This strategy often doesn't work out, but it did here

Back in September, 16 Hedgerow Lane was put up for sale at $5.650 million, and the market’s response (and, probably, comments from colleagues of the listing agent) must have been overwhelmingly negative, because it was yanked two weeks later. Builders were called in, repairs made, and it was put back on the market in late March at $6.750 million, with this notation on the listing:

Extensively renovated 2024 (new roof, new floors, new kitchen, new boilers, new bluestone front and rear, updated exterior, systems, electrics, plumbing etc.)

That did the trick — it was under contract a month later, and now it’s pending. In my experience, an owner is usually better off lowering the pie-in-the-sky price of a house that won’t sell, rather than gambling that expensive repairs and improvements can be recouped with an even higher price, but this time that gamble paid off.

So, good for the seller, but I still wouldn’t advise it in the usual case, where owners simply want to sell their house and move on — better to leave the renovations to the next owner.