I agree. Sell it as is.

I think that's true. You won't get a good return on your cost/

That would be a question to ask a realtor .

Only upgrade if you want to and not for resale. Most people will want to choose their granite/quartz according to their taste.

I "hear" that granite becoming dated as it is everywhere

I'm so conditioned to not place hot items on any counter tops. Trivets are for that purpose and knowing myself, I would still use trivets if I had granite.

Get an estimate for granite and give the sellers a credit for granite with a full price offer. Everyone has different taste. You could shoot yourself in the foot if yours doesn't match theirs...just a thought!

We've had all three plus Corian. The Corian scratched if you glanced sideways at it, the laminate dulled in one house, and the house we bought a year or so ago had laminate with rough patches that you couldn't really see, but you could definitely feel. That house was built in 2011, had one owner. We bought the house sight unseen while out of the country, expecting to do some things--we wanted the layout and especially the locale. It was a very good price. I was going to live with the laminate since we're snowbirds, but ultimately wanted something cleaner, crisper, and newer. We went with white quartz with a very tiny veining in it. It was NOT CHEAP! Almost twice as expensive as the upper level granite we put in our designer in 2013.

I would not put new countertops in before selling. If you have a clean, uncluttered house in a good location, you'll do well.

The absolute best thing you can do to sell your house quickly besides pricing it fairly is 2 do a deep cleaning of your house, declutter your house I getting rid of all of the countertop appliances in the kitchen and all the extra knick knacks, and getting rid of most of the photos and personal effects on the walls. That will be the best couple of hundred dollars you will spend. Don't forget to throw out most of your stuff in the garage or put it in storage for one or two months. The real estate agents will appreciate you doing that to show off your house to the best. Also take a walk around your house outside make sure your bushes are trimmed the nicely you have fresh mulch and plant a couple of flowers from Lowe's or Home Depot. Again the best couple of hundred dollars you will have ever spent.

If you don’t have stone, quartz or something in that category, expect to get less and sell slower. Also I’ve seen where people put in the lowest end granite just to sell the house and i felt it probably hurt the sale. If your current countertop looks great and is not outdated it’s better to have that and your buyers know they will have a little time before sinking $5k or more into the countertops than to invest $3k of your own into crappy looking stone and your buyers to know they will want to immediately sink $5k or more into the countertops. Just know that kitchens and bathrooms sell houses and if you go to some granite people and talk about what you want to do, they just might be able to hook you up with some scrap exotic granite for certain areas like the bar or an island and have a good looking complementary stone elsewhere that is not as expensive. After doing that deep dive into countertops, I couldn’t help but think that maybe there are more important considerations than granite. Remove all clutter. I’ve seen houses packed with stuffed animal collections and doll collections. Doilies everywhere. Wallpaper. Walls covered in decorations, cabinets topped with silk plants. Every room Painted a different color. Before spending a dime on granite or quartz clear out all the extra stuff, get rid on anything sitting on top of cabinets and tall furniture, strip wallpaper and paint the walls a fresh neutral color. Then look at cabinets and countertops. If you have outdated honey oak or worn cabinets, paint them. Then look at the countertops. Do some research. How out of date are the bathrooms and kitchen? Every day you hold onto the property while it’s on the market costs you money in holding costs (amenity fees, insurance, upkeep) and also drives the value down. Is it worth it to spend $5k on the kitchen and know you have to mark the price down and hold the house longer because your bathrooms require $25k in Reno’s? Or there’s $15k in flooring replacement? People get used to the quirks of a house once they own it but a buyer sees those as problems and problems =costs. Have some realtors come out and assess the property. Then decide what’s worth investing you cash into.

Wow!. You sold 3 homes during the pandemic, including 1 in TV? I am a former realtor and I wholeheartedly agree with you. Clean and decluttered is key! Remove all personal stuff. If you're moving anyway, box stuff up and get it out of the house. Good luck!

If new granite counters in the kitchen cost $5,000 then if you want the same return, you'll need to price the home $5,000 more. Chances are you're not going to see that return, in fact it will probably be priced the same without or without granite. What granite will do for you is if a buyer has 2 or 3 similar homes, similar prices, similar areas in mind, they may eliminate those that need more upgrades.

I sold my house in Baltimore in 12 hours after listing it. The buyer was the first person to see the home, she was the new manager of the Wegman's built across the street and she was in town for two days. She looked at 9 homes on day one and didn't like any. She saw our home at 10:am on day 2, and by noon they made an offer to buy the home. When the Realtor asked her why that home, she said it had the only updated kitchen, granite, new stainless steel appliances, recessed lighting, new floors, plantation shutters. We had remodeled the kitchen 3 years earlier. Had we not remodeled, she wouldn't bought our home, how many days it would of been on the market is a guess, it would been priced $35,000 cheaper without the remodel, so we would of had a different buyers market and maybe sold just as quick at the lower price.

I agree. Better to sell it without the improvement. Someone may want to completely redo the kitchen. Quartz has gained in popularity. We recently put in HansStone serenity. You could also price it as though it had new counter tops & offer the buyer a countertop credit. You may want to do this, because a potential buyer might use the laminate to negotiate the price down.

I agree too. We like the formica, on top of which I cannot see putting a lot of money into features solely for the purpose of getting a higher price when selling. Up north, when we replaced countertops following a flood a few years before selling, we did so with new formica. The house sold BEFORE it was on the market; we'd been in it only a handful of times after buying in TV. I had interviewed a handful of realtors, and one had been contacted by another realtor with a couple interested in our house. We hesitated; the place was a mess, nowhere near ready to sell, and we were in the midst of selling contents and making donations, knowing that we'd have a ton of work to do to get the house ready to sell. But we let them come—no staging, stuff piled up everywhere, people milling around, bedrooms needed flooring and painting—an appearance that would make any realtor cringe. However, they bought the house, paying more than we ever expected, and their offer included leaving the house 'as is.' Wow.... And what sold the house? The large dining room and what was known in the area as 'the million dollar view.' Accepting the house 'as is' is what sang to me! If the property is priced fairly, it will sell—with OR without granite!


As I said, any property will sell at the right price. But what attracts me to a house is location, location, location, for which I would be willing to pay more—way more so than the composition of the countertops....

I agree with the others who say don't upgrade before selling. However, I disagree with those who say to offer a credit with the price. Price the house properly and let those making an offer request the credit. Some people may not plan on buying new counters.