up,’ ” he said.
Post acknowledged that that could happen. However, he said most prospective buyers will have a hard time visualizing what the home would look like with new carpet.
“This is not like new construction,” he added. “There isn’t a model where you can see what (the home) will look like (with carpet).”
In the kitchen, where the oak cabinets and a dishwasher have been added, Post also suggested new lighting.
“You have brand-new cabinets,” he said. “But then you look up and you have old lights.”
Post also suggested that Ozark consider removing a whitewashed wooden pantry that juts out and decreases the kitchen’s square footage.
“People (tend to) like bigger kitchens,” he explained.
The kitchen adjoins a room that is the house’s best, most dramatic feature–a spacious family room with a lofty beamed ceiling, a brick fireplace and a sliding glass door overlooking the back yard.
In this room, Post recommended some changes to give the space a lighter feel.
“You could brighten up the wood (beams and paneling) with a lighter stain and upgrade the carpeting,” he said.
Near this room is another room that used to be the home’s single-car garage. Several years ago, Ozark enclosed the garage and turned it into a room that is simply an extra room. Depending on a buyer’s needs, it could have any number of uses, from a children’s playroom to a home office.
In between the family room and that room is a utility room. It includes hook-ups for a washer and dryer, but Post advised Ozark against going to the expense of buying a washer and dryer.
Unlike the new dishwasher, which adds to the overall, updated feel of the kitchen, a new washer and dryer are “not going to add one penny to your sales price,” Post said.
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