Help! Need Advice in Selling my house!

[liluxxx]

I am in the process of preparing my house for sale in Southern California. I was wondering if I should replace my outdated windows, estimated at $10K, will this help get me more bang for my buck or do I leave the windows as is and just decorate it nicely.

Note, I am not using a realtor. I am licensed, but have done a few transactions over 5 years ago.

[InRealEstateSolutions.com]

We just went through this on our own house.. deciding how much to spend on new windows and whether to replace all the windows....

It all depends on whether you think that you can get $10k more in the sales price. I am not familiar with the So Cal market as much as I'd like to be and of course it depends on the specific neighborhood too, but think about it this way:

If two houses that are otherwise comparable, would you pay $10k more for a house with all new windows than one with your current style window? Are there enough energy efficiency and aesthetic differences to make someone want to pay that much more? And if they do pay $10k more, you haven't really gained anything, unless it sells the house faster, b/c you shelled out $10k, and got $10k back and you didn't earn any interest on that money.

Also, what do the other houses in the neighborhood have for windows? Are buyers expecting to have better windows than you have now?

Ultimately, we decided to put high quality windows in front for curb appeal. We didn't expect to get a 1-to-1 return on our windows if we did the whole house. We will eventually put new, but not as high quality, windows throughout. We also plan to enjoy our windows while we live here, so we are getting a return in that sense.

I'm not sure if that answered your question, or just raised more questions, but hopefully it'll give you something to think about.

[brianb_cobbres]

You also need to ask if the new windows are going to help you sell faster.

[Debbie]

How outdated are the windows?

Are they old enough to the point where they'll crack easily whenever there's tremors? (I grew up in Orange County). If yes, they'll need to be replaced for liability purposes.